Reading Peter Rabbit with my Granny. I have always loved reading, ever since I can remember. It probably helps tha...

About Me

Thursday, November 30, 2017 BookBairn 0 Comments




Reading Peter Rabbit with my Granny.



I have always loved reading, ever since I can remember.

It probably helps that growing up our house was packed full with books. I adored (still do adore) the stories of Peter Rabbit and the illustrations from the Brambly Hedge books. I fondly remember reading the Mr Men stories, and listening to the Roald Dahl stories in the car on long journeys. Like most girls of my generations I read the Babysitter's Club books from beginning to end, had a whole collection of Animal Ark books and couldn't get enough Jacqueline Wilson stories. Unlike most readers of my generation I never got into Goosebumps, or... and I thought I was too cool for Harry Potter when it was first realised (and I stubbornly avoided everything Harry Potter until my late twenties - what an idiot!). I cherish stories from my childhood: Narnia, the Little Princess, Charlotte's Web, the Secret Garden and more. As a teenager I read less but loved the stories of Louise Rennison and Joanne Harris. I quickly ripped through crime thrillers with short chapters whilst on holidays in the sunshine (the short chapters were about the length I could manage between dips in the pool). As a student I read even less unless it was in French or whilst on my year abroad in Paris I read mostly classics because they were the only books I could get from the library in English!

Once I had a home of my own the first thing I bought, after a bed, was a set of bookshelves on which I proudly alphabetized (by author's surname) my collection. At the same time, my mum topped me by convincing my  dad to convert the garage into a library (she's a librarian by profession and one library in her life obviously wasn't enough for her!). I started teaching (another inherited trait: reading and teaching - one from each parent) and I discovered a passion for teaching literacy, and sharing my favourite childhood stories with the next generation of readers.


Now I am a mummy myself, I would love for my children (BookBairn and The Wee Page Turner) to love reading and books as much as their mummy and grandma! So far all is going well. BookBairn loves to play with books, turning the pages, exploring the flaps/sounds/interactive elements, devouring the illustrations (though not actually literally munching the books, which I know is popular with little book-lovers), she loves listening to the story being read and she's becoming quite the little chatterbox already. It fills me with joy that she now requests her favourite books at bedtime from the shelves above her story sofa in her room and she can now remember the stories and what happens next. 


Her first favourite book.
She has memorised pages and pages of her favourite stories. She can recite almost all of What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson thanks to listening to the audio book in the car over and over as well as many reads in between with Daddy and myself. Dropping her at nursery this morning she listened to Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers in the car and I said to her that the ladies at nursery would love to read it with her and she said "Lottie choose a story" - she loves being read to!

The Wee Page Turner, who is rapidly growing and changing can now turn the pages of a book and play with them by himself. He enjoys cloth books and books with mirrors but mostly he enjoys his big sister sitting beside him and sharing stories with him. I hope he will take after his big sister and love stories. I love the idea of her sharing her favourite books with him. Of curling up with both of them and reading stories over and over. 

We truly love our library. Visits to the library are filled with anticipation (me) and adventure (her). We love going to Bookbug, which is a fantastic song, rhyme and story time for little ones at the library. We love scouring through the board and picture books for new finds. We love requesting our favourites or new releases and collect them with excitement. It's fabulous fun.
We love it when publishers and authors send us new releases to review. BookBairn adores opening book post and discover some of the new wonders inside the newest releases! We love going to the bookshop and choosing new books to come home with us. We love seeing a book recommended (usually on social media or through word of mouth) and ordering it from that big online retailer (or the smaller one which supports independent bookshops) and hearing it drop on the doormat just a day or so later.

Reading is our joy. It's something that we share. With each other. With Daddy BookBairn. With our family. With our friends. With you.




This blog follows what we love reading.
What we are actually reading.
It's Baby-Led Reading. 
She chooses. 
We read.

And sometimes I let BookBairn blog!


Updated 30 November 2017.

0 comments: