Happy Saturday....

The Reading Mother by Strickland Gillilan

I had a Mother who read to me, sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth, “Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays, of ancient and gallent and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe, which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales, of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death, faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things, that wholesome life to the boy heart brings

Stories that stir with an upward touch, oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold; caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be – I had a Mother who read to me.

I am very happy to have our guest blogger Natalie Finnigan here this morning to share with us on Storywraps.  Welcome Natalie always love to hear from you and thanks for being my blogging buddy. :)

Aspire to Inspire

I can't remember my parents reading to me as a young child, but knowing my father as an adult, I feel sure he did. I can, however, always remember reading - I loved being transported by the Wishing Chair or Faraway Tree to places and adventures far more exciting that my life would ever be. I longed to be Nancy Drew, or find a magic wardrobe and ride a lion. Now as an adult myself I try to read everyday to my son, from my own books, to fireman Sam to How to Train a Dragon. Whatever he chooses we read and I've made sure that the bottom two shelves of my bookcase are dedicated to his books.

However, much as I enjoy reading, I'm really rubbish at accents and silly voices. I know that this is what the reading experts recommend, to make a book more interesting to a child...but I stumble, I can't remember what voice I did for what character and, because I end up feeling stupid, I end up not wanting to read the book - and this must show.

Luckily, by fortune or design, my son loves to listen to books being read and, I've found, responds far better to enthusiasm than to funny voices. So, if you want your child to love to read, try to inspire them but showing your enthusiasm and pleasure in reading. If you can do voices and accents, great, but if not, don't let it put you off, read the books in your way and the way you enjoy and this will shine through to your child.

(By the way, I still want to be Nancy Drew and ride a lion!! And the best thing is, as my son gets older, I have the perfect reason to revisit some of my old haunts...I can't wait!!)

About Natalie:

Natalie Finnigan was born in Suffolk, England, and re-discovered her love for writing rhymes after the birth of her son, Alex, in 2010. Having already published two short, rhyming picture books based on three characters (Alex, Dragon and Spider), Natalie is enjoying branching out into other picture books and is currently writing a pre-teen novel to be used as a teaching text for English as a Foreign Language.

Read on and read always!  Have a beautiful weekend everyone and see you back here on Monday.