Tag: literacy

  • Forget writing and arithmetic – Reading is the one and only core skill

    Reading is the the most difficult skill most of us will ever set out to master. I used to worry about repeating myself but, when writing stories for very young readers, I love repeating words and phrases, twisting them gently to create new, surprising meanings with the same jumble of words and letters. It helps…

  • The first book that I read on my own

    I love it when parents tell me that the first book their child read all on their own was one of mine. Often the book they mention is the Ginger Ninja. They tell me how reluctant the children were to read but, for some reason, this was the one that grabbed their attention. I remember very…

  • The Summer Reading Challenge

    The Summer is here and that means that over the next few months hundreds of thousands of children will be visiting libraries up and down the land, borrowing books, reading them and getting small prizes for their effort. I remember the long summer holidays going on for ever. By the time I got back to…