Reading for Pleasure - The Countdown is On!

There are 37 days and 15 hours until I fly out to London on my scholarship trip to find out more about reading for pleasure initiatives in the UK.  Just typing this causes flutters of anxiety and I have to take a deep breath to relax.  I am really excited about the trip, I just still have a lot to do.  I have had a recurring dream where I am trying to find everything to pack and I am running late to get to the airport (so I try not to stress about the trip just before I go to sleep!).

Things are actually coming along nicely.  Here are some highlights:

• I extended my trip because I found out about the UKLA National Conference, which is on "Finding and sharing pleasure in reading" and takes place in the University of Cambridge!  It happens the day after I was initially going to leave, so I am now staying until the 19th of March.  Thank goodness I have an understanding principal.
• I am getting to visit schools in London, Hertfordshire, Ipswich, Norfolk and Scotland.
• I have appointments with a number of Trusts and non-profits who support reading.
• I am going to a day-long course on reading for pleasure.
• I am visiting Seven Stories in Newcastle upon Tyne and the Norfolk Children's Book Centre.
• I am really lucky to be meeting with Professor Teresa Cremin.  She is a prominent education researcher who has been doing a lot of work on reading for pleasure.  I talked about her book at the bottom of my last post.

I am also treating myself to a Warner Bros. Studio Tour on The Making of Harry Potter.  I had to find something to do on my weekends!

It has taken a lot of work to coordinate all the different visits, and I still have a couple of places to confirm.  Relying on email takes time, and patience, as I know that my requests may be just adding to a busy day for the people who receive them.  That said, I have been blown away by the number of people who have offered to: organise days with them that include visits to other schools in their area, drive me around and help me with accommodation.

Investigating all the places I'm going, and people I'm seeing, has lead to some interesting ideas already.  I've discovered mood boards

Like this idea, a book mood board - https://t.co/BLgSd0TmZW via @readingagency #libchatnz

— Michelle Simms (@MSimmsNZ) January 15, 2017

and fun library games

How about this for a cool library game - Guess Who using book covers - https://t.co/iflx2Apqqm

— Michelle Simms (@MSimmsNZ) January 14, 2017.

It is a challenge not to get pulled down the rabbit hole and spend days exploring online when I actually need to work out other things like what clothes to take and how to fit them into a suitcase!