Fathers’ Story Week June 2014
Great dads read to their children: so let’s celebrate with Fathers’ Story Week!
Children whose fathers read with them and support their education, do better in all sorts of ways.
That’s why we launched Fathers’ Story Week in 2010 – and this week, hundreds of schools, nurseries, children’s centres and other family learning settings will be opening their doors to fathers and father-figures this week, in the run up to Father’s Day on 15 June.
We’ve got all sorts of free resources to help you celebrate – just head over to the Fathers’ Story Week website to register.
This year, for the first time, we’ve made some great ‘Celebrity Story Time’ videos, which you can watch and share from our website. The videos each last about five minutes and are perfect to show at circle time, or for families to enjoy together at home. Read more below.
Charlie Condou reads ‘Cats Ahoy’
Actor Charlie Condou is best known for his role as midwife Marcus Dent in Coronation Street.
His film credits include roles in Fred Claus with Kevin Spacey and Vince Vaughn, and Charlotte Grey with Cate Blanchett.
Charlie wrote a column called ‘The 3 of Us’ for The Guardian, about his experiences as a gay dad of two children, whom he co-parents with his partner and their mum.
In his Celebrity Story Time video he reads ‘Cats Ahoy’ by Peter Bently.
Nick Makoha reads ‘Daddy Is My Hero’
Nick Makoha is a poet and playwright.
Born in Uganda, he fled the country with his mother during Idi Amin’s dictatorship.
His stage show My Father and Other Superheroes is described as ‘one man’s honest revelation of how pop culture raised him in the absence of his father…we follow Nick’s journey as he discovers what it takes for a man to become a hero, and how a hero can be just a man.’
In his Celebrity Story Time video Nick reads ‘Daddy Is My Hero’ by Dawn Richards (with a very special guest).
Tim Lovejoy reads ‘Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book’
Tim Lovejoy is the host of Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch on Channel 4 and BT Sports Panel on Saturday mornings on the BT Sport channel. A father of three, for Celebrity Story Time he chose to read one of his twin daughters’ best-loved stories, ‘Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book’ by Julia Donaldson.
Peter Bently reads ‘Dustbin Dad’
Peter Bently is an award-winning children’s author whose best-loved creations include ‘Cats Ahoy’ (winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011), ‘King Jack and the Dragon’, ‘The Yoga Ogre’, and ‘Dustbin Dad’, which he chose to read for Celebrity Story Time.
Over to you…
We hope you enjoy the videos. Please forward this newsletter to your colleagues (there’s a link at the bottom) and share this link with as many families as you can, so they can watch the videos and gain access to the Fathers’ Story Week website. There they’ll find great resources, including guides on how to be a great bedtime story reader, and how to get your children into reading even if they’re a bit reluctant. They can even win signed copies of books by sending in ‘selfies’ of themselves reading with their children!
