Kid Literature blog : Kid Literature's 1st Birthday, one week to go!

Kid Literature is nearly a year old! On the 13th of April we are very happy to announce that we are celebrating our first Birthday! Join us and see what we have in store for you. The launch of the website will coincide with our anniversary week, so it will be very exciting.
To celebrate we are holding a party online and a new website with new features.
The kid literature website will benefit:-
children,
parents,
authors and writers,
creative folk
artists.

So this all starts with the countdown from the week before, so please do not miss out. See what the website and kid literature have in store very soon!
News published here first facebook.com/KidLiterature
You will not want to miss out!

How Kid Literature started.

Where has the year gone to? Even though we have done so much on several platforms with Kid Literature, it feels as if time jumped ahead and here we are facing our first year! Scary and exciting.
A blink of an eye and we are looking forward to celebrating our first anniversary with you already!

How did it all begin?
Well, if we were all honest, it all began when we were first introduced to that book that had us hooked into reading as a child. Reading is where it all begins.
We can all remember the time when we had our first book love, or even still exactly what book that was. We may still have that book, or still remember the warm feeling it gave us and the memories it evoked when recalling it back to mind. It is like the first album we bought, never to be forgotten. We also must remember the other books we loved but can't for the life of us remember what the title was, or who the author was. We just liked the story, and still search for it from time to time through Google/Goodreads. That was how I began on the road to the kid literature community. Through searching for children's books, and wondering how hard it may be for children to find the many wonderful books that are out there, that don't even make it to a bookstore.

Kid Literature Authors came together exactly this time last year to bring you a magic treasure trove of children's lit!
Lit as in literature. From bonny picture books, to captivating and enchanting stories that children will want to read again and again. And more than that, we also share with you all a love of reading and literature as a whole. A stepping stone in discovering what finding the right books can do to help you on the road to knowledge, and how reading can open up a whole new world whatever path you take in life.

Being able to read and write is a basic foundation for knowledge and a building block for family values. This propels us as children into a world ready for discovery. With literacy comes a quality of life that can take us to the far ends of the earth without even leaving our own room. Obviously you can go anywhere in your imagination and to have a book at your fingertips literally is an accomplishment in itself, you have the universe in your hands.
So a simple basic need in primary school children, showing them the joys of reading is like giving them the world.

As adults, parents and carers we can combine the ability of reading to children and showing them how to enjoy a story from a picture book. This is better adapted first in the very early years as babies on your lap with a book of wonderful pictures and words to look through together. These picture books are what start the whole process off.
But for some of those children who do not have book-loving parents or who were never interested in a book and especially in a time where gaming technology is the new must have in today's society, some may ask: do books still have a place in today's modern society?
When living at a faster paced lifestyle is it all to easy in the short run to just hand them a gaming console to make your life simpler?

By making more time for children, and showing an enjoyment in whatever activity they are doing, and always listening to them and being encouraging can be the tools to use to avoid this addictive technology slide and often unsocial behaviour in children. Reading and sharing time with your children and showing them the enjoyment of books should be a big part of their life. Books are needed today more than ever for this reason. If they see you read regular, they are more likely to do the same.
Picture books are the key to introduce young children to more of the world. They can travel to the moon/another planet/another country! They can meet creatures and people they may never know about, and also imaginary animals who can speak and other magical things just as examples. This gives them an appetite to pick up books for themselves eventually. Once they get to the age of 7, 8 and up-over they may want to read to themselves.

If you have a young reader (5-8 years) who is reluctant to pick up a book after the picture book stage, or finds it a chore, then look for a funny book that is easier to grab at their attention. An example here is the diary of a whimpy kid series, then later the dork diaries, and they will find them easy to read, being fun, humorous and they get down to a level they can associate with. Once they have found the right book for them, they can then be introduced to more in-depth books like Harry Potter, Jacqueline Wilson, to name but 2 in the kids section of the local book store. It is your job as an adult to make going to the bookstore or library a treat! Go on their Birthdays and Christmas, and Easter, and a Weekend! Why even take them on your own Birthday. And as important as that, let them see you reading them, and also picking your own books. Choose books to read together. Make it fun. Show an interest in their type of books and you will find a child that enjoys reading as much as you. When they bring books home from school, if you show a pleasure when looking through the book, then they will pick up on that, and good habits are formed.
As parents and carers these are the basic and very important things we can do for our children. I always loved reading to children at home and in the classroom, to bring pleasure through books. They pick up on that, and copy it.

Kid Literature

The Kid Literature community started soon after a little research online, and I realised how hard it was for children to actually find some books, especially indie author books. At that time it seems like the people we want to read our books are looking for us blindly in the dark, children who are still getting the hang of the internet, and let's face it would need to possess a debit card to purchase some pocket money priced e-books for their e-readers/kindles.
So you have to rely on the people who provide and care for children to download them, so then we need them to be able to find us easy. It seemed like a big task.
Initially I wasn't sure what to look up first online, and like everyone else I had to research many topics related to children's books, as well as promoting and marketing books, and the best key words to use, and many other tips along the way. I kept a list of key words and sentences to refer back to whenever I needed to recall anything. We need a sign online directing children with the words, this is the way to children's books you will love that are not at the top of any list.
And because the majority of the time our books are not placed in the middle of WHSmith's 'book of the week' shelf then the challenge gets bigger.

Most indie authors need to be committed and write for enjoyment and satisfaction. If an author gets to do a school visit with their book that is an achievement. You have to know how to promote your book and market it.
If you find promoting your book a burden then unfortunately it isn't even the slush pile for you. Even on days when only the slush pile will do. No, you will no doubt will give it up as a bad job before long, as you have to at least enjoy writing and always know that anything else is a bonus.
Kid Literature came about through the constant dedication and passion for getting more books into the hands of children, amazing books that may never sadly reach them. And to also make children's literacy popular again for everyone and any age.
Kid Literature has a never waning passion for literature and letting everyone know the importance of showing children the enjoyment of reading.

So the passion grew and we branched out into the twitterati.
A community of united-singing-from-the-same-song-sheet people, had no hesitation in helping build up their group and before long Kid literature was on many other social media sites online.
It is wonderful to bring authors together and lift spirits, offer moral support for those who have never even written a word but had always dreamed of writing, right through to the successful author.
On twitter we enjoy promoting every kind of creative person, many of your lovely stories and illustrations, and your ideas, and tips and review feedback. We show articles relating to all forms of literature and we promote up to Young Adult books.

We want to sprinkle the magic about a bit more, right into the hands of children.
To bring out their enchantment of reading and the wonder of a picture in a book that can inspire many little minds into great minds. To inspire, to make someone want to say read it again! When we hear the magic words, read it again! we know we have achieved so much. So much as parents, carers, teachers and creative inspiring people who decided to put one word in front of another.

When you step into our new website you will discover resources for children and writers! So see what we have for fun and resources on our platform on Twitter and Facebook the week starting the 13th of April 2015! Look out for us and our reminders the week before, and you will see the countdown begin!

Written by Karen Emma Hall