reading

Best Young Adult Books I read in 2024 – Librarian Recommended Must-Reads for Teens

Books, childrens books, reading / By Marianne Weekes

Marianne – our Reading Champion for 2025 and Boys’ school librarian is back with her review of the best Young Adult Books she read in 2024. From thrilling adventures to heartfelt coming-of-age stories, these must-reads are perfect for teens. Young Adult Books are available for children between the ages of 12 and 18, indicating that […]

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Top Ten Tips to Get Your Kids to Love Reading: Fun Strategies for Fostering a Lifelong Love of Books

1 Comment / reading / By Jen Walshaw

Inspiring children to enjoy reading and develop their literacy skills can sometimes seem a daunting task. In an age in which parents are competing with multiple screens and devices, which have been relied upon to keep children entertained while so many of us have been working from home, the challenge has become even greater. Literacy

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Audiobooks for Kids Are NOT Cheating – The Benefits of Listening

19 Comments / reading / By Jen Walshaw

Although I agree that nothing can replace the wonder of reading aloud to your children. I have been a fan of audiobooks since my boys were small.

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Top comics for ten year old boys

13 Comments / Gift Guides, reading / By Jen Walshaw

I love reading and I am so pleased to have been able to pass that love of reading on to my boys. Mini has always been a ferocious reader, but Maxi was a reluctant reader up until the last year or so. One of the things to remember as a parent is that reading doesn’t

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Engaging books for reluctant readers aged 8/9

12 Comments / parenting / By Jen Walshaw

Even though we have read to or with the boys most nights since they were born, Maxi has been a reluctant reader for as long as we can remember. However, Mini was a very early reader and has devoured books since he could read his first word. It has been really hard to find books

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The Bloggers guide to encouraging and nurturing a love of reading

42 Comments / parenting / By Jen Walshaw

I am a book lover, I always have been and it is one of the things that I have always wanted to foster in my children. We have books everywhere in The Mad House. You can not go into a room without there being books.

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From schools to shopping: Why reside in Reading?

Featured and Guest / By Jen Walshaw

Having lived and word just outside of Reading for 14 years. I have to say I love it and the fact that Maxi was born there will mean it is always close to my heart. Reading is often dismissed as merely a town on the commuter belt to London. It doesn’t feature on many tourist

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Holiday Gift Guide – Books for 7/8 Year old boys

2 Comments / reading / By Jen Walshaw

We love books and the boys are allowed to ask for books for Christmas according to our mantra:

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Discover the savage world

29 Comments / reading / By Jen Walshaw

We have so many books in the Mad House that we had to buy a new book case for Mini’s bedroom last week. Not that I am complaining. I love that he is a book worm and I really wish that Maxi would have the same relationship with books that iIni does. Both the boys

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