Authors Electric

I had the pleasure of visiting my young granddaughter Daisy last weekend – and of seeing how much she has developed and changed since starting school in September. She can now write most of her letters, forming them with great care and precision, while reciting little verses to guide her. She can also put letters together to make simple words, and can spell out some unfamiliar words letter by letter and then read the whole word ‘F – O – G… fog!’ But what struck me most was the sheer joy of accomplishment on her face when she correctly read or spelled a word. And the way that she has started seeing words everywhere she goes – in shops, on signs – and her delight in recognising them and saying them out loud. Suddenly her familiar and well-thumbed books have become treasure troves, not just of pictures but of these wonderful new things called words – and wow, is she excited? Daisy is lucky – she is part of a family where books are loved and the house is full of them. She’s ...

Daisy reading 'Spinderella' by Julia Donaldson and Sebastien Braun recently - she's almost word perfect, I'm told. A few months ago I told you about my little granddaughter’s beginning to tell stories. A few months, of course, is a long time when you’re only two, and in that time Daisy's language use and conversational abilities have progressed enormously. She now seems to have a handle on all the various English tenses (no mean feat, that) and has begun to ask a whole variety of questions, though she is only just getting started on ‘why’ – that’s a pleasure still to come for us all. Still, Daddy teaches physics and Mummy teaches sociology, RE and law, so perhaps between them they will cope (?) We were at the park, Daisy and I, last week. She had been on the swings: ‘Even higher, Nana!’ – and we'd spent fifteen minutes going up and down a ramp. Her next port of call was a climbing net that gave access to a high, enclosed slide, clearly designed for ...