What if books could create a sanctuary for young minds? What if they could spark curiosity, fuel imagination, and kindle a lifelong love for reading? Let's unravel these questions with Soulla Sophocli, a school teacher and fervent advocate for young readers, who has made these questions a reality.
Soulla didn't just establish a library; she created a haven for exploration, discovery, and embarking on literary journeys. Her unyielding passion is evident in her work towards promoting reading among children from diverse backgrounds, including reluctant readers. In her company, we will explore the transformative power of literature - how a single story can nourish hope, resilience, and a deeper understanding of life, shaping children's identities in the process.
We'll also hear about the impact of Soulla's library, As we discuss the challenges posed by digital distractions, Soulla underlines the irreplaceable value of taking time to read. Ready to embark on a literary journey with Soulla Sophocli? Tune in and discover her transformational use of books.
You can find out more about Soulla's Saturday Morning Library at:
The information provided in Midweek Insights is for general informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Listeners should seek professional advice relevant to their specific circumstances before making any decisions.
While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the dynamic nature of certain topics may result in changes or updates. Midweek Insights does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of information discussed in the episodes.
Guests on Midweek Insights express their own opinions, which may not necessarily align with the views of the host. We encourage listeners to form their own opinions based on additional research and diverse perspectives.
What if books could create a sanctuary for young minds? What if they could spark curiosity, fuel imagination, and kindle a lifelong love for reading? Let's unravel these questions with Soulla Sophocli, a school teacher and fervent advocate for young readers, who has made these questions a reality.
Soulla didn't just establish a library; she created a haven for exploration, discovery, and embarking on literary journeys. Her unyielding passion is evident in her work towards promoting reading among children from diverse backgrounds, including reluctant readers. In her company, we will explore the transformative power of literature - how a single story can nourish hope, resilience, and a deeper understanding of life, shaping children's identities in the process.
We'll also hear about the impact of Soulla's library, As we discuss the challenges posed by digital distractions, Soulla underlines the irreplaceable value of taking time to read. Ready to embark on a literary journey with Soulla Sophocli? Tune in and discover her transformational use of books.
You can find out more about Soulla's Saturday Morning Library at:
The information provided in Midweek Insights is for general informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Listeners should seek professional advice relevant to their specific circumstances before making any decisions.
While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the dynamic nature of certain topics may result in changes or updates. Midweek Insights does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of information discussed in the episodes.
Guests on Midweek Insights express their own opinions, which may not necessarily align with the views of the host. We encourage listeners to form their own opinions based on additional research and diverse perspectives.
Speaker 1:
something that if you get a love of reading early on, you've got a friend for life. Because you've got a book with you, you're never lonely. So it's the passion for reading and what that can do for you. Really that's the intent, I think.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Okay, so welcome to Midweek Insights, where we explore stories of inspiration and dedication from remarkable individuals who are making a difference in their communities and beyond. Today, I have the privilege of speaking with a true champion of literacy and a passionate advocate for young readers. For over 15 years, our guest has been on a mission to ignite a love of reading among the next generation. As a devoted school teacher, she realized the profound impact that books can have on a child's imagination, knowledge and dreams, and so, with an unwavering commitment, she took it upon herself to create something truly special. Her library isn't just a place filled with books. It's a sanctuary for young minds explore new worlds, discover hidden treasures, find courage to embark on their own literary journeys, and with every page turned, a new adventure begins and a new dream is born.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Today, we delve into the story of how our guest Sulasa Fogli's library came about, this labor of love that has flourished over the years, touching the lives of countless children. Beyond providing a treasure trove of books, she's gone above and beyond to create an inclusive, welcoming environment where all children can feel safe, and her efforts to reach out to reluctant readers and children from diverse backgrounds have sparked a love of reading in young hearts that may have once felt distant from the magic of books. She has celebrated the love of reading and she has witnessed the transformative power of literature and seen how a single story can plant seeds of hope and resilience in young children. So join us today as we step into the world of imagination, curiosity and compassion. We're honored to sit down together with this wonderful school teacher, who used to be my school teacher, and this is also this is so special to actually have you here doing this together. This I love this. This is what I love about this. Welcome to love.
