It’s ‘book week’ in Australia this week, and while I am forever grateful that our school doesn’t do a ‘dress-up like your favorite book character parade’ (thank goodness I don’t have to create a mouse costume and an elf troll costume!) it is a nice little reminder about how magical books and reading are.
I love to read, and we’ve always enjoyed reading to our kids, even when they were very little. I’ve always believed in the sheer magic of reading, but I admit I am still a little surprised at how totally awesome it is to have children who read independently.
For all the things the girls struggle with, reading is not one of them. It makes my heart sing to see them both get lost in a book, their noses buried, begging me to let them keep their bed side lights on for a little longer.
Apart from the sheer joy of a good story, having good readers also brings other benefits…
They can read a recipe and follow it. They can read instructions for a game. They can read ingredients on the side of a packet and work out if it is safe for them to eat (they have nut allergies). They can Google for answers to interesting questions (my phone’s search history is full of things like ‘why is the sky blue?’). They can read the calendar and know which day of the week it is and what they have on for that day (if only they then put the things they needed in their school bags). They can read stories to their brothers. They can read road signs, and junk mail, and birthday cards, and so much more.
It’s really, really cool having kids who can read.
I’ve written about the magic reading before (and it’s double edged sword). I’m also blogging at Childhood101 today about pre-reading – Learning to Reading is About More than Just Books
Free Printable Bookmarks
And just to celebrate how cool reading is, and as a treat for my book mad girls, I’ve made some simple printable bookmarks. Click on the image above to open the pdf
Happy Book Week!
Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in CBH Digital Scrapbooking Freebies (please, notice the new url for my blog), under the Page 3 post on Aug. 23, 2012. Thanks again.
Lovely post! I have watched my teen embrace the joy of reading right from the start and now we are beginning again with the twins….thank goodness for the wonder of books and the written word!
Love those bookmarks thankyou!
These are absolutely gorgeous Kate! My girls are going to love them!! Printing them off as I type – thank you so much!
awsome bookmarks i gave mine to a friend
très jolis : j’aime beaucoup !… je cherche des freebies sur le Net pour les partager, pour l’instant sur Pinterest (où j’ai déjà plus de 13000 liens vers des téléchargements gratuits), en attendant l’ouverture de mon propre site, et je vais vite poster le lien pour que tout le monde puisse télécharger et utiliser votre jolie création !… merci pour le partage, Is… (si vous voulez voir ce que je fais, c’est là : http://pinterest.com/lemondedis/ )