Advent Count Down- Book 20

This story is inspired by the real life story of Annie Oakley. She rose to fame as a sharp shooter on the circus trail of the Wild West. This imagined story is that of young Maggie whose family are in destitute circumstances after the death of her father. Her mother is very much against her using her shooting skills gained from going out with Pa. I loved that fact that despite the challenging relationship she has with her mother young Maggie keeps trying to find ways of supporting her family. Great to have a story about a strong willed woman.

Advent Count Down - Book 19

I have read many of Elizabeth George's adult crime novels and loved the story telling and detail. This series is aimed at Young Adults. But it is crime novel with the addition of fantasy. Imagine you could hear what others are  thinking. Becca is on the run from an abusive family situation and has been sent to an island where one of her mum's old school friends lives. But that friend dies just as Becca arrives and Becca is out of phone contact with her mum and has little money to survive on.  One of those stories which raises lots of questions but you just can't put it down!

Advent Count Down - Book 18

Two people jump from a building and disappear. As various characters tell their version of events this mystery is gradually revealed in this sci-fi fantasy romance. Could it be a government cover-up, a secret genetic experiment, or young people just living too close to the edge?  

Christmas BOOK CLUB

Had a fun lunch with the BOOK Group and our Christmas book quiz. 

A few of us had time to have a go at book corners. Great aren't they?

Advent Count Down - Book 17

This was my favourite read of the senior/staff book group. A crime from the past and a crime from the present are threaded together in outback Australia. This novel has a strong sense of place and the geography, the weather (the heat) and the landscape all build up the tension to make this a gripping read.

Advent Count Down- Book 16

“Believe in the impossible”

The story of Nikolas and his visit to Elfdom to find his father. On route he heals Blitzen and the seeds of the Christmas story are sown. A magical tale of what it means to be kind and to give.

Advent Count Down - Books 13-15

Ok I am cheating a bit taking a series- to go over the weekend. But I'll Count two as one. I may have read most of these a few years ago but every so often I will pick one of them out and start re-reading.    War is awful and terrible things happen in these books but the resilience of the young people is remarkable.  Beautifully and simply told with a wonderful light humorous touch.

"Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad.

Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house.

Once I made a Nazi with a toothache laugh.

My name is Felix. This is my story."

Advent Count Down - Book 12

Nicky Singer's "Island"  has to be one of my absolute favourite reads of this year. Beautiful illustration from Chris Riddell add to the magical, mystical feel of the story. Yet it is contemporary with topical concerns of how we look after our planet.

Cameron is a city boy but comes to this uninhabited Arctic island with his mother, a scientist. There he meets an Inuit girl and a white polar bear amongst the snow, the white cottongrass, the erupting graves, the 24 hours of daylight and the Ukpik-owl.

And any book which advocates silence as a positive is a winner with me.

Advent Count Down - Book 11

 Eleanor is clearly different and will stick out in a crowd whilst Park is someone who just wants to keep his head down. Then Eleanor  sits next to him on the school bus. Slowly over the months their friendship builds as they get to know each other's tastes in music and books.

I have come late to Rainbow Rowell's books. Published in 2013 I missed this novel, perhaps because it is a love story. But this is so much more than just a love story, it is about what it is like to be a teenager, about a myriad of anxieties, about  dysfunctional family, about not being in the popular crowd: a definite recommendation to S3/ S4 readers.

Advent Count Down- Book 10

Ahmet is 9 years old, a Syrian refugee separated from his family. This book will restore your faith in humanity as the children in his class show care and an understanding often missing in the political debate we hear in the news media when discussing issues of immigration and refugees.

Simple, humorous and heartwarming story from Onjali Q Rauf.

Advent Count Down - Book 9

Identity- Family- Resilience

A fabulous book which really surprised me.   

Kiko

• suffers from social anxiety
• knows nothing about her Japanese heritage
• has a challenging relationship with a mother who is incredibly cruel
• does not get into her first choice art school

When everything appears to be stacked against Kiko just that one opportunity (and not the one she dreamed of) changed her life forever. A challenging read but well worth it.

Advent Count Down - Book 7 and 8

It's the weekend so I am allowed to choose two books.

I have always enjoyed Elizabeth Wein's stories.as they feature strong female characters, often set at a time in history when the role of women was changing dramatically.This is true of  both "White Eagles" and "Firebird".  Both are published by Barrington Stoke, are in the "super readable" format and are set in the past with female aviator pioneers. The main character in both books is based on a real life story.

The hero of "White Eagles" is Kristina who at just 18 joins Poland's air force when the country is on the brink of war (1939). There is plenty of tension and as Kristina  navigates her most challenging flight, only to find she has a stowaway on board.

