Reading is not a sport. You won’t find it at the Olympics. But you can be an Olympian Reader if you train for it and work at it.
Where do I get the books?
This is the hard part, especially if you live in a rural area, or one where there are few (or no) reading resources. Libraries (if there is one near enough) are the places to get books. But we don’t have enough libraries. Some people, and some communities, are making their own libraries, one book at a time – because reading is IMPORTANT. They call them Do it Yourself Libraries – DIY!
Here is a quote from somebody who works every day to help children and young people read. Her name is Sindisiwe Zulu:
‘South Africa has ten million school children attending schools without libraries. Also, very few public libraries exist in Soweto where I live. But now I am working in a private DIY community library and at four neighbourhood primary schools where I bring books and teach reading and love of books. Without literacy, the children are lost.’
Sindisiwe Zulu (30 years-old) is a volunteer worker attached to the Soweto Book Café (a privately owned and managed DIY Library)
Quote supplied by Johannesburg-based Cross-Border Books NPO, contact David.Robbins@mweb.co.za +27 (0)82 7878099
Children’s Book Network
We help where we can by putting collections of books together that we believe will interest YOU – the reader. There is also a handbook in each of our twelve themed collections with about a hundred stories, poems and non-fiction articles that were written specially for South Africa’s children and young people.
They come in a handy bookbag that keeps them all safe and together and they are chosen and written around a theme. In this bookbag, the theme is Bravery.
There are twelve themes in the whole project, and they spread over three years of reading. (You can go faster if you want to!) And … you will find games and activities to add to your reading skills.
Illustration: Photo of Reading toolboxes and web link
The most important things that reading does
- Reading brings you new ideas
- Reading makes you think
- Reading helps you imagine (anything)
- Reading is the gateway to other worlds
- Reading is cool, reading is fun, reading makes you laugh!
READING is really important! Try it!
