Bookstart

When my daughter registered my grandson’s birth a couple of weeks ago, she was presented with a pack containing some delightful board books courtesy of Bookstart.

Bookstart is run by Booktrust, an independent charity given funding by the Department of Education and aimed at encouraging people of all ages to have access to and get enjoyment from books. Visit http://bookstart.org.uk to learn more.

I’m an avid reader and certainly don’t have to be told the value of books, but think this is a great scheme to encourage more reluctant readers to become interested in all that books have to offer.

I read and looked at books with all three of my children from a very young age and felt ‘robbed’ when they became too old for bedtime stories. My mother read to me daily when I was young, and I was taken to the library on a regular basis, to choose books on my dad’s library card. When I was old enough to go the library with my own card, to choose my own books (accompanied by big sister), I made a beeline for the section marked ‘older children’. The librarian, on noticing this, peered over her desk and pointed out, “The books for younger children are over there!” To which my young, very precocious self replied, “Yes, I know, but I’ve read all of those already!”

To this day I read, on average, a couple of books a week and would encourage everyone to persevere with books even if they don’t immediately get much from them. It may take time to find the type of book that really works for you, but it will be there somewhere.

Now I’m looking forward to reading stories to my grandson and having another generation of book-lovers in the family.

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