Taking place two days after World Book Day, the established nationwide reading campaign, the inaugural World Book Night took place on Saturday 5 March 2011. World Book Night was a dynamic and unprecedented industry-wide initiative to celebrate both books and reading and saw one million free books given away by 20,000 passionate readers to other members of the public across the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man. Locally, Shelagh Leonard was selected to give away 48 copies of her chosen book ‘Dissolution’ by CJ Sansom. Shelagh, who is employed as Senior Nurse for Professional Development at Noble’s Hospital, believes that her application to become a book giver was successful because of the way in which she intends to give away her allocation of 48 books. Shelagh said “I am an avid reader and I know firsthand how much joy I can get from a good book. Being a Nurse, I am also aware that a patient’s recovery from illness can be aided by a variety of types of diversional activities - reading included. I applied to be a book giver so that I could give the bulk of my allocation of books to Noble’s Hospital, where I work, in order that our patients can share in the celebration of World Book Night and also enjoy a really good book.” ‘Dissolution’ is essentially a murder mystery story, set in the Tudor period during the reign of Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries. Shelagh explained why she chose this book from the 25 titles available, “It’s the one I enjoyed the most; our patients will literally be able to fall into it and immerse themselves in a good story, which will of course help keep their minds occupied during their stay at Noble’s Hospital.” Bev Critchlow, Chief Nurse for the Isle of Man, who accepted the books from Shelagh on behalf of Noble’s Hospital said: “I am delighted to accept these books for our patients at Noble’s Hospital. Like Shelagh, I know how important diversional activities are and how they contribute towards a patient’s recovery from illness. We have a well resourced library trolley at Noble’s Hospital which is operated by some of our fantastic volunteers and the addition of these books to our trolley will really enhance the service for a great number of our patients”. - ENDS -