#LoveToRead @ReadingHackers by Savita Kalhan

BBC #LoveToRead is a national campaign to get people reading and sharing the books they love. It was launched at the Hay Festival earlier this year. It's not just for kids, but for everyone. It's a campaign that's supported by libraries, booksellers, publishers, authors, and literary and reading agencies.

The Reading Agency is a charity whose mission it is to, 'inspire more people to read more, encourage them to share their enjoyment of reading and celebrate the difference that reading makes to all our lives. We support people at all stages of their reading journey. Because everything changes when we read.' You can find out more about them HERE.

Like the Reading Agency, I too believe that reading for pleasure is one of the most important things in a child's development. Reading for pleasure is something I spent much of my time doing when I was growing up, and it's something that can get lost as you get older. Fortunately for me I've never lost it, but I can see how it can be easily lost. Kids probably don't have as much time as they used to for reading for pleasure, and they have far more social media and gaming distractions than we ever had. This is one of the reasons why I started a teen reading group at Finchley Church End Library. A few pre-teens have joined too, which is brilliant, but if any more join, then I may have to seriously consider starting another group to cater for them. 

From October 24th to 6th November Reading Hack (from The Reading Agency) is promoting young people's volunteering in libraries in the run up to the BBC #LoveToRead weekend. Kids and young people aged between 13 to 24 can volunteer at their local library in lots of different ways: by talking to people about #LoveToRead, by helping to organise #LoveToRead activities and events in the library, by encouraging other young people to get involved, and by creating library displays and posters to promote #LoveToRead. They can log the time they've spent volunteering, earn a certificate, enter competitions etc. For more information, click HERE 

If you're aged between 13 and 24 and want to just share your favourite reads, use the tag @ReadingHackers and the hashtag #LoveToRead to share them with thousands of other readers.

And if you're an adult, you can still share your favourite read using the #LoveToRead hashtag.

In October, Saturday night will be Books Night on BBC Two, and will include profiles, interviews, documentaries and films, plus a documentary on Sue Townsend and much more. The culmination of the whole campaign will be a #LoveToRead weekend on the 5th and 6th November.

So in the spirit of the whole #LoveToRead campaign, here are a few book recommendations - one for adults, one for young adults, one for younger teens, and two for younger children.

1. Adult - Little Egypt by Lesley Glaister (I don't know how this author passed me by, but I've just devoured her Honour Thy Father).

2. YA - One of Us by Jeannie Waudby - I've been looking forward to reading this and now I will!

3. Teen - Railhead by Philip Reeve - my teen reading group loved this and are awaiting the sequel, which Mr. Reeve has promised will come out this autumn!

4. Picture Book - Pattan's Pumpkin by Chitra Soundar and illustrated by Frane Lessac, and A Jar of Pickles and a Pinch of Justice by Chitra Soundar and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy.

I'd love to hear your recommendations for any age group!

Savita's website - savitakalhan.com

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The real Summer Reading Challenge? Lari Don

Exactly a week ago, I was privileged to launch the Tesco Bank Summer Reading Challenge Scotland (I needed to take a deep breath every time I said that!) in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. In case the title doesn’t make it clear, it’s the libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge, in Scotland, sponsored by Tesco Bank. I was also privileged to also launch the local Summer Reading Challenge in Dundee two days later.

Launching the Tesco Bank Summer Reading Challenge Scotland

This year’s theme is Mythical Maze. And there couldn’t be a better theme for me – I write collections of myths and legends, I write contemporary adventures inspired by old myths, and one of my books even has a Maze in the title.

So that’s probably why I was asked to launch this year’s theme and challenge in Scotland. (And yes, I know it seems a bit early to all of you south of the border, but we grab summer earlier up here in Scotland, so the schools are already out and the libraries are already challenging kids to read books during the holidays.)

The launches were all positive and smiley. I met kids who had done previous challenges and were keen to do it again (which was great) and I met kids who had never done it before but were keen to give it a go it this year (which was even better.) So I had hoped to post a really cheerful blog for you all about summer and reading, with these wonderful illustrations by Sarah MacIntyre.

With lovely librarian Ruth in Dundee, and a dragon behind us.

But when I posted pictures of me with posters and books and dragons and kids online last week, someone who had been involved in a campaign that I supported to keep their local library open, a campaign that sadly failed, contacted me to say, this is lovely, Lari, but what about the kids who don’t have a local library any more? 

And I didn’t have an answer. Sad face emoticons don’t really do it.

The Summer Reading Challenge brightens up and invigorates libraries all over the country and allows them to run fun family-focussed events. The different themes every year make reading relevant and exciting to lots of different children. Kids get involved, families get involved, authors get involved. It’s a brilliant scheme. Well done the Reading Agency for organising it, and Tesco Bank for supporting it in Scotland. But it can’t reach every child, because not every child has access to a library.

And perhaps that’s the real challenge for all of us.

I had intended to write a really cheerful summery sunny post for all you Awfully Big Blog fans, but the shadow over it is that even the best things we do with books can’t and don’t reach everyone. Not until we make sure every single child has access to a library.

So clearly my challenge is to get away from that dragon breathing down my neck and take up my sword again on the subject of library closures.

In the meantime, have a fun summer, losing yourself in mazes and finding new myths!

(Lari is now away polishing her sword…)

Lari Don is an occasional library campaigner, and also the award-winning author of 21 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers.
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