For the next four weeks, young children, and perhaps the not so young, can enjoy weekly online story-time sessions hosted by the former US first lady, Michelle Obama.
Every Monday, starting from 20 April until 11 May, Michelle Obama will read a much-loved children’s book in a series of videos live streamed to a number of digital platforms, including the Penguin Random House Facebook account.
Obama has chosen some of the most popular children’s books to entertain her young audience, starting off with The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson. Other books she will read are, There’s a Dragon in your book, Miss Maple’s Seeds and finally The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Obama’s love of reading is well documented and those who have read her hugely popular autobiography, Becoming, will be familiar with how she read voraciously as a young girl. She carried this love of reading into adulthood. She said: “As a young parent, I found so much joy in rediscovering my favourite children’s books with my daughters. The time I spent reading with them, creating voices for our favourite characters and beaming with pride as they started to recognize words and read along, is something we all still cherish to this day.”
As a first lady, one of her legacy projects was education and literacy for all. She said: “I had the privilege of sharing my love of stories with children everywhere, and today, I’m excited to pick that back up with “The Gruffalo”—my first read-along in what will be a four-week series with PBS Kids and Penguin Random House.”
“As a young parent, I found so much joy in rediscovering my favourite children’s books with my daughters.”
In these troubled times where so many parents are home-schooling their offspring, a brief respite while their children listen to a story will be welcome.
“I’m thrilled to share some of my favourite children’s books and give kids an opportunity to practice their reading (while giving families a much-needed break!)”
Following each live streamed story session, the videos will remain on the digital platforms to be viewed over and again.
