Book Trust: Time to Read Campaign plus Children’s Book Bundle Giveaway

by thenibecamemum

** Collaboration with Booktrust. Some of the featured books were gifted. However all views and opinions are my own


Those who know me will know that I’m a huge advocate of reading with your children from a young age (in the womb for us!). Therefore, I’m delighted to be taking part in BookTrust’s popular campaign – Time to Read – which encourages families to read together more often.

What is the Time to Read Campaign?

From 17th September until the 23rd September, Booktrust will be launching their third Time to Read campaign which aims to encourage parents to read with their children and promotes the benefits of doing this. Over the next week, they will be sharing a range of exciting activities including downloadable resources. As well as this, @Booktrust will also be holding a Twitter party on Thursday 20th September 8-9pm!

Time to read campaign twitter party

Also, as part of the campaign, Booktrust will be delivering 700,000 copies of Little Monkey by Marta Altes to reception aged children across England! To find out more about this year’s book or for your chance to win your own bundle of Macmillan Children’s books, read below.

So Why Read?

In our household, reading is a daily occurrence and my little one’s room is full to the brim with illustrated books. 

For us, reading a book isn’t just part of a bedroom routine to settle children down for sleep. Reading is about inspiring them and creating ideas. It’s about broadening their imaginations. It’s about fun!

Did you know that children who read tend to perform better at school? I cannot stress to the pupils I teach just how important it is. Reading expands vocabulary, fills children with ideas and encourages independent thinking. And what’s more, shared reading is a great way to bond with your child so why wouldn’t we do it?

Reading Helps in Difficult Situations

As well as developing imagination and vocabulary, illustrated books can help in some of the most difficult situations. I have written previously about books which help children to understand their emotions. More recently, I found myself turning to Julia Donaldson’s The Paper Dolls to tackle the issue of death.

Paper dolls front cover

Fortunately for us, we had not found ourselves having to explain that somebody had died. Instead, we were faced with the news that my mum had been diagnosed with cancer. Her outlook, at the time, was unknown. Once this devastating news had set in, my thoughts turned to my toddler who absolutely dotes on his Nana. What if the worst was to happen?! How do you explain death to somebody so young? That’s when I remembered ‘The Paper Dolls’.

The Paper Dolls follows a little girl playing with her paper chain dolls until the dolls suddenly meet an untimely end. In a very child friendly way, the book explains how the paper dolls go into the little girl’s memory along with a selection of lost and broken items, and a very kind granny. For me, this is an extremely delicate way of explaining where things go when they’re gone.

Paper dolls Inside Book

After reading the book, we often talk about things that have gone into our memory like his toy truck that didn’t survive the fall down the stairs or his ball which disappeared over the fence, never to be seen again. It is all very simplistic but at 2 years old, that’s all it needs to be. It’s the understanding that these things are gone and they will not be coming back – except in our memories. 

Paper dolls chain

Macmillan Children’s Book

As part of our involvement in the campaign, we were sent four beautifully illustrated books including this year’s featured book Little Monkey by Marta Altes. 

Each book is packed with bright, detailed images which bring the book to life and offer lots of talking points. We enjoyed talking about all the oddly named creatures that passed through the Ministry of Silly Animal Names in ‘You’re Called What?!’ By Kes Gray. Each animal was fantastically drawn by illustrator Nikki Dyson and peaked curiosity in my little reader (and me!).

It’s called what

The second book, ‘Vera Jewel is Late for School’ by Nicola Kent, is such an attractive, colourful book which follows Vera’s unsuccessful attempts to get to school. Each page is crammed with illustration which tells the story excellently.

 Illustrated book

‘I am an Artist’ by Marta Altes, yet again, offers detailed illustrations which compliment the story. This one made me laugh as it follows a little boy who thinks he’s an artist. However, his mum has a slightly different interpretation of his art…mess! I love how the pictures allow the reader to interpret the story for themselves, encouraging independent thinking.

