There is nothing better than reading a good book.
And from a young age, some of our best bonding comes from reading storybooks with our loved ones.
For me, watching stories being read on Play School as a child, was always spellbinding. The beautiful stories, the different voices and characters and the pure magic of it all.
So, it’s no wonder that during the coronavirus pandemic, storytelling is a great tool to calm the anxieties of you and your children.
However, storytelling can also reduce the stress levels of parents — especially when it’s a story parody voiced by Samuel L Jackson.
On the back of the success of his famed rendition of Go The F–k To Sleep, a book written for adults by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortés, Jackson has now performed a reading of the very apt sequel Stay The F–k at Home.
In a lengthy interview — via Zoom of course — the Snakes on a Plane actor appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to debut the book’s sequel.
While Jackson spent a good chunk of time talking about Netflix’ Tiger King phenomenon, he also took the opportunity to read the newest instalment of the book for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People thought that would be the perfect time to bring that back,” Jackson told Kimmel. “I got a call the other day from Adam Mansbach, the guy that wrote the original Go the F**k to Sleep, and we talked about what we could do remind people of social distancing and where we are in these times now. So he wrote a new poem, I read it and we want to present it to the public right now.”
If you don’t want to watch the interview in its entirety (although I highly recommend you do), the reading starts at 6.10 in the video below.
WATCH: Samuel L. Jackson Says Stay The F–K at Home. Story continues after the video.
So good!
When it comes to your children, if you’ve already exhausted every single book in the bookshelf and you’d like someone else to take the reigns for a moment, website Storyline Online has enlisted some of your favourite A-list celebrities to read to your kids. And it is mesmerising.
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website is available 24 hours a day of children, parents, caregivers and educators worldwide.
The video features celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations including Oprah Winfrey, Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and more.
WATCH: Betty White read Harry the Dirty Dog. Story continues…
Other celebrities are posting social media videos of themselves reading various children’s books aloud, lending their voices to Operation Storytime and Save With Stories (a new initiative from US charities Save the Children and No Kid Hungry) — aimed at lifting the spirits of children and parents alike.
Amy Adams, Josh Gad and Jennifer Garner have already taken part with Gad, famous for being Olaf in the Frozen franchise first reading Dr Seuss’ Hooray for Diffendorfer Day.
In another story, the father-of-two offered support to those in isolation.
“I also want to thank everyone who is in self-isolation right now. I know it’s hard not to be out there socializing with everybody. Trust me, I want to be out there too,” he said.
“But it’s important that all of us protect everybody who is somewhat fragile right now, or immuno-compromised, so thank you. And now I’m going to read a book that I have a lot of trouble getting through and haven’t actually read in a long time because I find it a difficult one.”
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 16, 2020
Entertainment site Now This also made a compilation video, including Gossip Girl herself, Kristen Bell reading Quackenstein Hatches a Family.