Avid reader Naomi’s Profile
Hi! I am Naomi. I am Japanese and live in Sydney, Australia. I am teaching English to adult English learners who come from all over the world. This blog reviews children’s book I read and explores the world of children’s literacy.
The first book I read
I started reading books around 5 years old. ‘Little House’ by Virginia Lee Burton was the book I read for the first time. I read it so many times until I could memorize all words. The next book I read was Aesop’s Fables. My favorite tale in the fable was ‘The stork who outfoxed a fox’. I vividly remember being impressed with the stork’s wit. After reading the fables, I read ‘Little Princess’ written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The story broadened my horizons because it taught me there was a country far away from Japan and there were people living there who had different ways of life. The book allowed me to want to know more about people in the world and their lives. I also enjoyed reading ‘The Brothers Grimm’s Fairytales’ and ‘Andersen’s Fairytales’.
My childhood
When I was in primary school in Japan, I was keen on reading books. The book I borrowed from the local library was ‘Mother Goose’ collection of rhymes. The melodic rhymes amused me. I borrowed books from different local libraries as well as the school library and bought books with my pocket money. I devoured them whenever I had spare time. I eagerly awaited the weekend when I would get up around 5:00am and read books in bed while eating Japanese sweets and snacks which I bought with my pocket money and hid them in the drawer of my desk. (My parents were strict about eating sweets).
When I was around 10 years old, I was obsessed with series of the books such as ‘Dr. Dolittle’ (Hugh Lofting), ‘Little House on the Prairie’ (Loura Ingalls Wilder) and ‘Anne of Green Gables’(Lucy Maud Montgomery) . In addition, Japanese comic books and comic magazines were my soft spots. Throughout my childhood, I had extracurricular activities almost every day, but I somehow manage to have time for reading.
(All books I read so far were translated in Japanese.)
My time away from novels
During my teens to early twenties, I lost my motivation towards reading books. I think that was because there were more interesting activities that I engaged in, like going out with my friends, experimenting with fashion, working, watching movies, studying hard to get into high school and university, going to an English language school and so on. The busier my social life became, the less I books I read. However, I enjoyed reading fashion magazines.
New world – Becoming a mum
I wanted my daughter to become bilingual, so I started reading her picture books written in English. I don’t remember the first book I read to her, but I used to read picture books written by Eric Carle and board books introducing concepts such as numbers or colours. I also found benefit reading these books. They allowed my daughter and I to increase our vocabulary and learn various structures of basic and complex sentences. In addition, the books were useful to acquire pronunciation and rhythm in English. Through this experience, I had a significant influence by children’s books; less words convey deep meaning and pictures tell a thousand words. I was drawn to the world of children’s books.
Teaching English to Japanese children through picture books
When my daughter was 3 years old, I opened an English school for children in Japan. Picture books were frequently used to introduce new words, phrases, and sentence structures. The students naturally acquired English while listening to stories which allowed me to broaden my horizons in terms of teaching language pedagogy.
Influence by my bibliography daughter
My family and I immigrated to Australia in 2002. My daughter was eight years old at that time and had little proficiency in English. She had enjoyed reading books in Japanese before she came to Australia and it influenced her to become a voracious reader; once she learnt how to read words in English, she became enthusiastic towards reading English texts, even advertisements on the back of supermarket receipts. Her favorite author was Jacqueline Wilson and she recommended me to read books written by her favorite author. I instantly fell in love with her stories and characters in the books which I could relate to. My daughter outgrew reading children’s books, but I am still enjoying them because I am young at heart!
Avid reader of children’s books
My enthusiasm for reading children’s book has continued. I love going to the local libraries and searching and borrowing for books which draw my attention. Books which convey authors’ strong messages to children is important for the world. I believe that illustrations in children’s literature play an important role. I am often mesmerized by the pictures which convey deep meaning about emotions of people and lives.
My dreams and ambitions
- Writing and publishing picture books
- Collaborating with publishers and/or authors for publishing new children’s books
- Writing and publishing educational activity books for children based on children’s literature
- Visiting libraries and bookshops around the world and being immersed with children’s books
- Having a sleepover at a bookshop surrounded by children’s books.