Book worms name their favourites
The Polokwane Library was packed with bookworms on Friday afternoon, and each one had his or her head buried in a book.
POLOKWANE – The Polokwane Library was packed with bookworms on Friday afternoon, and each one had his or her head buried in a book.
In light of International Children’s Book Day, which was celebrated on April 2, Review speaks to some of Polokwane’s avid readers about the day and asks them about their favourite children’s book.
Here is what some of the city’s bibliophiles had to say:
Khutso Malebana says her favourite children’s book is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and other princess stories.
She says she enjoys reading the book because it is fantasy and she dreamt of also living a fairytale life when she was little.
“If you don’t read and learn to read from a young age, you will struggle in high school. It helps to develop reading skills from a young age.”
Josias Masethe says his favourite children’s books are the modern classics, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
Masethe says when he was younger, he could identify with the character of Tom Sawyer.
“Mark Twain’s books about Tom Sawyer appealed to me because he was writing about a small boy and his life. He was naughty and I enjoyed his stories.”
Stephanie Vosloo says her favourite children’s books as a child was the Nancy Drew mystery fiction series. Her husband, Stephanus Vosloo says Topsy Smith’s Trompie en die Boksombende, a boy’s adventure series featuring Trompie and his gang, as well as other books in the Trompie and Saartjie series, was his favourite books to read as a child.
Susara Herbst, another libary member says she did not read much as a young girl, but that it is important for children to read to learn how to focus and to stimulate brain development.
In agreement with Herbst, Dominic Mashakgomo says he only started enjoying reading in high school and adds that when he was growing up, there was not a library in his community so he mostly only read educational material.
Mashakgomo says he enjoyed the book, Anvil of Life by Boyce Gleason.
Sona Thomas says her favourite children’s book was Johanna Spyri’s Heidi.
“It grabbed my attention and took me to another part of the world,” says Thomas. “Reading is a way to escape to another dimension,” she adds.
Thomas says reading is important because television does not entertain, it is only a distraction.
“Reading improves your quality of life, is important for education and improves your language skills.”
Her father, Kurian Thomas says he enjoyed adventure stories as a child.
“Reading will help to improve a child’s general knowledge and opens up a world of information,” he says.
