Books are an invaluable tool to help kids make sense of life
Reading and telling stories with the children in your life is one of the most powerful gifts you can give them. It builds their knowledge, language ability and imagination, helping children to become motivated and curious pupils, with greater capacity to succeed at school. For more information about the
Nal’ibali ‘Story Power’ campaign or to download our benefits-of-reading handout (available in six South African languages), visit www.nalibali.org I WAS a library child. We moved around a lot when I was younger and I did not have many of my own books, so in each new town, I soon got my new set of library cards.
The libraries were mostly always small buildings away from the main road that smelled like dust and furniture polish, but for me, they were safe havens, castles against the storm.
It turns out they were also the start of my career.
I am half-way through my second decade of selling books to children and there is still magic in every day.
I believe there is such a thing as reading the right book at the right moment; finding stories to shape your story.
We are so spoilt at the moment with picture books: illustrators are giving us their best. The talent is unreal.
I often say that picture books are your child’s first introduction to art. So pick wisely when buying or taking books out in the library.
Look for books with more detailed and challenging imagery, so that your child can also spend time reading the book through the pictures.
We live in very visual times and books have to compete with so much other media for our children’s attention, but I believe they can easily do this with enough encouragement.
Of course the tricky part of books and little ones is that they cannot read the story yet, so you as the parent, or the gogo, have to make time to read to them.
Reading together is precious time invested.
I can still hear my Grade 6 school librarian reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory out loud to us every week; the suspense!
As a bookseller, I sometimes have only a brief conversation with a child to pick up on who they are and what they need in their next book, a bit like a doctor I suppose.
I look for clues and symptoms and then I see which books I can recommend to remedy the need.
There are so many answers to our messy lives in the pages of books that you cannot start early enough to introduce young minds to the power and magic and promise of so many great things.
Verushka Louw is a children’s bookseller, who works at an independent bookshop in Cape Town, The Book Lounge.
She collects different editions of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and alphabet books.
ý Nal’ibali is driven by Praesa, 2015 laureate of the world’s largest award for children’s literature and reading promotion, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.