Nastia is the lead fictional character,  the daughter of Russian revolutionaries. She starts as an idealist, serving "the Motherland" but as events unfolds, Nastia begins to question everything she has always believed in.   We learn about  the Romanovs, the  former Russian Royal Family and of one of Russia's leading aviators Marina Raskova and the regiments she trains to fly during the war.  Nastia is a fighter pilot and the description of the flights is my favourite part of the story. The book leaves us to ponder her future after landing behind enemy lines. Does returning home make her a traitor? And what happens to traitors?  

Advent Count Down - Book 5 and 6

I am going to cheat and recommend two books this time. Sarah Crossan is an amazing writer and writes incredible stories in free verse. "One" is the story of conjoined twins and "Moonrise" is about the effect that going to jail for a criminal act can have on the rest of the family. Both books are just simply beautifully written. Loved them but both are emotional reads so you might need a box of tissues to hand!

Advent count down- Day 4

Today's choice is "Things a bright girl can do" by Sally Nicholls. If you enjoy Young Adult books with a bit of history and politics woven through the story then this is a great choice. The cover does not do it service as an introduction to the suffragette movement over the period of the Great War. Three female characters from very different social backgrounds fighting for their right to vote.
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Advent Count Down- Book 3

My third book is probably one that will amaze my library helpers. Yes I am recommending "Rok of the Reds" by John Wagner and Alan Grant.  I struggle to read graphic novels, let alone enjoy them. But with this one I made it to the end with more than one or two chuckles.There is football and sci-fi as Rok of Arkadia, an alien on the run,  takes over the body of arrogant footballer Kyle Dixon. He soon learns to play the game and shows more respect to the fans than Kyle ever did.  And the artwork is great.

Advent Count Down - Book 2

Today I would like to recommend  "Seed" by Lisa Heathfield. This book arrived on my desk last month and I had it read in a night! It is a gripping story of life lived in a cult. "Trust us" Papa S tells Pearl and so she does.  Papa S is the leader of the community at Seed where 15 year old Pearl has lived her whole life - and he's the last person she should trust. When a family from the forbidden outside comes to live at the community Pearl begins to realise that there could be a very different version of the outside world to the one she has been told about.

Advent Count Down

This advent I will be counting down with some of my favourite reads of the last year.
My first choice is the moving
"Orbiting Jupiter" by Charles D. Schmidt

When Jack meets his new foster brother he only ​knows 3 things about him​ 

•Joseph almost killed a teacher​ 

•He was incarcerated at a place called Stone ​Mountain​ 

•He has a daughter and her name is Jupiter. ​And he has never seen her.​ 

This is a short and deeply moving book about love and resilience.​ 

Christopher Brookmyre- awesome!

On Thursday 14th November we went to hear Christopher Brookmyre give a talk on his literary work. He talked about things such as the public's reaction to his novels, his use of colourful language, how he decides what to base his stories on. A great hint he gave us was to write about something you hate! Overall we found it to be an amazing, enjoyable and humorous experience and it gave us great insight into the writings of a Scottish author.by L, L and E.

ANIME group

The first meet of our anime group will be this Friday break.

If you enjoy anime and love talking/ drawing with other anime fans then please come along.

Our week ahead.

This Friday break we have the origami team back in the library. Come along for this fun activity.

Next week anime club.

Also a reminder that any orders for the Teen Book Club (Scholastic) should be with Dr Carter by Friday 8th.  

Senior/Staff October Read

Meet this Friday for refreshments and discussion at morning break.

Hope you all enjoyed!

National Poetry Day: Our spine poems- get creative.

On Thursday 3rd October we had fun in the library by pulling out book titles to make spine poems to celebrate National Poetry Day.
Here are just a few examples.

Bookzilla App

Scottish Book Trust have created a bookish app for teens called BOOKZILLA. The above video describes the making of the app. You can download the App from 

 Apple http://bit.ly/Bookzilla-AppStore …

Android: http://bit.ly/Bookzilla-GooglePlay …

Fabulous if you want help choosing books

S1:S3 Book group Teenage Book Prize

On Wednesday lunch we will hand out copies of the first book we are reading. "One Shot " by Tanya Landman is the imagined childhood of Annie Oakley, the American sharp shooter who went on to perform in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and then became even more famous when her story was told in the movie "Annie get your gun" 

Congratulations to the Golden Tickets

Thanks to all those who participated in our Roald Dahl Day quiz and in particular to the Golden Ticket winners and to Rhiannon and her team who did a fabulous job.

