Ms. Angela Choi, Social Worker

Hong Kong Christian Service Cheung Wah Child Care Centre

Our sincere thanks to Bring Me A Book Hong Kong (BMABHK) for setting up a Bookcase at our Centre’s library corner in November 2016. With the generous donation from Mrs. Brenda Ka Yee Tse of quality children’s books, parents were encouraged to read with their children after school at our library corner. There was a significant increase in the number of books borrowed from our library corner, with over 700 books borrowed each year.

The themes of the books resonated particularly well with our special needs children, as the topics included different emotions, family relationships, humour and were interactive. Through reading the books together, the parents were able to improve their child’s attention span, organizational skills, logical thinking and self-initiative. BMABHK also replenished 80 new books to our Bookcase in August 2018.

We have also been conducting the First Teachers™ Training workshops for parents since 2016. We were so moved to see that the training program had enabled our parents to set up a volunteer team themselves. Not only have they been able to help their children develop strong reading habits, they also hold regular meetings to discuss books and share stories in the form of drama for children at our Centre. The parent volunteer team has also designed unique pop-up storybooks with different textures in order to stimulate the children’s five senses.

In addition, parents have visited the public libraries more frequently in order to expand the reading resources for their children. Parents were so grateful for BMABHK’s valuable resources which enabled them to cultivate a positive reading atmosphere at home. Some parents told us that they would bring along books with them and read with their children even when they visit the park. This attracted other children to join in the storytelling fun, deepening the impact of the program into the community.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to BMABHK and Mrs. Tse for their support, especially the book selection which has inspired us a lot! We look forward to our future collaboration to bring positive change for children with special needs through reading.

Mrs. So, Participant of First Teachers Training

Hong Kong Christian Service Cheung Wah Child Care Centre

Mrs. So joined Hong Kong Christian Service Cheung Wah Special Child Care Centre in 2016 when the Centre first became the recipient of Bring Me a Book’s Bookcase, generously donated by Mrs. Brenda Ka Yee Tse. As such, Mrs. So was one of the first batch of parents to receive the First Teachers™ Training at the Centre.

Before joining the First Teachers Training, I felt very frustrated and helpless when teaching my daughter who has ADHD, visual impairment and is also weak in communication. After participating in the training, I realized the importance of parent-child reading. Before that, I knew nothing about picture books or even where the public library was. And now, I know how to choose good books for my daughter, different authors’ styles and how to share stories with her. I carry picture books everywhere for my daughter to read during our free time. Gradually, she has successfully developed a good reading habit. Parent-child reading has also brought significant changes for my daughter – she has made great improvement in her comprehension level, socio-emotional skills, logical thinking and vocabulary understanding.

There was an occasion when my daughter was asked by a stranger on the train what happened to her eyes. She felt sad about her weakness. I comforted her by reading Todd Parr’s “It’s Okay to be Different” and emphasized that every person is unique with different strengths and weaknesses. I strongly believe that picture books are the most precious gifts for children!”

A heartfelt thanks to Bring Me a Book and Mrs. Tse for their support to parents like me - providing me with the chance to understand the importance of parent-child reading and to access quality children’s books.

Miss Hui, Teacher

S.K.H. Kindly Light Church Or Pui Cheung Kindergarten Nursery

Our school first joined Bring Me a Book’s library and First Teachers Training program in 2015. Since then, our students have enjoyed reading more quality picture books from the library generously donated by Deutsche Bank Hong Kong.

Most of our parents are not well-educated so they did not have much confidence to read with their children. However, their confidence increased significantly after joining the training as they were equipped with many new storytelling skills and strategies to engage their children using books. BMAB’s great selection of picture books in the library has attracted 40 per cent more parents and students to join our regular morning reading sessions.

Staff from Deutsche Bank and BMAB’s network also kindly volunteered their time to read with our students regularly. Some of the volunteers were native English speakers which provided more authentic opportunities for our students to practice their English listening, reading and speaking skills. The extended arts and crafts activities also stimulated our students’ creativity and confidence. We were especially thrilled to see such a positive change in the more reluctant readers. We still display some of their lovely home-made books to inspire other students.

