BEDTIME STORIES DON'T HAVE TO BE A CHORE New 5-minute bedtime storybook concept using interactive imagination. Ask any parent how they feel about reading bedtime stories to their little ones, and you'll get the same response every time; "I feel guilty if I don't read a bedtime story, but I'm often too tired at the end of the day. When I do decide to read a story, my little one chooses the biggest, longest book, and my heart sinks. My child ends up getting over-stimulated when all I want is for him or her to quietly drift off to sleep." Sound familiar? This reality is played out every evening in most homes with children between the ages of 2-8. The debut book by Dave Bester was written specifically with this conundrum in mind. My friend Paperman is a collection of 5-minute bedtime stories that are super easy on parents and loved by children. The book encourages parents to substitute the main character's name with that of their child, so the little one stars in his or her own bedtime story. And parents read it directly from their device while the child has to close his or her eyes and use imagination to paint the pictures. The book features a 'real' special friend called Paperman. Parents are invited to make their own Paperman together with their child, and put it up on the wall in their child's bedroom. This makes the character real. Each story follows the same plot - when your child has gone to school Paperman hops down off the wall and goes to explore. Along the way Paperman meets all sorts of interesting characters, from bugs to animals, including a few who are on the endangered species list. Inevitably he gets into a spot of bother, and needs his special friend (your child) to come home and save him. Each story has a natural pace with all the action in the first few minutes, culminating in Paperman being saved and brought back to his bedroom, and put to bed by your little one. This is also the signal for your child to go to sleep. And each story only takes five minutes. Experts are in agreement that reading a bedtime story to children has a number of long-term benefits for children. Apart from solidifying a special bond between parent and child, children who are spoken to a lot are faster at understanding words. Rich and varied language fires the imagination, and children are required to work their memory to follow the plot. This speedy processing helps them do better at school. My friend Paperman is available at the Amazon Kindle Store. For more information go to www.papermanbook.com or contact the author, Dave Bester, at dave@icing.co.za . 5% of the proceeds of My friend Paperman will be donated to Rhinos in Africa, an organisation that assists those individuals and organisations who, through their tireless efforts, are helping to ensure the survival of this species for future generations. For more information go to www.rhinosinafrica.com .