Mr Johnson said the most important thing was for teachers to instil a love of reading which could benefit young people throughout their life.

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Schools minister Nick Gibb has said in the past how crucial it is for children to master the basics of reading as early as possible so they can go on to develop a real love of reading.

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Apart from her job as a teacher and researcher, Dajani devotes a great deal of her time to the We Love Reading program, which she founded just a few years ago, which I wrote about in the Spring, and which is already expanding into countries all over the Middle East.

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Immediately upon finishing Great House, I felt I had to read History of Love and counted the days until my vacation, when I would finally have a few blissful evenings of reading for pleasure.

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"If you love reading and are looking to invest a chunk of money into a device as a dedicated e-reader, then the iPad is not your best bet, " Cesar Torres, of CNN content partner ArsTechnica , wrote last year in a review comparing the third-generation iPad to e-readers such as the third-generation Kindle. (That iPad has the same screen as the most recent one).

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Here is a kind of unofficial reading list from the Australian government, and I'd love to hear your recommendations.

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