Blog
Guest blogs
Would you like to write a blog for us? If you have a post idea that focuses on children’s books, literacy, education or parenting, send it in and we’ll see if it’s a good fit. Check out the format here.
What’s Up, Thoko!
This series by South African author Niki Daly is a collection of wonderful, every day events that occur in the life of Thoko, who lives with her Mama and beloved Gogo.
The Benefits of Paired Reading
Paired reading is a wonderful reading technique which helps children master the skill of reading. It’s not only for children who are struggling, but also helps any child improve their fluency skills.
Why Children Must Read
Why are we passionate about getting children to read? Beyond the academic reasons, reading is an invitation to think, dream, explore, adventure and become - and it’s available to everyone.
Three Creative Writing Tips
Boost your child’s creative writing skills by following these three tips: get dramatic, write what they know and touch and feel their words.
3 things NOT to tell a child learning to read
Congratulations! Your child is entering the magical world of books and will hopefully become a lifelong reader. All children learn at their own pace and encouragement and practice are vital right now. Learn what three things you should NOT say to a child learning to read.
We need free books
A family trip to the bookstore is a joy many families can't afford. Rising costs, a weakened economy and high unemployment are taking their toll. We have some suggestions for cheap and free books.
Do You Dread Reading To Your Kids?
While the benefits of reading to children are well documented, some parents dread reading time. Usually it's at the end of a long day and children know how to drag it out until you're crying at the thought of reading one more Disney Princess book. Or answering...
Kingsmead Bookfair 2019
Kingsmead Bookfair 2019 is done and dusted. It was an honour to be the curator of the children's and teen programmes of the fair this year and to get a chance to engage with authors from South Africa and abroad. While I love any bookish event there were a...
Kingsmead Book Fair 2018
As we look back on the 7th annual Kingsmead College Book Fair held in May we can only say 'yay!' for books and people who write them, read them, love them and support them. This is our third year of being involved and every year has shown huge growth and...
Inspiration from Kitty Crowther
I recently came across the name of Belgian author and illustrator Kitty Crowther in a book on Picture books. Fascinated by the fact that she was one of the youngest recipients of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2010, I had to look up her work. And what a...
The eBook debate
At one stage eBooks were the fastest growing sector of children’s publishing. It looked like it was all over for paper books, bookstores, libraries, etc. The major publishing houses were hooking up eBook and app sections...
7 Comprehension Skills
In a world overflowing with information it’s more important than ever to use comprehension skills to extract meaning from a text and be able to apply that elsewhere. Simply put, your child needs to understand what he is reading. It may sound simple, but chances...
Your Child Needs This Skill: Metacognition
Simply put, metacognition is the ability to think about thinking. Metacognition implies an understanding of your own thought process. When reading, we instinctively infer meaning, guess what the characters will do, make links between earlier texts or quiz...
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