Librarian’s view: To buy 100 new books split evenly between fiction and non-fiction in today’s market could easily cost over £1,000. With the discount specialists like SLS receive from suppliers, the cost for the same number of books could be reduced to around £750. This saving can be used by the school for other spending. But what if you could replenish your library with a gift of second-hand books?   Libraries need makeovers and you can’t have tatty books in your collection. But you also want the shelves to feel up-to-date and boasting the sort of titles that reflect your school’s …

Librarian’s view: Who might say this? “We know that children who read for pleasure, and who are read to, gain all kinds of benefits.” The answer is as likely to be educators as librarians, but this time it was the current Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate 2024-2026, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. In addition to dreaming up the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony (a collab with Danny Boyle), Cottrell-Boyce has written some fabulous children’s books including Millions (which won the Carnegie Medal); Framed; an Ian Fleming sequel called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again and episodes of Dr Who. So, when Cottrell-Boyce warns that the …

Librarian’s view: For confident early readers and reluctant or not yet got it readers, tackling a whole book together in class can be tricky. The speedy ones think they know the story. While the not yet got it group might be struggling to follow and understand, and if a round robin approach is being used in their class then may also be really worrying about their turn to read out loud. Whole class reading is of course guided by an expert reader – the teacher. One way is for the teacher to read the story to a listening class, …