Sarah. Illustration by Karangan
Reading a book together with little pal is one of everyone’s favourite bonding time, not to mention under the blanket on a warm lovely night. It loads with benefits for both big and little human. Take them hop on one and another adventures everyday is indeed a nice move to teach them good stuff such as increase vocabularies, strengthen self-esteem and empathy.
Narrowing down to kid’s books (Oh that’s my favorite section in the bookstore. Did I tell you that actually am a little girl who trapped in mum of three’s big-boned body ? Now you know and I know this line shouldn’t exist ☺) , ok let’s back on the real topic, I am destined to meet a bookie , mummy of one sweet little girl, the one that goes extra miles. She’s the mother behind Story time with friends @storytime.friends and ABC – Ayo Baca Cerita! @abc.ayobacacerita.
On one beautiful orange evening, in another book lend+borrow episode, we decided to create together with purpose , we came up with book bag! Both of us currently living in a country that has plenty of good public facilities including library. So, yes one of the idea behind book bag is to encourage little kids to read more books. Go borrow some if they run out of books. By putting book inside a dedicated bag, they will be more excited and remember to read plus the borrowed book is on the right place (clean and not missing). We also hope that kids love to hang out in the library as much as on the playground. Is it too much ? No ? Well, let’s ask our lovely bookie, Sarah, what she thought.
Book Bag in ‘Story Time Friends”
Q : Hi ! Hi ! Ibu bookie.. First thing first, tell us a bit about yourself and what is the big idea behind ‘Story Time With Friends’ and ‘ABC-Ayo Baca Cerita’ ?
Hello hello!
My name is Sarah and I have 4.5 years old daughter called Alma. Me and my husband love to read to my daughter ever since she was a baby, and we’re fortunate enough to have quite a lot of children books collection.
The habit of reading that I try to nurture with Alma actually starts with my parents nurturing me to read. I remember quite vividly when I was 7 or 8 years old I’m already absorbed in Enid Blyton’s books!
The idea of Story time with friends actually popped-up during Alma’s online school period due to Covid-19 lockdown. When she’s going to school, she has library time once a week and she can bring home one new book each week. But due to the lockdown they can’t go to school, thus her teacher will record videos of them reading to the kids. And surprisingly, it’s still appealing to Alma! She still watches the video happily and follow the story of the book. So this is the first reason : reading can still be fun, although it’s through video! (Big thanks to Alma’s teachers!)
The other reason is because this pandemic hits each and everyone of us pretty hard, and I feel like doing something I can that might benefit other people – especially parents, because I understand that online school is really not easy! ;)
As for ABC – Ayo Baca Cerita! – I hope to go big with this one. Our mission is : ABC – Ayo Baca Cerita! ingin berada di samping orang-tua dan anak-anak Indonesia untuk memastikan bahwa setiap anak mendapatkan paparan dan manfaat dari buku anak sebanyak-banyaknya. ☺
ABC-Ayo Baca Cerita Feeds (source : https://www.instagram.com/abc.ayobacacerita/)
Q : What kind of information will we get from ‘Story Time With Friends’ and ‘ABC-Ayo Baca Cerita’ ?
Story time with friends : tips and activities that Parents can do together with their kids, all contents in Instagram. Our objective is that for Parents and kids that are already used to read together – they can benefit even more from it.
ABC – Ayo Baca Cerita! : Parents can befriend our Whatsapp account. On weekly basis, we will send out document (picture of the story) and the audio of the story – both in English and Bahasa Indonesia, also activities and tips related to it. We curate the story books from free online platforms. Our objective is to convince Parents that the habit of reading is important – and it’s easy too!
Story Time With Friends Feeds (source : https://www.instagram.com/storytime.friends/)
Q : Can you tell us what advantages that you’ve been gaining for this read together activity so far ?
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Other than reading, my daughter enjoys pretend play (that always involve me running around in the house or becoming one of her pets/superhero/something something), so to sit down and read to her is quite refreshing for me ☺
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Although Alma reads less as she grows bigger (though at least we read 1 book together before bedtime), we still keep a lot of books from when she was younger. And surprisingly, it seems that she remembers almost everything from her books! I’m quite proud of it – although yeah now TV seems a bit more enticing for her! ;)
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When first starting Story time, I made videos of me reading books to Alma, so it’s actually like another form of us doing activities together – so it’s good for us ☺ But now that I don’t always involve her when making contents, I try to make sure that everything I put on Story time or ABC - I also read to or do with her.
Alma’s post read activity about Imagination (source : Story Time With Friends)
Q : What are your favourite kids books ?
There are a lot of super talented writer and illustrator – take Julia Donaldson for example – I love her! But we read all kinds of books – from stories, to activity books, to kids encyclopaedia, to books written by Indonesia & Singapore local authors.
I think for kids – all books are equally amazing ☺ Our heartfelt thanks to all the writer, illustrator, and publisher ☺
Alma’s collection of books.
Q : Last thing , What’s your thought about kids hanging out in the library? Is it really necessary ?
I grew up always going to Gramedia PIM 1 once a week ;)
As for now with Alma, before the pandemic hits the world we used to go to library every once in two weeks. And now we go to the bookstore every once or twice in two weeks.
I really believe that reading is an amazing habit for us to nurture, proven by facts and scientific researches. And when kids are introduced early to reading, it will be natural for them, and they will really enjoy it!
Thank you Sarah , Ibu Bookie for taking the time,effort ,words and ideas. We are looking forward to hearing more stories from your read-a-loud segment and activity ideas for kids.
We also encourage all of you to spread this social activity, https://ayobacacerita.carrd.co/ especially to whoever in the area that has limited access to books or your relative that is needed or to orphanages and asked the staff to play the recording for them. Spread in any form that suits your surrounding.
Big thank you to all of you :)
See you around !