I read picture books at a local kindergarten once a week. I love to do this and wonder why I didn’t begin years ago.

It is such a pleasure. Children love stories and love being read to. Seeing their keen, eager faces waiting to see what I’ve chosen to read to them is very encouraging. Their responses are enthusiastic and immediate – intense concentration, loud laughter, impulsive comments.

I have the pleasure of choosing books each week and anticipating how they will be received by the children. I usually read two or three at a session and try to vary them  –  a mad, comical tale and then a quiet, thoughtful story, perhaps. I also often include a story we have had at an earlier session. The familiarity of hearing a well-known or well-loved story is something children seem to find comforting or reassuring.