Children from a local primary school have been talking about their love of reading.
Juno (8) said she often reads at home with her older brother, Rafa, who she says is “obsessed with history – he’s basically our history encyclopaedia”.
She says one of the best things with books is the seemingly “infinite” number of them.
“You don’t just stop with one book – there’s always more to read,” she adds.
Juno says her favourite books are the ‘Bunny vs Monkey’ graphic novel series.
Guy (8) also loves the series. He explains that it follows a rabbit trying to protect his woodland home from an “evil” monkey and his sidekick, Skunky – a scientist skunk.
“Skunky makes all these evil inventions and Monkey uses them in really silly ways to try and take over the world,” Guy explains. “But Bunny and his friends are trying to stop him.”
‘Read the book first’
Their classmate Heron (8) says he loves ‘The Wild Robot’ – a graphic novel about a robot stranded on the wrong planet.
It’s been made into a movie, but Heron says he’s glad he read the book first.
“If there’s a famous movie, most people watch the movie first, but I always tell them to read the book before you see the film,” he adds.
The children, who all attend St Martin’s Primary School, were speaking after a special assembly to mark the start of the National Year of Reading – a UK-wide campaign to help people “rediscover the joy of reading”.
The school’s Deputy Head, Jon Lilley, said books could give children “a window into a different world”.
‘Read in front of children’
Speaking at the school, Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel told Express she “devoured books from a young age”.
She said: “I find the idea of just going into a whole different world incredible.
“It just takes you away from your problems, but also you just learn so much about life and the universe and everything.”
There was also “something quite meditative” about reading, she said.
“You stop thinking about other things and you’re just there in that world.”
Deputy Hansmann Rouxel said it was important for adults to read books in front of children to “model” the habit.
“We spend so much time on our devices, but children can’t see if we’re reading an article or scrolling social media,” she explained.
“They need to see us holding a physical book, so they learn it’s normal.”