This Thursday (March 6) is World Book Day, the biggest celebration of books and reading in the whole world.

Feeling inspired? Here are our top five booky things to do over the next few weeks, from festivals and storytelling sessions to fun books you can read together...

The biggest book show on earth...

World Book Day rolls into Glasgow this Thursday with the annual bookfest's first ever live tour kicking things off at the Royal Concert Hall. An impressive collection of inspiring children's authors and illustrators will be taking part in The Biggest Book Show On Earth, including host Laura Dockrill, the children's performance poet, writer and illustrator. Attending schools will be given a chance to be inspired by hints and tips on telling stories from Emily Gravett, Jill Murphy, Steve Cole and Julia Donaldson. Children at school also get a token to take along to their local bookshop to exchange for one of the special World Book Day book titles. (Last year over 1.2 million World Book Day book tokens were redeemed).

Wee Write! Family Day

This Saturday (March 8) the Mitchell Library hosts a day of book events for the whole family as part of Wee Write! Glasgow's new book festival for children and young people.

Highlights include a celebration of 50 years of Roald Dahl's classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and an appearance from Ian Whybrow, the creator of Harry and his Bucketful of Dinosaurs. There are also a few free drop-in events. Tickets are on sale now. Call 0141 353 8000 or visit

What on Earth

This is possibly the best encyclopaedia-poster-book ever and will keep you and your children occupied for hours, poring over fascinating facts. It's a pull-out book, so you can read it anyway you like (left to right, top to bottom) but you soon get lost in all the information that's contained within it. It's available from the Science Museum shop, priced £15 (www.sciencemuseumshop).

Aye Write

The 9th Aye Write! festival brings an exciting range of writers and speakers to Glasgow plus an inspiring programme of creative writing workshops and community events. This year's event also includes a special Commonwealth focus as part of the Culture 2014 celebrations for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Highlights of the festival, which runs from April 4 to 12 in the Mitchell Library, include a celebration of the late, great Iain Banks, an audience with the Makar, Liz Lochhead and Sally Magnusson talking about her children's books featuring Horace the Haggis. Find out more at www.ayewrite.com or call 0141 287 2999.

Storytime with Scottish Youth Theatre

Introduce younger children to the delights of stories like The Lion and the Mouse and The Hare and the Tortoise at these popular interactive storytelling sessions. They are aimed at children aged between three and seven and their families. The next sessions take place this weekend (March 8 and 9) and March 22 and 23 - but as the capacity in the Edwin Morgan Studio is extremely limited you must book in advance on 0141 552 3988. Tickets cost £5 or £15 for a family (four people). Visit www.scottishyouththeatre.org for more details.