Emma Simpson
Although they live in Hampshire, Emma, husband Bertie and son Arlo spend part of every holiday with friends and family in Devon, and head straight to their local library in Torrington.
"When Arlo was born, I went to the local libraries in London during my maternity leave for baby bounce sessions, which were a great source of support, providing structure for the day and social interactions for both me and him," said Emma, 50, who works in education. "We then started going to our local library on a Saturday morning when Arlo was about eight months old and it became part of our weekly routine. We would get out eight picture books every week and read these at bedtime. Favourite ones we would renew.
"During these library visits we would browse the books, I would read several to Arlo to help us make a selection, and we would always talk to the library staff, including two young women who were very good with Arlo. As he got older, we were given several excellent recommendations, such as the Humphrey Hamster series, which were the first chapter books Arlo read by himself. We have stayed in touch with one of the Saturday library staff members even though we have now moved out of London.
"We visit Torrington library as much as possible when we come during the school holidays. We try to get a stock of books at the start to last our stay. The Torrington library staff members' knowledge of children's books has been a valuable resource and pointed us towards several that Arlo has really enjoyed, such as the Young Sherlock series. Although my partner and I have a decent knowledge of children's books from our own childhoods as avid readers, and from our experience as English teachers, we don't have expertise with more contemporary books for younger readers so the up-to-date knowledge has been enormously helpful. Arlo loves reading but support with book choice is absolutely key for each individual child.
"Arlo regularly completed the Summer Reading Challenges in London and would have done the ones in Devon had we lived here permanently. During Covid, the period of not having access to the library was very difficult. However, in the borough in London where we lived, they quickly found a way of opening safely to provide books: they put together paper bags of books in response to a simple request form on which one had to enter age, and books/genres you enjoy and would like to read. Each week we would be able to collect this goodie bag of hand-selected books to discover and enjoy. It was an exciting part of the week!
"Using the London, Devon and now Hampshire libraries have been a hugely important part of Arlo's reading journey and our lives as a family. We love being able to order books from other branches – this really helps when he has found an author he likes. Borrowing books on a regular basis has saved us literally tens of thousands of pounds over his 11 years of life so far and made reading into a non-pressured adventure. It is very freeing to be able to give a book a try without having spent money buying it: if you like it, great. If not, just take it back to the library, no problem.
"My partner and I are also keen readers and enjoy fiction, historical fiction and biographies/autobiographies. Reading is an important part of our family life and we are enormously grateful for libraries as a valuable community resource."
