Libraries In Praise of

The summer holiday is fast approaching, and though we all look forward to a break from worksheets and olden folk literature, we often run out of things to do after the first two weeks, leaving us with five weeks to question our existence, until we even miss school!

But I, your saviour, have a solution. The library! Short and cliché, right? But let’s look at it from another perspective. A lot of people have the misconception that libraries are only places of learning, and since we already do so much of that at school, we really don’t want to spend more time learning in our free time and holidays. But the library doesn’t have to be a place of cryptic confusion inflicted by Charles Dickens. The library has so much more to offer than learning facts and reading “classics”.

Starting with the most obvious reason: books. Often people think books equal boring. But books don’t have to be from the 14th century and written in English so old you need to use Google Translate. Reading doesn’t have to be forcing yourself through half of the thesaurus condensed into a long and winding description by Philip Pullman. You can read anything, from fantasy, to horror, to sci-fi. They even have graphic novels and Mangas too, so you don’t have to read a single word.

You can find a book that is just as entertaining as a movie. You just need to find what you like. And libraries are the perfect place to start exploring. But finding your preference in books can be a long process. My advice is to see what people with similar interests to you like to read. You can do this with friends, family and even social media. BookTok (the official name for TikTok-famous books) has become extremely popular and influential. If you ever want inspiration on what to read, you are sure to find it on internet. You can also check out reviews that other people have posted.

My second piece of advice is definitely judge a book

I will admit that this formula is not perfect. You will get books that are interesting despite their boring covers and vice versa. However, it will help find books, even if only at the beginning of your journey.

There are also things to do at the library which are completely unrelated to books. The library offers a quiet a study space and devices to use for free. So, if you’re looking for a place to work with less distractions, or even just a change of scenery, you can use the library. Fun fact: I wrote half of this article on a computer in my local library. Some libraries even have rooms specifically for teenagers. They also have revision guides and other books that can be used for studying.

The libraries also host many clubs for different things. My own library has many clubs, ranging from Scrabble Club all the way to Adult Colouring Club. Clubs are a great place to get to know people with similar interests to you and even make some new friends. On top of this, libraries often take part in community projects and events. Community projects can even include art trails and exhibitions. I know my own library hosted an event for Eid.

Libraries are things that we often take for granted. Nowadays, it is normal for every school to have a library. But in the past, libraries were not open for all and were not even state-funded. It took individuals to set up and fund libraries. These people were often philanthropists looking to improve the education of the working class. The London Library was funded by a group of philanthropists led by Thomas Carlyle, including Charles Dickens and many of his friends and associates. They are a large part of the reason why we have lending libraries today. Another person who made a large impact on libraries today was Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish American steel magnate. He was one of the chief benefactors towards libraries. A prestigious literary medal was named after him and awarded to many writers including Neil Gaiman,

We celebrated the coronation of our new King at Eden with a traditional British lunch and an assembly led by Miss Aswat, our subject lead for History, Citizenship, and PSHCE. We learned some background information about King Charles as well as the schedule for the coronation We finished the day by enjoying a cake decorated like the King's crown King Charles III, formerly known as Prince Charles, is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Following the death of his mother in September 2022, Charles ascended to the throne at the age of 73, after being the longest-serving monarch-in-waiting in British history. Millions of people were watching as the new monarch was crowned on May 6, 2023, in the very first British coronation to take place after Queen Elizabeth’s in 1953 (70 years ago!) King Charles' coronation was somewhat scaled down in comparison to Queen Elizabeth's; while she had 8,251 guests, Charles had only invited 2,000.