Tomorrow we celebrate Roald Dahl Day, an inspirational author, whose own life was that of legend. He was a spy, ace fighter pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. His first moment of inspiration came when he was at boarding school, when a local chocolate factory invited pupils to trial new chocolate bars – 35 years later, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was published.

He went on to write many more stories, including Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and Fantastic Mr Fox, all from a hut in his back garden in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. By the time he published The Minpins, he had written a total of 16 stories for children, which have been translated into 68 languages and read all over the world. He remains one of the world’s greatest storytellers.

And it is Library Card Sign-Up Month – although bibliophile’s are notorious for purchasing multiple books, (myself included!), our local library is also a fantastic source of reading material from fiction to non-fiction and everything in-between. We may want a book regarding a specific reference, subject, interest, or hobby without wanting to purchase it.

I’m currently looking at growing fresh produce throughout the frozen Alberta winter indoors, and my library was a great resource for finding out how this can be achieved. Once I found a book that gave me easy step by step instructions I borrowed it and then found one to buy.

What do you use your local library for?