My daughter just turned 13, and since last August we've officially been 'out' of the book business, folding ReadItDaddy like a well-loved volume of your favourite comfort read after ten years of book blogging.
At the time C had said she'd had enough, and that reviewing books wasn't something she'd want to go on and do on her own. I was getting to a point where I needed to step away, and as the pandemic began to bite and lockdown number 2 was on the way, it seemed like a good time to call it a day.
Naturally, mere months in a child's life are like a lifetime and here we are 8 months on, and C is as passionate about books and reading as ever she was. So much so, in fact, that she is now carving out her own path in book blogging - and going even further than we ever did when we put ReadItDaddy together.
First is the amazing news that she has been selected as a Teen ambassador for Shop - Mostly Books (mostly-books.co.uk)
We're really lucky to have an amazing independent book shop in our home town, filled with lovely folk who are as crazy about books and reading as we are. Their youth ambassador programme will give teens the chance to read amazing books and review them, absolutely perfect for C who can chew her way through multiple books a week - and quite often balances three or four books at the same time (I wonder where she got that from!)
We're very proud as she was picked from around 130 applicants along with other kids in the area, so she's buzzing with excitement and can't wait to get stuck in.
The second thing she's putting her considerable talents behind is her own blog Books and BFFs (booksnbffs.blogspot.com) where she discusses wonderful books (of course) and all the other things she's interested in (at the moment it's mostly "Twilight" and "The Sims 4" but you'll find all sorts of goodies on there, and I love the fact that she told me that she would no way want to carry on book blogging once ReadItDaddy closed its doors, and then went straight ahead and set up her own blog.
She's now been firmly bitten by the book blogging bug and publishers who still send us books (and didn't drop us last year - you are wonderful, you know who you are) now get her opinion and hers alone on their books. How cool is that?
I've said it many times over the past decade. Reading to your children and reading with your children, then talking about books and being as passionate a reader as they are pays off in so many ways both in and out of school. Back when we first started out with ReadItDaddy we put together a year-long campaign to try and get more parents interested in reading to and with their kids, but 8 years on from that campaign it still feels like there's a lot of ground to cover, and the curriculum and sometimes the snobbiness and negativity in the children's publishing industry itself can throttle that goal, achieving the very opposite of what you'd think the industry would do, and choking off its present and future audience.
We're both so proud of C. She's done all this off her own back and though we could be smug and try and claim credit for it, it really is down to her in the end and her continued interest in the world of stories. We can't wait to find out where that journey takes her next.
In the meantime check out Mostly Books for wonderful book stuff, and of course check out C's blog too!
Well done to Charlotte for carrying on the book blogging baton! It's great to hear that she's still such a book worm :o)
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