• Creating Bookworms in the internet age

• Creating Bookworms in the internet age

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Reading is fundamental to learning. It is even more important than ever because of the Internet age. Information is at hand with a click of the button or a swipe on the screen, even for young children. In order not to lose out, raising them to be readers at a young age provides a good start in their life long quest for knowledge.

Sarah Brennan, author of the bestselling Chinese Calendar Tales, spoke to dozens of Blooming Club members on 31 July 2014 on Creating Bookworms in the Internet Age. As an author who is passionate about promoting reading, she is often on school tours talking to children about her new books, conducting workshops on creative writing and giving talks to parents on raising children to be readers locally, in Shanghai, Beijing, South East Asia as well as her native Australia. Having raised two teenage girls who are bookworms, Sarah has personal experience in the challenges many parents face in creating book worms in an age when the electronic gadgets have become major distractions in many homes.

Here is a summary of her presentation.

＊ Why read BOOKS?

1. Books are essential to the development of the imagination

As Einstein said: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create." And with the extraordinary challenges now facing mankind, we need people with rich imaginations more than ever before.

Imagination is a muscle that needs to be exercised. If you don't use it, you lose it.

The quickest way to stimulate a child's imagination: get them to read books.

2. Reading Books creates deep and original thought

"What is so remarkable about book reading is that deep concentration is combined with the highly active and efficient deciphering of text and interpretation of meaning.…in the quiet spaces opened up by the prolonged, undistracted reading of a book, people make up their own associations, draw their own inferences and analogies, foster their own ideas. They think deeply as they read deeply." Nicholas Carr, The Shallows.

3. Reading is at the heart of good communication

• Just 5,000 words in the Basic Lexicon.
• Then there are another 5,000 less common words,
• Then after that there are the so-called "rare" words.
• The strength of our vocabulary depends on how many "rare" words we understand.
• These rare words are found most often in printed texts.
• Even a children's book contains almost double the number of rare words per thousand words than adult conversation!

4. Reading = a Prosperous, Long and Happy life!

Studies in the U.S. have proven that kids who read a lot: • Got better grades
• Stayed longer in school
• Achieved higher qualifications
• Found better jobs and held them for longer
• Were better paid
• Had a happier family life
• Enjoyed better health
• Lived a longer life
• And the same for the next generation!

＊ HOW do I make my reluctant reader into a good reader?

First check out your child's eyesight! Then:

Most of all, teach your child to associate reading books with your TIME,
your ATTENTION and your LOVE. (COPYRIGHT SARAH BRENNAN 2014)

For those who were at the event, Sarah would like to hear from you if the top tips are working at your homes. If you were not there but would like to receive a copy of the hand-out, you can also contact her at enquiries@auspicioustimes.com.