Speaker 1:
Thank you. Thank you, desi, and thank you for inviting me. I've been listening to all of your podcasts and they're amazing, and you're such a good interviewer as well. I'm very, I'm always very proud when it's students make something of their lives, and it's just brilliant to see that.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Thank you so, like I said, so special to be with you again and that we've kept that contact over the years and will continue to do so. So I want to ask you all about what started this whole journey, because I know you've always loved reading. I haven't, to be honest. I just want to start with that I never was a child reader, so my love of reading came much later, and even in high school. So I want to ask about you and what inspires you to do this and your love of reading.
Speaker 1:
See, I was. I was the child that didn't want dolls, didn't want games, didn't want anything apart from books. So I started my reading journey very, very early. For me, books they symbolize so much more than just paper and words. It's a world that you can go into. You know somebody else's life. You know I'm very nosy by nature, so I like to know about other people's lives, and you know it's just such an amazing thing to be able to jump into somebody else's life. Actually, I wanted to start with a little poem. Really, I'm sure that some of your readers know it Sorry, your listeners, it's by Julia Donaldson, who's one of the best children's authors of all time, and it's called. I opened a book and this one I always read to my students at the beginning of the year when I tried to talk to them about. You know why reading is so amazing? I'll read it to you. It's called.
Soulla Sophocleous:
I opened a book.
Speaker 1:
I opened a book and in I strode. Now nobody can find me. I've left my chair, my house, my road, my town and my world behind me. I'm wearing the cloak. I've slipped on the ring. I've swallowed the magic potion. I fought with a dragon, dined with a king and dived in a bottomless ocean. I opened a book and made some friends. I shared their tears and laughter. I followed their road and their bumps and bends to the happily ever. After I finished my book and out I came. The cloak can no longer hide me. My chair and my house are just the same, but I have a book inside me, and that's how I always felt with books.
Speaker 1:
It's like you can't read a book and it disappeared from you. You've always learned something from that book, whether it's empathy, whether it's compassion for somebody's situation, whether it's knowledge, whether it's finding out about ancient Egypt, because you could read a book that's set in there. There's so much that you can gain from every book and that's what I want to impart to the kids that I teach. Don't get me wrong Reading is something that I encourage from an academic point of literacy. You cannot possibly beat a good reader and not have a wider vocabulary, better knowledge of spelling, full stops, paragraphing, creativity, everything. It helps with everything in terms of what you're going to put onto your paper.
Speaker 1:
So I'll read a story from a child and I'll know immediately whether they're a reader or not, because you know that. You know there's certain things that you pick up from books that your brain kind of just puts into motion without you even noticing it. But I'm talking about the actual love of reading, not just reading it to improve your writing, to actually get into that book and to not want it to end and be. Really. I've been depressed at the end of a reading book before, when you've closed anything, but I want to know what happens 10 years down the line.
Speaker 1:
The best books in the world are the ones with the epilogue that tell you what happens 10 years later, or something. I've just finished, one called the Secret History by Donna Tuff, and it's kind of brilliant because it goes through the whole story and then the epilogue is like you know, it gives you all of the stuff that happens. So you've got no unanswered questions at the end of what happened to the characters after the book finished.
Speaker 1:
So and I think for me it all starts from reading to children- you know, so and I still I mean 53 years old and I still love listening to stories. I've got, I subscribe to Audible, which has been an absolute godsend, so I listen to stories all the time. I listen to them in the car, when I'm washing the dishes, when I'm doing the ironing, when I'm watering the garden. I mean, there's just no time when you know I'd rather listen to a book, even though I absolutely love music as well. But I just I, you know I do love listening to someone reading to me, and I think every child loves that, even the most reluctant students. When you put them in the classroom and you read them a good book, they just want to know more, they can't wait for the next chapter.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So there's something about stories that are magical and you think the Audible side is not. I mean, you're not losing away. You don't always have to like pick up a book and read the words. Right, that's just equal.
