Jungle Adventures at Llanelli Library.

Parents and toddlers are being invited to some jungle fun at Llanelli Library.

To celebrate National Bookstart week, a free jungle adventures event is being held on Monday. Plenty of family fun is planned with a storytelling session, craft making and a chance to get up close to jungle creatures.

Carmarthenshire libraries has been working closely with the Book Trust’s flagship reading programme and each pre-school child attending will receive a picture book copy of Rumble in the Jungle.

The free event is ticketed and tickets are available from Llanelli Library for two one and a half hourly sessions at 10am and 12.30pm.

National Bookstart Week is an annual celebration and it aims to reinforce to families the importance of getting in to the habit of reading every day – even if it’s just for ten minutes. Every family in Wales is given their first Bookstart pack at one of their first year health checks, and a second pack at a check between 18 and 24 months. The packs include English and Welsh language books and advice about reading with your child. In 2014-15, over 137,000 books were given to families through the Bookstart.

The council’s libraries manager, Mark Jewell said: “Reading to young children helps build their confidence as well as communication and educational skills. Sharing books with your baby or child and reading aloud with them at bedtime is a fun, warm and loving experience.”