Reading with purpose

It has now been almost a year since I finished my MA and have been able to read what every I've wanted. Sure there have been some books I've been required to read for projects such as the Fact Not Fiction book club on Radio 2 but generally I've just been browsing the web, Netgalley and bookshops looking for things that appeal.

In the main this style of reading suits me fine, as soon as I am required to read something my obstinacy gene seems to kick in and I struggle mightily - I've failed as a member of so many book groups it is unbelievable, especially as I am such a bookworm generally!

I am feeling like I do need some sort of guide to my reading and so this morning I have been browsing the web, and other bookblogs to see what other readers have challenged themselves to.

Lots of the challenges appeal as they suggest reading from a genre rather than giving a title, and I might follow some of them 'unofficially' rather than signing up and feeling bad if I don't complete them.

The two that particularly appeal are the Bookriot #ReadHarder Challenge and then the Picture Book Challenge complete with a bingo card to keep track of your progress!

I particularly like the Picture Book bingo as these are books that I do rarely read, even when I was a bookseller I didn't read that many and so to get a little more familiar with this genre will be a 'good' challenge.

However the challenge that appealed the most to me was a really obvious one - read books from the year you were born.

This year does see me celebrate what is termed a 'mile stone' birthday and so what better way for a bookworm to celebrate than by reading books that are the same age?!

I'm just in the process of working out how to actually make this a manageable challenge but I'll post the details very soon and then try to remember to update my progress regularly!

Being Selective

A day at Booktrust.

Recently I was very honoured to be asked by Booktrust to join them for a day and work with them to select books that will eventually end up in the Bookstart packs for babies and preschoolers.

Lots of information about the Bookstart scheme can be found on their website but in a nutshell every child born in England will receive a pack containing two books and other items encouraging a love of books and reading in their first year of life, and then a second one at the time they leave nursery ready for school.

I was privileged to be on the panel selecting books that will go in both packs and in a very intensive day I joined 7 other people to look over 150-170 books and decide which ones are 'just right' for all children to receive.

As we read the books we marked them YES/NO/MAYBE and then these votes were added up and the least popular taken out of consideration while we had some (occaisonally heated) discussion about the others to see if they should be considered for the packs.
As far as possible we all tried to read all of the books to make sure that all of the books were considered equally and remaining impartial and also calm when others loathed the books you loved was a challenge, as was seeing the positive aspects of a book you didn't like!

So much has to be taken into consideration when picking books that will go out universally, many things I'd not even thought of and I read some amazing books for all ages during the day. I know that my nephew and other little ones in my life will benefit from the huge list I drew up!

The books we picked will now go back to the publishers to see if it is possible for them to be adapted for the packs (at the very least they have to be smaller than those you find on the shelf in the shops or libraries and some books just might not shrink well and stay readable) and once this is done I will come back and share the books that we all fell in love with on the day and that will be shared with children very soon.

I'd like to thank Booktrust for inviting me to take part in this selection panel, and for covering travel costs but would like to say that this is a personal blog response to the day and not a requirement of attending.