Speaker 1:
This is what I was saying If you want it to be academically beneficial, then you read.
Speaker 1:
because you need to see the words in front of you, especially kids that have problems with spellings or you know punctuation or anything like that. When you see it written correctly, it's obviously going to resonate more when you're writing it yourself. But for the love of reading, it doesn't matter where it's coming from and it doesn't actually matter what they're reading. I mean, right, a lot of kids come into the library and say I don't like reading. I said well, you just haven't found the right book.
Speaker 1:
You know, there's no such thing, as I don't like reading. It's just finding something that you enjoy, and it could be a computer magazine, it could be a Minecraft manual, it could be. You know, I've got so many different books in the library that you know, for all these different, you know readers because as long as they're reading something, as long as they're physically picking up the book and opening it, I mean I'm not a big fan of I haven't started yet with the Kindles and the, you know, online reading. It's just for me having that book, the physical book, in your hand.
Soulla Sophocleous:
I've moved to the Kindle now because I realized how many books are collecting dust.
Speaker 1:
I know, and it is quite difficult for my adult readers. Yeah the adult readers have got Kindles now, so I don't have a lot of adult members of the library, but I do love that book.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So what made you start this little library? How did, what was the inspiration behind it? And take us back to the journey of how it began.
Speaker 1:
It really started when, I mean, I moved here 17 and a half years ago, so my kids are very young and in those days, especially in Larnaca, there wasn't very much in terms of what to do with your kids. So if I woke up and it wasn't a Tuesday or Thursday when the Mons and Tots group was running, I'd be really depressed because there was nothing else to do and we used to go to England for the summers and I used to spend half of my time in the libraries because they would organize arts and craft sessions for the kids and, you know, reading sessions and story times and all of that. And I came back after I think it was 2008. So, after being in the UK for most of the summer, and I was walking along the beach with a friend of mine and I said to her you know, it's such a shame we don't have something like that here and she just looked at me and said start it.
Speaker 1:
You, of all people, you can do it and at the time I was, I was teaching at the bases, doing supply work. I wasn't working every day, but I did have some time, great. And I just wrote a letter to the Cyprus Mail at the time and just said thinking of starting a library if anyone's got any books they'd like to donate. So my original intention was just to do it from home, just to have on, you know, turn my front room into a little library every Saturday and just invite friends and stuff to come over and just choose books. But when I put that in the in the Cyprus Mail, I was absolutely gobsmacked, because everybody seems to have spare books in their house that they don't want to get rid of but they don't know what to do with.
Speaker 1:
So they don't kind of you can't throw away books. You need to give them onto that. So when this happens, I suddenly you know, my study was full from the thought of stealing in boxes of books, because people were kind of phoning me and texting me and giving me like books is not just two or three boxes of books. So then it just so happened and you know I'm a big believer in things happening when they're ready to happen, and for a reason I was playing badminton at the time with my friend, jackie and she said, you know, I said to her I'd love to start a library. I just don't know how to go about it and stuff, and I'm gonna try and do it from my house and all of that.
Speaker 1:
And she said you should come and speak to because she was working at the American Academy at the time as a TA. And she said you should come and speak to Karen, who's one of the Academy that she's the Academy deputy head, because she's been saying for a while that she wanted to start something, you know, on a Saturday morning as the library resource. And so I went and met her and they gave me the go-ahead to start on the Saturday. So I started. It was November 2008, so 15 years ago this, this November, and At the beginning it was just a few friends of mine that come and I would sit there and think always I'm gonna come today you know, so I'd be there like nine in the morning until about 12 Every Saturday morning and I'd get people in for the story in some time.
