Children's services

Halton libraries is very proud to have possibly the world's youngest library member on it's books! Noel Harris, a janitor at Halton Lea library, signed his little grandson, Charlie Harris, up to the library services when he was just 8 hours old! In an article in The Liverpool Echo, Noel says 'My whole family understands the importance of reading and the earlier children get comfortable around books the better'.

We totally agree with what Noel says and have lots of events for little ones. 3 of our libraries hold Rhymetime events, a fun time for little tots to be read a story, sing songs and play games. Rhymetime is held at the following times:

Ditton Library - Every Wednesday, 10.30am to 11.30am
Halton Lea Library - Every Thursday, 10am to 11am
Widnes Library - Every Wednesday, 1.30pm to 2.30pm
 

Rhymetime is a free and fun time for kids from birth to 4 years to get involved in the library. For more info, visit the Rhymetime page on our website. We also work together with Bookstart to get children involved in the library from a very young age.
 

 
For older children, we have a great children's library area in each of our libraries, stocking the latest books for every age range. Visit our Children's Library page to find out before about the different services we can provide for children.

The TV book club

Last night saw the much awaited launch of The TV Book Club on More4. Brought to us by the woman behind the Richard & Judy Book Club, Amanda Ross, The TV Book Club is a weekly ten-part series that each week reviews a different book. If you missed the first show last night, you can still catch it on Channel 4 today at 12:05pm.

Yesterday's show covered The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, which is described as a 'A beautifully crafted post-war ghost story.' Over the next 10 weeks, The TV Book Club will cover books ranging from thrillers, non-fiction, humour and everything inbetween. For a full list and more details of the books that will be discussed, visit The TV Book Club website here. Of course, all the books are available through Halton Libraries. Drop into your local library to pick up a copy of any of the books, or reserve them online at the Halton Libraries website.

Our Reading Groups

We’ve got some great books for our Readings Groups to get stuck into this year. With novels from renowned authors like Carlos Ruiz Zafon as well as debuts such as The Rescue Man by Liverpool author Anthony Quinn there's something to appeal to everyone.

The groups are proving really popular and several are now full, however, you can add your name to the waiting list and we'll let you know when a place becomes available or a new group is started. Contact Trudy Jones to find out more.

Here’s a sneak preview of what we’ll be reading;

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Set in Barcelona in the early 20th century this macabre Gothic novel centres on a young journalist whose talent leads him to become a successful novelist. Before long it turns into an intricate tale of love, murder and obsession. With touches of Wilkie Collins, Dickens and even the Penny Dreadfuls - it’s a real page-turner.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize. Mantel’s retelling of English history between 1527 to 1535 with Cromwell as the hero succeeds in making this well-known subject both gripping and, on occasion, shocking to the reader. It can also be very funny at times. Read Times review.

The Boy With the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne – This simple, yet hugely affecting, tale of the holocaust is told from the perspective of the 9 year old son of a Nazi commandant who is both innocent to and ignorant of what is happening around him. The Guardian describe it as a ‘small wonder of a book' - see what you think. Read Guardian review

If you would like to start your own reading group we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Janette Fleming