All I need do is simply look at this page if I want to hear the sound of my father’s voice in my head. He read to me in four languages throughout my childhood, but this is by far the book I loved best. In our own native language, which he loved so dearly, he recounted the tale of an egg that eventually evolved into a chicken. The story is still appreciated by me some fifty years later, as is the beautiful flow of the Irish language. But it is surely the tone, the nuance and the intonation of my father’s beloved voice in my head as I silently read through the text that is the most treasured jewel of this childhood memory.

Will you be reading to a child today?

When you open that first page, pause for a second and think about the impact your voice will be making on the ear of the listener. Package this potentially eternal gift with care and attention. Science tells us that every individual’s voice is unique, and the special qualities of yours will be remembered by those whose lives you have touched long after you have gone.

This little book of mine is proof of that.