Speaker 1:
But then I didn't have an awful lot of people coming for the rest of the time. But slowly, slowly or not even that slowly it started to become a thing and then that led actually to my job at the American.
Speaker 1:
Academy because they said to me, you know, even though I'm a secondary school teacher. They said to me oh, you know, the grade six teachers decided to leave and move on, and this was in June or July. Could you do it for a year? Could you just come and do grade six? I'm not a junior school teacher, I don't know what I'm doing, you know. So I kind of mugged up on everything that summer and and 13 years later I'm still there. But the library was the prerequisite to me, because they knew about me then and they knew that I was a teacher and I'd gone in and done a little let's sessions with the kids just to introduce them to the love reading and stuff. So now I'm a permanent member of the staff. So I run the library in school and I still run it on a Saturday morning voluntarily. It's become a real labor of love. I love going in. This is not a single time that I feel like, oh no, it's Saturday night to get up and go to the library.
Speaker 1:
I absolutely love it and I've met so many friends, so many people you know, and a lot of people have made friends with other members. You know it's been a little social community that's so nice.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Do you find that parents at first force their kids to come and then they're reluctant, and then somehow you win them over?
Speaker 1:
It's not that they're forced to come. I think sometimes they're a little bit too young to Listen, but it only takes about three or four sessions and then they're wrapped as well, you know. So if we get some that are very young, you know we've had kids as young as six or seven months old coming in. Obviously, you know they're not, you know. So I say it's from six months to six years, you know, and anything in between. And we've also got a lot of the older siblings that still like to come because they've been through the library Since they were like two or three years old. And then they've got younger siblings that come, and they still come and help me out.
Speaker 1:
I've got a couple that come and you know they're the brilliant ones because they will join in with the songs and do that. You know the actions for the stories and stuff and encourage the younger ones to do so.
Soulla Sophocleous:
The most popular books then that really captivate the kids.
Speaker 1:
Oh, always the julia dolonsons always. I mean I, you can't go wrong. My favorite one to read is the smartest giant in town, because that is. I just do all the voices and the singing and it's just Absolutely amazing. Can you imagine? I actually did a lot of online stories because during the pandemic, obviously we couldn't Go to the library so I had to stop it. Um, for those two years and I did over 50 online stories. Um, that I did so that kids could still listen to stories, still enjoy the stories at home. And uh, that's all on my on the facebook page. I still got them all up there, so Brilliant, it's brilliant.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So how do you think that these? Yeah, no, it's amazing, I like, I prefer this, I like this. It's a lot of effective strategies, then, for approaching Kids, that we can start to spark their interest. I know you've already, you already say by listening to books. But what, what other things could we be doing if they can't get to a library? Like that that we could be doing at home, or I think that a lot of it comes from what they see around them.
Speaker 1:
So if they see their parents reading, they're more likely to think that it's an okay, good thing to do. Um, it doesn't always work and I know that parents don't have the time to sit there with a book, but if you could, just, you know, if your kids are getting too old for the bedtime story, which you know, it Gets to that point, doesn't it, where the kids are like no, well, don't want to hear a story, I'm just gonna go to bed. Then maybe just making 10 or 15 minutes of an evening where you can actually just both sit individually and read Together. So before you go to bed, just have a time 10, 15 minutes downstairs before they go up to bed, where it's kind of like, turn off the devices, turn off the TV and just say, right, okay, 15 minutes, we're all gonna read our own books Individually. You don't have to talk about them, you don't have to, you know. But just Incorporate that into your family routine would be a really nice thing.
Speaker 1:
I know it's. It's very difficult this day and age. They've got football, they've got tennis, they've got extra lessons, and then the last thing you want to do is bring them home and get them to sit and read. But Again, it's the way that you approach it as a fun thing to do. It's not a chore. Yeah, never a punishment, yeah. And I never want reading to be like. I don't want them to say you know, like if you don't do your homework, you have to sit in and, in every sense, and read, you know? No, it mustn't ever be a punishment, it must be a joy and pleasure.
