International School Library Month

International School Library Month is celebrated around the world throughout October every year.  It’s the perfect time for kids to visit their own school library and browse through the hundreds of books available to them!

Organised by the International Association of School Librarianship, the theme of this year’s event is ‘Connecting Communities and Cultures’.  Keep checking the International School Library Month website for all the up to date information you need.

The month is a celebration of the work of school libraries and here in the UK it coincides with a few other events for all you young bookworms out there – National Poetry Day on 28 September 2017 and Libraries Week from 9-14 October 2017.

I clearly recall the first school library at my small village junior and infant school – it was really no more than a couple of shelves of mainly Ladybird books.  But this didn’t deter us from eagerly looking at all of the exciting titles and choosing a book to take home and read.

Once I moved up to the ‘big school’ it was all change – this was a huge place with hundreds of pupils!  What’s more it had a real library with loads and loads of books.  Our English teacher was always encouraging the class to read books by authors that we wouldn’t normally have chosen, so it was a delight to read some really gritty and gripping novels, autobiographies and poetry.  Each turn of the page was an introduction to a wonderful world of new characters and adventures!

So, throughout this special month, try picking up a book from your school library, whether it’s an old favourite like ‘The Wizard of Oz’ or ‘Treasure Island’ to the Harry Potter series, or perhaps you would prefer one of Jacqueline Wilson’s latest.

Whatever you do – get reading and get inspired!