A world of stories

With the school summer holidays comes the Summer Reading Challenge and  libraries all over the country are buzzing with children keen to read books to complete their storylab card and

gain a medal.

Read all about it on our front page!

These books are modern favourites and we thought it would be fun to talk about books which take us back to our childhood.

Share with us books you have loved - old or new. There are many excellent new books for children, many of which can be enjoyed by adults.

So remember the lazy hazy days of your youth, maybe try some new titles, and tell us what you would recommend to our young book lovers.

A Summer of Sports

The UEFA European Football Championship.....Wimbledon.......the Olympics.....Formula One................... 

there will be sports galore this summer.

There are many novels with sporting themes, as well as non-fiction titles, so we thought we'd look at books about any kind of sport.
Try our link to The British Sports Book Awards website on the Read and Relax page to find the best non-fiction sports books of 2012.

Nick Hornby's novel, High Fidelity, became a bestseller for its view of men and their interests, including football.

The Boys Rule! series are adventure books,  many of which have a sport theme.

The Complete Book of the Olympics covers it's history and quirky facts.

What is your favourite sport?

What will you be watching? and have you read any type of book with a sporting theme?

Join in and tell us of any that you can recommend.

Please Sir, can I have some more?

We return to our old friend Charles Dickens as this month there are many special events celebrating his work.

Many people will be joining in reading Oliver Twist during April and there are versions available in all our libraries for children and teens as well as the original full length novel.

To celebrate the great man’s 200th birthday, we’ve got some great talks lined up for you in April.

Novelist Ian Porter will be taking you on a “Walk through Dickens’ London”; a talk on Dickens’ life and times in London and Kent.
Erith Library Tuesday 24th April 2.30pm
Sidcup Library Wednesday 25th April at 2.30pm

 

Historian and author Adam Roberts will be giving a talk called “Dickens with a Twist”; a sideways look at the book, and the man
“Why has the novel proved so enduring?...How does it map London?...And why is Twist called Twist?”
Central Library, Wednesday 25th April 7.30 pm

 

Tickets for all the talks cost £2.50 and are available from the libraries concerned, or telephone 020 8303 7777

Childhood Classics

                       

The summer holidays are almost here so it's the perfect time to reflect on those books which meant so much to you in your childhood.

Which books speak to you of those long summer holidays? Maybe you even have treasured, if somewhat battered copies, still on your bookshelf at home somewhere?

What would you choose :

·         Tom's Midnight Garden or Mary Poppins?

·         Treasure Island or The Famous Five?

·         Anne of Green Gables or Winnie the Pooh?

·         The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or the BFG?

Join us in a nostalgic look back at those timeless treasures from the days of our youth.

This month's moderator: Val