The importance of factual books when reading together
Published on: 22 July 2024
As part of our Reading Together campaign, our Writer in Residence Rashmi Sirdeshpande shares her tips for including factual books in your reading routine.
Read the Transcript:
Hi everyone, I'm Rashmi Sirdeshpande and a children's author and I am a big supporter of BookTrust's Reading Together campaign. This is all about creating those beautiful shared moments of wonder, joy and curiosity and setting children up with a lifelong love of reading, something that we know and which the research clearly shows can make a huge difference in their lives. And when you think about reading together, think about reading all kinds of books, including factual books or nonfiction books. Now, with these books, if it's a picture book, you might be able to read it cover to cover. If it's a longer book. It might be something that you dip in and out of. Maybe you go straight to the bits that really interest you. There is so much that you can do with children's nonfiction, it's so accessible in that way, so easy to just build into your routine and imagine the joy of discovering interesting facts together and the conversations that that can spark. And I've got a few examples here just to show you what I mean.
So if you are reading a book like Treasure Hunt by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe and Gordy Wright, right, this book takes you around the world. It's got mysteries and puzzles. It talks about art, history, culture, all kinds of things. You might say, well, we'll just do a couple of spreads. So what might that look like? That might look like heading to Florence, right? You're in Florence, having a look around and maybe a couple of spreads later. Look, you're in Paris. Suddenly you've been to Florence and Paris all in one day through the pages of a book. Imagine the conversations that that might start. If you're a nature lover, you might pick a book like this one. One World: 24 Hours on Planet Earth by Nicola Davies and Jenni Desmond. A stunning book again that takes you around the world, but this time you meet all kinds of different animals. So one day you might discover the lives of elephants, and the next day you'll be looking at sea turtles. And it is. It truly is a stunning book. Look at this. Look at that. Absolutely beautiful. But again, one that you might dip in and out of. It's completely up to you.
If you have older readers, you might look at something like Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly by Greg Jenner and Rikin Parekh with extra input from Dr Campbell Price. And this is a hilarious book. Really funny art. You might do a chapter a day or a couple of chapters, or you might head straight to the bits that really interest you, completely up to you. And this is cheeky, but this is one of mine. Cash: How to earn it, save it, spend it, grow it, give it. This is by me and Adam Hayes. And it's all about money. You might say. Well, what are we interested in? What do we want to learn about? If you want to learn about setting up a business. So we head straight to that bit.
Just read those couple of pages and have a chat about them. Maybe you want to learn about businesses that do some good in the world and head straight to that bit. It is entirely up to you, but it's so easy to be able to just dip in and out of these books and just build them into your day. Imagine the things you'll discover together. Imagine the conversations that these books might spark. It really is a beautiful thing. So when you think about reading together, do consider factual books as well. They can be a joy to explore with someone else. Okay. So whatever you decide to do. Happy reading.
