The Reading Hour - Saturday 24 August 2013

The Reading Hour is an annual initiative held on the Saturday following Book Week (each August). Designed to encourage parents and carers to read to children, it's a great excuse to grab a pile of books and get reading (not that you need one).

Children who are read to from an early age have real life advantage.
Developing a love of books expands the hearts, souls and minds of our children, and is vital for full literacy.

I'm thrilled to be both a Friend of The Reading Hour and an ACT Community Champion (Libraries ACT). In the above video, I talk about how much fun books can be, and how important it is for kids to develop a love of reading.

I'll be reading with my kids during The Reading Hour on 24 August, and will be posting each book we read, live on Instagram. I wonder what we'll be reading? You'll have to link to my feed to see... followgram.me/taniamccartney or check back on my blog for all the photos, after 8pm. Won't you join me? You can also post your own Reading Hour photos - use hashtag #readinghourPBchallenge and also #readinghour and #love2readAU.

Also, don't miss our fabulous week-long KBR Reading Hour Photo Challenge on Kids' Book Review's Facebook page from Saturday 17 August, 2013. You could *win some books from Random House! Stay tuned for more.

If you haven't already joined in, My Little Bookcase (@mylittlebookcase) is running their Instagram book-a-day photo challenge. If you need some book inspiration (not that you do!), follow along or join in the challenge. The hashtag is #mylittlebookcase, and you can find out more here.

The Reading Hour. Saturday 24 August 2013, from 5pm to 6pm. Come along and join people from all over Australia as we read to our book-loving children. Reading is a very good thing.

See www.thereadinghour.org.au for more.

*available to Australian residents only.