Books kids just can’t resist

GET THEM HOOKED: HUMOROUS, ADVENTUROUS, MAGICAL AND ENRICHING TALES

Reading is a skill they will need to succeed in life.

It is an all too familiar scene in the digital age: children as young as two years old swiping left-right and up-down on all manner of smart devices in search of their next entertainment fix. From the latest cartoons to – hopefully – something more cerebral such as the History Channel or National Geographic, there’s just no getting them away from smartphones or tablets.

Books have no value to these tech-savvy toddlers and yet they are not to blame, according to Sinead James, a Durban-based single mother of three boys aged eight, six and three weeks old. “With the eldest I didn’t know better and was more about keeping up with my friends, whose kids had the latest and best devices,” she says.

However, she not ic e d her son struggling with his alphabet and numerals when he started school.

“I realised that we did not have a single kiddie’s book in the house and decided to trade in all smart devices for a ‘cheapo cell’ and start getting him interested in books.” James says both her eight and sixyear-old are “bonkers about books” and they express very little interest in her cell phone, other than for the occasional word game or Candy Crush.

There is a plethora of benefits in getting your kids interested in books from an early age.

Not only does it build self-confidence, it also helps them make more sense of the world around them and gives them the skills to think logically about tricky or even dangerous situations they may find themselves in.

The Citizen has identified and reviewed a few awesome books that we are sure your kids will love.