Read A New Book Month so Let's Celebrate!

 What a wonderful way to welcome spring in – September is also known as Read A New Book Month! To celebrate, all you need to do is pick up that book you’ve been meaning to start and finish it by the end of the month.

But for added fun we challenge you to pick up a book outside of your favourite genre. Are you a romance reader? Maybe have a look at some contemporary fiction suggestions. Or maybe biographies are more your cup of tea? Try out a fictional read instead and let your imagination run wild on the adventure.

Check out the Harper Collins Blog for September 2021 - 

https://www.harpercollins.com.au/blog/2021/09/

Enjoy some down time - reading is good for the soul and the blood pressure!

'Read a New Book' Month

The month of September is 'Read a New Book' month - so now is the time to pick up that novel you have been eyeing off, or grab that DIY manual that you bought, and finish off that project, or even a technical manual to help you get the most out of that new gadget you bought.  

When you crack open the pages of a book, you find yourself caught up in a new world of events and characters - or just a world of  information.   The best books - yes, even instructional manuals, lead you through a storyscape that builds and shares with you the vision of the author, no matter if it is a world in a galaxy far, far away, or how to build your own 'whatever'.  (And we all need new 'whatevers'!)

Read a Book month is there to encourage you to read as many books as you can in your life - which translates to living MANY lives, learning new things and opening your mind up to new ideas and philosopies.  

How to celebrate??  Read, read and READ!  Read new books, try new authors, investigate new genres, learn new things and new ideas.  

As George R.R. Martin said in 'A Dance with Dragons' - "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.  The man who doesn't read lives only one"

World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud day is in place to motivate, children, teens and adults to celebrate the POWER OF WORDS.

This global literacy movement is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to ALL PEOPLE! And no-one has the power to take it away from you!

World Read Aloud day asks everyone to celebrate the day by grabbing a book, finding an audience, a buddy, or even your furry friend, and reading out loud. (To be honest, my furry friends prefer me to be reading a can of cat food - but they are good enough to sit still for a while and listen.)

Why is reading aloud important? A 2015 study found that children are exposed to a larger vocabulary from picture books read aloud, than from conversations with adults. This appears to be because we tend to speak with the same 5000 most popular words; while books - even picture books - are more likely to use words outside of that popular 5000. (This also demonstrates my point about how important picture books are, no matter your age) The other point that came through clearly in the study was that children who are read to, are far more likely to become lifelong readers.

Although World Read Aloud Day has previously been celebrated on March the 5th - this year it was moved to February 5th. However, don't let that stop you ... we can celebrate it on March 5th or any other day that appeals.