We’re all going on a bear hunt…with Frederick the Great!

I overheard a very heartening discussion in the library the other day…one which should remind us all of just how important libraries are at – almost by chance – setting seeds of imagination and digging up bits of knowledge…

Picture the scene:
Busy Library somewhere in Bexley on a Saturday morning…
Shelves of Biographies…
Father & young son, browsing amiably…
“Dad, who was Frederick the Great?...”
“Well, he was a king, I think…”
“Where of, Dad?”
“I dunno, somewhere or other…”
“No, but who was Frederick the Great REALLY? …He sounds great, whoever he was! Can I read it, Dad, please?...please!”…

Wise child, I do hope his father did borrow it…Ah, the joy of serendipity*…
Random selection of books is one of life’s great pleasures, don’t you agree?

And only yesterday, another child I overheard was particularly upset because her mum didn’t want her to read the same book over and over again…
“But I like it!” she cried…
“But you’ve already read it, try something else…”
“But I like THAT one”…

And the book in question? ‘We’re going on a bear hunt”…

Well, as the world’s finest philosophers all know, you should never turn down the chance to shout “Swishy swashy! Splash splosh! Hoooo Woooo!.We’re all going on a bear hunt…Will you come too?”

What the world’s sharpest minds would also recommend, surely, is that – thanks to public libraries – you can actually borrow MORE THAN ONE BOOK AT A TIME.

Simples!

And the message from this week’s blog, dear readers?
* The more you read, the wiser you’ll become….
* You can always hear some fascinating conversations in libraries…(Have you heard any?)
* That Frederick the Great (1712-1786) was in fact, King of Prussia and “one of the most extraordinary men ever to sit on a throne”…But you’ll need to read the book to find out why…
* And that it really is good for us to shout “Swishy swashy! Splash splosh! Hoooo Woooo!” at regular intervals. (Although my research thus far suggests that Frederick the Great of Prussia rarely did)…

* Have I forgotten anything? Do let us know, using the comments box below.
* And, tell us if you've heard any interesting conversations in libraries (within reason...)

* Or, have you ever picked up a book purely by chance and thought "Wow! Serendipity Doohdah!...That was a good one to choose"?...
TTFN

PS * `Serendipity` is a made up word... (Horace Walpole, 1754, I think ~ based on an ancient Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip” or as it's now known, the modern country named Sri Lanka)…

Now, not a lot people know that!

(And it’s just the sort of serendipitous snippet of information from your friendly library service that just might come in handy one day…)

Tangled/new fangled/fairy, hairy tales...

Wither Rapunzel?

Troubling news reaches me from my colleagues in the cinema industry– the latest Disney film `Tangled` is to be their last ever fairy tale…

“Whatever next!” I spluttered to my barber"Is this political correctness gone mad?...Rapunzel with a hair net?”…
“No, no, sir” he assured me, (he’s a very cultured coiffeur as you’d expect) “I believe it is because the producers no longer believe that boys want to watch fairy tales or princesses any more…”

Well,... that’s dealt me a heavy blow, I can assure you; am I to be deprived of Jack and his beanstalk?
A ban on Puss in Boots?
A ration on Rumpelstilstkin?
A prohibition on the princess and the pea?

I like a fairy tale as much as the next chap.
What do you think, dear readers?
Weren’t you weaned on wonderful words?
Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, Charles Perrault, The Brothers Grimm, …Where are you now?
YOUR READERS NEED YOU!

So, dear blogfollowers…What’s your favourite fairytale?

Tell us using the magic comments box below…(Let your hair down...it’ll be our secret, just between you, me, and the library elves…)

TTFN