Soulla Sophocleous:
You know, yeah, that's so true. So can you recommend specific book series other than dolly John, junior Donaldson that have have a transformative effect? So maybe something that links to mindfulness or Confidence, these kinds of stories that would help there's some really good stories out there, really good Series.
Speaker 1:
Obviously depends on the age of the child and what they're interested in. I mean, you've got the earlier years, so from from years one, two and three, you've got all of those kind of now the Julia Donaldson's, but then you move up to there's the treehouse series, there's the, there's the. There's just loads of kind of like different sets. I love the daisy books. Daisy and the trouble with life and Daisy and the trouble with coconut. There's. There's a lot of really good series depending. Again, it's difficult to recommend yes, yes, the girl or boy, the, the adventure, the fantasy, the realistic ones. But there are so many really really good book sets out there. Obviously Harry Potter is still extremely popular. We get a lot of calls for those, of course, for those. But there are some really brilliant other series as well. You've got the Percy Jackson's. You've got the Alex Riders, which are a lot more kind of adventure. A lot of girls and boys love that. My five and my six, I think, spy, and you know what they get up to. But there's also the Jacqueline Wilson's who you know they tackle. She tackles a lot of real life issues. You've got Morris glidesman. You've got Louis Sasha there's.
Speaker 1:
There's some brilliant writers out there for children, so it's just a matter of finding, and I also love this. There's a series called my story, which is it's a fictional, autobiographical Novel in each series that talks about, for example, my experience on the Titanic or my experience in the First World War or my experience. So it takes real-life events but it makes it a story about the girl who was on the Titanic or the girl that was in the First World War, or the boy that was in Pearl Harbor or whatever, and it kind of you know, so you're learning about the historical Things. So a lot of kids that don't like fiction are more likely to go for those type of stories.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Yeah, so you said, those are still fictional, though, right, but it's just yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean the. The nonfiction the kids go for is mainly the ones that are to do with their gaming or the people that they admire, so the footballers and the biographies and you know that kind of thing.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So there's a there's a lot of stuff that you can introduce them to yeah, so can you also share a couple of like real stories of where you saw a transformation in some children, or when they came back with the story of you know, this book changed my life, or Well, they have been some.
Speaker 1:
I mean, the biggest reward for me as a teacher is at the end of the school year when the parent comes up to me and says you know what you? He never used to read before and now you introduced him to that book and he's flying, he's absolutely loving these books. We can't buy them quickly enough, you know. So that's it's just so rewarding when you know that you've made a difference. Because the thing is, even if they stop reading in their Teenages yeah, a love of reading early on More likely they will come back to it later on when they do have more inclination to read or they do have more time and stuff like that. So you know, I think it's just something that it's. It's so. But I mean, my, my experience is you've got a book, you've gone, friend, you're never lonely, you know. So if I'm kind of like, I mean the amount of times I had to take my kids somewhere and wait outside in the car for them to finish a lesson or a you know whatever, and you got a book.
Speaker 1:
You're sitting there in the car reading, and sometimes you know they come back in and I was like, oh my goodness, as the hour gone, I didn't even realize you want to go back in again, exactly so it's like you know it's. That's what I want people to know that it is something so pleasurable and so Absorbing and so amazing.
Soulla Sophocleous:
You don't need to think about it, you just want to pick it up you know, yeah, I just I think the challenge today is the competition of a device versus yeah, I always say to my students you know, if you, when you've got your free time, spend 50% of it on something that's going to to exercise your body, and 50% of it or something is going to exercise your mind.
Speaker 1:
Now. Your mind is not going to be exercised by moving controls on a device.
Speaker 1:
It's just not going to. That's not doing anything good for your brain, it's deadening your brain. So if you want to exercise your mind, the best thing to do is to pick up book, because you are then kind of like, you know, doing all of these things that we talked about simultaneously and you're enjoying something that is, you know, an experience you would never normally have. You know, talk about going and swimming with dolphins, or you know, like a book about, you know, the, the, the Wild West, or you know whatever. You've never gone and experienced those things for real, so just experience them through the book.
