Get Your Children Reading this National Storytelling Week
![Collage of featured products](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/Feature.jpg?fm=pjpg&w=1000&q=95)
There is an ever-increasing body of research to suggest that reading for pleasure is linked to positive developmental outcomes for children
Award-Winning Tales for Older Children
These novels from Northern writers are officially the best in the (book) biz.
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Flour Babies by Anne Fine
£7.99 Penguin
This classic novel from Durham-based author Anne Fine won her her second Carnegie medal when it was published in 1992. When an eccentric school teacher decides to teach six under-achieving boys about responsibility, they are each given a bag of flour that they must care for as though it were a baby. They learn more about themselves than they expect.
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The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
£7.99 Pan Macmillan
This historical novel by born and bred Tynesider Robert Westall won the Carnegie medal in 1975. It follows six children that capture a German gunner when his plane is shot down over the English countryside during WWII.
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Skellig by David Almond
£7.99 Hachette
David Almond’s Skellig won both the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Carnegie Medal in 1998. It tells the story of a boy called Tom, who moves house at the same time as his baby sister becomes ill. When he finds a strange, winged (and grouchy) creature in the garage, his life is changed forever.
BUILD A BOOK-NOOK
Encourage them by creating the perfect ‘book-nook’ where they can fall in love with books for themselves.
![Children’s teddy bean bag](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/ROW%20B.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Children’s teddy bean bag, £79.99 Extreme Lounging at John Lewis & Partners, Newcastle
![Pure wool throw](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/ROW%20B2.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Pure wool throw, £79.99 Otterburn Mill, Otterburn and Rothbury
![‘Cosy Up’ slogan cushion](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/ROW%20B3.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
‘Cosy Up’ slogan cushion, £19.50 Marks & Spencer, branches regionwide
![Scandi Bookcase](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/Row%20A.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Scandi Bookcase, £149 Sweeek at B&Q, branches regionwide
![Reading floor lamp](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/Row%20A2.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Reading floor lamp, £250 Neptune at Bridgewater Interiors, Gateshead and Wylam
![Alphabet height chart](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/Row%20A3.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Alphabet height chart, £29.50 James Ellis at Baby at the Bank, Corbridge
![Janod Animals Magneti'book](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/ROW%20C.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Janod Animals Magneti'book, £19 Jojo Maman Bebe, Morpeth
![Toniebox musical story box](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/ROW%20C2.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
Toniebox musical story box, £79.95 Tonies at Fenwick, Newcastle
![T-rex bookends](/images/media/articles/life-and-style/family/259%20Childs%20Play%20Storytelling%20week/ROW%20C3.jpg?q=92&fm=pjpq&w=1440)
T-rex bookends, £19.99 Bliss Gifts, Darlington
Toys can be great tools for storytelling, but with so many new-fangled, tech-centric options available, it can be easy to forget the basics. Here’s a reminder of an easy but ever-hilarious staple: the humble sock puppet.
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You will need:
An odd sock
Buttons or googley eyes
Yarn (wool or twine) for hair
Some marker pens or whatever else you can think of to decorate
Glue
Instructions:
Stick two of your chosen eyes at the end of the sock (just above the toe)
For a classic, parted hairstyle take your chosen yarn and repeatedly wind it round in a circle (the bigger the circle, the longer the hair) till you have a thick loop. Then cut it off from the ball of yarn.
Take another piece of yarn and wrap it tightly around the centre of the loop a few times and tie it, so that the two pieces form a bow-like shape.
Cut through the loops on either end.
Glue the central knot to the sock, a couple of centimetres above the eyes.
Put your hand in the sock, using your thumb to form a mouth and voila: you have a puppet.
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Take it One Page at a Time
I Breathe by Cally Johnson-Isaacs and Susie Brooks
£6.99 Harper Collins
This children’s book from Northumberland-based illustrator Cally Johnson-Isaacs and author Susie Brooks uses story-telling to help give small children the tools to deal with life’s challenges. I Breathe is all about learning mindfulness through yoga and the follow-up book, I Try, is about developing resilience using examples from thE animal kingdom.
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The Boy and the Seahorse
Thursday 14th April, 11am and 2pm at Seventeen Nineteen
Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland
Get ahead and book now to see The Boy and the Seahorse, a modern folktale for all the family. The show uses storytelling, animation, shadow puppetry and original Northumbrian music to explore our seafaring heritage through the eyes of a young boy and his quest to protect his family.