Mem Fox was born in Australia, grew up in Africa, studied
drama in England, and returned to Adelaide, Australia in 1970. She is
Australia’s best loved picture-book author.
Her first book, Possum Magic, has sold over four million copies and is
still the best-selling children’s book in Australia, 29 years after its
publication.
She has written over 40 books for children among which are
the perennial favourites: Possum Magic, Time for Bed and Where Is The Green
Sheep?; and several books for adults also, including her best-selling book for
parents: Reading Magic: how your child can learn to read before school and
other read aloud miracles. Her book: Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes was
on the New York Times best-seller list for 18 weeks in 2008—2009 and also won
best book for young children at the 2010 Turin International Book Festival in
its Italian edition. Her books have been translated into 19 languages.
Mem Fox was an Associate Professor of Education at Flinders
University in Adelaide where she taught teachers for 24 years until her early
retirement in 1996. She has received many honors and awards from various
Australian governments and other organisations for services to literature, as
well as three honorary doctorates for her work in literacy. She has visited the
USA over 100 times as both a consultant in literacy and as an author. She keeps
threatening to retire but never quite gets around to it as she is always
finding something new to write about or shout about.
Mem Fox’s Ten Read Aloud Commandments
1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day
reading aloud.
2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same
story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can
begin to learn to read.
3. Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and
don’t be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a
lot.
4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself
and great joy for the listeners.
5. Read the stories that the kids love, over and over and
over again, and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the
same intonations on each page, each time.
6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to them
constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing
any old song that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or
be noisy together doing clapping games.
7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young
children, and make sure the books are really short.
8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see
on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters that
start the child’s name and yours, remembering that it’s never work, it’s always
a fabulous game.
9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.
10. Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you
just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.
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