For the love of reading

As parents we sometimes underestimate the power of a good book and the characters portrayed in the book and yet they make lasting impressions on our children. Children delight in the antics of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, fight off villains and sail the seven seas amongst the pages of a good book. 

It is imperative that children read a wide genre of books to develop their vocabulary which in turn helps them with sentence writing and creative stories. Reading fiction builds imagination and unfortunately, it is becoming more evident in the classroom that imagination is something that children lack these days. As little children, we could keep ourselves entertained for hours with a couple of stones, some mud and a few cars. Give those things to children nowadays and they will think that we have lost our minds.  

Reading non-fiction improves their general knowledge and they feel comfortable enough to participate in subjects like Social Science and Debating when they have facts that are relevant to the topics being discussed.  

I love to peruse the books at The Travelling Bookshop and take great delight in helping the children choose good books to read. There is nothing quite like the smell of a new book with crisp pages and the air of anticipation at what lies ahead. Reading is a skill that needs to be encouraged and instilled in our children. What a privilege it is to be able to pick up a good book and read the story trapped in the pages.  

According to the latest statistics about 3 million people are illiterate. That is 3 million people that will never know the feeling of getting lost in a good book or the enjoyment of a good story. As an English teacher, this is a great tragedy for me, as I would be lost if I could not make meaning of the written print I find all around me everyday of my life.  

I would like to encourage everyone to send in a book to donate to their class library. In this way the children will always have a supply of books to choose from and enjoy.