We are very grateful to Bring Me a Book Hong Kong for donating more new books to our school in 2018. Our teachers use them frequently to read aloud with the students to enhance their learning and language skills in fun and creative ways.

Miss Tammy Yeung, School Librarian

Man Kiu Association Primary School

Our library became a popular and attractive place for our students since we installed Bring Me a Book’s Book Bag Library two years ago. The quality of the books has enriched our library collection significantly. At the opening ceremony, the volunteer team from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who were also the donor of the library, read the book “The Lorax” with our students. Their lively and interesting storytelling skills made our students love the book so much that they rushed to the library to borrow it afterwards! BMABHK also replenished new books which has attracted more students to visit the library to read books during recess and after school.

Our sincere thanks to BMABHK for bringing overseas renowned authors and illustrators to our school. The visits have broadened our students’ horizons and enhanced their reading interest. The story sharing and fun presentations by Bei Lynn and David Schwartz definitely inspired our students a lot!

In addition to the wonderful library, our school also benefited a lot from the First Teachers Training Program. The interactive workshop enabled both our Chinese and Non-Chinese parents to understand the importance of parent-child reading. It also inspired our teachers to improve their teaching methods. Parents no longer need to look everywhere for good books - they just go to our school library and borrow a “book bag” to bring home and read with their children.

We are so thrilled to see our students enjoy reading whilst also learning so much from the books. For example, the students were exploring the topic “Festivals” and it was clear that they learnt far more effectively from reading interesting picture books than the traditional teaching methods.

Thanks again to Bring Me A Book Hong Kong and Bank of America Merrill Lynch - we hope we can continue working together to promote the love of reading in the community.

Philo Alto

Joined our Family Membership program in 2017

I have known about BMAB’s great work for a number of years now and have been impressed with its growing social impact in the Hong Kong community over time. As parents to a five-year old boy, my wife and I appreciate BMAB’s membership program, well-curated Chinese and English books and its friendly staff offering customized suggestions on age-suitable books that we enjoy reading together! In addition, BMAB also brings in overseas education thought leaders from time to time to help HK stay current on best practices for reading as well as parent-child bonding.

Yeeling Wan

Volunteer

I volunteer with BMAB in two ways: 1) On my own time (such as assisting with their events) 2) Through my employer as corporate sponsor (fund raising, book case donation and reading to the kindergarten where the book case is based, venue sponsorship, etc.) Before I was involved with BMAB, I was uninformed and unaware of the importance of reading with children. Now I am a true convert!

Cherry Au

Volunteer for Bring Me a Book since 2017

It has been a wonderful experience being a volunteer for BMABHK this past year. Their mission and values really match with my belief – to have more parents reading with their children. I think encouraging fathers especially to spend time reading with their child provides a unique opportunity for them to talk about things that matter and to share their thoughts and emotions. BMAB promotes reading to parents at a deeper level. If parents want to build up their children’s reading habits, they should start to read to their babies from birth.

Moreover, I’m impressed with the idea of BMAB bringing people from different areas of society to promote the benefit of reading with children - from kindergarten to secondary school, from local schools to international schools. BMAB also invites businesses to participate in the reading projects. The team at BMAB invest a lot of time and effort on arranging and coordinating the promotion of reading.

I have found so much joy and meaning through supporting BMAB’s team to run reading projects in the community. I have witnessed first-hand the commitment from the entire team to help the children and different groups of families in the community within their limited budget. As a volunteer at BMAB, I have learnt so much and feel that I’m being treated as one of their team members.

Angie’s Mom

joined our Family Membership program in 2018

The first time I learnt about Bring Me A Book Hong Kong was through a volunteer event with my employer Morgan Stanley at their office in Central. I was impressed that there was such a nice place in the centre of the business district where people could enjoy reading. We became Family Members of BMABHK, not only because I’m keen on igniting a love of reading in my children, but also because of all the great work that BMABHK has been doing. Together with my children, we experience wonderful stories, appreciate beautiful paintings, and enjoy the happiness brought by reading. It has been a joyful and memorable journey. Now, I’m so grateful that my two children will pick up the books they like and read on their own from time to time.