Shared Reading Practitioner Day: A World of Imagination

Imagination is one of the fundamental aspects of reading, and especially shared reading. When we read aloud, together, whole worlds open up within us - some fantastical and previously unimagined, and others much closer to the central reality of our lives.

The building blocks of imagination are unfolded and most vividly come to life for many of us when we have read as children, and indeed, our capacity to imagine is often opened up again when we read with little ones. Some of the most imaginative works of literature have been written from the perspectives of children or for children to enjoy, childhood being the place where imagination can truly run riot.

Just think of the truly imaginative, incredibly wacky Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
all mimsy were the borogoves,
and the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'

This famous poem and many more stories to send the imagination soaring can be found in A Little, Aloud for Children. The editor of the book, Angela Macmillan, will be speaking at our first Shared Reading Practitioner Day about the very topic of Imagination, on what promises to be a truly imaginative and enriching day.

If you've been on Read to Lead, snap up the final remaining spaces for 'Speaking Our Own Language'  at Liverpool Hope University Creative Campus on Saturday 20th April. Visit The Reader Organisation's website for information and booking, or contact Sophie Johnson with any enquiries: sophiejohnson@thereader.org.uk / 07973 247890