Getting your kids back in the reading habit

You know you were born in a different era when you look at wallpaper and think not so much of feature walls but of schoolbooks.

Wed, 06 Aug, 2014 - 01:00

Caroline O’Doherty

But the ubiquitous schoolbook covering that had mums and kids performing clumsy acts of origami in the closing weeks of the summer holidays wasn’t the only potent reminder that the new school term was looming.

According to a survey by Easons, the next sure sign that the fun times were coming to an end was when, after weeks of staying up late and having pillow fights until midnight, a normal bedtime was reinstated.

The other top memories people of a certain vintage have of the annual return to school were: Mammy going on a stationery shopping spree; sewing name labels on to all new school-related belongings; leaving the pile of new school books on the kitchen table; and picking up (and hiding) shiny new shoes from Clarks.

Using wonderweb to turn up hems on the two-sizes-too-big uniform was also recalled a vivid back-to-school memory, as was the appearance of the family camera on the mantelpiece in preparation for the first-day-back photo.

And then there was the stocking up of the fridge with Penguin bars, and the fact that, when the day finally arrived, she (sob) hugged you for that little bit longer.

Eason are trying to add a new memory for current-day back-to-schoolers, encouraging them to get back in the habit of reading before classes restart, and in doing so, they’ve compiled a list of top reads they say will help any child gone native over the summer to get back to their books.

The recommendations are:

For ages 5 to 8:

-The BFG by Roald Dahl

-Butterfly Lion, Michael Murpurgo

-The Giggler Treatment, Roddy Doyle

-Horrid Henry series, Francesca Simon

For ages 9 to 12:

-Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian

-Danny the Champion of the World, Roald Dahl

-Skulduggery Pleasant series, Derek Landy

-Harry Potter series, JK Rowling

-Hetty Feather, Jacqueline Wilson