“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.” ——Charles Scribner. Jr On 23rd April people around the globe will be celebrating ‘World Book Day’. The idea behind such a celebration is to promote the enjoyment that we, regardless of age, can gain from reading. It also recognises the importance of books and the role they play in forging links between the past and the future, the old and the young and between different cultures. At Hiba Nursery, we love reading and books are at the core of our educational model; they can be found not only in the library but in classrooms, shared areas and even outdoors. Books provide our young learners with a chance to escape to other worlds and encourage the development of imagination from the very beginning of their learning careers. It is fabulous to see how children start to identify their favourite books and how their vocabulary broadens with their increased exposure to different stories. Every year, we celebrate World Book Day in the nursery; dressing up as our favourite book characters, writing our own stories and reading books to our friends. Below are a couple of ideas you could try at home to celebrate the day: 1.READING DEN Have a hunt around your house for pieces of material, cushions, chairs and anything else you could use to build your own reading den. 
2.STORY TELLING Most children love to dress up as their favourite characters. The next time your child puts on one of their costumes, encourage them to have a go at retelling / acting out a story in role. You could get involved too and put together a little play to show the rest of the family. 
3.DESIGN A NEW BOOK COVER Children are surrounded by books, but they also love to make their own! Encourage your child to think of a story that they would love to read (which hasn’t been written yet) and help them to design a front cover.
One of my favourite books is ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!’ by Mo Willems. It’s about a cheeky little bird who won’t take no for an answer! I first read this book to one of my Year 1 classes five years ago and the children loved it so much, we must have read it every day for 6 months! The pigeon repeatedly asks the reader if he can drive the bus whilst the driver is gone, immediately engaging the children and giving them ownership of how the story will continue. Some of our teachers also wanted to share their favourite stories with you; maybe you’d like to read them with your families over the next couple of weeks. From: Sarah Peel – Music Specialist The Paper Bag Princess
The Paper Bag Princess takes the classic fairy-tale format and turns it on its head, as the mighty Princess Elizabeth takes on a fiery dragon to rescue Prince Ronald. This hilarious and heartfelt story challenges how we see heroism and finding true love, while still delivering the thrill of fighting dragons and saving the day. Robert Munsch, who created this story, is Canada’s most famous children’s author and storyteller. He visited my very small hometown when I was seven years old and told stories to a theatre packed with children and families. The Paper Bag Princess was already my favourite book, but that was confirmed for life when the author picked me out of the audience and used my name as he told the story to us all. You can listen to the magic of Robert Munsch telling you this story on his website here: https://robertmunsch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/126454147721na_PAPER.mp3 The book is also available in English and Chinese. It has sold more than 3 000 000 copies world wide. From：Jingwen Chen – Curriculum Co-ordinator（Chinese) Walking Meatball Brothers
"Walking Meatball Brothers" is one of my favourite children's picture books. The author is Haruo Fukami. By chance, a 5-year-old girl recommended it to me. At that moment, I was fascinated by the style of the pictures in the book. The funny and cute Meatball brothers are drawn in colour pencils. The "childish" drawing style gives readers an impression that they suit perfectly for the children's interest. Let us have a look at the content: "There is a bunch of balls left in the dish. One ball said: 'We should go out and play before we are eaten up.' So the Meatball brothers go out to play together. They go to a park, playing on the slide, and hide-and-seek with children. When they are playing happily, a big mochi monster comes, and the Meatball brothers come up with various ways to escape the danger! "The whole story can sow a seed of imagination in children’s hearts, and during the process of reading, the seed in their hearts will germinate and grow taller. At the same time, the children can appreciate the courage and strength of the Meatball Brothers in the story, and their optimistic attitude. This coincides with what we uphold here at Hiba— courage as one of our five values. Moreover, we can also talk with children our viewpoints on these characters by combining our life experiences. This is a supplement to children's perception of their immediate world and extends what they may come through in the future. From：Sarah Zhang – EY3 teacher Little Mouse’s Apple 
One of my son’s favourite stories is called ‘Little Mouse’s Apple’. The first time he heard this story he loved it because he loved the rhymes in the story. He would then go and read it independently and talked about how sharing makes people happy. If you have a favourite book, your class teachers would love to hear about it! Why not take a photo of the front cover and write or record a message to explain why you love it so much? We could use your recommendations in the library to help other children choose a book to take home.
