“Books crowbar the world open for you.”
Katherine Rundell

And now they are 12
My teeny tiny preemie babies
My sunshine twins
Are 12

Their birthday has been a brilliantly bookish occasion
We need yet more shelves to line the walls of our
Already bursting with books home
I feel that as a parent and an educator I have done something right
If top of their list for their 12th birthdays
Was a long list of books they wanted to read
And ‘surprise books’

I am honoured that as they turn 12
They still find peace and joy being read to
By Mummy and Daddy
All four children take great delight in reading to
And listening to one another
We are a true bookish readaloud family
And it makes my heart sing

We read a rich spread of modern and classic literature
We read fact, fiction and poetry
Through our books we journey back to the beginning of time
And on to a future so wonderfully imagined by amazing authors

One book that each twin was given on their birthday
For them to keep alongside their copies of
AA MIlne’s Now We Are Six
Is the brilliant and beautiful
Writes of Passage: Words To Read Before You Turn 13
With extracts curated by Nicolette Jones
We are looking forward to exploring this treasury together

Presented in eight sections
Writes of Passage
Shares extracts and quotes from children’s literature
Having looked through together
It is lovely to see the names of favourite authors
And scenes from favourite stories
To recognise verses from songs we love
And moments in history we have learned about

This is a celebration of childhood reading
The books we read and hold in our hearts through our adulthood
The books we already know we will want to read to our own children
I was brought to tears by the inclusion of
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
A book I first read as a child
Then returned to again and again
Through my teen and adult years
I LOVE that book with all my heart

Here are words of wisdom
Nuggets of knowledge
Sound advice
Sources of inspiration
Awe and wonder
Memories of book read already
Signposts to stories still to be discovered

Each chapter is titled

On Childhood and Your Past
On Happiness and Sadness
On Nature and The World
On Kindness and Courage
On Family, Love and Home
On Equality and Justice
On Reading
On Becoming You and Your Future

There are so many highlights in this book for me
As a teacher and a parent
As a reader
I cannot wait to read them with my children
And talk til we can talk no more
About the books we love
The book we will carry with us
Through this world and beyond
The books we will gift into the hands of others
The books that will always remind us of our childhoods
Of each other
The books that made us readers
And continue to feed our hearts, minds and souls

This is a gorgeous gift for children who
Like my own beautiful babies
Are heading for their teenage years
We will be adding to this collection
With our own quotes from the books we read
The stories we hear
The news articles we see
We will be creating our own
Writes of Passage
As together we compile our own soundtrack
Of the words we choose to live by

Thank you for this brilliant and beautiful book
Nosy Crow
Thank you for the memories and the inspiration
Nicolette Jones

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”
Alan Bennett, The History Boys