Thanks everyone for your great comments in this discussion.
It probably won't come as much of a surprise that, like Morris, the school library was also a big part of my education. I agree that the role librarians and teachers play in helping kids find the right books and learn to love books is vital.
Julia already has 3,061 new school libraries going up as part of the Building the Education Revolution.
And today Julia and I visited Amaroo School in Canberra to launch Australia's first National Curriculum for consultation. The Australian Curriculum has a strong focus on the basics, particularly rigorous literacy and numeracy learning.
It's been developed by curriculum experts with assistance from teachers and subject matter experts - and now we are releasing it for public comment prior to introduction into schools next year.
I have no doubt that the content will - and should - spark some fierce debate and feedback.
The comments from parents, teachers and librarians through this blog discussion have certainly stressed the responsibility which lies with all of us to encourage the love of reading in our young ones.
It has been great to hear that some parents are benefiting from Let's Read developed by the Centre for Community Child Health and other local programs, including in SA and WA.
Some really useful ideas that came through in the blog:
* Reading to your kids is a great, free, way to enjoy time together,
* Leave books all over the house - the kids will pick them up eventually,
* Be a role model - make sure that your kids see you enjoying books, and
* Get your kids involved in public library school holiday programs
And this comment from one of the posts says it all: "My eldest daughter's only complaint after Christmas was that Santa didn't give her a book."He must know I love to read".
It struck me after reading some of the comments just how important books are to kids. We do a lot to celebrate Australian authors who write for adults but I realised that there is room to celebrate and encourage authors who focus on providing exciting stories for young children and teenagers.
With this in mind I am pleased to let you know we have decided to create two new categories in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards - for children's and young adult fiction - to give due recognition to this important part of our literary landscape.
Thanks again for your contributions to this debate, I have really enjoyed reading them and following the discussion. We're going to keep working on how we can actively support parents, teachers and librarians to help our young ones learn to love reading - and keep reading to your kids!
Read the full blog transcript