Lia Henrichs was just four when she started reading, and she’s now a gifted Mensa student
BOOKWORM Lia Henrichs was just four when she started reading. She ended up skipping grades and it comes down to how much reading she does.
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BOOKWORM Lia Henrichs was just four when she started reading.
“I was reading to most of my friends who were also four,” the nine-year-old from Boronia said. “I started reading and didn’t stop.”
Lia, a Year 5 student at Templeton Primary School in Wantirna, was accepted into Mensa’s gifted child program at the end of her prep year — and says it is not uncommon for her to read the same book five or more times.
“Lia still needs a prompt to read something new, she likes reading the books she has again,” dad Joerg said.
“She reads all the time, no matter how often we take away her books during breakfast or dinner, it always ends up back in her hands.
“When we had her skip grade 1, her reading got additionally accelerated to Year 4.”
The young reader began her love of Enid Blyton’s classic books with The Magic Faraway Tree in prep, then “ate her way through the whole Famous Five series aged eight”.
“I haven’t read the Secret Seven yet but I really want to,” Lia said.
Her favourite among Blyton’s titles is Brer Rabbit — “it’s really funny and also I love rabbits” — though she lists Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as her all-time top book and Sherlock Holmes as best series.
Mr Henrichs said he had passed on his love of reading to his only child by reading to her every evening, and encouraged other parents to do the same.
“Read as much as possible from an early age onwards, it just becomes part of the process of going to bed, and find out what your daughter or son likes and encourage them as kids like to be challenged.”
Collect 15 of Enid Blyton’s classics starting with The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island, free with a collector case when you purchase the Sunday Herald Sun this weekend.
Details: heraldsun.com.au/EnidBlyton