We all know how important books and reading are to our children, but there are some hidden benefits you might not have realised. Author and Mom, Candice Noakes-Dobson, who writes the A Little Horse Called Pancakes Book Collection, shares some of the hidden benefits of reading with your child that she has discovered.

1. It helps to build a stronger bond between you and your child, and gives them a sense of closeness and well-being that will help them feel more loved, which in turn helps them to learn more
2. This closeness also helps children build a positive association with reading, which helps foster a love of books and reading as they grow older.
3. It helps your child to calm down and fully relax
4. It helps to open communication lines with your child, helping them talk and open up to you
5. It helps to build listening skills and grow their imaginations
6. It helps to increase their attention spans which helps them to be able to concentrate for longer periods of time
7. It helps them to learn early thinking skills like understanding cause and effect, exercising logic, as well as thinking in abstract terms. They are also able to learn the consequences of actions, and the basics of what is right and wrong.
8. It can help your child through a stressful situation by reading them a story about a character going through what they are going through and seeing how they are able to overcome it.
9. Many studies have shown that children who do well at school were all read to as young children, so you will help have a positive influence on their learning abilities.
10. Reading to your child helps them to become a lifelong reader!!

For more info on the Pancakes book collection please visit:

• Facebook - @pancakesbookcollection
• Instagram - @alittlehorsecalledpancakes

Johannesburg 09 July 2018 – Shango Publishing and Gudani Raulisa are proud to offer the latest work from Gudani Raulisa, The Year of Fire, hitting bookstores in Johannesburg from 25 August 2018; launching at Skoobs Theatre of Books in Fourways.

The Year of Fire is a compelling tale, unpacking the deepest issues of rape culture, misogyny and student politics in a narrative by Victor.

“Patriarchy and rape culture, like racism or homophobia, are not merely a blip on the screen of human existence. They’re deeply ingrained in us, like an indelible stain on a precious garment. Only two things could be done with and to such stains: spread the stain throughout the garment with a dye or cut it out. If you spread the stain, it can no longer be seen as a deviation, because the whole garment will now bear the same colour attribute.

If you cut it out the garment will lose its elegance and value, but this is what the military would term an acceptable loss. This man had done neither, instead, he had disaffected me from himself and other men, like a leper he wanted to be driven out of society to rot alone in the wilderness” –

Gudani Raulisa weaves a heart-wrenching tale of gender disparities against an apprehensive backdrop of cataclysm and student politics, eliciting key reflections on the state of gender relations in our society.