The Book Fairies has teamed up with Bedford Borough Council to bring some magic to books and reading in 2025…

The Book Fairies have been busy running Book Fairy Factories in primary schools all around Bedford UK to support their 2025 Year of Reading! We aim to bring magic into reading and books by sharing the joy of not only finding one in the wild, but preparing one to hide for another child to find. We have also been chatting to the children and teachers about which books they love and would recommend to others.

As well as schools, we have been working with Bedford Libraries, as well as running spaces at various events, such as The Kite and Motor Festival, 1% Better and the Teddy Bear Picnic.

What is a Book Fairy?

A book fairy is an individual who ‘hides’ books in public for others to find… We dress up books with the book fairy sticker on the front, so it’s very clear that the person who spots it is allowed to ‘take this book, read it, and leave it for the next person to enjoy’. We often add a little bookmark and wrap it all in ribbon, to make it look like a gift!

What is a Book Fairy Factory?

A Book Fairy Factory is something that each book fairy will have done a part of – it essentially means dressing up the books ready to hide! Sometimes fairies get together for special events, such as International Book Fairy Day or our Book Fairy Birthday, and hide books all together – this is where the term Book Fairy Factory was born, as each fairy has a different job – some stick the stickers to the front of the book, some write little notes to go inside, and some cut up the ribbon and wrap the books ready to hide. We’ve taken this idea into schools with huge success, especially the note writing part of it – we’ve seen so many creative ideas, from drawings of superheroes to personal notes about their favourite character and what to do once you have read the book.

Who gets the books?

We don’t know! That’s part of the magic. We hide books in public for people to find, so really unless we hang around nearby to watch (which some of us like to do!), we don’t know who finds them. Fairies don’t ask for a big THANK YOU as we don’t need one – we know that the book will find its next reader and that the act of finding the book will be truly magical.

Sometimes, schools choose to hide the books in their own school grounds, so they can try to guess who is going to find them and when!

If you like the idea of this for YOUR school, please get in touch on bo************@gm***.com.

This blog entry was written in full by the very real Book Fairy in Chief. No artificially intelligent fairies were used in the creation of this piece and they never will be.

Featured picture: Castle Newnham Primary School, taken and shared by local photographer.