On a cold and wet Saturday afternoon I was enjoying one of my happy moments, snuggled up and reading. In the Times magazine, I came across this article on David Bowie and his favourite books. The images impacted me far more than the text, how wonderful to see a celebrity reading, in fact anyone simply being pictured with a book and enjoying the pleasure of reading. It made me reflect on a recent trip with Little Man’s class to the local library as a parent helper. Our library is the hub of a community and so much more than a place to borrow books. There are many activities for all ages in the community on offer and it’s the ideal place to spend time, there is no other place where you can visit for free and be welcomed so warmly. However during our visit, the librarians who knew most of the children not simply by name but by favourite genre too asked if anyone had never been to a library before and for two of the seventeen children it was their first visit. I was genuinely shocked but the teacher and librarians quickly and sympathetically arranged a school account and the children were shown around and allowed to take a book home. I just felt sad that these two boys had never had the joy of being in a library.

As a parent I am always looking of ways of encouraging and promoting reading. Mr S reads to Little Man every night at bedtime whilst Little Miss reads to me. We do the summer reading challenge annually, Tommy the elf always brings a Christmas book to be read in the run up to Christmas and for Little Man who struggles to read we listen to stories too. I believe that we have to be the example and I try to read rather than be seen on my mobile or iPad in front of the children. I enjoy reading on all mediums and my Kindle is always in my bag for a cheeky 10 minute read whilst on taxi duty or sitting in the park. I feel that in this online world we should all step away and immerse ourselves in a literary world. We should all be a bit more David Bowie!