Chances are, you have, but many may not remember in what context.

It doesn't mean those precious 20 mintues of smoko or morning tea - in fact his phrase refers to the 20 minutes before lights out, when your children are hopefully either reading to themselves or having stories read to them.

Children who are read to often, who come from an environment where books are part of the household, and whose parents are readers, will usually read at an early age, and develop similar fluency in writing and verbal skills.

In fact, many children want to read well before they are at the pre-school stage, and parents are often unsure of how and when to start familiarising their children with letters, words and simple sentences...and this is where we come in.

There are many excellent books aimed at separate stages of reading development - not just for babies and toddlers, but increasingly for adults and people who do not speak English as a first language.

For babies the library provides board books which are able to withstand the hard knocks that enthusiastic young readers hand out.

For toddlers, we provide many alphabet/colour/shape books, as well as phonic books to identify sounds in speech.

The library also has thousands of picture books from all over the world, books you are encouraged to read and share with your children to develop their love of stories.

And for the child who is champing at the bit to start reading, there are dozens of reading schemes which set the child on the road to reading - from the Oxford Reading Tree series, to the Reading Together and Letterland series.

These graded schemes are also invaluable for older children who may need to revise their reading skills, and for adults who are learning English.

There are also more advanced literacy series aimed at older age groups who may not feel comfortable reading stories about Biff and Chip, and these range from five-minute thrillers to graphic novels and condensed stories and modern classics.

So if you have an enthusiastic non-reader in the family, bring them to the library, and explore the many ways you can start someone on the path to fluent reading.

And don't forget that important 20 minutes before bedtime either.