The Book of Rubbish Ideas

Teddy oversees the reading proceedings

Well, actually, that’s not strictly true - library day is usually Saturday, but I don’t pen a piece over the weekends - even the wicked need some rest you know.

After putting my youngest fruit-bat to bed last night, we sat and read Poppy and Max and the Lost Puppy by Sally Grindley and Lindsey Gardiner.

It was a lovely little book, nice illustrations and big words, ideal for reading with a dimmed light and a teddy.

While we were upstairs, the other pesky twigglynugs were downstairs with their dad, listening to Stephen Fry narrate the final part of the Harry Potter phenomenon, The Deathly Hallows. There couldn’t have been a better man for the job in my opinion; Stephen embodies the institution of Hogwarts wonderfully well and is such a delight to listen to. This audio book also came from our library and the boys been doing about an hour a night in a candle-lit living room, alongside a crackly fire that flicks mystical shadows around the room. Audio books are about a pound to hire and give hours of great family entertainment.

If we can’t get to the library to renew our books, we have options. There’s a library bus that comes into the village once a week, or I can simply renew online.

There are often readings done by local authors and if you’re really lucky, you might have a reading group meet there once a month too…if there isn’t one, you might like to start one…I can recommend a great book to get things started…

There are lots of notices up about local events, which is really handy if you’ve elected to receive only addressed mail for people in your household in an effort to reduce your rubbish, as you don’t get those odd useful circulars. Of course the social aspect of just being there is lovely too, especially for the children.

But one of my favourite things is the smell - don’t laugh - there’s something wonderful about the smell of books that you can only find in large bookshops and libraries and it’s worth going just for that…(‘time for your pill now dear’)…

Our libraries offer so much more than the obvious but they need our support and visits. Taking the family in for a literary session from an early age is a great way to get the kids hooked on books and if you do that, they’ll never be bored.

From another rubbish standpoint, these places are like an Aladdin’s cave of goodies! You can change your bookshelf as often as you change your wardrobe, spend zero pennies in the process and not end up with a pile of dusty paperbacks that you’re very unlikely to read again - clutter, rubbish, clutter!

Don’t forget, it’s not just books, there’s often a huge selection of audio books covering all genres, videos and DVD’s too; you’ll be spoiled for choice, so go find your local library and get yourself signed up for a ticket and keep your shelves fresh and alive!

…and if my book isn’t there, get them to order it in…

Rubbishly yours,

TSx

Edit - checkout the ‘Great Green Reads‘ post for some great green reads for children