Setting up a library book group

This is a Book Week guest post from Geeky Mummy about an interesting way in which she used her local library – and added value for other mums.

Once upon a time there was a Geeky Mummy that loved gadgets and gizmos, but she also loved books. She swapped fiction for parenting books when she became a parent and it wasn’t until her daughter was nearly four that she rekindled her love affair with reading for fun.

As a DINK, she bought books without a moment’s hesitation. As a SAHM, spending money on herself was now an extra special treat that really didn’t stretch to support her reading addiction.

However, this is not a tale of sorrow; on the contrary, it is a story of great happiness and new friendships and this is my story…

Our library runs a number of reading groups, all of which had a waiting list, but even once a place did become available I wasn’t sure that I would want to attend an evening and it would be impossible to attend a daytime group with a young baby in tow, or would it? This was my light bulb moment.

What if there was a reading group just for parents with young children? We could bring our kids and no-one would mind as we would all be in the same boat. I asked the lovely library staff. They loved the idea and suggested that I ran it, but with their support.

Finding mums to attend was really easy, I mentioned it to a few mums at the baby groups I attended, the library put up posters and mentioned it to mums when they came in and now eight months later we are going strong with eight members.

It really has been fabulous. I have met some lovely mums with whom I have more in common than just that we are both parents. Whilst we never have a full house and there are always one or two mums who couldn’t manage to fit in reading that month’s book, it doesn’t matter as we all understand. Last month everyone came round to my house to watch The Time Traveller’s Wife (January’s book), next month we are going to the theatre to watch To Kill A Mocking Bird (February’s book) and we are planning a cinema trip to watch One Day when it comes out later in the year (May’s book).

The library staff have been really brilliant. They move furniture around to accommodate us and our destructive little ones, provide tea and biscuits and of course free books and DVDs (which are normally chargeable but for book groups they are free).

It doesn’t end there. At our first meeting, those of us with older kids talked about how great it would be if there was a book group for kids. Again, the library didn’t just listen, they acted and now every two weeks my six year old attends the Children’s Book Group where they do crafts, quizzes and chat about different books. Sometimes they read the same book (e.g. The Tale Of Desperaux), sometimes they follow a theme (e.g. Fairy Tales) or read one author/brand (e.g. Enid Blyton, Horrid Henry).

So what are you waiting for? Make the most of your library, join you and your kids up to a library reading group and if they don’t have one, suggest that they set one up.

You can find Geeky Mummy at her blog, on Twitter and on Facebook.