FOOTBALL READING # 2

This is the second of ten blogs about reading football - one a day in the run up to the launch of the 2011-2012 Premier League football season.

The idea is to use these ideas to encourage children to get into reading through football.

One of the best ways of getitng your children into reading is by reading to them. Or with them.

I read with my daughter now, although she usually prefers to read to herself.

But sometimes it is still nice for us to read together. And the run up to the football season is a good time to do this, because there is a common goal (excuse the pun): your excitement about the coming football.

Can you find a book in the public library, a book shop, WHSmith or even one from home that you could read together?

Maybe a short novel by someone like me or Helena Pielichaty or David Bedford. We all write books that you could read for quarter of an hour each night for a week. (There is a longer list of authors you could try on the previous blog post.)

Maybe a biography of a favourite player.

A football fact book or quiz book.

One of the many football poem collections.

It is a nice habit to get into, especially easy if you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a bit less work on in the summer and bed times are a little later.

The National Literacy Trust have done lots of research (www.literacytrust.org.uk) that proves reading with your child even after the age they can read for themselves is likely to make them do better at school, enjoy reading more, be happier and be closer to their parents.

Borrow or buy a book now and read it in the run up to the football season.