1The children's book festival is coming up again soon
2and here to tell us all about it is the festival's organiser, Jenny Morgan.
3So tell us what we can expect this year, Jenny.
4Well, as usual we've got five days of action-packed exciting events for children,
5with writers coming from all over the country getting involved.
6Just to give you an idea of what's on offer in the workshops,
7first of all, there's a very special event called Superheroes.
8This is a chance for deaf children to share their reading experiences with author Madeleine Gordon,
9who is herself hearing impaired.
10'Just do it' is a practical workshop led by the well-known illustrator Mark Keane.
11He'll take participants on a magical journey to faraway lands
12with an opportunity for aspiring actors to do some role play.
13'Count on me' is an inspiring and entertaining look at the issues of friendship for 13 to 14-year-olds.
14It looks at some of the friendships described in popular books
15and asks participants to compare these with their own experiences.
16'Speak up' is part of a series of workshops on the subject of mental health.
17This is a creative writing workshop encouraging children to describe situations
18where young people experience loneliness.
19A recent survey revealed that children can be lonely
20even when they're at home with their families.
21'Jump for joy', as many of you will know,
22is the heart-warming, best-selling story by Nina Karan
23about a young girl's trip to visit her relatives in India.
24It recently received the gold medal at the Waterford Awards.
25Nina will get children to celebrate the word 'joy' by writing a poem.
26'Sticks and stones' is the beautifully illustrated picture book for young readers
27about a community who organise an African-Caribbean festival
28to help local children learn about their Jamaican roots.
29This will be a musical event where children will have the chance to play steel drums.
30This is bound to be very popular, so please book as soon as possible.
31Thanks Jenny. That all sounds really interesting.
32I'm just wondering if you have a favourite book you could recommend for our readers?
33It's hard to choose, but 'Alive and Kicking' is definitely worth mentioning.
34You won't have heard of the writer as it's her first book - which is really impressive.
35It's basically the teenage diary of a boy from Somalia who comes to live in the UK.
36It deals with the serious issue of immigration
37and all the challenges the boy has to face at school and with the language barrier, etc.
38Usually, books like this are quite sad,
39but this one actually made me cry with laughter.
40On each page, there are simple but hilarious black and white stick drawings of the boy with his friends and teachers.
41At the end of each diary entry, there are new English words the boy learns each day,
42which may help develop some children's vocabulary.
43I think my kids would enjoy that.
44What about any advice for parents on how to encourage their children to read more?
45Well, this is something I get asked about a lot.
46There are so many distractions for kids these days that it can be hard to find time for reading.
47One thing I'd say is to make time to sit down with your child and share books with them.
48A lot of parents give up reading aloud to their children as soon as they learn to read independently,
49but this is a mistake.
50It's good to read more advanced books to them as it helps to develop their vocabulary.
51If you don't have time for this, then let them listen to audio books.
52Often, they'll want to read books they've listened to for themselves.
53I think it's a good idea to make a mental note of the type of books your child is reading.
54Often, they just read the same genre all the time, which can get a bit boring.
55You can introduce new authors and genres to them.
56Librarians should be able to help you with this.
57Well Jenny, I think...