New Blog Website

 New year - New Site

We shall now be sharing our blog content on a new website. You can see it at Armadale Academy Library. 

Check it out now!

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/armadaleacademylibrary/

The Big Scottish Story Ripple - Storytelling in Armadale Academy

You are cordially invited to our Storytelling Event which will take place in the school library on Thursday, 27th November 2025 from 6pm to 7pm. The renowned storyteller, Gerry Durkin, will treat us to some of his fantastic Scottish stories and songs, and our students will share their prizewinning tales.

Here is a video of Gerry's previous visit to Armadale Academy: 

This event has been made possible due to the Scottish International Storytelling Festival’s Big Scottish Story Ripple initiative. The Scottish International Storytelling Festival (SISF) is organised by Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) and the Big Scottish story Ripple is supported by The Scottish Storytelling Forum.

Everyone is welcome to come along. If you would like any further information about this event, please do not hesitate to contact the school by calling 01506 282145 or by emailing wlarmadale-ac@westlothian.org.uk

 

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club

We have many fabulous books to borrow in our library but appreciate that your child might want their own copy of a book. Our new Scholastic Book Club is up and running online until 8 December 2025. Parents and carers can go online to browse the latest Book Club range. If they wish to purchase a book, they can order and pay securely online, and delivery to the school is free.

Click on the link below to browse the latest books and order online. For every £1 you spend on this month’s Book Club, our school will earn 20p in Scholastic Rewards.

https://schools.scholastic.co.uk/armadale/digital-book-club

There is no expectation or obligation to buy, and most of the books listed in the catalogue are available to borrow from the library. 

Book Festival Trip 2025

 We enjoyed a trip to the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 21 August 2025, where pupils attended the keynote speech by Laura Bates, who was talking about her campaign against Everday Sexism, and her new novel, the stirring fantasy novel, Sisters of Fire and Fury. This is the second book in her Arthurian legend series and pupils were delighted to receive a free copy of the book, signed by the author. Laura's books are of course available in the school library.

We also got a chance to wander around the Book Festival site, including the bookshop. It was very exciting to meet some other YA authors in the Book Signing Tent including Sarah Crossan, Bea Fitzgerald, Danielle Jawando, and Margaret McDonald.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to school for 2025/26. We have much planned for the library for this year; including a visit to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, a new manga takeover and the usual book group sessions, and Dungeons and Dragons, There will also be a  new Percy Jackson themed event.

We have plenty of new books for you to enjoy, so come visit the library soon!

Spring Into a Good Book

 

Here are our top 3 reading recommendations for Spring. They have all been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal award and we'll be talking about them in Library lessons, in book group, and on the blog over the next few weeks. You can read more about the Carnegie Medals and the rest of the shortlist here: The Carnegies

World Book Day Reading Lunch

 

We held our annual World Book Day Reading Lunch today in the library at lunchtime (funnily enough). Thank you to everyone who came along and joined in with the joy of reading.

World Book Day 2025 - Caught Reading

 

Who was caught reading in the Library? Was it "Sir Chairman" and our favourite Time Keeper? (And big thanks to Mr McKay and Mr Drummond for volunteering to help out at the debate tonight!)

WORLD BOOK DAY 2025: CODE READ AGENTS

 

Our first cohort of would-be Code Read agents enjoyed reading some Reek by Alistair Chisholm with Mrs Smith in the library this morning.

Happy World Book Day!

Recommended Read - Code Read

Our recommended reads have to include some of the fantastic books in our Code Read reading collection. Whether it is a quick read like Reek or Gamer, or a chunky volume like Illuminae or Erebos, there's something for everyone.

Come check them out now.

Reading Schools - Manga Unboxing

 

We had great fun unboxing our manga titles in the library at lunchtime. Everyone pulled one box from the box and there was much debate as to who got to read the books first. There is already a massive waiting list for the Jujutsu Kaisen books.