I’m an artist book

The final book, and definitely our favourite, is the Time to Read featured book Little Monkey by Marta Altes. The book is about Monkey who decides to be brave and climb the tallest tree. Through each page, the illustrations tell the story showing his journey along the way. My little one loved trying to spot the naughty tiger in the later pages of the book.

Little monkey book

Reading with toddler

Giveaway to Win Macmillan Children’s Book Bundle

We’re giving away a Macmillan Children’s book bundle to one lucky reader. The bundle will include the four books featured in the Time to Read campaign (as seen below). All you have to do is enter via Gleam below:

Time to read campaign giveaway

Don’t forget to take part in the Twitter party for the Time to Read campaign on Thursday! You can also share your reading adventures using @booktrust and #TimetoRead

Visit booktrust.org.uk for more information.

Children’s Book Bundle

 

90 comments

Anthony Harrington 17th September 2018 - 5:49 am

we love reading, books are so very important, lovely giveaway

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:39 pm

They really are 🙂

Reply
Margaret Clarkson 17th September 2018 - 6:34 am

The books sound fabulous – thank you for such a great write up.

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:40 pm

They’re lovely books! 🙂

Reply
Katie 17th September 2018 - 6:55 am

Reading is so important. These are lovely books! My niece and nephew would love them.

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:41 pm

Ahh they’re fab. I’m sure they would 🙂

Reply
Lorna Ledger 17th September 2018 - 9:38 am

I love The book Trust! What a wonderful giveway

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:53 pm

It’s such a great charity, isn’t it? 🙂

Reply
gemma hendry 17th September 2018 - 9:44 am

these books look fab for my daughter

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:54 pm

They’re lovely books! 🙂

Reply
Pat Healy 17th September 2018 - 9:45 am

Great blog. Be there on Thursday.

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:54 pm

Great! See you there 🙂

Reply
iain maciver 17th September 2018 - 11:39 am

perfect giveaway the kids will love

Reply
Amy Bondoc 17th September 2018 - 12:37 pm

love reading my nieces and nepheww bedtimes stories xx so important to read to kids x

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:55 pm

It really is so important 🙂

Reply
Sarah Summers 17th September 2018 - 1:23 pm

Fab giveaway my 3 kids love to read

Reply
Jackie Dawson 17th September 2018 - 1:54 pm

What a great bundle of books, my little bookworm niece and nephew will love these!

Reply
Margaret 17th September 2018 - 2:27 pm

Wonderful way to learn and have fun Thankyou

Reply
Solange 17th September 2018 - 3:30 pm

A great book bundle. I like the sound of Little Monkey.

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:56 pm

Little Monkey is such a great choice for Booktrust’s feature book 🙂

Reply
amy Simpson 17th September 2018 - 4:06 pm

Love these books and love your blog x

Reply
thenibecamemum 17th September 2018 - 6:55 pm

Ahh thanks so much 🙂

Reply
Rachael Medley 17th September 2018 - 8:12 pm

These look fab, my daughter is just getting into books now (she’s only 7 months) and giggles when we get some books out.

Reply
thenibecamemum 19th September 2018 - 11:22 pm

Aww such a great age when they start noticing the books a bit more 🙂

Reply
Michelle Smith 17th September 2018 - 9:02 pm

A lovely collection of books my granddaughter would love to read them.

Reply
Sean Eccles 17th September 2018 - 9:30 pm

Love story time with the kids

Reply
Tracy Newton 18th September 2018 - 8:35 am

These books sound fantastic. I am planning to do a book advent calendar this year. Reading a different book each night in December

Reply
thenibecamemum 19th September 2018 - 11:23 pm

This is such a good idea!

Reply
Pippa Ainsworth 18th September 2018 - 9:37 am

The Book Trust do such a brilliant job, my children have enjoyed every single pack they have received and some of the books are still favourites now!

Reply
thenibecamemum 19th September 2018 - 11:24 pm

They do! They always pick fantastic feature books.

Reply
Sally Collingwood 18th September 2018 - 9:48 am

These books look great to sit and read with the children then try and get them to read them back to me. Learning to read at an early age is so very important.

