Back to school - not yet surely...

It's the last day of July and the shops and internet adverts have decided it's back to school season already - so what happened to the summer holidays? What happened to lets play in a paddling pool, go for a swim, play on the beach  or just sit back and read a book...?

Seasonal merchandising:

I have become an observer of what is currently in the seasonal isle of supermarkets - and I'm not talking about the obvious ones like Christmas and Easter, which, although they pop up way too early, at least have their place. But my interest is in the times in between when retailers don't know what to push next...

The most amusing time to look down the seasonal isle is just after Christmas when all sorts of random things can crop up, my favourite being dog baskets - now I'm not sure that dog baskets have a season, unless they're targeting the people who, against all current advice, dared to get a dog for Christmas - because believe it or not, some people can get a pet for Christmas and still want it for life...

On the Eve of August, shouldn't we be promoting fun and leisure, instead of all the things we need to buy in a month or so's time? Life is an adventure, and the classroom isn't the only place where children learn. We all learn by experiencing things,doing new things, and reading a book for pleasure, not just because somebody told us to.

Summer reading, and teaching kids a love of books

It's the summer holidays at last - time to read a book, read aloud and share books...

I still remember one summer holiday many years ago when reading finally clicked for me. It was The Faraway Tree, yes like many of my generation I was brought up on Enid Blyton, but The Faraway Tree was the first one that I devoured by myself. Reading had been a bit of a struggle, not helped, I suspect by Janet and John books which were surely written to put everyone off reading...?

But once I started reading The Faraway Tree the struggle of reading was left far behind, and I was part of the story, going up that tree and meeting the magical people who lived in it. And that's what a truly good book does - it welcomes you in and the characters become your friends. 

And since then I've read many books, and some even envelop me in the same way as I enjoyed that summer, but not all... I've learnt that not every book will be one that I want to live in - but every so often it happens, and when it does it's worth the search: and it's not always the high brow or the classics, right now it's Bridget Jones Beyond all Reason, which is surely a modern day classic. I've loved the films and read the books after the films, and now there's the new book: Bridget Jones Mad about the boy, which is sitting on my bookshelf waiting...