This week, our family welcomed someone very special.

My beautiful Great Niece, Harper Grace arrived — a perfect new addition to the family and a little sister for Olivia.

And, naturally, it got me thinking about books.

Roo’s Little Book of Nonsense Rhymes was created especially with Harper in mind. When Olivia was born, I wrote Bedtime for Roo for her. So, with another little girl on the way, it seemed only right that Harper should have a Roo book of her own too.

The idea came from something very simple: all the ridiculous names I call Roo.

Snoofle Pup. Pudding Tum. Snuggle Bug.

The sort of silly words that don’t necessarily mean anything to anybody else, but which have become part of the language of our family. I began turning them into little rhymes, and before long they had become a book.

But watching Olivia with books has reminded me that all those silly words, repetitions, pictures and rhymes are doing something rather wonderful too.

They understand more than we think

Olivia is only three, but she is already beginning to memorise the words in familiar books.

She knows what comes next. She recognises the animals in the pictures. She notices expressions on their faces and understands when somebody looks happy, sad, worried or cross.

She might not be reading independently yet, but she is already learning many of the things that will eventually help her to do so.

And I think sometimes we underestimate just how much very young children absorb.

A favourite book read for the tenth — or fiftieth! — time might feel repetitive to the grown-up holding it, but for the child listening, that repetition is part of the pleasure. They know what is coming. They can join in. They can anticipate a favourite word or point to a familiar character.

Gradually, the book becomes something they can take part in rather than something that is simply being read to them.

Why nonsense has a place too

Not every children’s book needs to teach colours, numbers or the alphabet.

Sometimes words can simply be fun.

Rhyming and nonsense words encourage children to listen to the sounds within language. They can hear when words sound alike, predict what might come next and enjoy repeating particularly funny-sounding phrases.

And there is something wonderfully freeing about a book that gives a child permission to be silly.

If Roo’s Little Book of Nonsense Rhymes results in a three-year-old wandering around the house announcing PUDDING TUM!, I shall consider that a success.

Pictures tell stories too

Of course, for very young children, reading isn’t only about words.

Illustrations give them another way into a story.

They can find Roo on the page, identify an animal, notice something funny happening in the background or work out how a character might be feeling from an expression.

As an author and illustrator, that’s something I’ve become increasingly conscious of. The pictures aren’t simply there to decorate the words. For a young child, they are part of the storytelling.

A child who can’t yet decipher the printed sentence can still look at a character’s face and tell you, She’s sad.

That’s reading too — just in a different form.

The beginning of a lifelong relationship

I don’t think getting children interested in books early needs to mean sitting them down and formally teaching them to read.

It’s much simpler than that.

It’s cuddling up together with a favourite story. Doing the silly voices. Letting them turn the pages — even when they turn three at once. Answering the same question again. And again.

It’s allowing them to choose the book you’ve already read every night this week.

It’s laughing together when Roo does something ridiculous.

Those small moments teach children that books are enjoyable places to be.

And if they associate stories with warmth, laughter, curiosity and time spent with someone they love, perhaps that’s one of the best foundations we can give them for becoming readers later.

So this week, while tiny Harper Grace is still far more interested in sleeping, feeding and being cuddled than she is in books, there’s already one waiting for her.

Just as there was for her big sister.

And I rather like the thought that one day, Olivia might be the person sitting beside her, showing her the pictures, naming the animals and telling her all the words she already knows by heart.

Welcome to the family, Harper Grace.

Your first Roo book is ready for you. ❤️