A passion for reading

If you saw some children today dressed up in funny or plain clothes , you are probably asking yourself: why are they not in their school uniforms? Is it carnival? Are they on holidays again?  The answer is today WorldBook Day  is celebrated in the UK and many schools encourage their pupils to dress up as their favourite book characters. The children take their favourite books to school and talk about their choices. They also receive National Book Tokens that can be used to pick one of eight exclusive and completely free books or they can use it to get £1 off any book. This is a great initiative to promote reading for children.

Wherever I go, I see Brits reading: on holidays, on the tube, on airplanes, on buses…. They seem to read more than any other nationality. I believe the habit develops because children in the UK are encouraged to read a lot from a very young age. The choice of children's books is incredible and there are certainly many events to boost their passion for reading.

I recently went to a fun event with my 11-year-old son: the Imagine Children’s Festival at the Southbank Centre. The event was an interview, questions and answers session followed by book signing by David Walliams, author of Ratburger. The Queen Elizabeth Hall was completely full! There were kids from a variety of backgrounds, all with a passion to read. During the same festival there were other events with children’s authors, some at the 900 seat and some at the 300 seat auditorium, but all completely sold out events.  It was quite amazing to see all those kids with their books, putting their hands up to ask questions. My son had already been to a similar event with Anthony Horowitz. When my daughter was young we met Angelina Ballerina and her author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig and also Felicity Wishes’ author Emma Thomson. My daughter still remember those encounters!

If you want to develop your child’s passion for reading, there are many other events across the UK .  You can find more information on the following websites:

http://www.bookeventsforchildren.co.uk

http://babbleabout.co.uk/events/

by Ana Beatriz Alencar

Visit the FOCUS website: www.focus-info.org