Reply
Isabell Whitenstall 18th September 2018 - 10:59 am

I love books to read to my grandchildren, they love it too.

Reply
Abigail 19th September 2018 - 10:19 am

We all love reading in this family, it’s such an important thing for kids 🙂

Reply
Rebecca Mercer 19th September 2018 - 1:42 pm

Great giveaway

Reply
Catherine Bullas 19th September 2018 - 10:37 pm

They’re lovely books.

Reply
Susan Smith 20th September 2018 - 9:08 am

These look wonderful books for little ones, love the colourful illustrations

Reply
Danielle Spencer 20th September 2018 - 11:06 am

Would love to win these fab books for my nephew, he loves books.

Reply
Chris Andrews 21st September 2018 - 7:08 am

l love books and my grandsosns have inherited this love of books from me

Reply
Ruth Harwood 21st September 2018 - 7:36 am

We love to read together, it’s fun, a great bonding tool, and the kids learn well from it xx

Reply
Maggie Ali 21st September 2018 - 10:59 am

You can never have too many books! Lovely giveaway 🙂

Reply
thenibecamemum 21st September 2018 - 7:16 pm

Absolutely agree 🙂

Reply
janine atkin 22nd September 2018 - 11:24 am

id love this for my nephew who loves books

Reply
Christine Caple 22nd September 2018 - 11:55 am

I’m sure my granddaughter would love these books

Reply
Kim Neville 22nd September 2018 - 5:20 pm

Lovely range of books. My kids enjoy reading 🙂

Reply
Hannah Louise smith 22nd September 2018 - 6:33 pm

We love our books on a night time this would be so wonderful. Thank you x

Reply
Louise Clarke 23rd September 2018 - 5:47 am

I think its so important to encourage children to read from an early age

Reply
Jodie W 23rd September 2018 - 7:39 am

We love books in this house. My son is just starting to read too

Reply
Michelle Ferguson 23rd September 2018 - 8:07 am

These would be perfect for my youngest nephew

Reply
Amy Denney 23rd September 2018 - 8:44 am

My daughter loves me reading her books, she likes to tell me what is going on by the pictures which is very clever for just turning 4. Fab giveaway. Thanks x

Reply
Amy Denney 23rd September 2018 - 8:47 am

My daughter loves me reading her books, she likes to tell me what’s going on by the pictures which is very clever for just turning 4. Fab Thanks x

Reply
Lindsey Stuart 23rd September 2018 - 11:39 am

Aww this is a great bundle of books, we love our bed time stories.

Reply
sheri Darby 23rd September 2018 - 12:13 pm

What a wonderful giveaway – nothing beats books

Reply
Amanda Gregory 23rd September 2018 - 1:59 pm

Thank you for a really lovely giveaway.

Reply
jade bremner 23rd September 2018 - 3:12 pm

my two year old is a total book worm we always need more books

Reply
Donna Caldwell 23rd September 2018 - 4:08 pm

We love our bedtime stories it’s a great time just to relax and wind down

Reply
Rachel Craig 24th September 2018 - 12:23 am

Wonderful prize package.

Reply
Susan B 24th September 2018 - 3:10 am

A fabulous bundle of books. The illustrations are brilliant.

Reply
Jazmin Cooper 24th September 2018 - 3:30 am

Reading is so important to children ❤️? my kids would love this x

Reply
Laura Turner 24th September 2018 - 8:08 am

My god-daughter’s just started to read on her own. There’s something magical about seeing her disappear into a corner quietly with a book.

Reply
A.E. ADKINS 24th September 2018 - 8:42 am

Fabulous book giveaway, its so important for kids develop good habits to enjoy reading and books early on

Reply
Samantha Atherton 24th September 2018 - 9:16 am

Reading is so important isn’t it, we read a lot in our house too. You’re called what?! is one of my of my daughters favorites & I like the little fact section at the back. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve borrowed it from the library this year, she’d love her own copy.