Fridays event: 50 Word Short Story Competition: buttons

Roald Dahl Day Celebrations

This week we will be Celebrating one of our favourite authors. S1 will attend an event in the hall on Thursday where they will be writing their own revolting rhyme. Then on Friday break there will be a quiz open to all year groups. Names in advance please to Dr Carter or Rhiannon Hutchison S6.

Welcome back

After the peace of the summer holidays it is great to see the library buzzing again at break and lunchtime.  Hope you all managed to find some time to read. Here are just some of the novels I made my way through this summer. Looking forward to the senior staff book discussion tomorrow break.

Exciting plans for the term ahead- more origami events, "Secret Book Club" for S3- S6, a new coding club. Watch out in the advertiser to learn more of the various events which will be held in the library.

Senior Pupil/ Staff Summer Read

The summer read for the Senior Pupil / Staff Book Group is "A God In Ruins" Our choice is a funny, gripping novel which looks at war and the effect it has on those who lived through it and on the generations to follow. It is also one of those novels which asks the reader to reflect on the magic of fiction writing.

All the library copies are now out. But if you can get hold of a copy (try charity shops) or download it, then please join us for refreshments and chat on the first Friday back after the summer holidays. Enjoy! a future he never expected to have.

Carnegie Winner announced

Elizabeth Acevedo has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Carnegie Medal. This is the first novel from the Dominican- American writer and the first Carnegie winning book to be written in verse.  "The Poet X "explores themes of identity, freedom, first love and finding your own voice. A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother's religion and her own relationship to the world. According to the judges, the novel is “a searing, unflinching exploration of culture, family and faith within a truly innovative verse structure”.  Xiomara “comes to life on every page and shows the reader how girls and women can learn to inhabit, and love, their own skin”.

Last week we had our own Poetry Slam in school and heard the voices of some very talented Young People. This is a novel which will inspire.

 “I fell in love at slam poetry. This one will stay with you a long time.” – Angie Thomas, author of the bestselling The Hate You Give.

Origami Boxes

Break time last Friday and the library was busy with pupils making these fab little origami boxes. In Japan they are called Masu boxes. 

 Great for giving someone a wee treat or gift. We used beautiful wallpaper off-cuts so recycling as well. Thanks to Nicola and Kane for their help.

New Teen Fiction

A fab selection, ready to be borrowed.

Short story - Friday break

This is the picture for the 50 Word Short Story Competition from Book Trust Scotland. This month your story must have a link to a subway. Come to the library on Friday break to participate. Click on the web link below to send your entries in. To participate in our in-school competition email your entries to Dr Carter.

Scottish BookTrust 50 word competition.

Morton Writing Competition National Trust for Scotland

This looks like an excellent competition for our writing group. Take inspiration from one of the four photographs provided by the National Trust for Scotland from their collection. If you follow the link to the website and click on each image you can learn a little more. You can write a poem or piece of prose but it should be no more than 500 words.
Morton Writing Competition
Closing date is June 1st.

The Dry

Thanks to the senior pupils who came in from study leave to join us for our final session of the term. We had varying views on the novel but mostly really liked the different twists and turns the author took us on as the story unfolded. There was a really strong sense of place and we totally got how the heat of the Australian outback and two years of drought affected the characters: both financially and emotionally. We also like how in a small town things could get hidden away until one event brings everything out in the open. Highly recommended!

Success with origami challenge.

A multitude of cranes were made. Many thanks to the seniors for your patient support.

Origami Masterclass

Ok. These are not my cranes. No my efforts are not quite so perfect...yet!

I have to say a huge thank you to Kane for these and also to Ben. Both will be demonstrating at morning break on Friday in the library. We will have instructions and papers for those who want to have a go.  Looking forward to seeing you all.

World Book Day 2019

Well done everyone for the huge effort across the school to celebrate World Book Day.

Many of the door displays will be moving into classrooms or to the library. On Friday there were some very impressive answers in the S1 literature quiz.   All books left over from the Book Exchange are now on sale in the library.
 

World Book Day- is it worth it?

Thanks to all the staff who dressed up for World Book Day and to all those who helped decorate doors. Absolutely brilliant. And so great to hear so many pupils talking about the books as they passed us by. Some parents might,  like one of our MSPs query what dressing up has to do with literacy. My argument is that it is only one way in a range of strategies we have for getting pupils talking about books. And my copy of Coraline flew off the shelf within 30 mins of my display going on view on Monday.


Our staff pupil quiz is next on the agenda and finally we have the big S1 quiz tomorrow. WBD vouchers will be given out then.