Putting the "fun" and "excitement" into reading .... oh yea!

Quote of the day:

"The greatest gift is the passion for reading."   - Elizabth Hardwick



 I am very pleased to have our international guest blogger here today.   Welcome to Storywraps, Natalie Finnigan ... the space is all yours.....

Reading In England

It has been many years since I was a child (I know it’s hard to believe) but nursery school for me was around 30 years ago. (Nursery in England is 4/5yrs old.) I can’t remember whether the teachers read to me when I was at school. They certainly did a lot of reading aloud when I was in High School but it was more Shakespeare and the pupil’s work, rather than anything very fun or interesting. However, I am lucky enough to have a child in nursery school and love the fact that his teachers read to him every day. Sometimes the same book, sometimes different books. My son comes home with a head full of the Gruffalo, Scaredy Squirrel and stories about Owls that cannot hoot. (He’s learning about English Wildlife at the moment.)

I’ve been lucky enough to go to class and watch the teachers read. And they don’t just read, they READ! Hands fly through the air, voices filled with excitement, children chiming in on their favourite bits or the bits that go BANG and WHIZZ and SPLAT. In the Gruffalo all the children yell that the mouse’s favourite food is GRUFFALO CRUMBLE!!! And it reminds me, that books are not just for reading, they are for living, enjoying, exciting young minds and for being together.

My son is just starting to read. “Go on, Dad. Get Biff” etc and I must admit to finding that just as enjoyable as reading to him. The concentration as he figures out what all of the strange marks and squiggles mean, the joy on his face as he figures it out and the pride when I tell him he’s read it right. An enjoyable story doesn’t have to be complicated, read perfectly or full of twisty, turning plot lines. It can be as simple as Top Cat and made beautiful by the enjoyment of those few or many in the room to hear it.

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 an amazing day today everyone.