Passing on a passion for books
By Jo Cotterill
I grew up with books. Books in my family home lined almost every available wall and I carried a book with me everywhere. There were weekly trips to the library to replenish my stock, and whenever I visited a friend’s house where there were no books, I felt odd, like there was something wrong.
Now I write books myself – from picture books for very young children, right up to full-length teenage novels about difficult issues like depression. But I also have a three-year-old daughter, and it’s the most natural thing in the world to me to sit down and read to her.
It’s very clear whether a child likes a book or not. If my daughter is bored, she won’t sit and listen quietly; she’ll wander off or hand me another book saying, ‘This one now, please.’ Books that she loves are read over and over – and sometimes the ones she loves surprise me. We choose books together in the library, though she still gravitates to the ones with characters she recognises. I pick funny, rhyming tales alongside stories about biscuits or parties.
We read together before bedtime. We’ve always done this, right from when she was a baby and too young to understand the words. Now she runs eagerly to the box of books, taking a long time to choose the three stories she’s allowed before bed. I do silly voices and tickle her at appropriate moments. She sometimes attempts to read to me instead, with hilarious results.
We’ve read many of the classics, which she has enjoyed, but a great modern favourite continues to be Faster Faster by Nick Sharratt and Sue Heap. Sometimes she’ll ask for a book that we read only once and then took back to the library, which surprises me. You never can tell what a child absorbs from a story, which is part of the privilege of helping them to enjoy books.
Helping your children to enjoy reading is easier if you enjoy it yourself. I am frequently reading – in the bath, on the sofa, in bed – and so my daughter sees me doing it and, naturally, wants to copy. Luckily there are enough books in the world that every child should be able to find something they enjoy.
I consider it a great honour to be one of the people creating stories and books for children now and in the future. But it’s not as great as the honour of passing on a love of books to my daughter, whose inner world will expand dramatically as she finds her way through many a story.
Jo Cotterill writes the popular Sweet Hearts series, suitable for girls aged 10+. Her latest novel is Forget Me Not. She has also written many books under the name Joanna Kenrick.