books!

So, it's kind of exciting that I'm part of the media team for the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards! 
It couldn't have come at a better time for our family, because we've gone a little off track with our book reading. First of all, I'm a BIG book lover, children's books especially. When we are op shopping, I'm always encouraging the kids to choose a book to take home over a plastic toy, they don't need too much convincing on that by the way, they love them as much as I do. There is a big basket of books in our lounge that they read and lots more in their bedrooms. Books, books, books! Our house runneth over with books! But somehow we've stopped reading them to each other, or more accurately I've stopped reading to them. The kids both have readers each night from school/preschool that they read to me or Mr Green Buttons, they are allowed to read in bed and I every night I pull books off their little asleep faces and tuck them in.So I'm not sure when the reading to them stopped, it was something that I cherished, getting cosy on the couch with a child on each knee, getting lost in a book.

But we are bringing back the book reading! Over the coming weeks I'm going to share with you some of the books we are reading from the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards finalist list and some of the activities and ideas we get from them. I hope you'll join me! You can find a list of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards finalists here. Do check them out at your local book store or library and support New Zealand writers and illustrators.