Parkes children caught the reading bug when Paint Australia REaD stopped in town on its way to Wollongong, where the Aussie book relay was to finish up on May 22.

The visit coincided with the annual Paint Parkes REaD Reading Day on May 10.

Due to inclement weather, the event was held in the Robert Wilson auditorium at the Parkes Leagues Club - there the children welcomed the book relay.

Rhonda, who is the founder of the Paint the Town REaD initiative, along with the executive director of Paint the Town REaD Ltd Barbie Bates and Buglet were part of the small group of volunteers who travelled across the country on the relay.

They stopped at communities along the route to celebrate the importance of reading with their babies from pre-birth and this year, instead of passing on a book, they built a book as they went.

Each community had the opportunity to contribute a page to the relay book, which will be published and presented to patron Lady Cosgrove.

Barbie said being on the relay was an amazing privilege.

"It's been a privilege to capture a picture of how communities celebrate and value reading to babies from birth," she said.

"It's been an awareness campaign and we've worked every minute of it!"

The relay finished in Wollongong on May 22 to coincide with Simultaneous Story time.

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