National Libraries Day in Scotland

It was National Libraries Day on Saturday, with lots of activities going on for children and adults. Here are some examples.

I think Dundee Library looks like a great place to take kids. They have a squid!

Let me introduce our children's library squid. We're looking for a name. Any ideas #namethatsquid #NLDScot #NLD15 pic.twitter.com/wJfIJZZOMC
— Dundee Libraries (@dundeelibraries) February 7, 2015

And they were experimenting with Book Faces - this is a fabulous idea to try with the children in your school / library / home. My favourite:

#bookface #NLD15 #NationalLibrariesDay #NLDscot pic.twitter.com/Hzx1BbSnME
— Dundee Libraries (@dundeelibraries) February 7, 2015

Dunbar Library was having a great event with author Debi Gliori.

Sewing some wee creatures to help me with storytime in Dunbar Library on @NatLibrariesDay #NLD15 #AlfieBooks pic.twitter.com/meWnCeP0lj
— Debi Gliori (@DebiGliori) February 2, 2015

And Penicuik had Nick Sharratt.

On Saturday children's author and illustrator Nick Sharratt will be visiting Penicuik Library 2-3pm #NLD15 pic.twitter.com/qfXCpKVKTF
— Swoop (@swooplocal) February 2, 2015

Moray Library storytimes are popular.

Storytimes are still popular in libraries - check at your local library to discover times. #NLD15 #nldscot pic.twitter.com/I0iO40opi3
— @librariesmoray (@librariesmoray) February 4, 2015

Glasgow Libraries had a party with a clown at Langside to celebrate its 100th birthday.

Cheeko the clown entertaining children and adults at Langside Library's centenary birthday party! pic.twitter.com/5qPIKpgE4U
— Glasgow Libraries (@GlasgowLib) February 7, 2015

Strathclyde showed off its Storysacks. Student teachers borrow these to take into the classroom.

@Storysacks #NLD15 #NLDscot #UniStrathLibIT pic.twitter.com/ZK076j49kX
— Gordana Nesterovic (@SipaNest) February 7, 2015

It all looks great, doesn't it? But - despite the wonderful things going on in libraries, many of them are under threat. Here are some blog posts from children's authors and publishers reminding you why they are worth saving:

An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (by Dawn Finch) Happy National Libraries Day 2015!

Barrington Stoke National Libraries Day: Anthony McGowan and his teen narrator say it better than we ever could.

Jackie Morris Fighting talk.

Nicola Morgan Celebrating National Libraries Day.

And to take it back to a happy note before finishing, Playing by the book (Zoe Toft) describes a great book group she was running for children on Saturday, ACHUKAblog displays some lovely children's library cards designed by Jackie Morris and (not an NLD blog post but too good to miss) MinervaReads celebrates picture books on the theme of libraries.

Love libraries? Use 'em or lose 'em!

National Libraries Day 2015 - a YLG competition

National Libraries Day is coming up on Saturday, 7th February, and events are taking place throughout this week. Here's a message from the Youth Libraries Group about a great competition they are running:

"As this day becomes increasingly important as an advocacy tool for libraries, as well as an opportunity to celebrate all that we do, YLG have joined with the publishers to launch an easy to run competition for all libraries, nationally.

Using Twitter, we are asking all libraries to encourage their customers to take a photo of themselves in their local library on NLD, or during the week running up to NLD. We’d like them to send their photo (they can hold up a book in front of their face if they are shy!) to @Youthlibraries with #NLD15, Age **. 

Our ever generous publisher friends have donated lovely signed copies of some marvellous books, so having the age is very important for us to be able to send the randomly selected Tweeters an appropriate prize. A photo of the books (and a signed Chris Riddell!!!!!!) will be Tweeted by @Youthlibraries to launch the promotion, so be sure to follow us!"

 For those tweeting in Scotland about NLD, don't forget to add #nldscot too.

An exciting book day

Two exciting book related happenings today! The postman called with an enormous parcel - 10 lovely books from Random House Children's Publishers which I won on Twitter. I haven't sorted through them yet to decide which ones to read and review and which libraries to donate them to afterwards - I'm sure there are a few more blog posts in there so I'll keep you posted.

The second thing was an email from Zoe Toft telling me the name of my partner in her International Book Giving Day swap, which I wrote about before Christmas. My partner is in Japan and would like a book suitable for her 10-year old son who is bilingual. She in turn will send me a book (in English) in the 8-13 age range. My plan is to find something Scottish if I can - watch this space!

Happy 100th Birthday Wallasey Children’s Library!

