Actress Tamsin Greig launches Booktime 2012 with the help of schoolchildren and some furry friends

Nine millionth book to be gifted to encourage children to develop a lifelong love of reading...

There is a saying in showbusiness that you should never work with animals and children, but today (13 November 2012) actress Tamsin Greig will do exactly that!

As part of the national launch of Booktime 2012, the award-winning free books programme for reception-aged children in England and Wales, Tamsin - who is most recently famous for her role in BBC2's Episodes series - will read the story book The Tale of a Naughty Little Rabbit to pupils at The Cathedral School of St Saviour and St Mary Overy primary school in Southwark, London.

As well as 30 primary school children, Tamsin will be joined by some furry friends from Animal Magic Mobile Zoo and honorary guest, Peter Rabbit.

This year, over 1.45 million books will be gifted to 731,000 children in their first year of school through Booktime, which aims to inspire a lifelong love of reading by encouraging families to have fun reading together. Each free book pack is a timely reminder of the continuing importance of sharing stories with children even when they have started school. Children in England will receive their book packs this autumn term. Each pack contains The Tale of a Naughty Little Rabbit, a playful and funny retelling of Beatrix Potter's original story The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published by Frederick Warne &Co., an imprint of Penguin Children's and Tim's Din, written by Monica Hughes and illustrated by Bill Ledger from the Phonics Bug series by Pearson. 

In the spring of 2013 children in reception class in Wales, starting their journey through the Foundation Phase, will receive their own Amser Llyfr / Booktime book packs. The free books for four to five-year-olds in Wales are The Tale of a Naughty Little Rabbit and Tŷ Bach Twt i Miss Trwyn Smwt, by Petr Horáček. The specially commissioned Welsh edition of Horáček's picture book is published by Rily and has been adapted by poet Mererid Hopwood. With the support of the Welsh Government, this will be the first time the free books programme has delivered books to every four to five year old in maintained schools in Wales. The programme will support one of the Welsh Government's key priorities of raising literacy standards in Wales. 

Author Jim Trelease has written extensively about the importance of shared reading in his best-selling book, The Read Aloud Handbook. He says: 'Reading aloud is pouring sounds, syllables, endings and blendings that make up words-right into the child's ear. Inside the ear rests the "listening vocabulary", a part of the brain where we store language. If you pour enough words into the listening vocabulary, it spills into the other three vocabulary pools: speaking, reading, and writing. And that explains why the children who have heard the most words succeed the most in school.'

Trelease cites American research that shows a 32 million word difference of children who have been read with versus those who have not, and says that this translates into a full year's advantage at school. 

He sums up: 'The parent who reads to a child is really taking that child on a guided tour of the places, events, and people beyond the limits of their own home. The bond that grows between the parent and child on these guided tours lasts a lifetime. Regardless of income level, reading families travel first class beyond their home.'

Tamsin Greig, mum of three children aged between eight and 13-years-old, says: 'A passion for reading is one of the greatest gifts that you can give a child. Books open doors to new worlds as well as explain the world we live in. I have loved sharing books with my children as it is so much fun - a time for closeness, laughing and talking together. They are now very eager independent readers, and keen to talk about the books they are reading themselves.

'Books that I remember very fondly are Where the Wild Things Are, the Dr Seuss books, The Magic Faraway Tree, and a special illustrated version of The Shoemaker and the Elves. With my own children, we have loved all the Dr Seuss books, especially Oh, The Places You'll Go!, Where the Wild Things Are, and the Narnia books.'

The award-winning Booktime programme is now in its seventh year and has gifted more than nine million books since it was launched in 2006.

Visit the Booktime website