Winners of the ParenThots-MPH Contest - first prize winner Khoo Li Ying (right) and third prize winner Dr Malini Selvaprahasam (left). With them is Shireen Johari, Senior Marketing Executive of MPH Distributors.

Reading is something that parents need to encourage from the time their children are small. That is the general consensus of the ParenThots-MPH Contest winners who were at MPH Bookstores in Midvalley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur, to collect their prizes on Saturday.

Khoo Li Ying of Petaling Jaya won the first prize after submitting a photo of her reading a book to her two elder daughters who look extremely engrossed in the book. She won RM150 worth of Usborne books and RM200 worth of MPH book vouchers.

Khoo, who works with an advertising agency, has three daughters aged 10, seven and two years old.

According to Khoo, her two elder children really enjoy reading now. The eldest girl has been reading Enid Blyton and is now starting on Roald Dahl books. The second one is also starting on Dahl's books. The youngest is reading the Eric Carle picture books.

“I think it helps if you read with them from the time that they're small. From the time that all of them were about six months we had already started picking up picture books and going through those books with them. We used to make it a habit at bedtime to read one of the picture books with them.

“I remember, there were one or two books that were their favourites and those would be chosen every night so for about one year we would be reading the same book over and over again. But it sort of helps because later on they usually 'read' the book to you by memory and it will help them when they do really start reading the words.

“I think there has to be a concerted effort on the part of the parents if they want their children to read. It's a bit difficult if you don't read and you ask your kids to read.

“It's good if you start when they're small. Also, if they watch something they like on TV, and you get them a book on it. When they read the story they sometimes find that they like reading about it. That's another way to get them interested in books,” she says.

Third prize winner Dr Malini Selvaprahasam, a general practitioner, had submitted a photo of her extended family reading. Everyone was in the photo including her baby, her niece and even her aunt.

She won RM150 worth of Usborne books and RM50 worth of MPH book vouchers.

Dr Malini's only son is six months old. He is now exploring colours, shapes and animals in picture books.

Says Dr Malini, “Considering he's only six months old, we have quite a few books at home – colours, shapes, animals. As for the Usborne books which we received as the prize, I might pass them on to my niece who is three years old as he is not at the reading stage yet. So she might read hang on to them until he is ready to read those books. The book vouchers will go towards buying more children's books because they're so expensive these days. He can't even read yet and the books for him are so expensive!

“His favourite book now is the one on animals. He likes it when we make the animal sounds as we point to the pictures of animals.”

Second prize winner Foo Chee Shoen was not able to make it for the prizegiving ceremony. He won RM150 worth of Usborne books and RM100 worth of MPH book vouchers.

The prizes were handed out by Shireen Johari, MPH Distributors' senior marketing executive.

The ParenThots-MPH Contest was jointly organised by MPH Bookstores and ParenThots, The Star's parenting portal.