Leandri Roodman is the first young patron of the Durbanville library to reach the milestone of reading and listening to 1000 stories. Picture: Supplied.
Durbanville library patron Leandri Roodman, 5, has listened to and read 1000 stories over the past three years.
She is the first of the library's young patrons to reach the 1000-story target set by the City's "1000 stories before school" campaign and notched up stories from the beginning of September 2021 until Monday August 19, according to Durbanville principal librarian Rene Schoombee.
Launched in February 2022, the campaign is run by City libraries to promote reading. It encourages the sharing of 1000 stories with children before they go to school.
The first phase of the programme starts with sharing stories with the unborn baby from 26 weeks as this is when the baby starts to hear sounds outside of the womb, says the City.
Leandri’s mother, Conette Roodman, says Leandri loves storytime and enjoys choosing her own books.
“Reading not only builds strong language skills, but also supports children’s overall cognitive, social, and emotional growth,” says Ms Schoombee, inviting parents to sign their children up for the programme.
The Department of Higher Education and Training revealed in March 2022 that by 2019, 4.4 million adults in South Africa were illiterate. The illiteracy rate stood at 11.6% for men and 12.5% for women.