[00:53.20]PRESENTER: The children's book festival is coming up again soon and here to tell us all about it is the festival's organiser, Jenny Morgan.
[01:01.62]So tell us what we can expect this year, Jenny.
[01:04.79]JENNY: Well, as usual we've got five days of action-packed exciting events for children, with writers coming from all over the country getting involved.
[01:16.33]Just to give you an idea of what's on offer in the workshops, first of all, there's
a very special event called Superheroes.
[01:24.62]This is a chance for deaf children to share their reading experiences with author Madeleine Gordon, who is herself
hearing impaired.
[01:34.35]‘Just do it’ is a practical workshop led by the well-known illustrator Mark Keane.
[01:41.03]He'll take participants on a magical journey to faraway lands with an opportunity for aspiring actors to do some role play.
[01:50.88]‘Count on me’ is an inspiring and entertaining look at the issues of friendship for 13-14-year-olds.
[01:58.64]It looks at some of the friendships described in popular books and asks participants to compare these with their own experiences.
[02:07.68]‘Speak up' is part of a series of workshops on the subject of mental health.
[02:13.67]This is a creative writing workshop encouraging children to describe situations where young people experience loneliness.
[02:22.48]A recent survey revealed that children can be lonely even when they're at home with their families.
[02:29.84]‘Jump for joy', as many of you will know, is the heart-warming, best-selling story by Nina Karan about a young girl’s trip to visit her relatives in India.
[02:40.98]It recently received the gold medal at the Waterford Awards.
[02:45.60]Nina will get children to celebrate the word ‘joy’ by writing a poem.
[02:51.06]‘Sticks and stones’ is the beautifully illustrated picture book for young readers about a community who organise an African-Caribbean festival to help local children learn about their Jamaican roots.
[03:04.35]This will be a musical event where children will have the chance to play steel drums.
[03:10.32]This is bound to be very popular, so please book as soon as possible.
[03:53.04]PRESENTER: Thanks Jenny. That all sounds really interesting.
[03:56.35]I'm just wondering if you have a
favourite book you could recommend for our readers?
[04:01.80]JENNY: It’s hard to choose, but Alive and Kicking is definitely worth mentioning.
[04:07.74]You won't
have heard of the writer as it's her first book - which is really impressive.
[04:13.03]It's
basically the teenage diary of a boy from Somalia who comes to live in the UK.
[04:19.30]It deals with the serious issue of immigration and all the challenges the boy has to face at school and with the language barrier, etc.
[04:28.17]Usually, books like this are quite sad, but this one actually made me cry with laughter.
[04:35.40]On each page, there are simple but hilarious black and white stick drawings of the boy with his friends and teachers.
[04:42.35]At the end of each diary entry, there are new English words the boy learns each day, which may help develop some children's vocabulary.
[04:51.39]PRESENTER: I think my kids would enjoy that.
[04:53.76]What about any advice for parents on how to encourage their children to read more?
[04:59.31]JENNY: Well, this is something get asked about lot.
[05:02.98]There are so many distractions
for kids these days that it can be hard to find time for reading.
[05:08.92]One thing I'd say
is to make time to sit down with your child and share books with them.
[05:14.55]A lot of
parents give up reading aloud to their children as soon as they learn to read
independently, but this is a mistake.
[05:22.26]It's good to read more advanced books to
them as ithelps to develop their vocabulary.
[05:27.75]If you don't have time for this, then
let them listen to audio books.
[05:32.19]Often, they'll want to read books they've listened to for themselves.
[05:36.27]I think it's a good idea to make a mental note of the type of books your child is reading - often they just read the same genre all the time,
which can get a bit boring.
[05:46.91]You can introduce new authors and genres to them.
[05:50.29]Librarians should be able to help you with this.
[05:53.05]PRESENTER: Well Jenny, I think that’s really useful ...
