Parents' blog
What do Bookstart parents have to say? Find out more and add your comments.
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It's World Book Day!
Posted Thursday March 4th 2010
by Carolyn
March here already, and that can only mean one thing...WORLD BOOK DAY! Thursday 4th March is the biggest annual celebration of books and reading in the UK and Ireland, and we hope that you will join in the fun.
The main aim of World Book Day is to ‘encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity of having a book of their own.’ In recent years, the free £1 National Book Tokens that accompany this aim have been extended from schools to pre-school institutions as well – so why not encourage your nursery to sign up?
Also worth a look is the list of 70 tried and tested titles for children and adults to share together, complied by World Book Day trustee Jacqueline Wilson. This can be found online here, or in booklet form from national bookstores and libraries. With over 25 recommendations for 0-5 year olds, this is a fantastic resource for helping to inspire a love of books in your little ones.
For more information, or to register an institution, visit www.worldbookday.com -
Love a Picture Book
Posted Monday February 22nd 2010
by Carolyn Koussa
As parents, we all know just how busy life can get. Dashing between home, work, nursery and everywhere inbetween can leave you feeling like you’re in a whirlwind. So sometimes we need a gentle reminder to take a step back and enjoy the simpler things in life.
Booktrust’s new ‘Love a Picture Book’ manifesto does exactly that – it reminds us of the simple pleasures of sharing a picture book, for both you and your child. With all the new-fangled toys available today we can often overlook the beauty of a book, but it can easily be re-discovered.
It doesn’t require any money, or any travelling – just a few minutes put aside to dig out an old favourite and share it with your little one. It may not require any batteries, but their faces are sure to light up. And you might just be surprised at how much you enjoy it yourself.
So go on, pick up a picture book today. ‘Love a picture book – it will always love you back.’
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Valentine's Day
Posted Friday February 12th 2010
by Carolyn Koussa
Well it’s that time of the year again– when the whole world turns pink and fluffy and hearts and soppy messages attack you around every corner. Whether you love it or you hate it, there’s no denying that Britain is crazy about Valentine’s Day.
Whilst queuing up in the supermarket squeezed inbetween heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and life-size teddy bears I couldn’t help but notice that perhaps not everything about Valentine’s Day is as commercial as it seems.
For the bookworms among us Valentine’s Day is a fantastic opportunity to revive a love of an often overlooked literary form– poetry. We all know the old rhyme, Roses are red, Violets are blue… (Bookstart loves books, And we hope you do too!) and we have all seen the anthologies of love poems lined up by the tills, but what about poetry for children?
As anyone who has ever shared a poem with a little one will know, children love poems! Rhyming always prompts a giggle, and the rhythm really keeps the interest high. Not to mention the benefits of learning about how sounds and letters interact.
This week, Bookstart are particularly fond of My Favourite Nursery Rhymes by Tony Ross. Accompanied…
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Evelyn loves Booktouch
Posted Monday February 1st 2010
by Janis Wilson
Jane Mellors, the Hertfordshire Bookstart Development Officer, visited an opportunity group in St Albans and gifted a Booktouch pack to Evelyn (pictured). Claire, Evelyn’s mother, was delighted with the pack and commented:
'Thank you so much for the books you left for Evelyn at the Monday morning disability playgroup. She loves them. I knew she would love That’s Not My Kitten as we have a couple from that group. The pictures are big and bold and bright so she reaches out for them before she even realises there are bits to touch.
Her favourite had been the DK one. The sticky paints page and the tutu she will spend ages touching and smiling.
Spot the Dog she was least interested in. Some of the elements of the pictures are too small for her to see I think. Evelyn is not developed enough to appreciate it as much yet.'
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World's youngest library members?
Posted Friday January 29th 2010
by Sarah BournLast week the Liverpool Echo ran a story about baby Charlie Harris, who was signed up as a library member when he was just eight hours old.
Charlie, who is now just over four months old, was signed up for a library membership by his granddad Noel, who works as a janitor at Halton Lea Library in Liverpool. Noel arrived at the hospital armed with a Bookstart pack, reasoning that ‘the earlier children get comfortable around books the better’, which is something the Bookstart team wholeheartedly agrees with!
Halton Borough Council were hopeful that Charlie's achievement might be recognised as a Guinness World Record (although they've since received the world record equivalent of a Dear John letter - Guinness have rejected the feat in favour of other more eligible categories). And, as an eagle-eyed Bookstart coordinator has reminded us, the impressive eight-hour signup wasn't quite a world-beater. Back in May 2009 we blogged about baby Katie, whose exceedingly quick-off-the-mark dad signed her up to the library exactly two hours and eight minutes after her birth!
Whatever the difference in hours, there's no denying that both Charlie and Katie's parents have achieved something admirable by…
