Parents' blog
What do Bookstart parents have to say? Find out more and add your comments.
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Luke Wright on the reading journey
Posted Monday December 14th 2009
by Nikesh Shukla
Poet Luke Wright is one of BBC Radio 4's poets-in-residence as well as being one of the key spearheads of performance poetry in the UK. He has performed for years around the UK, presented programmes on Channel 4, is a spokesperson for the poem and writes brilliantly whimsical stand-up poetry shows for Edinburgh Fringe festival. On top of all this he's recently become a dad. We thought it would be nice to talk the man The Observer describes as '[T]he best young performance poet around' about his reading journey with his son, Aidan, and how exactly he will be sharing his love of words and poetry with him.
>Congratulations on your new baby. Have you been reading to him?
We read to Aidan most nights. He likes picture and pop-up books and reaches out for them. He has a couple of fabric books which he likes to bash around the place. He's very young and doesn't understand the words yet but we want him to feel comfortable with books, we want him to see books as a major part of his life.
>Do you remember your parents reading to you as a child? What was your favourite story? -
Christmas wish list
Posted Wednesday December 9th 2009
by Sarah Bourn
With Christmas just around the corner, our Children’s Books site has put together a list of great Christmas-themed children’s books. And if you need more inspiration or extra stocking-fillers for the under-5s, here are eight more festive stories – you can read the full reviews of all these books by clicking on their titles. And if you have any festive favourites not mentioned here, share them by leaving a comment!
Shine
By Karen Langley
Published by Frances Lincoln
Jimmy is playing the star in the school Christmas play, and practices 'shining' every day. His excitement and anxiety in the build-up to his appearance are contrasted with his busy dad's duties as the town electrician. Will dad's last minute call-out to fix the Christmas lights prevent him from seeing the play?
Interest level: 3-7
What's Cooking, Jamela?
By Niki Daly
Published by Frances Lincoln
Mama buys a chicken to fatten up for the Christmas meal. But Jamela calls the chicken Christmas, feeds her and grows fonder of her as she gets fatter. Can she save Christmas from the pot?
Interest level: 4-8
On Angel Wings
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All the world’s a stage
Posted Tuesday November 24th 2009
by Sarah Bourn
Rather than spending years of hard graft and huge sums of money going to stage school, aspiring actors could get the same result by reading stories to children for a few months. The sheer range of silly voices, funny accents, comedy character role-playing and physical theatre required to keep a little one entertained is immense. And it means that by the time your child goes to school, you could probably single-handedly put on a West End adaptation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and get five-star reviews all round.
My own demanding critic, ten-month-old Angus, insists on an extremely high level of dedication to each book-reading performance. If he doesn’t feel I’m giving it my best effort, he voices his displeasure by shrieking loudly, crawling off or sometimes just blowing raspberries – I bet Sir Ian McKellen never has to put up with that sort of audience.
On the plus side, this has definitely developed my repertoire of convincing animal noises. Our latest favourite is Hairy Maclary’s Caterwaul Caper by Lynley Dodd, which requires imitation of no less than six different types of bark – Hercules Morse (‘WOOF’), Bottomley Potts (RO-RO-RO-RO-RO), Muffin McLay (‘RUFF-RUFF’), Bitzer Maloney (‘BOW-WOW-WOW-WOW’), Schnitzel von Krumm (YIP-YIP’)…
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National Bookstart Day in Tyneside
Posted Tuesday October 13th 2009
by Janis Wilson
National Bookstart Day was celebrated in style in South Tyneside, with a special event at Jarrow Library. The youngest babies to have joined the library in the past six months were invited to a Bookstart Rhymetime. Altogether there were 14 babies and their families with special guests Mr Stephen Hepburn MP and Cllr Tracey Dixon. Babies had joined the library from being 14 days to just 4 hours old! All the babies received a gift of a pack of books and a small Bookstart bear, with the two babies who were the youngest joiners receiving a crate of books and a large Bookstart bear!
Both Cllr Dixon and Mr Hepburn MP joined in the fun using empathy dolls as their babies. Mr Hepburn spoke about the importance of books and reading and told everyone how he loved to read. He said he was currently reading a book called ‘Glue’ and asked if anyone had read it? There was deathly silence. Then he said it was so good he wasn’t able to put it down!
Congratulations to Clare Craig and all the staff for organizing such a memorable event for the families.
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National Bookstart Day in Hartlepool
Posted Tuesday October 13th 2009
by Janis Wilson
There was plenty of fun and laughter at Hartlepool Central Library on National Bookstart Day. Children from local nursery schools were invited along to the library with their families. There were stories, crafts and even a face painter. Storyteller Chris Bostock ran a workshop with the parents/carers and their children around the importance of reading with your child. They were all then read a story. The parents stayed in the workshop, working on making their own treasure box and Chris explained how they could use items in the box to tell a story to their children. The parents got very involved in the activity. The children went off to do read and rhyme activities with Fiona, the Bookstart Support Worker.
All the children received a goodie bag and their Treasure Chests which were presented by Mr Iain Wright MP who joined in the fun of the day by taking part in all the activities.
Hartlepool libraries purchased a board nursery rhyme book funded by Children’s Centres and these were given to the children together with the Bookstart stickers, books & sheets.
It was a really wonderful day. Congratulations to the staff for making it such a success.
