Reading Corner: Monkey See, Monkey Do: 116

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Writing: Develop accurate writing style, logical flow, word usage, and expression like a native user

Children love to listen or read story books, it makes every child to discover the joy of reading as well. When they read more, it helps them to learn better and opens the way to creative world. Stories are abundant, for which we support to enhance reading habit with our free children’s books online. Monkey Stories has won many prestigious awards and achievements, leading the way in English learning apps for children. Chris chose to blog about his cancer rather than talk about it. The first I heard about this was when a friend called to ask me about his illness. I was so annoyed at the time. He had not disclosed his diagnosis to anyone else, and then he suddenly decided to blog without warning me. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Rather than tell everyone over and over again what was happening, he decided to do it once. His literary blog turned into a kind of cancer blog. It was not where I wanted to discuss things. I avoid social media and do my very best not to engage with any of it. Chris and I were like gin and tonic: completely different but perfect together. It was the foundation of our partnership, no matter how testing it could be for both of us at times.

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Monkey Stories applies Synthetic Phonics - the famous synthetic decoding and blending method used by the Ministry of Education of English-speaking countries around the world. This method helps children to spell words easily, read fluently, write with correct spelling, and boost confidence when communicating in English.

Children enjoy not only reading but also story-telling, this greatly helps them recollect stories and illustrate each character in the story. Certainly, every child enjoys telling the story that they read with parents and friends. They enjoy sharing their experience in reading and understanding of the story. And to carry this fun around any place they go, now it is easy to carry children’s books in any computerized reading gadgets and have the pleasure of read free eBooks. Pete Chapman and Christopher Fowler on their last holiday together in July 2022 in Bodrum, Turkey. Photograph: Courtesy of Pete Chapman Monkey Stories is most suitable for children aged 2-10 which helps children develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. I realise now that THE BOOK was his message to me. Hidden in between the good stuff and the bad, it says many of the things he couldn’t say to me directly, because saying them before he died would have been an admission of imminent death. He was never ready to die, he always had another book to write, another story to tell. THE BOOK and all his others will forever be there to turn to when I need to hear his voice. As I filed it on the shelf, I thought about its dedication: “For Pete – There are no words.” The truth is that Chris always had words, right to the very end. The right words. With just a single application, children can practice all 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing effectively thanks to more than 1,100+ interactive picture stories, 430+ audiobooks, 119 reading comprehension exercises and 243 phonics lessons, ...The week that followed was another unexpectedly difficult period. As I digested what I read, a number of thoughts started to occur to me. I worried that he’d left out various important details about what happened and that certain things didn’t happen exactly the way he described. We often had vigorous discussions about this sort of thing in the pub or with friends over dinner, when he was telling a story or we were dissecting something he’d written. His retort was always, “Never let facts get in the way of a good story.” I always have a lot of questions and I had more than usual this time. Normally we would have discussed these together and debated. This time I chose to call the handful of people I knew who had read advance copies. Friends, his agents and other writers. I needed to understand what they thought and how they interpreted the book. The night before Chris died, he woke in the middle of the night. I’d been sleeping on the floor next to him for a while. The hospital bed had been set up in his study. It was his happy place with views across London. It was a clear night and the lights of cranes and office buildings were sparkling. He had mostly lost the ability to speak a few days earlier. He had forgotten how to open and log into his laptop a few weeks before that. It was the hardest thing for me to see, because I knew then that it wouldn’t be long. He asked me on that last night if it was time yet. It was a terrifying question. I had no idea how to answer. The next day, as the sun set, the last thing he whispered to me – so quietly I had to press my ear against his lips to hear – was “Thank you.” He said it three times. He died an hour later. In addition to their work on children's books, Maa Illustrations also offers captivating technical illustrations. Their artistic expertise spans various domains, ensuring boundless creativity in their craft.