A day of being a circus star!

I’m sure there are days when all of us go home saying I hate my job, and for many at the moment I know it’s particularly tough.  Last week though I had a day which reminded me of why I actually love my job, wanted to work in libraries and why they are just so bloomin’ great!



Last Tuesday I set off for Great Cornard Library and their circus stars event – its not every day I get to go and ‘have fun’ at work so this was a real treat!  The staff at the library had arranged a day of circus themed activities to tie in with this years Summer Reading Challenge (SRC).  For those of you who don’t know about the SRC it’s a Reading Agency initiative designed to encourage children to continue reading over the summer holidays, with rewards along the way. 97% of UK library authorities took part in 2010, so it’s a big thing.  Its been proven that a child’s reading level will drop during the summer break, so the challenge helps to maintain reading levels over the long school holiday.  Children are encouraged to read six books during the summer holidays and are rewarded with a medal and certificate at the end of the challenge. 



Some clown crafts

Each year the challenge has a theme, this years is circus stars, and each book read results in a reward such as a sticker, bookmark or ‘mungler’ card.  I love everything about the SRC – why didn’t I have this when I was a child?  But this year I think the theme is particularly great and I love the Munglers designed by Guy Bass.  My favourite is Grimolena and I currently have a picture of her stuck to my fridge at home! Oh and over 7000 children have signed up for the challenge in Suffolk this year – the highest number ever – so I think that shows that they think it’s great too!

So back to Tuesday’s event – Heather, the library manager, and her team had juggling, ribbon twirling, face painting, crafts and a unicyclist in the library to name a few of the activities on offer.  Children came along in fancy dress and I even had my face painted – see right - i should add this was done by a 5 year old!  Not only did everyone have fun (including the grandparents who learnt to plate spin) but people sat and read, parents swapped stories about the challenge and children moved along in the challenge.

This blog post doesn’t go even half way towards describing the benefits of the SRC, why I love libraries or the great job they do, but it gives an indication of the great time I had there.  Take a look at the Suffolk Reads blog and you can see some more pictures of the day, including me and my facepainter! 

And I’ll let Heather the library manager sign off this post for me as she echo’s my thoughts entirely “We had a fantastic day……The day shows that reading can be fun”.