Inspiring Older Readers

posted on 26 Oct 2025

 

 

 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

 

So God created mankind in his own image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

[…]

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good

 

The Image of an Image of an Image

Your Grandad used to read me stories.

He’s my Dad
they were some of the sweetest times we ever had
when I was little

he sang a song, some variation on an old song
and the lyrics were wrong
See you in the morning, see you in the evening, see you at suppertime
if you’ll be my darling, I’ll give you a shepherds’ pie in your… eye
mouth… leg…. nose
and any other body part we chose

and then he’d tuck us in
and then, to end the day
we’d talk and he would pray
his warm hand on our shoulders

and when we were older
Dad sang bedtime to our sisters
and Mum, (that’s Nanny to you)
would read to me, and your uncle too
Lions in Narnia, dwarves in Middle Earth
Lost kings in Arendia, and more
the books were too difficult for us
but that’s what books were for

and my mother’s voice
expressive, gentle

and this
this is the very same book
that Nanny read to me from
See the marching army on the front?
See the snowy lamp post on the spine?

Hear the way my voice catches?
See the way my hands shake and a tear runs down my cheek?
See the crayon scribble on the inside cover? That was me…

Listen… listen to this…

[Prompt: Refine, shorten, and update all generational markers by one generation e.g. ‘Grandad’ becomes ‘great grandad’ and ‘mum’ becomes ‘nanny’]

 

Your great Grandad used to read your Grandad stories
it was sweet
he sang an old song, with changed lyrics
See you tomorrow, if you’re good I’ll give you a pie

and then he’d tuck them in
and pray
his hand on their shoulders

 

and later on
Great Grandad was busy
so Great Grandma read to your Grandad and great uncle
Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad
they were challenging
but that was good

 

and Great Grandma’s voice was gentle

and this is the exact same book
that she read from
Look at the pictures
See how emotional I am?
Look, Grandad scribbled inside

Listen

[Prompt: Refine, shorten, and update all generational markers as before]

 

Your Great Great Grandad used to read your Great Grandad stories

and he sang an old song, incorrectly
See you tomorrow, if you behave you can eat

he’d tuck them in and pray

 

and when they were older
Great Great Grandma read to your Great Grandad and great great uncle
Fantasy books
challenging ones

 

she spoke softly

this is the same book
it’s illustrated
I’m emotional
He defaced it

 

[Prompt: Refine, shorten, and update all generational markers]

 

Your Great Great Great Grandad used to read your Great Great Grandad stories
and sang badly
Goodbye, behave, there’s food

 

later
Great Great Grandma read instead
tricky books

 

quietly

this book with pictures
it’s sad
and ruined

 

[Prompt: Refine, shorten]

 

Your ancestor read stories
bad songs
Bye, stop, eat

Ancestor read
bad books

this one
look
it’s ruined

 

 

[Note: for the images at the top of this article, an old selfie (the first picture) was uploaded to ChatGPT with the instruction ‘recreate this image as accurately as possible with no changes’. The result (the second picture) was reuploaded to ChatGPT with the same instruction. The result was the third picture]

 

Ben Moore

October 2025

 

Ben was born and raised in London but moved to Birmingham in 2012 and never escaped. He’s a poet, a librarian, and an aspiring Christian bard, who spends a lot of his time supporting students at Birmingham Newman University, reading London history, scribbling thoughts and rhymes in one of his 50-odd notebooks, or wandering the woods with his wife. Ben doesn’t have any children yet, but he does have a list of books he wants to read to any children he may have in the future.