Lucy Chambers

Chartered primary school librarian, children's books reviewer, children’s books collector, @giveabookorg advisor

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@Barker05 @fesshole My mother got her WAAF cap eaten by a lion in 1939 in the Blackpool Palladium…another unlikely story, but true

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

Just read a charmingly heart-warming picture book from ⁦@simonschuster⁩ (Thanks for sending!) about self-esteem. Fantastic story, great message!#childrensbooks

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@alexlarman @spectator Oxfam Books volunteer here. Book Dealers regularly buy Ixfam books and sell them on in their shops, probably at at least double the price. Books we get and sell in the shop would not be accepted by second-hand booksellers. Not so much competition as a symbiotic relationship.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

Excited to receive a set of Neill Cameron’s Mega Robo Bros books for Southfield Primary School Library. The children will love them! Thanks David Fickling Books! #childrensbooks

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

Thanks Simon and Schuster for sending me Abi Elphinstone’s latest Ember Spark story! I love the heroine’s magically lively adventures with unicorns, this time in the Amazon rainforest. Thrilling! ⁦@abielphinstone⁩

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@igfield73 @DrHelenFry My father-in-law was captured at Tobruk and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Austria. My mother (she’s still with us, the world’s oldest Czech veteran) was in the WAAF in ground control, my father in Signals in the army in Iran. He learnt Persian.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@DrHelenFry @atlanticcoast60 My mother served in the WAAF as a morse code operator at Upper Heyford Oxfordshire UK airfield. She’s 104.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@fesshole Congratulations! Sounds like a task where AI could be useful.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@andyshellhorn @Affeemail Many schools already run breakfast clubs, funded by a charity or self-funded, ie parents pay. As a librarian I helped turn some in my primary schools in Tower Hamlets into Breakfast Book Clubs, with donations of books from a charity, thus feeding body and soul.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@QcWynter Pot roast chicken. Whole raw chicken: £5, 2 chicken stock cubes, 1 each of some veg, eg potatoes, carrots, parsnips, leeks, seasonings, lemon juice. £3 approx. Brown chicken, add stock and veg, boils on hob for an hour. Serve with bread or potatoes. Under £10.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@SoVeryBritish I’m so old I remember KEYNSHAM being announced on Radio Caroline pirate radio.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@markland_jane @BexBookaholic When Santa asked my 2 and a half year old grandchild their Christmas request they said ‘cheddar cheese’!

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@FranArtHistory @EmmaSzewczak @MevMav Reception class is mandatory and children start when ‘rising 5’ ie the school year in which they turn 5. Nursery is not mandatory.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@Christo03770888 Homemade is much nicer than shop-bought. It’s very easy to make. Can also use other citrus fruit.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@thosethatcan @niaandthepoems When my children went to Uni I rarely worried about what they were up to, but as soon as they came home again and stayed out late at night, I’d lie awake worrying about them!

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@LeeBraganza I once held a kids’ party where they made a cone by rolling up a Beano mag and then did a lucky dip for little gifts, sweets etc. This passed the time and was fun too.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@AlexAndBooks_ But libraries don’t close. Most UK public libraries offer a 24/7 service via loaning of ebooks/magazines/papers and online reference works.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@InternetH0F My mother’s 104 and has never done anything as weird as that! She just always cooks her own meals with fresh food.

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@BexBookaholic They are not expecting to read them, just sell them on

[Lucy Chambers @BookishL]

@Louiestowell Cressida Cowell How to train your Dragon series?