One morning last week, Sarah's teacher Nancy spoke to me about Sarah not having the Ladybird books set. She said that every day she loans Sarah her book. And because Sarah doesn't have those books, she couldn't practise much and as a result, her reading is very poor. All the other kids are graduating to Book 2A, whereas Sarah is still stuck with Book 1A. I was actually quite stunned and angry at the same time. Hello, it's already May and now only the teacher's telling me about this. Hubby and I thought the books were optional. My impression was that there is this set of books at school for all to read, and if we parents want our kids to practise reading at home, we are "highly encouraged" to buy the books. So, I was wrong. Everyone has to have the books. But what striked me was how the teacher emphasised that there're prizes at the end of school term for kids who are good in reading. So? Sarah just started schooling this year. I don't expect her to