I saw this on Twitter the other day:

@7Stories could you please send a birthday card to a library celebrating its centenary this year? pic.twitter.com/ia2vpdIpMh
— Suzanne Fenna (@suzylou1978) January 19, 2015

You probably can't read the text, but it says:

Wallasey Central Children’s Library is celebrating Its 100th Birthday! One of the first separate public libraries for children in the country, the library was opened during WW1, survived being bombed in WW2, has been much loved by generations of Wallasey children and reaches its centenary in 2015. Readers and Staff at Wallasey Library would like to invite anyone who loves libraries to help us celebrate by… Sending us a birthday card! Please send a 100th Birthday card – homemade cards welcome of course – as early in the year as possible to Wallasey Central Children’s Library, Earlston Road, Wallasey, CH45 5DX. Please include a mention of a children’s book you have particularly enjoyed. Wallasey children and their parents and carers are sharing and enjoying books every day.  They would love to hear from you. Thank You! From All at Wallasey Central Children’s Library.

Well, I couldn’t turn down a request like that – and, very appropriately, I even found a 100th birthday card illustrated by one of my favourite children’s illustrators, Quentin Blake.

 

As asked, I added a note about my favourite children’s book, Anne of Green Gables - which is even older than the library itself as it was first published in 1908. Then I sent my card off – why don’t you do the same? I’m sure the library would be delighted to hear from you.

 



Farewell 2014

I've mentioned before that I'm good at winning books through social media or other online draws. Usually, I review the book here then pass it on to a suitable library or charity. This year, I've been quite remiss about that and all the titles below have gone, unread, to their new homes. However, I'd still like to thank the publishers who supplied them, and I'll try to do better next year.

Picture book

Maudie Smith and Antonia Woodward Milly and the mermaids. (Orion)
Milly loves mermaids. She's sure if she just wishes hard enough she'll meet one on her visit to the seaside. Will her dream come true?

Novels

Karen McCombie The girl who wasn't there. (Scholastic)
13 year old Maisie doesn't believe in ghosts - but when she starts at a new school she hears rumours of a long-gone girl who wanders the halls. A ghostly friendship mystery.

Helen Moss The phoenix code. (Orion)
Two present day teenagers get caught up in an Ancient Egyptian murder mystery.

Na'ima B. Robert She wore red trainers. (Kube)
When Ali first meets Amirah, he notices everything about her - her hijab, her long eyelashes and her red trainers. They can't stop thinking about each other, but can they ever have a halal "happily ever after"?

Non-fiction

Jacqueline Wilson Daydreams and diaries. (Corgi Yearling)
The popular novelist tells the story of her own childhood and youth.

So Farewell 2014, I have cleared the decks. All the best to everyone for 2015.

A book swap for International Book Giving Day

International Book Giving Day happens every year on 14th February with the aim of getting books into the hands of as many children as possible. The 2015 poster (above) by award winning illustrator Chris Haughton has just been released.

It might seem early to be thinking about February when we haven't even reached Christmas yet, but that's what I'm doing because Zoe Toft of the wonderful blog Playing by the book has just announced a fabulous book swap scheme. #GiveABook, #SwapABook is all about sharing, sending and receiving children’s books: you can spread the word about a children’s book you love, and discover another equally amazing book through a gift from someone else. I plan to sign up and send a Scottish book to whoever I am paired with  - which one, I haven't yet decided. The book I get in return I will read, review and pass on to a library or charity.

To join in yourself, click on the link above or the logo at the top of the sidebar. I'll keep you posted on my own progress!

Jackie Morris: Something about a bear

Jackie Morris: Something about a bear. (Frances Lincoln)

When I worked in a library, we had loads of Jackie Morris's gorgeously illustrated children's books, so I was really pleased to win this one in a Youth Libraries Group draw. "Let me tell you something about a bear" it begins, before matching beautiful watercolours with poetically written text about eight different types of wild bear. But "of all the bears in the wide wild world, the very best bear of all is..." I'll leave you to guess! It finishes up with a double spread of facts, in much smaller text, about each species, and a list of conservation websites. The book could thus appeal to a range of age-groups: from those who just love the pictures, through those who can read the simpler text, to those who are ready to learn more about bears, maybe for a school project.

Jackie obviously loves bears, and so do I. After I won the book, we had a short chat on Twitter about it (find her @JackieMorrisArt). Here's a bear that I saw on holiday this year. It's zoomed a bit, but yes, it was that close, grazing behind our accommodation in Shenandoah National Park.


Jackie also loves cats and I can't remember if I discovered her cat blog first, before her books (We three, ginger cats tales). She has a different blog now (Jackie Morris Artist), and the ginger cats are no longer with her, but it's still worth taking a look, or see the fabulous gallery in the Guardian, Cat walk.

Thanks to YLG and Frances Lincoln Children's Books for sending me this book - there was no obligation from either to write about it. Now I've enjoyed it, I'll be donating it to Glasgow Women's Library, where I'm sure the resident Brownie Pack will love learning about bears.