The best thing about paying tax is state libraries. I devour books, especially those in print form (note to Evie and Jake, if you are reading this in the year 2060, believe it or not we used to read books in non-electronic format) and am grateful that there are such wonderful libraries to help feed my habit.

When I became a parent, a very important part of my parenting strategy was (and still is) to read to my children every day. Whether that involved them chewing on hard books as young babies or frequent visits to one of the beautiful (and free!) Melbourne libraries, I have always hoped that my kids will share the same love of reading as I do.

A few weeks ago, my little monkey “read” one of his favourite stories to his dad. And about one year before that, his sister had “read” the same story to him.

This to me, is pure love…of books, of siblings, of story telling.