It is certainly a dispiriting sign when we have to question whether we are members of a literate generation and, as a consequence, whether literature and reading still have a prominent and valued place in our society. From a personal perspective I was lucky to be brought up in a household where there was a great deal of emphasis and tradition placed on the necessity and importance of reading and writing, two features of my life that are now irreplaceable and have proved to be invaluable. What causes me the most anguish is to hear people uttering the claim that they 'don't bother with reading the book when there's a film of it to be watched' or to start ...  Read the complete review

I write this opinion from both the point of view of a parent and a teacher. I studied English at degree level and now co-ordinate the subject within a school, my specialism is in the primary age range. The National Literacy Strategy and the introduction of the Literacy Hour have gone a long way to improve literacy standards in primary school children. The good news is that the scheme is now to be extended to Key Stage 3 so that the success can be built upon. Children are now taking part in clearly structured literacy lessons on a daily basis, this can only be a good thing. I believe that schools are really making huge leaps forward in this area although it ...  Read the complete review

A few months ago I had my first glimpse of what it must be like to be unable to read when I was travelling around Eastern Europe alone. It was fun but at times it began to bug me that I couldn’t understand even the simplest signs, and that I had no one to be worried with. Not only were they in Slovakian or Hungarian or whatever, but they were only in that. In Vienna, for example, things are often explained in English, French and Italian as well as German, but not here. It was pretty scary. I am one of those people who loves to read. I read all the time, and I don’t restrict myself to books. In fact one of the things I like reading most of all, and I ...  Read the complete review

There is a big presumption that an interest in digital technology, high tech toys and television leads to a decline in a child's reading skills. In actual fact it's very hard to measure one generation of children against another in terms of literary awareness since the criteria by which we assess such things are always changing. One thing that certainly stands out in children is an ability to become familiar with reasonably complex technology or rules quite quickly. How many times have we heard the jokes about getting the seven year old to program the video recorder because dad can't quite wrap his head around it? How many kids are unfamiliar with ...  Read the complete review

Reading and writing are two of the most vital skills that we learn. We need to able to tell whether we are buying skimmed or full-fat milk at the supermarket and we need to know what time the number 3 bus will be along, for this we need to able to read. In my opinion it is never too early to start your child on the road to reading. A new baby will enjoy and benefit from the sound of your voice, when you are reading aloud your voice is animated and this will help a baby understand different moods through the tone of a voice. An older baby will enjoy looking at the pictures and very soon will be trying to turn the pages, which will help their motor skills. As ...  Read the complete review