Last week was very busy. I spent a day and a half in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, talking to children from three schools as part of the Tower Hamlets Book Award (the awards ceremony is this Friday). On the Tuesday, I had a gap of a couple of hours in between schools, so I went to the wonderful Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. I’d never been before and it’s WONDERFUL; I could have spent all day in there because there was so much to look at! I was particularly excited to see my own favourite childhood toys in there…
Many thanks to the Tower Hamlets Schools’ Library Services for supporting my school visits last week – and I look forward to meeting some of you again this Friday!
On Wednesday evening I set off again, this time to Portsmouth, for events linked to the Portsmouth Book Award supported by their SLS (oh, it makes me SO SAD that we no longer have a SLS in Oxfordshire; they all do SUCH fantastic work). I spoke to over 600 children in three events and had a wonderful time! One school had even dressed up as book characters – and I met two familiar ones…
It was good to slump at the weekend after all my leaping about! This week I’m off to Nottingham to talk at a librarian conference before heading back down south for the Tower Hamlets Book Awards. And over the weekend, I had a little tiny idea for a new story…
Jo Cotterill 