Skip to main content

Summer Reading (Challenge)!

I'm unsure if it is a nationwide event but every summer North Yorkshire County Council holds the Summer Reading Challenge in it's libraries. Ever since I moved to where I live now 14 years ago I have had some involvement with the SRC. From the ages of four to eleven I was an eager participant, then from eleven to fourteen I encouraged my sister to do it (though she tended to have a particular love for picture books until she discovered something she liked to read) and finally from fifteen to eighteen I have helped out as a volunteer, whether it be during the summer or encouraging people to do it.

The aim of the Summer Reading Challenge is to get primary school aged children to read (I think) six books throughout the summer holidays. You get a pack full of stickers and a book log and you get little prizes every time you've read a couple of books. I always really, really enjoyed doing this. Not only did it make me addicted to reading and fall in love with the library, it got me into this incessant habit of reading on holiday. Last year I believe I took fourteen books with me for a two week holiday (you do the maths). I read, on average, a book every one or two days. It's bliss, I tell you, bliss!

After having completed my first week of full time work the week before last I took the liberty of heading into town on my day off and picking up a shopping basket in Waterstones and buying quite a few books. I blame my Summer-Reading-Challenge-days entirely.

The books I am going to be taking to France with me are:
Quicksilver by RJ Anderson
Stoner by John L Williams
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
This is what Happy looks like by Jennifer E Smith
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
It's a Kind of Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
The Quantum Universe by Brain Cox and Jeff Forshaw
The House of Rumour by Jake Arnott

I also have on my kindle:
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
One Seriously Messed-up Week-end: in the Otherwise Un-messed-up Life of Jack Samsonite by Tom Clempson

Let's just say I won't be short for reading material whilst I'm on holiday this year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Teens don't read"

Earlier today Maureen Johnson pointed out that the view of "teens don't read" in the UK is deeply entrenched (which is a word that I now love  and had never heard before). As a teenager in the UK, the stigma around reading seems to be - to me - it's "uncool", it's "geeky", there "aren't any good books out there". I think the fact that a lot of teenagers in British schools are exposed to older literature or, perhaps, not that popular literature in lessons and forced into over-analysing and spending countless hours on 'what the author meant'. A point that was raised in this twitter discussion was that people didn't want to be seen reading, or didn't want to be seen reading certain books. It's made me realise that I never   ever ever  see people reading in the older years in my school ( ever ). Perhaps the odd year 7 (12 year old) or year 8 (13 year old) will read, but - from experience - they will probably be ...

Expectations

I haven't even attempted to write this blog post until now because I haven't really fully contemplated the goings on of this past week. To say they have been crazy, mad, bonkers... dumbfounding even would be a slight understatement. After spending the last three days recuperating and avidly watching season 2 of Gilmore Girls I have finally realised that I, Claire Margerison, have just left school. I have four exams and a results and that's it. Kaput. Done. Bam. Gone. Poof. Weird. My last day and leavers' ball (prom, whatever you may call it) were sublime - and I genuinely mean that. Other than the nearly fainting and having to leave and getting laughed at in the leavers' assembly, it was utterly perfect. I spent a majority of my prom catching up with teachers and just talking to them about the future, about the past, about my ex-boyfriend in particular (hah, sorry Michael - suffice to say I think you enjoyed the conversations too!). It was amusing and fun and ...

Books and other musings!

I love books. If you know me, you probably know that I love books, because I am now on a leaflet that is advertising Young Volunteering over however a larger area. It's rather disconcerting (and, to be quite frank, the picture could be nicer too!) that people can see my face whenever they want to... not that they can't do that anyway, what with making the YouTube videos and what have you thingy ma bob. This book to your *works out left and right in head* right (? I have no idea... my brain is sleepy) is the book that John Green recently recommended and I have also recently purchased because of this recommendation. I learnt last time ( Anna-and-the-French-Kiss- last-time) that John Green is pretty damn good at book recommendations! I run a reading group with some of the people I volunteer with at my library and we're just  getting started. We've had three people turn up so far ( I know. ) but we're working on it! I'm currently annoyed because I wrote a lovely...