Soulla Sophocleous:
That's so true. Which one was the one we did at school together Sense and sensibility.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, I don't like.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Jane Austen, I must say. So which book has been the one that has changed you and has really given you a fresh perspective? Or is the voice of comfort, or whatever it is that has made that impact on your life?
Speaker 1:
Oh, my goodness, I mean I started reading a lot of these wellness, wellness books and stuff like that. There have been a lot that have really changed my perception of things. And again, books come to you, you find them at the right time, that you need them a lot of the time. So I'm not talking about fictional books now. I'm talking about books that have really impacted me. I read a book called Conversations with God when I was about 29. And that really changed the way I felt about everything.
Speaker 1:
I also read the Power of Now at Cartolo, which really, because I was a big warrior, I would always worry about the future. I would always think about the past and think what could I have done differently and what if? And I think reading that book made me see you can't live in the past, it's gone. You can't plan for the future because it's not promised, whatever you live in now. So books have got a really personal place in my heart because they do, they do, they can change your life.
Speaker 1:
When you read something that you're meant to read at the right time, it can really change you, change your perceptions, change your experiences. So I feel like books have been like a friend to me as well. You talk to your friends. I've got lots of girlfriends and I love my girlfriends because it's therapy. Going for a walk every day with a friend of mine is therapy, because we just do all our talking and everything.
Speaker 1:
But books are also instrumental in how I've molded my life up to now and I can truly say in my 50s I feel so content, so happy with where I am as a person, and that wasn't always the case. It took me a long time to look in the mirror and say you're okay, you're all right. But the reading that I've done over the years, and also my job, I do love teaching. It's a passion of mine, it's something I was born to do and I feel like I'm a natural born teacher. From the age of seven I knew I was going to teach and it's just been a year and a half. In the morning I'm not wanting to go to work, so it's kind of that's a very humbling thing to know that you live in your life the best life that you could be living.
Soulla Sophocleous:
But again, along the way, lots of books have shaped where I am now, and is there a quote that you always that is that like. I like to ask it as a sound sound effect, sound bite of your life, that you know page at least.
Speaker 1:
The quote that I've always come back to and I think I read it when I was about 16, is Biosco Wild, and it's life is too important to be taken seriously. And I just think, you know, let's let's have. You know, unless it is literally life and death, have fun with things. You know, just don't take things too seriously and you know I've been guilty of doing that in the past myself, so you know I've had to learn that. But yeah, just kind of like, let's not make such a big deal of everything, let's enjoy the journey. You know this is what we're here for.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So, zulema, what's next? This beautiful library of yours that you've created.
Speaker 1:
Well, I mean, I'm still. I'm running it every first and third Saturday of the month and if there's a fifth Saturday in the month I open then as well. So I will carry on doing that. I mean, things changed a lot after the pandemic because I'm doing a lot less in terms of well, actually it was before the pandemic. I stopped that.
Speaker 1:
Every year I used to do a fundraiser Family Fund Day, where I get lots of people to come in and do stores and we had about six cars and we had a story in a long time in the hall and everything and sold raffle tickets and we raised. I raised over the years. We raised over 10,000 euros that I gave to breast cancer charities in honour of a lady called Kathy who used to be a TA at our school and who was my hairdresser actually before I came to the school, and she was an amazing, inspirational woman who just did so well to make everything about other people and never about her, and I just was so inspired by her. Even in the depths of her illness she was still so humble and so you know, I said to her do you ever think why me? And she says no, I think, why not me?
Speaker 1:
You know why not me. You know, if one in three people get this horrible illness, then why not me? So anyway. So when, when she passed away and the funeral was actually on my 40th birthday, you know the actual day of my 40th birthday, that's how I felt that I just had so much love for her and her best friend, tracy, started to do lots of these treks you know, walks for breast cancer.
