Encouraging your child to read

	Does your child prefer the computer, TV or video games to books? There are so many wonderful books to choose from, that there is bound to be something to enthrall every child, if you can just get them started. Despite modern technology, we still need books. After all, you can’t curl up with a computer!
Bookplates for you	Anne Fine and 'My home library' have kindly agreed to let us have some of their bookplates for you to print out and put in your own books. There are many more at 'My home library'. These plates may be freely copied for all except commercial purposes www.myhomelibrary.org
Special offer for Parents in Touch members.	Beautiful Books is a publisher of books for families, including the Young Travellers Club travel companions for 7-12 year olds visiting other countries, and lovely picture books for reading to young children including The Man Who Put Words On Birds and A Secret Promise. See our Member pages for a special offer on these books.

Libraries welcome children, so get into the habit of using the library with your child. There are often story-telling sessions for children, so make the most of these. Bookshops encourage you to browse – and in the larger ones, you can even enjoy a coffee while your children look at the books!

There are reading lists on our web site to interest everybody. Babies and toddlers love to hear their favourite stories over and over again – and woe betide you if you try to skip a page! The number of books for this age is limitless, but this list is just for starters…

There are lists on our site for children from babies up to the age of 11. Remember, the ages are only approximate. The lists are only a guide to a few small proportion of the fantastic range of books on offer to today's children. Hopefully, they will just give you a starting point to introduce your child to the magical world of books. These lists are for fiction books - there will be non-fiction lists to follow, as many children can be encouraged to read through non-fiction books.

All children are different; they know that they like, and remember the important thing is that they are reading. By all means, encourage your child to stretch him/herself when reading but children often do not fully appreciate certain books until they are mature enough to be ready to read them.

There is always controversy over certain series of books, and particular authors. Yes, there are series which appear trite and repetitive, but you will often find children will come to this conclusion by themselves once they have read a few books in the series, and that is the time to encourage them to move on.

I would always encourage a child to try and read a chapter or two of a book, before deciding it is not for them, but if they really don’t like it, then encourage them to look for something else. They may well come back to the book in a year or two, and thoroughly enjoy it.

Nursery rhymes

These lists and ideas are just a start. There are many more lists to come on the web site, so keep looking at this page. For suggestions on non-fiction reading, please look at non-fiction books. For subscribers only - if you have any requests for book lists on specific topics, please email me at: sarah@parentsintouch.co.uk

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