Lesley Watts
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ljwattswales.bsky.social
Lesley Watts
@ljwattswales.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.1K following 1.1K posts
Retired librarian with 27 years in the rip-roaring world of libraries (last 13 years in a school library) Books, films, gardens, nature and fretting about climate emergency.
https://mrswatts101.edublogs.org/
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ljwattswales.bsky.social
Visit the piratically-named ‘Black Diamond’ (AKA The Royal Danish Library.
Slanted black glass building with bicycle in foreground
November 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Books aimed at teenagers (some older, some younger) that feature friendship. See ALT text for more info. #KidsBookFriday
Jessica’s Ghost by Andrew Norriss. Francis, an outsider at school, meets a ghost called Jessica and they become friends. Girl Boy Sea by Chris Vick. Bill is adrift in a life raft and all alone until he finds a girl called Aya who is floating on a barrel. King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore. The story of a very unlikely friendship. Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter. Gritty but funny story for older readers about Renee and Flo, two Guernsey teenagers in the 1990s.
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
My current read is helping to ramp up the worry
What we can know by Ian McEwan One section of the plot summary on the back cover reads, ‘2118: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.’
November 12, 2025 at 8:17 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Fresh, funny narrator, spot-on depiction of Home Counties in 1950s/60s. Coming of age novel which can be read in a single sitting. Loved it!
Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain
November 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
A suitable skyline for watching Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’
Part of a television screen and a large dark window through which can be seen a bright moon shining through the black branches of a tree.
November 8, 2025 at 10:02 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Passed a sad tree today
Large tree with faint eyes and a downturned ‘mouth’ on the trunk. Same picture of the tree with the ‘eyes’ and ‘mouth’ highlighted in green.
November 7, 2025 at 9:24 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Decades ago my son loved The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Now he’s reading the picture book version to his daughter, they’re watching the Brad Bird animation together and she’s drawing her version
Child’s drawing of a robot with huge eyes in a giant rectangle.
November 7, 2025 at 9:12 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
So many squirrels on today’s walk
November 7, 2025 at 9:04 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Following young Tibb Ingleby across Tudor England as she tries to survive. The irreverence and quirkiness reminds me of The Pretender by Jo Harkin.
A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike. Fig Tree, 2024.
November 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Here is my random (and not very up to date) choice for teenagers. The Psychology Book is one in an excellent series and Thing Explainer kept groups of boys entertained at lunchtimes in the school library. (Girls would like it too but mine was a boys’ school) More info in ALT text. #KidsBooksFriday
Gulp by Mary Roach who writes humorous and fascinatingly gross non fiction on topics such as sex and dead bodies. The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained from publisher Dorling Kindersley. This series is lavishly illustrated, divided into manageable sections and covers all kinds of subjects - Music, Mythology, History etc. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson. Well written narrative. Thing Explainer: complicated stuff in simple words by Randall Munro. Not only does this explain all kinds of things simply with a multitude of drawings, but it’s also funny.
November 7, 2025 at 8:42 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Finished this last night - a deceptively easy conversational read about a road trip and an exploration of 55 year old Tom’s life. Really liked it.
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits.
November 6, 2025 at 9:08 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
This is a lot of fun, especially spotting all the Shakespeare jokes and references (The Last Bard by Maz Evans. Chicken House, 2025)
The cover of The Last Bard by Maz Evans illustrated by Ali Al Amine showing boy holding a book surrounded by Juliet, Puck, Lady Macbeth and Yorick’s skull.
November 3, 2025 at 5:33 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Evergreen cartoon from ‘Punch’.
A meeting of five men and one woman. Caption reads, ‘That’s an excellent suggestion, Miss Triggs. Perhaps one of the men here would like to make it’.
October 31, 2025 at 12:48 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Well played Warwickshire Libraries!
Mobile library van with colourful mural and text reading ‘The book stops here’.
October 31, 2025 at 12:27 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
The delightfully cosily spooky Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson and ghostly poem 😁🎃 by Charles Causley www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/colone...
#KidsBooksFriday
Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson.
October 31, 2025 at 7:58 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
If I was choosing books aimed at adults … 2/2
The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean. Slade House by David Mitchell. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
If I was reading teenage books… 1/2
Bonechiller by Graham McNamee Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud The Dogs by Allan Stratton.
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
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Cover of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes illustrated by Chris Mould features small boy standing on shoulder of a giant rusting robot.
October 30, 2025 at 9:41 AM
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I wondered if mine would ever flower this year, but eventually’American Dawn’ made the effort.
Close up of American Dawn dahlia in shades of pink, coral and purple.
October 26, 2025 at 4:54 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Looking up French motorway art when I came across Roundabout Art and found French roundabouts are in a league of their own. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Giant snail sitting on a lettuce leaf looking at itself in a mirror. Roundabout art in France by Jean-Luc Ples.
October 26, 2025 at 2:20 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Long reply for #KidsBooksFriday hence the screenshot. Thanks to @patricknessbooks.bsky.social and his Knife of Never Letting Go.
My first job as a school librarian involved a huge amount of catch-up reading. I’d been a children’s librarian before I had a family, and knew what my own children enjoyed, but I now needed a much wider knowledge of books for teenagers. After reading a handful of titles, I wondered sadly if I just didn’t enjoy books for young people any more. Then I read The Knife of Never Letting Go and was blown away. I was convinced it would win the Carnegie that year and did something I’ve never done before and wrote a fan email to the author. I had the loveliest reply that, amongst other things, had encouraging things to say about school librarians. Of course, I discovered many many more brilliant books for teenagers over the years, but I’ll always remember Patrick Ness for being the destroyer of a reading slump.
October 24, 2025 at 7:58 AM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
Fantastic Autumn colour on today’s walk.
Red, orange, gold and cream leaves on the grass seen from above with view of someone’s feet in walking boots standing on the leaves.
October 23, 2025 at 5:09 PM
ljwattswales.bsky.social
My first Dorothy Whipple (that sounds slightly weird). Published in 1953 it focuses on an extra-marital affair that rocks a family.
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple.
October 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
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If you like low-key plots full of gentle chats this BBC production of Leonard & Hungry Paul is a lovely adaptation of the book
Leonard & Hungry Paul showing on an iPad next to the book by Ronan Hession.
October 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
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2/2 and here are some for teenagers and adults who love maths and science puzzles #KidsBooksFriday
Lateral Thinking Puzzles by Erwin Brecher. How do you get an egg into a bottle? By Erwin Brecher and Mike Gerrard. Can you solve my problems? By Alex Bellos How to cut a cake by Ian Stewart
October 17, 2025 at 8:14 AM