Speaker 1:
So I said you know I'm going to try and help as much as I can. So for every year that we were open the first, I think, 10 years we did a family fun day and all the money went there. So because the library is nonprofit, I don't make any money from it. I run it completely voluntarily. It only costs 10 euros for the whole year to borrow the books, or 20 if you want a family membership, and it's not changed in the 15 years that I've had it open. So any money that we get either goes to charity or to go goes back into buying books for the library. So unfortunately it's become a lot more difficult these days to do these fundraisers because now you've got to get licenses for anything, everything that you do and stuff like that. So I did have one for the 10 year anniversary, but since then I haven't had another one. So I am debating whether to have another family fund day to celebrate 15 years. But it is a lot more difficult these days to to stage something like that.
Speaker 1:
But I just want to keep on with the library. I mean, it's a very small enterprise. Not many people know about it, I don't think outside my immediate circle I have been asked to do one, to start one in NemoSol and in Kassir, and but I just I mean, it's not something that I can pick up and move. It's because I had the books there ready made, you know, as a school library, and they were kind enough to say that we could, you know, lend them out and then through that we've got so many more donations to the school library and I've also got about 800 adults books as well in a separate purpose bill, you know area. So I'd like to have more adults coming in to to read the books and, you know, just to see where it goes from there. But for me it's enough. I don't want to grow it, I don't know it's enough.
Speaker 1:
No, that's not lovely little resource and I love running it, and we've made money for charity and we've you know, we've changed people's lives by introducing them to new friends. When they come here for the beginning and they don't know anybody, you know, coming to the library is a great way to introduce them to different people and make great money.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So many boxes would allow. That sounds so amazing and if somebody wants to donate books, you still take donate, like they still have books that they could send all over Cyprus if they want.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. I mean, I don't ever turn away a good book.
Soulla Sophocleous:
If it's, even if you have doubles.
Speaker 1:
What I do with the doubles and any that I can't use is well, every few months I'll just kind of have a restock, so I'll kind of take off the older tattier books and put on newer books and whatever. But all of the older ones I either donate. I just have a freebie box that anyone can take books from, or I mean because a lot of the times I don't want to take them through shops and stuff or charity shops because they've got the barcodes and the you know, the spine labels, so they don't necessarily they can't really sell them on that easily, but I just give them away. We just give away loads of freebies.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Brilliant, and I just want to ask you to leave the listener with whatever you would like them to to get out of this episode. Or, about the topic of the love of reading, some parting thoughts that you'd like to impart.
Speaker 1:
Just if there's anyone out there that hasn't read for a while or hasn't even contemplated the idea of reading a book. Just think about what it is that you're really interested in and what kind of message you want to get, and just find the right book. I mean, I'm happy to point people in the right direction if they want to send me a quick message and say, look, this is what I'm interested in. What kind of books could you recommend, Especially for kids? Because I mean, every adult book I read, I always read a children's book as well. So I know quite a lot of the books in the library that I have and I try to update them and get all the more recent ones in, so I can recommend books quite. You know, I'm quite good at finding the right books.
Speaker 1:
But just if you haven't done it for a while, just pick up a good book and see how you get lost in the pages because there's nothing like it.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Thank you so much for your time, for being here and for just showing up with all that wonderful goodness that you have. Thank you.
Speaker 1:
Lizzie, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about my little library, because I do love it. It's a labour of love and it's a really lovely thing to be involved in.
Soulla Sophocleous:
So thank you. Can I add your details, like what details someone wants to reach out to you or someone you know like? To send your books or whatever we can just add to the show.
Speaker 1:
Now I have a Facebook page. I've got a Facebook page. Stooler's Saturday Morning.
Soulla Sophocleous:
Library.
Speaker 1:
Oh, we'll add the link in the show now, that's perfect, and the email address is Stooler's Saturday Morning Library at gmailcom. So that's the site, thank you. Thank you so much.