Meg muses on 'Shibboleth' at Tate Modern

First, I must apologise to Claire, from my creative writing class, who will be expecting a very different post from this one! Claire, the one we started on Saturday will appear in a couple of weeks time, OK? Today, I want to write something different - more of a celebratory rant, for once!



For my younger readers:



It's been an exciting week for me! 'Piper' was launched on Friday and I had a great welcome at Myton School in Warwick for my launch event. What a fantastic library you have - and such a lovely librarian too! I hope you appreciate them both! Those of you who bought copies of 'Fur' and 'Piper', I hope you're enjoying them. Do let me know what you think via my web-site.



Yesterday, I was at the lovely Newington Library in Southwark, London, launching the Orange Chatterbooks scheme there. It's a library that's clearly very well used. I was talking to the assistant manager about issues facing libraries today. Some members of the government feel libraries should return to only providing books. Nowadays, of course, they provide computer and Internet access, DVDs, CDs and a whole range of other activities. What do you think? Do you use your local library and if so, what for? Maybe you should let your MP know what you think or even tell Al Aynsley-Green, the first ever Children's Commissioner. I heard him speak yesterday and he really wants to know what children and young people think about anything and everything. That's his job. So do tell him. You can contact him via http://www.11million.org.uk/ Why 11 million? Because there are 11 million kids in the UK.

For my more wrinkly readers:

Yesterday was a jewel of a day so I want to celebrate it! I don't always rant because I am angry, or indeed, weighed down by grief! I have, I would like to say, been very moved by the posts and e-mails in response to last week's blog. Blogging has been a steep and, at times, painful learning curve but last week's effort was therapeutic for me and has touched several people, so the whole experiment has begun to feel very worthwhile.

So...yesterday! I was booked to launch the Orange Chatterbooks scheme for Southwark libraries in the morning, which is a delightful initiative to create reading groups for children. As someone who runs a children's book group and who is a member of two adult groups, I am all in favour of the project - so it was a bit disappointing when, having arrived bright and early at Elephant and Castle at 9am, there were no children in sight at quarter to ten! Sure enough, there had been a mix-up and the first group didn't arrive - which meant I got taken out for tea and croissants by the charming assistant manager - who turned out to be published poet, David Penn. He kept that very quiet for a remarkably long time! So I shall get paid for a very pleasant hour chatting to him! Can't be bad! Then, when the children finally arrived, they were delightful. Newington Library serves the biggest inner city estate in the country, an area designated for urgent renewal, with some serious social problems - but the years 5s I was working with were one of the most engaged, lively and interesting groups I have ever met. They were a hugely appreciative audience - they laughed at my jokes, for goodness sake! - and their questions were unusual and searching. What a joy!

Then, once I'd done my usual exit routine of forgetting half my equipment and having to go back for it (any author event puts me on a giddy high which makes me quite incompetent for at least an hour), I had until 8pm to spend in London, as the wonderful Chiltern Railways' 'Just 15' cheap ticket deal does restrict your time of travel. I had plenty of work to do so spent a large part of the time in the cafe of the Salvation Army's HQ which is on the St Paul's side of the Millenium Bridge. It's a great, very reasonable cafe in a stunning new building that's very notable for its architecture and all in a good cause - go there! But I also did two other very special things.

By chance, as I was passing St Paul's, I noticed that there was a panel discussion that evening, the final one of a series on childhood, organised by The Children's Society. It looked interesting so I thought I would go. I was somewhat stunned to find the panel consisted of The Archbishop of Canterbury, Al Aynsley-Green , the children's commissioner, Camilla Batmanghelidjh and Richard Leyard. Though I felt some of it was covering old ground, it was nevertheless, a very interesting evening. Some things stood out, however: Al pointing out that in this country you can be held criminally responsible at the age of ten but you are not old enough to own a dog and Camilla explaining that research has shown that the more interested you are in the welfare of other people, the happier you are. Thoughts to ponder on.........

My other special thing was to go to the Tate Modern to re-visit the wonderful giant spider, originally displayed inside and now on the South Bank, framing, as you look back across the river, the dome of St Paul's - and to see, of course, Shibboleth, the mind-bending crack that currently runs the length of the Turbine Hall. It is astonishing - it draws you in, almost mesmerising you into following it and peering into its ever varying depths. Children and young people stood along its edges, spanning it with hands and feet, jumping it, feeling it. A toddler staggered up the slope alongside it, fascinated. For me, there wasn't much that struck me about it at the time - I was just enjoying it - but there has been much that has done so since. I heard that the artist sees it as representing the divide between the rich and the poor of this world. For me, it could represent any division that cannot be entirely healed - even when it is filled in, as it will be eventually, Shibboleth will leave its mark on the floor. But divisions can be bridged. Hands can be held across the gash.

We have in our society, of course, many divisions - but also many, many hands held out and many, many bridges. Libraries and librarians, for example. If we allow them to shrink and die, where is the bridge for kids who have no books or computer at home into the joyful knowledge that books and the Internet provide for so many of us? What a wonderfully generous and welcoming hand held out the Orange Chatterbooks scheme is! Let's celebrate that! The Children's Society, with their investigation into 'A Good Childhood?', is trying to breach the divide between the old and the young, to hold out helping hands to thousands of children wounded by division of one sort or another. Al Aynsley-Green, with his 11 million web-site and his enthusiasm for his new role, is trying to make a bridge between government policy makers and the young people who need to inform them, to hold out a friendly hand to any young person who wants to talk to him. All the panellists saw a gulf of fear lying between older people in our society and younger people and wanted to bridge it with compassion and love.

We can all do it, I think. Build bridges where needed. Hold out helping hands. I'll be back to my social action rant if I'm not careful, but I'm thinking more personally this time. Anyone out there who's reading this and has thrown me a rope bridge or held out a helping hand, thank you. It was appreciated.

A final image from my jewel of a day - my walk in the dark, surrounded by the blazing lights of London, reflected and softened in the river below me as I, appropriately enough, crossed the Millennium Bridge.