Tag: mental health

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Hello and welcome wonderful people. So lovely to see you on a sunny day in Falkirk. Vikki, Lynne and I (Tanya) focused on teen books today, for the Year of Young People, but there’s loads here for everyone and if you’re of a similar age to us, you might get some nostalgia feels during our main discussion today when we talked about the books we read as teenagers – see if you can guess our ages from our book choices.  We’d like to thank the lovely folks at Falkirk Explored for the wonderful photo of a snowy Falkirk.

What we have been reading and listening to:
Lynne has been reading the Scottish Teenage Book Prize shortlist:
• Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith
• The Haunting of Jessop Rise by Danny Weston
• Elizabeth Laird’s Welcome to Nowhere
Vikki has been reading:
• The Rain- Soaked Bride by Guy Adams
• The Growing Season by Helen Sedgwick
Tanya has been reading:
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
And listening to:
• The Infinite Monkey Cage by Dr Brian Cox and Robin Ince

New and forthcoming adult books:
• The Gathering Dark by James Oswald
• An Unsuitable Match by Joanna Trollope
• Nucleus by Rory Clements
• The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
• The Reading Cure: how books restored my appetite by Laura Freeman

New and forthcoming children’s books:
• Look out, it’s a dragon! by Johnny Lambert (0-5 years)
• Horrid Henry’s School Fair by Francesca Simon (5-7 years)
• Uncle Shawn and Bill and the almost entirely unplanned adventure by A.L. Kennedy (7-9 years)
• Reissue of James Dashner’s 13th Reality Series (9-11 years)
• Rock War book 4 Crash Landing by Robert Muchamore (teen)

DVD recommendations:
• American Made (15)
• Fear the Walking Dead (15)

Our Reading Agony this week:  My child has exams this year – how can I help them?
• Past papers from the library
• De stress – exercise, even a walk counts, and there are lots of books on destressing
• Healthy food and a good breakfast on exam days!
• Fiction for pleasure, comics are good for a short burst
• Borrow a family DVD and watch together
• ‘How to study’ books
• Studying in the library (neutral place without distractions)
• Good planning

Both staff quotes of the day are from Lynne this podcast: “You’re destroying the look of my podium” and “I’m just fodder for you two to poke fun at!” – Vikki and I are chastised and chastened and other words beginning with ‘ch’ … cheeky, perhaps.

Our Discussion was looking at those books that we read when we were transitioning from reading kids’ books to adult books. There were some mixed feelings about some of the books, especially about Vikki’s descent into Victorian misery, but we had fun discussing our choices. I haven’t caught all of the books or authors mentioned as we got a bit excited, but here are most of them:
• Jane Austen
• D H Lawrence
• Thomas Hardy
• Ruth Rendell
• PD James
• Agatha Christie
• Science fiction (anything and everything in Campbeltown Library)
• Douglas Adams
• James Herriot
• Poldark novels by Winston Graham
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Stephen King
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Jean M Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear – warning – adult content, not recommended for your young teens

Did you know?  All libraries have books on both physical and mental health issues. Books on mental health (e.g. depression or anxiety) or neurological difference (e.g. austism or dyslexia) can be really useful in helping us to understand our own or others’ experiences and in suggesting ways in which changes can be made to improve those experiences – whether that’s using CBT for anxiety or teachers gaining a better understanding of neurological difference to support all their pupils –  and we have quite a few.   If one library doesn’t have, then we’ll either get it from another library or try and buy them in, for example if your doctor or someone from Camhs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) has a suggestion. We have lots on depression, dealing with anxiety, understanding Autism, etc. We would also suggest:
• The Reading Agency has a list of Mood Boosting Books recommended by kids and Mood Boosting Books for adults (many suitable for teens) and the Scottish Book Trust also has some great suggested book lists for teens.
• Young Scot always has some good advice as does the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority).
• Reach.Scot – the whole point of their website is supporting young people at school and helping them to get the right support

Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then give us a shout out on Facebook or twitter. We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, then go to then go to librarylovefalkirk.com, Falkirk Libraries on fb, or @LibFalkirk on Twitter