But we prefer to think of World Book Day as a time to share the joy and love of children's books - and take a full part in one of the UK's biggest book celebrations.
This year is extra special as it's the 20th anniversary of World Book Day. That's two awesome decades of dressing up, and literally millions of £1 vouchers and free books for children.
As well as exchanging their vouchers for the WBD books themselves (and you can take a look at this year's selection here) they can be used as £1 off any book in the shop.
World Book Day asks 'Do Something Booky' and we say 'Read A Book!'. So for today's #FridayReads, and in the interests of sharing the joy of reading for #WorldBookDay20, here are our pick of brilliant new children's books that have come into the shop in the last few weeks.
All of these are out on our two display tables front and back, so you won't be able to miss them when you walk into the shop!
One of Imogen's favourite picture books of the year so far, this bonkers tale of how a story gets told features purple spaceships, an incredibly cute bunny...and also an octopus. Illustrated by Benji Davies ('The Storm Whale') this is bold, funny, imaginative and guaranteed to become a firm family favourite.
We love books that generate surprise and laughter amongst very little ones, and 'Opposite Surprise' by Italian illustrator Agnese Baruzzi is a wonderful board book, where each page concertinas open to totally transform the picture to great delight.
Minedition is a fantastic German publisher, who gather international authors and illustrators to publish some of the most original books, so come take a look at the others that they publish.
This week, the shortlist for the Oxfordshire Book Awards was published, and amongst some of our favourite Oxfordshire-based authors being on the list (yay!) there was also 'Detective Dog' by Julia Donaldson - one of this year's £1 book authors.
Peter's Dog Nell has an incredible sense of smell, which means he's first on the case if there's a mystery to solve. But Nell also goes to school and listens to the children reading, so when they arrive one morning to find all the school books have disappeared - this is tailor-made for our snigging canine sleuth. It's a fast-paced celebration of books, reading, libraries, and the relationship between a little boy and his rather special dog.
Published next week, local author and illustrator Suzanne Barton - who transformed out window a few years back with artwork from her brilliant debut 'Robin's Winter Song' - Butterfly Dance is another sublimely beautiful mixture of art and story.
Caterpillars Dotty and Stripe do everything together. They play, they eat leaves and do all sorts of caterpiller-y things, and then one day, after spinning themselves into snuggly cocoons, they wake up as beautiful butterflies! But soon they realise that, for the first time ever, they look different. Should Dotty only play with butterflies that look like her? And Stripe only play with butterflies that look like him? It's a stunningly illustrated story about friendship and and being happy with who you are,
We loved Jenny O'Connor's first story of Matty, the Goblin Princess, a fun, delightful story illustrated by Kate Willis-Crowley. In this follow-up, there is to be a grand Goblin Ball at the Goblin Castle and when the fairy twins Teasel and Tansy get lost in the woods, they end up at hobgoblin mountain and overhear the hobgoblins planning to invade the Goblin castle and CLEAN IT!!! Will Teasel and Tansy be able to get to the castle in time to warn Princess Matty or will the Hobgoblins carry out their fiendish plan?
Ned always thought he was just a normal boy. But on his thirteenth birthday he is thrown into a world he knows nothing about - a world where magic is REAL. When he discovers the truth about who and what he is, secrets held for many years come pouring forth and Ned's life is changed for ever. It turns out that only he can stop the world from being engulfed by monstrous beasts - and all he has to help him is a robot mouse, a girl witch...and the most amazing circus you'll ever read about.
Justin Fisher's day job is designing title sequences for big Hollywood movies (yes, that is an actual job) so those title sequences you see at the start of X-Men and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are probably down to him. And the feedback from young readers in the shop is that this book is awesome!
We told everyone about 'Wed Wabbit' a few weeks back in the newsletter, but this is still one of our favourite books of the year so far. It's utter genius, extremely funny, and at times genuinely scary.
It's about a children's story book world that gets entangled with the real world, and things go horribly, horribly wrong. Although perfect for 9+, we think plenty of adults will enjoy it immensely - whether you see it as a satire on the modern world or just a brilliantly imaginative tale. A genuine must-read from one of our favourite authors!
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