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It was a very rare treat to have children’s laureate Anthony Browne in town last week firing up the children’s imagination! The Shape Game is such a simple and fun way for kids and parents to encourage creativity in your child. Read more about Browne’s visit and learn how to play the shape game in Annie’s SCMP column or for live demo’s go to youtube! Annie Ho’s Weekly Column Kids go ape over shapes with award-winning illustrator Anthony Browne is a British children’s book creator whose works are loved throughout the world. Bestowed with the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000 and honoured as Britain’s Children’s Laureate in 2009, Browne is also the only author-illustrator to win the Kate Greenaway Medal twice. He has published more than 40 books and is known for his illustrations of primates, from the hauntingly beautiful beasts in Gorilla to comically expressive chimpanzees in the Willy the Wimp series. With more than a dozen books by Browne in our home, we we were excited to meet this creator of thoughtful and surreal picture books on his first visit to Hong Kong. We joined him at the Central

  刊登於經濟日報（2013年11月8日）

If I were to ask you how important is it for a student to read well, you would say it was very important. But people seem less convinced when it comes to the importance of parent-child read-aloud. I suspect that reading aloud is viewed as a leisure activity on par with taking one’s children to musical shows or going on a family nature walk. It wasn’t until I started working with Bring Me A Book that I learned that, the lower the socioeconomic class of the child, the bigger the impact of reading aloud. Parent-child read-aloud will certainly enhance a middle-class child’s development; but for underprivileged families, this activity transforms lives. There have been many studies into how linguistic patterns used in middle-class homes differ from those used in low-income homes. One study found that parents in low-income homes used imperative statements, while those in middle-class homes used discrete interrogative questions. Middle-class families use the same language patterns as schools, so their children develop the skills needed to learn the way that schools teach. More than one study has reinforced the finding that

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I regularly venture into parts of Hong Kong I would never see were it not for my work with Bring Me a Book. I visit kindergartens, primary schools and community centres. When I see the sweet and earnest faces of the children, I can’t help but wonder about their future. How many of them will break out of their economic class and stop the poverty that often gets passed from generation to generation? Many parents in these communities can barely make ends meet, yet they will spend what little they have on after-school tutorial classes for their children. They do so in the misguided belief that more tutorials lead directly to better school grades and, ultimately, success in life. The after-school classes to which I refer are not the fun-filled and stimulating activities that middle-class children enjoy. Tutorials in these communities often involve paying HK$50 for a child to sit silently for one hour, among rows of students, watching an instructor with a wireless microphone expounding academic theories. This learning environment is hardly helpful for a child who is already struggling at school. Most parents want their c

My daughter loves to play with older children, and I enjoy spending an afternoon with families with older offspring, as it gives me a glimpse of what may be in store. When my daughter was three years old, I witnessed my friend’s five-year-old son doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Rather than berate the boy, my friend calmly suggested that he think about the consequences of his action. And he stopped misbehaving. I was greatly impressed with this feat of superior parenting. My friend advised that children can be conditioned to take, or refrain from, certain actions once they have suffered consequences. Of course, the key is to carry through with the threatened consequences, or to allow the natural consequence to flow. For example, if a child is jumping around while eating his ice cream cone, don’t warn him that the melting dessert may fall onto the ground and then take it away to hold it for him. If you warn him about the consequence, you must allow him to experience it (unsafe consequences excepted) for the lesson to be learned. For weeks after that play date, I started to teach my daughter a

“It’s not about how many books children read, it’s about how many conversations they have about them!” – Diane Frankenstein Reading to our children is important but it is only one part of the equation, it’s the conversations between adult and child that encourages children to get involved in the story that is key. Questions and comments about a story model a way for children to think about a story and encourage them to read for meaning. Children who better understand what they read find more pleasure in reading. Diane will model how to start a conversation about a story using Conversational Reading, a reading comprehension strategy that makes reading an interactive experience. Conversational Reading teaches children how to ask essential questions, make connections, transfer knowledge, problem solve and to think creatively and critically. It also  supports intellectual and emotional growth  promotes language development  builds vocabulary  nurtures imagination  promotes focus and concentration and  builds a close relationship between parents and their children.   Speake

We are pleased to announce Julie Fowlkes’ is returning to HK this November! We have many new workshops and a special Lunchtime Lecture Series for busy parents as part of the Bring Me A Book Institute.Don’t miss Children’s Laureate, Anthony Browne who will also be giving introducing the Shape Game for the whole family to enjoy on Sun, 10th November at the Hong Kong Central Library! Download for details of our November Programme!   First Teachers Training  http://openclass.hk/activity/2065   Beyond the Book  http://openclass.hk/activity/2068   Book-Making and Story Time with your Children  http://openclass.hk/activity/2069   Advancing the Read Aloud Journey  http://openclass.hk/activity/2070   Lunchtime Lecture Series: English Reading Essentials for 21st Century  http://openclass.hk/activity/2071

When it comes to tales about accepting and celebrating oneself, no one tells it better than Chen Chih-yuan. An author-illustrator in Taiwan, Chen created an international sensation when Guji Guji was translated into English. This beautifully written story of a “crocoduck” was an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book and appeared onThe New York Times bestseller list. Chen’s ink drawings in muted grey and brown tones belie the riotous antics of a crocodile adopted into a family of ducks. The crocodile grows up as a duck, but upon meeting some crocodiles and seeing how similar in appearance he is to them, he is torn about what and who he truly is. Guji Guji has the makings of a classic modern fable. I can read it again and again without ever tiring of it. For bilingual children, I recommend the Chinese-language version of this picture book, which includes an English translation and bilingual CD at the back. In his author’s notes, Chen explains that the story was inspired by a Korean friend who was adopted by an American family. Someone who looks different from family member

  In the months before my younger daughter was born, we made sure that my elder daughter would be prepared for this big change. In addition to “There’s going to be a new baby” kinds of books, I also read with her Jean Marzollo’s How Kids Grow. With photographs of real children accomplishing age-appropriate tasks, this well-written non-fiction book is a good resource to help children understand developmental milestones from birth to seven years of age. My daughter learned that a three-day-old baby mostly sleeps and enjoys being cuddled, while a nine-month-old baby can clap and use her fingers to eat. It gave her a good grasp of her baby sister’s capabilities (or lack thereof) in those early months. At the time, my elder daughter was two and was delighted to see that she could drink from a cup and walk up stairs like the two-year-old girl in the book. She was also excited to see what she had to look forward to from the photos and descriptions of older children. I also shared How Kids Grow with my younger daughter when she turned two, and had just figured out that she was a girl. Bef