Today, communities around the world will celebrate World Book Day — a moment set aside to honour the joy, power and possibility of reading. Schools will host book fairs and costume parades, libraries will spotlight favourite authors, and social media will fill with images of children curled up with beloved stories. These celebrations matter because reading opens doors.

But if World Book Day is truly about celebrating reading, we must be honest about something that is often left unsaid: for many learners, particularly those with dyslexia, traditional approaches to reading do not feel like a celebration at all.

Dyslexia is far more common than many realise, affecting approximately one in five people. It is not a reflection of intelligence, creativity or potential. Many innovators, entrepreneurs, artists and leaders are dyslexic. The challenge lies not in their capacity to learn, but in systems that still tend to equate reading with a single, narrow pathway of printed text, uniform pacing and independent reading.

When World Book Day celebrations focus exclusively on how many books a student reads, how quickly they read or how neatly they can perform as a “typical reader”, we risk unintentionally excluding a significant group of learners. Worse, we may reinforce the idea that reading is something to fear rather than enjoy.

If we want World Book Day to live up to its promise, accessibility needs to be part of the celebration.

Accessible reading does not mean lowering expectations; it means widening the ways students can access stories and information.

Audiobooks, for example, allow dyslexic learners to engage with complex language, rich vocabulary and sophisticated ideas, often at the same or higher levels as their peers. Graphic novels, high-interest texts and decodable books can offer meaningful entry points without stigma. Digital tools that allow for text-to-speech, adjustable fonts or alternative layouts can be game-changers for emerging readers.

Equally important is how we talk about reading. For some students, reading aloud in front of a class feels less like participation and more like exposure. World Book Day activities should be designed with choice. A student might share a favourite story through a drawing, a podcast, a dramatic retelling or a conversation, not just through oral reading. The goal is to centre enjoyment, not anxiety.

At the BCCL, we work intentionally to ensure that reading is accessible, meaningful and affirming for all students. Our school library includes books designed with dyslexia-friendly fonts, carefully considering size, shape, spacing and layout, which reduce visual stress and increase readability. Students have access to audiobooks, speech-to-text technology and alternative formats so that decoding challenges do not limit their access to rich ideas and vocabulary.

Our library collection also includes graphic novels and decodable books written at students' instructional levels, allowing them to decode every word independently. This not only reduces frustration but builds confidence and a sense of success as readers. Students are also given different ways to demonstrate understanding. Reading is positioned as a tool for learning, not a barrier to it.

Accessibility does not stop at the school gate.

Libraries, bookshops and local organisations can play a vital role by ensuring collections include audiobooks, dyslexia-friendly fonts and diverse formats. Public events celebrating reading should signal clearly that listening to a book counts, reading differently counts, and loving stories, however one accesses them, counts.

Perhaps most importantly, World Book Day gives us a chance to reshape how we think about reading altogether.

When students who struggle with decoding are labelled as “reluctant readers”, we miss what is really happening. Many of these students love stories. They are curious, imaginative and deeply engaged. What they struggle with is not interest, but access.

World Book Day should not only remind us why reading matters. It should challenge us to ensure that every learner, no matter how their brain processes words, can experience the magic of story, belonging and possibility.

Because when reading becomes more accessible, the celebration does not get smaller. It gets stronger.

• Lindsey Sirju is cofounder and deputy head of the Bermuda Centre for Creative Learning