Gatherings of mini Gruffalos and Harry Potters are set to be seen across the North East as celebrations for World Book Day get under way.
The annual event, aimed at promoting books and encouraging children's love of reading, will be marked this Thursday, March 2 with dress-up events and offers of £1 novels. World Book Day has been going strong now for 25 years and once again many schools will be inviting their pupils to turn up to class dressed as their favourite book character.
Often children will know exactly who they want to be and there are many popular characters which make an appearance every year, although the last World Book Day did see one particularly imaginative local eight-year-old dress up as Vera, the heroine of crime fiction created by Whitley Bay writer Ann Cleeves. A picture of the schoolgirl carrying a police card and wearing mini versions of Vera star Brenda Blethyn's trademark hat and mac caught the eye of the actress herself who shared it on Twitter, saying: "Love this. Vera doppelgänger".
Read more: When are World Book Day £1 vouchers available?
Often it's classic storybooks which provide the source of inspiration, with Mary Poppins among those enjoying a resurgence following the popularity of the recent film. For some parents, however, it can be a struggle helping young ones to decide.
So, to help out with ideas, here is a pick of 10 suggestions for characters which children might like to dress up as this World Book Day. There are costumes on sale at stores around Newcastle and the wider North East, of course, but this list includes outfits which families, looking for last-minute inspiration, should find quite straightforward to recreate or make themselves - as well as others where they may need to get more creative.
World Book Day character ideas
The Tiger Who Came To Tea
A tiger onesie would of course be ideal for the star of this much-loved tale by the late Judith Kerr but if not dressing up as the Tiger then how about wearing the purple pinafore, blue jumper and checky leggings worn by Sophie who, in the tale, is taken aback at the arrival of her unexpected guest who eats all the food.
Fans of the book might like to know there's an archive of Kerr's work at Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books, in Newcastle, which includes some of the author's sketches as well as the actual yellow units from her kitchen which featured in her book illustrations.
Harry Potter
The wizard from JK Rowling's series of books is always a favourite pick and a relatively easy one at that. If you haven't a cloak then remember that Harry spent a lot of time in normal clothes too - just make sure you don't forget that scar on the forehead along with those distinctive glasses.
If you're looking for something more quirky, how about choosing Luna Lovegood or Hagrid?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie Bucket from this Roald Dahl favourite tale won't be hard to create, with the character also seen wearing relatively normal clothes - blue trousers and a yellow jacket or shown in the film version in a checked shirt under a patterned jumper. The main thing is representing that golden ticket - make it big and shiny - and your child will probably want a chocolate bar too for authenticity.
Alice In Wonderland
The little girl who topples down a rabbit hole in the wacky classic by Lewis Carroll is a popular World Book Day choice and she's distinctive-looking too. Alice wears a white apron over a blue dress and you can add a headband to set it off.
If your child has a cuddly toy cat that could be a perfect companion - and the more Bagpuss-like the better as the Cheshire Cat character in the memorable Disney version is a bold pink colour and striped.
Matilda
Another Roald Dahl story which has inspired a film, as well as the popular stage musical, this costume for Matilda is basically a long-sleeve blue dress and you can add a red ribbon or headband in the hair. Or, if you want to take inspiration from the musical version, there are plenty images shown of Matilda at school which would involve just a few adaptions to a school uniform.
The Cat in the Hat
Instantly recognisable is the creation of Dr Seuss - real name Theodor Geisel - whose main character is exactly what it says on the tin. The cat's super-tall hat - which could be made from stiff card - is the important thing to get right and other than that your child could just dress entirely in black,with the addition of a red bow tie.
This will match the hat which is a red and white stripes. And a tail would complete the look.
Mr Men and Little Miss
Mr Men or Little Miss characters, from the illustrated series by Roger Hargreaves, offer plenty ideas for inspiration and those iconic faces could be copied onto cardboard and then cut out and worn, with attachments, over same-colour leggings and tops. They will also bring a blast of colour to the day - from the bold blue, wrapped around with white bandages, in the case of Mr Bump, to all yellow for Little Miss Sunshine.
A new character is Little Miss Waste Less, which has been created in partnership with eco-friendly cleaning brand Ecover. The company is on a mission to end 'wasteful costume purchasing' andis keen to reduce what it says are more than 183m items of children's clothing which end up in landfill each year. It has launched a free costume so that young ones can dress up as Little Miss Waste Less - while creating minimal waste - by downloading a flower template here, where the book is also available to read for free - and printing and cutting out the flower and headband to wear with blue clothes.
Funnybones
The books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg are about the adventures of a pair of skeletons so ideas for World Book Day here could make use of any skeleton costumes previously worn at Halloween. There's a big and little brother character and the elder is a hat fan, wearing a mini red bowler hat in the TV series based upon the books.
Room on the Broom
A similar idea to Funnybones again would be to dig out any suitable Halloween outfits in order to join World Book Day events as the witch from Julia Donaldson's popular book. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler, the story about a kind witch shows her with pigtails and wearing a red top and long purple spotted skirt.
Add that black cape, witch's hat and broomstick and your child will be all set.
Meg and Mog
More witchy ideas come from Helen Nicoll's series of children's books illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski. Meg is the witch whose spells go wrong and Mog is her striped cat so both offer outfit possibilities depending upon how creative you feel.
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