Highland Bookstart babies get boost from Gaelic Gruffalo

Bi-lingual babies and toddlers in the Highlands will have a treat in store today, National Bookstart Day, (Friday 6th October), when The Highland Council introduces “An Gruffalo” - the Gaelic version of the acclaimed Gruffalo book written by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Pupils from Central Primary School’s Gaelic Medium pre-school class will visit Inverness Library today to receive their “Bookstart” Treasure Box packs which include copies of “An Gruffalo” published by Acair. In preparation for their visit the pupils designed their own Gruffalo masks to wear at the Bookstart event.

“An Gruffalo” is a rhyming story of a mouse and a monster. Little mouse goes for a walk in a dangerous forest. To scare off his enemies he invents tales of a fantastical creature called the Gruffalo. Mouse gets a huge surprise when he meets the real Gruffalo.

Provision of 200 “An Gruffalo” books into Bookstart treasure boxes has been made possible through £698 funding from Bòrd na Gàidhlig. The treasure boxes will be handed out from Highland Libraries to Gaelic-speaking 3 year olds.

Bookstart is a national scheme that encourages parents to share and enjoy books with their children from as early an age as possible. Sharing books with babies and toddlers is a wonderful way to increase language skills and to help them understand the world around them. Research shows that babies and toddlers who love books begin reading sooner and go on to fare better at school, in all areas of the curriculum.

Babies and toddlers in the Highlands can receive their free Bookstart packs through their local library or health visitor and local health clinic and early years education centres. Bookstart packs include: packs for babies aged 0-12 months; Bookstart+ for toddlers aged 18–30 months; and My Bookstart Treasure Chest for children aged 36–48 months.

“An Gruffalo” storytime will be read by Dolina Grant, Highland Council’s Community Learning & Development Officer who has responsibility for Gaelic, at the Bookstart event at Inverness Library.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig Chief Executive, Allan Campbell said: “The Gaelic language is naturally rich in wit and humour, and it is important that we make learning through Gaelic as much of a fun experience as possible to encourage and motivate our young people, and to strengthen their bond with the language.

"Producing a Gaelic version of a hugely successful modern story like the Gruffalo is an excellent opportunity to introduce more such fun as a part of the critically important processes of reading and storytelling, and Bòrd na Gàidhlig is delighted to have been able to assist in making this happen for these children today!"

Provost William Smith said: “Bookstart has proven that its never too early to read books to your children, and thanks to our partnership with Bòrd na Gàidhlig we can help build on the development and learning of our future Gaelic-speakers in the community in this excellent way through our local libraries.”

Also, on Bookstart Day, Highland Libraries will introduce Bookstart’s Book Crawl programme for children aged 18 months. The aim of the Book Crawl programme is to encourage parents to return to their local library after their 18 month old child has been given a Bookstart+ pack. After 3 visits the child will receive a certificate, and when they have 5 certificates in total, they will receive a baby Bookstart Bear.