It’s National Library day and I have blogged previously here & here exactly how important libraries are to me and my family.

Here are our library highlights of the year:

This was Freya’s first year to try the summer reading challenge & she loved it, getting the stickers and having a chart just like her big brother was great fun.  

Freya’s current favourite library read is the Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywelt & Oliver Jeffers and is one she is struggling to return. She is also a fan of the Rainbow Magic Fairy series and I am very glad the library is able to support this habit.

The library’s regular code club is a highlight of Bryns week, an uninterupted hour on the computer with a new scratch project each week, what’s not to like. He has also joined the children’s book group & looking forward to today’s Harry Potter themed event.

My 2015 new years resolution was  to read more graphic novels so was happy to discover a few new favourites in the library collection including El Deafo by Cece Bell. 

The ebook service is proving to be invaluable especially when we are away for the weekend & I have forgotten to pack bedtime stories. 

Over the summer my nieces recomended the Ascendance Trilogy, having discovered the first one as an ebook I recommended the library purchase books 2&3. A speedy response meant I was able to race through this exciting trilogy, perfect holiday read.

Having only just discovered the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch we were really pleased the library had the whole back catalogue, we are now caught up & waiting for the next one.

At Christmas cookery books from the library proved an inspiration for Bryn who cooked macarons (with a little help from his Dad) as a Christmas present for me.

We are very grateful for our library service and would be lost without it.

 

It’s National Library day tomorrow and I have blogged previously here & here exactly how important libraries are to me and my family.

Here are this years library highlights;

Borrowed 526 books

As always we are very grateful for the family activities the library organises & in particular the Sunday afternoon Book Magic sessions. They are always a hit with the children who love listening to stories followed by a craft activity.

It was another successful summer reading challenge for Bryn who zipped through 6 books & enjoyed collecting the goodies supplied. This year there was a medal ceremony at the library & was heartwarming seeing so many children proudly waiting for their medals.

Seeing Bryn get caught up in series of books was a real delight. He discovered the How to Train Your dragons series by Cressida Cowell and worked his way through the series using the library reservation system. There were times however when he had to wait a little while for the next book but he was happy to re-read the books while waiting.

He is also making much more use of non fiction section to get to books about the topics he is working on at school. The whole family is a lot more knowledgable about Space, planets & stars then we were before.

Recently Bryn was issued with a new library card at school as part of the excellent library card for every child scheme.

I became addicted to the Agatha Raisin books by M.C Beaton this year. The library was able to feed this addiction even when I was away from home via their ebook service.

I was also smitten with Neil Gaiman & Chris Riddell’s The Sleeper & the Spindle, so much so we now have our own copy in order that I could return the library copy.

This year I have been very impressed with the children’s picture book stock. We have borrowed some real gems and has been a great source for new discoveries for my list of Libraries & Librarians in picture books

A photo of a recent haul of books from the library

I have also been taking the opportunity the library provides of recommending books for the collection and was pleased to see the addition of the fab Hilda series by Luke Pearson.

We also supported Library A-Z (do checkout this great project) project and received a beautifully illustrated book highlighting all the wonderful work libraries do & the services they offer. A great celebration of libraries.

Depressingly there are continued cuts across the national public library service which I think makes for a poorer society. While we still have a library service we shall continue our weekly trips helping us grow, learn & expand our horizons.