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