Local bookworm Cassidy Hendricks has walked away with second prize in the national SA Literacy Association’s annual Reading Competition.
A score of 95% meant the Grade 1 learner from Buck Road Primary School in Lotus River clinched second place for her age category, in the national leg of the competition last month.
The seven-year-old plans to continue her journey in literacy, with an interest in learning other languages.
READ | Bookworm targets national contest
Brenda Tommy, her grandmother, says she is very happy with her achievement.
“I’m really chuffed with the approach she has to books.
“She is at the point where she doesn’t want me to tell her the words anymore, she really is going the next level. To me that is a good thing, it’s only when she is really puzzled that she will reluctantly spell it out for me to explain it to her.”
Cassidy whose love of reading started at the age of two, is now reading children’s classics.
“Her gifts now are only books; she has started reading classics like King Solmons Mine’s and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
“She also wants to learn Xhosa, Chinese and French.”
Tommy says she hoped that more children would become interested in books.
“We all know there is a problem with literacy in schools. I’m sure there are parents who would be interested in literacy clubs or competitions for their children.
“Children are going to be reading for the rest of their lives. Wherever they go they will be confronted with languages, whether it is for research or a math paper.”
