Around 750 pupils from City of York Council schools will be taking part in a ‘flash retelling’ to help mark World Book Day on Thursday 5 March.

Pupils across the city will be retelling a traditional tale they have learnt off by heart at 10.30am.

The pupils have used the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach to help them learn the tale. This involves them using actions and a visual story map to learn the tale. Learning stories off by heart gives children the story language and text structures to be able to create their own stories.

Pie Corbett who developed the Talk for Writing approach, said: “The great City of York will ring together the bells of a thousand voices, telling and celebrating the joy of a story. Stories lie at the heart of every culture. Without them, education is dry as dust. They bind us together as one people helping us to understand ourselves and each other. Stories make us a stronger and better people. Let the story spread across the city and stay in the heart of every teller and every listener.”

World Book Day is a worldwide celebration of books and reading, marked in over 100 countries all over the world. For more information on libraries in the city visit www.exploreyork.org.uk