World Book Day is around the corner. In a world where we’re increasingly drawn to snatching snippets of information on the go, it’s heartwarming that there’s a day, April 23, dedicated to nothing but the love of and reading of books.

In a recent survey carried out by the National Statistics Office, reading was at 38 per cent, rated the top hobby of the Maltese. Considering that according to the last Census, 92.8 per cent of the population is literate – with the female literacy being on average slightly higher than the male one – there still seems to be a lot of catching up to do to improve the reading percentage.

World Book Day will be an opportunity to highlight the importance of the book: it nurtures keen intelligence, avid curiosity and a deep knowledge of subject matter. It also offers an ideal creative escape to different literary worlds. Most especially, the future reading habits of children should be of eager concern to the society in general. Books can only boost the self-improvement of our future generations.

Agenda Bookshop, the leading bookseller in Malta with over 15 centrally located outlets across the islands in Malta, continually strives to promote the pleasures of reading. Michael Vella de Fremeaux, trade books manager said: “As people in the industry we believe that books promote knowledge and culture. Our main aim is to make books accessible to all. Reading brings about nothing but a special, personal kind of joy.”

With this in mind, Agenda Bookshops across the island are extending the 75 per cent off the Third Book Promotion till the end of April. This fantastic offer is valid on all the titles found in their shops, except textbooks. It just makes it easier this year to celebrate World Book Day with piles of books.