The Manchester Children’s Book Festival (MCBF) is back for the sixth year, with lots of exciting events and activities on offer.
The festival, organised by Manchester Metropolitan University, is centred around the hugely popular Family Fun Day which returns this year on Saturday 24 June.
Read Manchester will have a dedicated marquee during the day, where Coronation Street star and MCBF Patron Jenny McAlpine will be sharing her favourite stories from 12pm.
Families visiting the marquee can also enjoy a sneak peek of one of the BookBenches that will be part of the BookBench trail this summer. They can find out more about project and take home Read Manchester bookmarks, stickers and flyers.
Jenny, who is passionate about getting little ones reading, said:
“I have always loved to read with my little boy, Albert. He is two-and-a-half now and I have been taking him to Storytime at Manchester Central Library since he was eight weeks old.
“I can understand that people can be scared of reading with their child if they’re not really a reader themselves. Libraries can be scary to go into if you have never been in before. The first time I went, I’d never been in the children’s bit of the library and I didn’t know what I was doing. But I asked a lady who was really helpful and pointed me in the right direction.
“You can get kids excited about reading by using absolutely anything they are interested in. My son loves trucks and diggers so we’ve got books like that. If your child loves fairies, then get books about fairies - things that they actually enjoy.”