1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge

I recently bought Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Lives Forever by Mem Fox. It is a very interesting and informative book about the benefits and joys of reading aloud to children. She says that "Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read. Or the same story a thousand times!" So when I came across the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge, I decided that we were in. It also seemed like a fun way to track just how much we were reading.

 Mem Fox's website has sections for parents, teachers, children and writers. Visit her site here. It is full of great tips, thoughts and information.

You can find out more about the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten here.

I was always surrounded by books as a child and enjoyed being read to. My greatest love has always been getting lost in a book. I loved reading to my older son when he was small. I would do silly voices for different characters and we'd get right into it. Once he grew out of it, he continued to read, but never to the passionate degree that I do. Little Bean already likes to cuddle up and read a book together, and I really hope that he becomes a hardcore bookworm like me (hopefully a Whovian & sci-fi geek too).

I've decided to track our progress by putting a list of the books we read on this blog. You can see our booklist here.

Here are some other great sources for information on children's books, including reading lists and my favourite online store to buy books:

The Book Depository - My favourite online bookstore. It has a HUGE range of books, great prices and free delivery worldwide. 

Children's Book Guide - Top 100 Children's Books of All Time

Growing Book By Book - a great site with book reviews, reading lists, reading themes, book-based activity ideas and lots more.

GoodReads - a great source for all things book related. There are reviews, booklists, information on authors, quizzes, quotes and trivia. You can see what other people are reading and share your own reading list. There's even an app where you can get book recommendations based on your reading history. GoodReads also has their own annual book awards. Here are their latest award winning children's books:

GoodReads Best Picture Books of 2014

GoodReads Best Middle Grade & Children's Books of 2014