A BOOK shop in the centre of town is rolling out new free storytime sessions for youngsters aged up to four years.
Suitable for pre-school children, stories can be enjoyed by young audiences each week at Wokingham Waterstones store.
Held on Tuesday mornings, the sessions will last around half an hour.
Stories will be read by Waterstones Wokingham staff member, Olivia Hunter.
“We’re really keen to make links with the local community,” said Ms Hunter.
“We have an adult book club already, which is going well, but we didn’t have anything for youngsters.
“We’ve wanted to do something like this for a while, and there’s definitely a children’s storytelling vacuum to fill.”
Ms Hunter has a four year old daughter of her own, and has worked at the town centre store since August.
“I have plenty of toddler story reading experience, so I’ve nominated myself for this job,” she said.
“There may be nothing scarier than a group of toddlers, but I’m really looking forward to sharing lots of stories with them.
“And whenever possible, we’ll have extra special visits from children’s authors.”
There will be different themes each term.
This term’s theme is Animal Adventures.
“In November, we’ve invited local children’s picture book author, Jo Lindley, to come and dress our shop window with her art,” continued Ms Hunter.
“She has a new book coming out called, Hello Winter, so I’ll be reading her story to the children that month.”
Waterstones pre-school storytimes begin in July with a teddy bears picnic.
Youngsters have been invited to bring along their favourite bear to listen to the story.
Due to the size of the shop, numbers are limited each week to 10 children.
“We’re cordoning off a corner of the shop for these story times,” said Ms Hunter.
“We’re starting off with 10 children at each session, and we’ll see how that goes.
“And if the sessions prove to be really popular, we may add extra story times on Thursdays as well.”
Sessions begin on Tuesday, July 4, at 10.30am., and on Tuesdays, therafter.
Places need to be pre-booked.
All July slots are now filled, but places are available from August onwards.
For information and to book, call into the Peach Street bookshop, email: wokingham@waterstones.com, or log onto Eventbrite, at: www.eventbrite.co.uk and search for Wokingham Waterstones.
