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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: National Reading Hour 2014, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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1. The comfort of bedtime stories

The saddest story I've ever heard about the importance of reading to your children came from someone who told me that the happiest times of her childhood were when her mother was in hospital, because she would be sent to stay with neighbours - and the neighbours read her bedtime stories. She has remained grateful to those neighbours for introducing her to books being read at home, the power of a shared story, the comfort of being read to, the establishment of a bedtime routine - or maybe all of the above. She went on to become a teacher, specialising in reading.

So if you don't have children to read to, remember that you can still share it with other children (even if they have parents who read to them!) You never know how that book, or that warm feeling of being read to, may go on to influence a child's life.

And if you'd like me to read to your child, or children you know, let me know by commenting on this post, tweeting or emailing me directly through my website. Today is the last day to enter, but tomorrow, for National Reading Hour, (6 pm Tuesday 19 August) I'll be reading to a child or group of children. It'll be over Skype or even phone if you don't happen to live nearly next door, but that's still a great way to share the love of books around the world.

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2. National Reading Hour - Would you like me to read you a story?

Australia’s National Reading Hour is fast approaching: 6 pm on Tuesday August 19: a time when we celebrate the act of reading with children. Reading is one of the most important things in my life. Stories take us into new worlds and teach us something more about ourselves, all at the same time. 

But reading to a child is an even greater gift than this. Sharing the story enhances the enjoyment; undoubtedly it deepens the child’s understanding of a more difficult text – and most importantly, it’s an expression of caring. Most of us lucky enough to have grown up with bedtime stories remember them as a time of warmth, safety and love; most of us who read bedtime stories to our children will remember them in the same way. What better way to lay down the association between pleasure and learning; to give your child a resource for difficult times?



As an author who grew up with those feelings for bedtime stories, and attempted to pass them on in the same way to my children, it’s very special to me to hear of my own books being part of this interaction.

So if you would like to celebrate the National Reading Hour by having me read a pre-bedtime story to your child or children, over Skype or phone if you don’t live next door, just comment on this blog, email or tweet. Tell me why you’d like it, or what reading means to you, because that’s fun for me to hear, though I’ll choose the winner by random drawing, because it would be just too hard to choose the best reason for sharing a story!

Here’s what some author friends and I said about reading a couple of years ago:



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