Why we do what we do.

Reading has always taken me to a happy place, so when the opportunity arose after many years of working within the health sector to spend time in a primary school library I jumped at it. At that time of my life my own children were still very young so working at a primary school allowed me the flexibility I needed. It has turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my working life. I have been able to combine a love of reading and literature with the enjoyment and constant amazement one experiences when working with young children. I have decided to use these as a basis for my blog.

I just received a large order I had made through Scholastic Lucky Book Club, using reward points we have accumulated over the last year. Buying books online is always a bit of a gamble as you don't really know what the item is going to look like or usually even read like. However there is nothing quite like a new book. One of my little student librarians spent the whole of her morning tea break sniffing them. She informed me that she loves the smell of new books. After she had gone back to class I had a good sniff myself but unfortunately age has blunted this particular  sense and I really couldn't smell much at all. I had to satisfy myself with picking each item up and browsing through it instead. This led me to ponder what it is about books that we enjoy. Is it much more than the story which unfolds or the facts which enlighten us? Is it also the look of a book, the feel of it in our hands and of course the smell? Does that change over time as we get older? And how then do e-books fit into this scenario? I know as an adult I get just as much enjoyment, possibly even more, from the picture books I purchase for the library. On the other hand my kindle has given me hours of pleasurable reading in bizarre places and at unusual times. There is room in my world for both paper and electronic books and of course our students have grown up embracing both. As always their capacity for accepting change and running with it leaves me staggering.

Kathy (currently sniffing "The gentleman's garden" by Catherine Jinks)