Set a world record: read with your kid

The folks at ABC Canada and Oxford Learning are organizing an attempt to beat the world record for "Most children reading with an adult - multiple venues." Participants will read with their kids — or take them to reading events at schools and libraries all over the country — from 2 p.m. tomorrow, Jan. 23rd until 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24th. The reading material of choice is the Munschworks 2 collection, by Robert Munsch. You can download the story here, and print out text versions, or you can view them with illustrations online.

To help beat the record, all you have to do is register here. Then plan to read the Munschworks 2 collection for at least 30 minutes. Here are the details. I'll be logging on after work tomorrow to read Munsch 2 with my five-year-old, Cameron. Look here to find an event in your area.

The event is part of celebrations for Family Literacy Day, which is all about promoting the importance of reading with your kids on a regular basis.

I know I don't have to tell any of you about how important and enjoyable it is to share books with your kids. It's been a delight for me to see my little boy, Alister, 18 months, learn to run to his book shelves when we say, "Go get a book." His favourites at the moment are Curious George Rides and Goodnight Moon (has just started saying, "Nummy!" on the "goodnight mush" page).

And even though I sometimes groan at the end of a long day if Cameron picks an elaborate lift-the-flap book about fire halls, or some kind of interminable dinosaur fact book with about 12 dense chunks of text per page, both his father and I treasure the shared story time, the wonderful books we read and the delicious snuggle time.

So register for this great initiative and read Munsch 2 tomorrow or Saturday morning.