Weblog Archive

Hello

How are you?  Did you have a good weekend?

So here we are at the end of June.  It's the last day in June's question of the month today, so if you haven't voted already please do so.  Don't forget that anyone can vote, you don't need to be a member of the site (although we would love you to join us if you haven't done so already - hint!).  You can find out the results, and discover what the July poll will be, tomorrow.

Hopefully your "reading escapes" month has been good and you've had time to start thinking about what you're going to read this summer - even if you haven't had your holidays yet.  I've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to read, and as a result the pile of must-reads is growing.  In fact I think I need to set aside a reading-day to catch up - who knows, it might catch on and we could have a national reading day where everyone gets to just spend the day reading - now I like the sound of that!

Until tomorrow...

Suzanne

Hi

The winners of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals were announced today.  You may remember reading a blog entry from our Children's Librarian, Rosie Scotting, who was one of the judges.

Winner of the Carnegie medal is "Here Lies Arthur" by Philip Reeve and Emily Gravett won the Kate Greenway medal for "Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears". 

I have to confes to not having read either of them, (but I will do soon) and so if anyone has read them already and wants to tell us about them, please do - otherwise you'll just all have to read them for yourself!

Suzanne

Hello

Have you seen that the new Richard and Judy summer reads book list is out (see the link above).  The books on the list aren't always to everyone's tastes but there have been some really good ones over the years so it is at least worth a look just to see what's on there, and what you might have missed reading.  You might even find that you end up reading something that you wouldn't have entertained before (which may or may not be a good thing!)

Enjoy!

Suzanne

Hi

All the stories from Saturday are now here on the site, so do check them out and let us know what you think.  The stories were written in a very simple way - a bit like when you used to play Consequences as a child - but I think there are some brilliant ones.

Story writing can be very relaxing and a good game to play when you're bored.  Writing an entire book may well take a while, but coming up with the outline for a short story can be fun.

Hopefully you're reading something good right now, if so tell us about it on the discussion boards (they've been a bit quiet recently and I'm starting to think that they might not be working!)

Suzanne 

Hi

What did you do on Saturday?

I was out in Church Square at the storytelling event with some of my colleagues from the library.  We had a fabulous time with the children and families who came to see us and were building stories with us.  I'm putting all the stories that were created onto the website as fast as I can, under "BBC RaW stories", but it might take me until the end of the week so if you did come and see us and build a story keep coming back soon to see if it has appeared yet.

If you didn't come to see us, why not?  You missed a fantastic day!

Until next time

Suzanne

Hello

How are you today?  Are you enjoying the nice weather? (Yes, I know I've jinxed it again haven't I?)  Now that summer's coming it's reminded me of summer holidays as a child and how many books I used to read whilst just laid on the beach or by the side of a swimming-pool.  As a teenager, two weeks in the sun was the perfect excuse to just laze around and read.  Sun-worshiping holidays aren't really my thing now, but I still relish the chance to spend some uninterrupted quality time with a good book.  At the moment I'm reading Marian Keyes' new one, "This Charming Man", I've only just started it but I'll post you a review when I've finished (unless anyone beats me to it!).  I've read all of her stuff and really like her style - combining humour with really believable characters and some real emotional stuff - although I know that she's not to everyone's tastes!

The discussion boards have been a bit quiet lately so why don't you log in, and tell us about what you're reading right now - just to prove that you are still out there!

Until next time

Suzanne

Hello

How are you today?

I'm having a very busy day preparing for the activity that the library is running at the BBC RaW storytelling festival in Church Square next Saturday.  The BBC event runs on both days over the weekend (14 and 15 June) and the library create-a-story activity is just one of the activities that you can take part in on the Saturday.  The whole event is aimed at families and, to quote the BBC is  "offering families and friends a feast of free, magical storytelling activities" with performers, hands-on activities and lots of freebies.

Our activity shows you how easy it is for the whole family to create a story together and we'll be posting some of your stories on the website as you write them (fingers crossed) so make sure you visit us next Saturday to see what's been happening.

See you soon

Suzanne

Hello

How was your weekend?  Did you read anything good (or anything particularly bad)?

I watched Doctor Who.  I have to say that while essentially "The Library" was very similar to a lot of libraries (it was filmed in an old library in Swansea apparently) there were one or two elements that you are unlikely to find in your local North Lincolnshire library.  I'm not sure that we will be going down the route of having the faces of dead customers giving out information, and I'm fairly sure that the shadows around here are harmless, but it was good to see a library on TV and I look forward to next week's episode.

On a totally different note it's June, which means a new monthly theme and this time it's "Reading escapes".  It's all about how we read on holiday to relax, or to take us into another world.  To keep with that topic we have a new poll this month so that you can tell us about the type of book that you enjoy reading when you're on holiday.  And later in the week I'll set up a new discussion thread so that you can tell us about your desert-island books - so watch this space.

In the meantime, happy reading.  Now where did that shadow come from...

Suzanne