25/04/2026
Recently the world was celebrating “Book Day”📚 Postings about their favorite books and quotes on the importance of reading were shared. My little one’s school held over a month long Readathon! Kids dressed up as characters from books to school✨And it got me thinking on how or why I started Si Kecil🌈
You may have heard the saying, “It takes a village to raise a reader” Well, it was ‘a village’ that inspired me and that village was… Northcote, Australia.
We lived there twice, first when our little one was turning one, second when she was turning 5. Books have been a part of her life since she was born! Family and friends from Australia sent her books as a newborn gift🎁 and they continue gifting books on her birthdays, Christmases and any opportunity they get.
There’s a library within walking distance where we lived and as far as I know there’s a library in every council (kinda like a village here). They offered weekly Storytime for babies and toddlers, and a separate one for older kids. They also ran a nation-wide program called “1000 Books Before School” to encourage parents to read to their young children. We could borrow as many books as we like!📚 (Or as much as I could carry in my bag while walking home😅) All FREE.
Books are just accessible everywhere, in schools, in people’s houses, in front of the house, bookshops, op-shops, coffee shops, etc.
And no matter how old (Bonnie’s great grandmother on the third slide was 101 years old!💕) everybody is happy to read to the little ones. Everytime a family member or a friend came to visit they would always read to her and that’s how they bonded. Because reading to children everynight before bed is part of the culture there. And so everybody grew up a reader.
When we returned to Ubud, I couldn’t easily find children’s books for my now hungry little reader. Surely I wasn’t the only mum feeling that way?! And that’s when I decided to open a little bookshop with free reading room in the middle of a little village called Nyuh Kuning🌴
Let’s be part of the village and gift a book or read to your little nieces, nephews and children📖
Next will share how this little village raise a reader😊
