Can’t sleep? Listening to or reading bedtime stories might help.

 

It was Saturday morning but some 40 children were told some bedtime-inspired tales during a special session that marked Inquirer Read-Along’s 10th anniversary.

 

Veteran storyteller Dyali Justo of Adarna House read Annie Pacaña-Lumbao’s “But that won’t make me sleep,” about Maya, a young girl who cannot sleep until his father comes home.

 

A similar story was told by first-time storyteller and GMA 7 actor Yasser Marta, who read “Ang Prinsesang Ayaw Matulog” by Feny de los Angeles-Bautista. It is about a young princess who learns to sleep after listening to bedtime stories.

 

Ann Abacan, principal of Sophia School in Meycauayan, Bulacan, read an Aesop fable “Ang Matalinong Oso,” which tells of a greedy carpenter and tailor who learned to render work without asking for compensation in advance.

 

Justo and Abacan, who have facilitated hundreds of sessions with the Inquirer Read-Along for the past decade, both agreed that bedtime storytelling nurtures a child’s reading habit.

 

“For my daughter, bedtime storytelling had helped her to develop reading skills at a young age, add to it that it served as a bonding experience for both of us,”Justo said.

 

“I believe that if you want your children to be really good at reading, start doing it when they are still young,” Abacan said.

 

The session also featured GMA-7 actors Kyle Vergara and Miggy Jimenez, who were named new Inquirer Read-Along Ambassadors.

 

Launched in 2007, Inquirer Read-Along is a corporate social responsibility program of the Philippine Daily Inquirer which aims to combat declining readership by promoting love for reading among children.

 

Since then, more than 20,000 children ages 7 to 13 from over 50 cities nationwide have joined the program, which featured over 400 celebrities and role models as storytellers.