Library visits and Early writing influences

Our youngest at a recent library visit

Growing up, I loved going to the library and even remember spending time during lunchtime in the library at primary school taking out books and reading them at home. In fact my parents would often turn off our bedroom light at night and I'd take my book close to the hallway light to read at night. My early favourites were fantasy books by Enid Blyton and later C.S. Lewis' 'Narnia' series.

Since my children were young, I've also taken them on frequent trips to the local libraries to choose books for them when they were younger and now they choose their own. It's a great way of learning about the world around them without even having to leave the comforts of your own home.

Most of the time we spend our visits in the fiction section for picture books for our youngest and in the novel/comic section for our older two. They've also participated in the library summer holiday reading programmes which I'd highly recommend for reading mileage over the summer break.

She loves to tell a story

These days, my children also like going to the library to choose books to read at home and my eldest has read most of the books that I've bought over the years in our too many book shelves at home library but over the years have also passed some on for others to read.

I also remember telling stories, still during primary school, to my sister at night when we didn't want to go to sleep. That idea still hasn't changed as I love to read to my youngest at bedtime and my girls enjoyed my storytelling growing up with a series of mysteries stories.

I know that my children now share in a love for reading and learning as I was encouraged as a child. Despite the onslaught of video gaming and internet information, we should still nurture an interest in reading books. My eldest has recently begun to enjoy reading ebooks online but still it's not the same as having books to flick through and to place on the side table at night.