Reply
Lynn Neal 24th September 2018 - 11:00 am

A lovely selsction of books to share with my grandchildren!

Reply
Sandra Fortune 24th September 2018 - 12:52 pm

Lovely set of books my little grandson has just started school so reading together as much as we can and we do lots of crafts

Reply
Michelle Corbett 24th September 2018 - 3:09 pm

My girls love there books and this looks fab x

Reply
Kay Broomfield 24th September 2018 - 5:00 pm

I love reading do and with my children so this would be great!

Reply
Adrian Bold 24th September 2018 - 5:38 pm

Thanks for the great prize and competition. Good luck everyone!

Reply
Teresa sheldon 24th September 2018 - 8:19 pm

What a fab bundle of books William and Ava love their books

Reply
Paula Tarling 24th September 2018 - 9:29 pm

My little girl loves reading xx

Reply
Andrea F 24th September 2018 - 9:30 pm

Gorgeous books!

Reply
Tee Simpson 24th September 2018 - 10:15 pm

They sound fabulous. My daughters would enjoy them.

Reply
Lucy Chester 25th September 2018 - 6:45 am

It is so important to share books with children when they are young and learn to love them.

Reply
Maria Jane Knight 25th September 2018 - 8:56 am

Such beautifully illustrated books! The perfect additions to my son’s book case x

Reply
Jeanette Leighton 25th September 2018 - 9:28 am

Lovely giveaway thankyou for the opportunity to win

Reply
Rachael Sexey 25th September 2018 - 9:29 am

Wow these books look amazing. Thank you for the chance to win ?

Reply
Claire 25th September 2018 - 9:53 am

Love reading , can’t get enough books?

Reply
Lisa Hall 25th September 2018 - 10:07 am

Fab giveaway, my grandchildren would love having these in their ever growing book collection.

Reply
paula cheadle 25th September 2018 - 10:14 am

my granddaughter loves reading

Reply
Kirsteen Mackay 25th September 2018 - 10:44 am

I love having a house full of books and children’s books are the best. So much colour, fun and simple delights. My children all love books and reading together is a very important part of our lives.

Reply
Kate Davies 25th September 2018 - 12:02 pm

We’re a big family of bookworms so love reading but it does have to compete with electronics with most children these days so it’s always good to see anything encouraging children to read

Reply
thenibecamemum 25th September 2018 - 6:49 pm

Definitely! I’m constantly on a mission to encourage the children I teach to pick up a book instead of their electronics at home 🙂

Reply
jackie beckett 25th September 2018 - 12:37 pm

Books are a very important part of our house ,my daughters loved reading and being read to and now there daughters do to

Reply
Laura Claridge 25th September 2018 - 5:17 pm

My Daughter loves to read – her favourite book is The Gruffalo 🙂

Reply
thenibecamemum 25th September 2018 - 6:47 pm

Oo we like this one in our house too 🙂

Reply
Hayley Todd 25th September 2018 - 6:55 pm

We absolutely treasure books and reading in our home, and always make sure that we read to our girls everyday, it’s so important.

Reply
Dawn McBride 25th September 2018 - 7:49 pm

Lovely book bundle. We love reading in our house, we have always done it and I have to say the kids love it. My eldest is a fantastic reader and I know my youngest is going to be the same. At the moment she likes to look at pictures and make her own story up.

Reply
Amanda tanner 25th September 2018 - 7:56 pm

This would be great for for nefew when he’s abit older.

Reply
Tricia cowell 25th September 2018 - 8:30 pm

I love reading with my Grandson

Reply
Danielle Graves 25th September 2018 - 8:50 pm

I have always loved to read and it’s very important to me that my son shares that love. We have lots of books but I’m always happy to add more!

Reply
Lia Burns 25th September 2018 - 10:07 pm

Lovely books, my children love reading x

Reply
Fiona jk42 25th September 2018 - 10:25 pm

know that my granddaughter and I would enjoy reading these books together.

Reply

Leave a Comment

* By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More