Jackie Day, from Stoke Gifford Community Library, recently visited the children at Abacus Pre-School to celebrate National Bookstart Week, now known as Pyjamarama. The week, which is dedicated to celebrating the magic of reading for children, ran from 3rd to 9th June and Jackie visited Abacus on Thursday 6th. She read the group of excited children two stories: ‘Lucie Goose’ by Danny Baker and ‘Car, Car, Truck, Jeep’ by Katrina Charman, a copy of which was then given to each of the children.
Pyjamarama is part of Bookstart which is the world’s first national book gifting programme and has been running for over 25 years. It aims to promote and encourage families to share books, stories and rhymes as early as possible and is based on the simple premise that children who have an early introduction to books and are read to every day, benefit educationally, culturally, socially and emotionally. Bookstart has two packs; Bookstart Baby which is gifted from 0-12 months, predominantly through health visitors and Bookstart Treasure which is gifted at 3-4 years of age, through libraries, pre-schools and nurseries.
The community library, which is located in the mezzanine above the Old School Rooms Coffee Shop, has helped to distribute the Bookstart Treasure pack to pre-school-aged children across Stoke Gifford. Jackie said:
“It was a privilege to read to the children at the Abacus nursery; stories are fun, help develop language and, hopefully, a love of books. It was also a good opportunity to advertise our local community library.”
Kirsty Goodman, manager at Abacus Pre-School Stoke Gifford (based at the Poplar Rooms in North Road), said:
“A huge thank you to Jackie from the community library for giving up her time to come and read a story for our children. Jackie involved the children with the story and grasped their attention on the first page encouraging them to join in with repeated phrases. One child said: “My brother read my book to me at bedtime.”
If you have a pre-school aged child who hasn’t received a copy of ‘Car, Car, Truck, Jeep’, there are still copies available at Stoke Gifford Community Library. They also have colouring headbands and rhyme sheets available. There are also many more resources and information about how to encourage your child to read at www.booktrust.org.uk
For details on the opening times of the community library, visit www.stmichaelsbristol.org/stoke-gifford-community-library
Photo: Jackie Day, a volunteer at Stoke Gifford Community Library, reads stories to the children at Abacus Pre-School.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2019 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 22). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
