Life is never dull working for Cumbria Library  Service. This morning I am off to cover at Grange Over Sands Library. Our trusty pool car driven by colleague L appeared right on time to whisk us off to the pleasant seaside town of Grange.

It’s a big day today as it is the first day of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge!

Here it is…Creepy House. All the art work has been done by marvelous children’s illustrator Chris Riddell. Its free to sign up and all you have to be is a member of the library (also free) and aged roughly between 4 and 12 years old.

But what is the challenge? I hear you ask. To complete the challenge all the young people have to do is read 6 borrowed library books over the summer hols.

Of course there are rewards along the way and where would we be without this year’s crop of evil smelling stickers (particularly malodorous this year, the word sulphur comes to mind).

There are also many new titles in stock and Talking Books count towards the six. Great for long car journeys, cleaning, washing, ironing, sewing, crocheting, needle felting……

Talking of the latter, my three Dodos are complete and almost ready to fly…ermmm waddle from the nest over to Kendal Museum. I think you could say I have a rustic possibly naive style. Some might (rudely) say crude but I like to think of it as unique! and the Dodos look happy enough.

The sun is out – its our first summer in four years I can’t help getting excited – and I’m looking forward to making a couple of visits this evening to see relatives and friends but I might just grab a bit of time for a cuppa and a good read.

I’ve just finished Susan Hill’s “The Shadow In The Street” a Simon Serailler crime novel. Susan Hill’s crime writing is a bit like my Dodos, unique. Usually I find it refreshing but sometimes I get really impatient especially when everyone seems to be either making or drinking coffee! A library patron pointed this out to me and now I can’t shake it off so I notice every cup. But the caffeine intake is not enough to stop me. Hill is definitely an author worth reading. After all “The Woman in Black” is one of the most tense and chilling books I have ever read.

And as you can see “The Shadow In the Street” has been very popular with other readers too.

Now I’m turning my attention to Susanna Gregory’s “Blood On The Strand”. Its London in 1663 and Gregory’s hero Thomas Chaloner is on a bloody quest to find a murderer and prevent treason. Oooooo-er. I am enjoying this well paced book immensely and as I don’t know much about Restoration England getting an informal history lesson along the way. Gregory’s style reminds me of C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake series which is set in Tudor England and that is no bad thing as they are real page turners. Oh look a rabbit peaking out of my book…..

It’s Morris! and Morris used to feature on the stationery of my favourite bookshop in the whole wide world Fireside Bookshop in Windermere. Morris was the well-loved rabbit of the family that own Fireside Bookshop. I think even to this day there is a small toy rabbit hiding out amongst the well ordered, delicious titles in his memory. Now as you can guess I lu-rve libraries all that access to books, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, PCs, fun, information and much used public space but sometimes you want something special. A beautifully bound edition of a book that’s close to your heart, a rare copy or an out of print title and new reads at very good prices (often cheaper than charity shops!). These things and so much more are to be found in small independent bookshops like Fireside. I treasure them.

But time is short before my early evening amble. So I’m off to make that cuppa…or should it be a cafetiere?