Help grow your child’s literacy this World Read Aloud Day (5 March) by reading them the special story below.

Each year, we celebrate 

to advocate children’s right to read and write. This World Read Aloud Day, Sowetan LIVE is joining with the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign to call on everyone in Mzansi to read aloud the same story on the same day so we can experience the benefits of reading aloud with children together.

Did you know:

• Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read.
• Reading aloud to your children helps to develop the bond between you.
• Hearing new words used in stories develops children’s vocabulary and gives them a rich language to draw from when they write their own stories.

How to get involved:

Help us set a read-aloud record by downloading the traditional African story, How stories began (by Wendy Hartman) and reading it aloud to children you know on March 5.

Let us know how many children you read to by signing up here: