Reading without READING!

Michèle tells a tale of discovering a new way to enjoy a favourite book

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Recently on this page I mentioned that as a geeky teen, I'd spend school holidays reading to even younger geeky kids whose parents dropped them off for Story Hour at the Levin Public Library.

I'd grown up being read to, by my mother Donna mostly, though also I can't not mention Listen With Mother, the fabulous radio show for several generations of preschoolers hosted by Dame Kate Harcourt on RNZ.

Both women - Donna and Dame Kate - were actors who knew how to tell a story, play a character and bring a tale to life with nothing but their voice. I'd sit still by the radio in the morning or lie still in bed at night and listen to them read to me long after I was capable of reading a book myself.

There's something soothing about someone delivering a tale straight into your ears with all the colour, pacing, excitement and joy already infused into each word - a delicious feast prepared by other kindly hands.