I’ve been writing my blog for a while now, but I’ve never really gone into what prompted me to begin finally writing one.

Anyone who knows me or follows my Twitter or Instagram, will know I have always been a lover of books; I’m a lifelong reader. It will be of no surprise to anyone then, that as soon as I see a new bookshop I have to go inside.

When I visited Padstow in 2019, I was drawn straight into The Padstow Bookseller and bought a selection of children’s books for my classroom. I can’t remember all of my buys that day (though if you scroll back to my first two or three blogs, you can discover what they were!) but I do remember picking up ‘The Legend of Sally Jones’.

The bookseller had a brilliant conversation with me about it, which surprised me at the time as no-one in my ‘real life’ had read ‘The Murderers Ape’, let alone a graphic novel prequel.

It was here that I finally decided to write a blog. I realised that part of the magic of books is getting to share them with people. For so long, I had seen reading as a solo activity yet now I realised how social it can really be. S

So, with this new ‘series’ (#BritainsBookshops) on The Teacher Bookworm, I plan on sharing some magical bookshops with you from the places I’m lucky enough to visit. There will be three things I focus on when I visit these:

1) Atmosphere

I don’t mind if a bookshop is quiet or bustling when I step inside; for me, that’s not what gives it the atmosphere. It’s about feeling comfortable. Comfortable to browse the shelves, discuss the books or even sit on the floor while you narrow down your book stack from ten to two.

2) Book Selection

Is there a selection of books which are interesting? For me, I look for something I might not have seen had I not walked into that shop. Again, not necessarily on the entire book stock, but what’s on the prominent tables? What different sections are there? What displays are in the shop?

3) Choices

In each book shop I will ask the bookseller to select me a book (I find it so fun when someone else chooses for me!) and I will be looking for their expert opinion to help me make the perfect selection. Once I’ve read the book, I’ll update the blog with how many stars it would get.

It’s as easy as A, B, C 😉 (see what I did there). 

Why am I starting this now, you may ask. Well, later today I’ll be back in Padstow and naturally, I’ll be visiting the Padstow Bookseller. Where better to start this new ‘series’ of posts, than where it all originally began?

See you again in sunny Cornwall!

Emily x