You can find out more about the books purchased by clicking here: Manga padlet

Manga Unboxing

 

They're here - we will be taking over the library at lunchtime on Thursday to celebrate the Manga (and Graphic Novel) unboxing. The stars of the video will be there as well as all the fantastic new books available!

Thank you to Book Club for allowing us to take over your lunchtime and everyone is very welcome to join us.

Attention Code Readers

Thank you to all who signed up for the Code Read Club. As discussed, we'll be discussing the fabulous books in the library and Miss Lyon will be helping you code games in her room on Thursday lunchtimes. If you haven't signed up already, come and see Mrs Lumsden in the Library.

Enjoy your book and see you after the February break!

Code Read Christmas

 

Check out our new Code Read books in the Library and get your Christmas reading sorted. Be more Santa!

You can see some of the fantastic books in the collection below:

Reading Schools - Manga

In a galaxy far, far away, our manga and anime fans in the library decided to help Mrs Lumsden obtain some new books for the library. Budgets are tight but they knew that Reading Schools (Scottish Book Trust) might be able to help...

They trudged to Modern Languages and begged the guru of all things movie related (aka Mr Haddad) to help them in their quest for more manga. They also sought the assistance of Dr Manga, who told them all the ways that manga and graphic novels could improve their reading.

And so, the epic application video was created and the Reading Schools agreed that we should have more manga.

Reading school - fund application

Code Read

 

We are delighted to announce that we and school libraries across Scotland have been awarded funding for our Code Read project. 

The Scottish Libraries and Information Council awarded us funding under the School Library Improvement Fund to encourage pupils to read fiction, develop their media literacy, and create a playable game. 

This will enable us to create a core reading list with titles suitable for each year group. Pupils would be asked to choose and read at least one book from the list. Based on the themes and characters in one of the Core Reads, pupils will then create either:

• an offline plan or storyboard of their proposed game; or 
•  a digital game 

Submissions will be uploaded to Basecamp for pupils at other Code Read schools to play and comment on.  A winner will be chosen by each school that will then go forward to a national final where pupil - teacher- librarian judges will vote on each category: 

• Read ‘em Up Award- Made me want to read the book after playing 
• Battle Royale Award - Most playable 
• Boss Award - Most books read 
• Avatar Award - Best character created 
• NOOB Award – Participation 

There will be a meeting in the Library at lunchtime on 12 December to discuss this.

SOME LIKE IT COLD by Elle McNicoll

 Having read Elle McNicoll’s other books, I was intrigued as to how her first foray into YA would fare. I will confess that I was little disappointed at first as I thought it was going to be the archetypal “rom com” churned out regularly on the Hallmark channel, with the golden girl loved by everyone, the evil older sister and the broodingly handsome Mr Darcy cipher. However, I soon realised that Elle had brought in many of the classic romantic tropes but there was much more to this story. For me, by far the best part of the story was Jasper’s neurodiversity which was described in an achingly effective way. I enjoyed the setting; who can resist a small-town vignette in the run up to Christmas? The characters were well written, and Elle fleshed out the selfish older sister and brooding boyfriend admirably. The minor characters also felt real. Best of all, there was a lovely happy ending, as you would expect with a rom com. I’m looking forward to recommending this to neurodivergent readers and those who love a great romance.

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🤶

Creative Writing

We are very excited to announce some creative writing workshops taking place in the library during Book Week Scotland in November. If you would like to take part, please see Mrs Lumsden in the Library. 

Victoria Williamson will be holding two creative writing workshops based on her fabulous novels The War of the Wind and Feast of Ashes. Both these titles feature climate change and we will talking about this and Victoria's writing process. 

Ellie Stewart is a playwright working in Scotland, and her recent productions include A Different Country for BBC Radio Scotland, The Return for Eden Court Theatre, and Mischief for the Traverse Theatre. She will be talking about her plays and the art of being a playwright.

For all our writers, poets, illustrators, and storytellers, check out the great opportunities to showcase your work here:

//www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing-and-authors/opportunities-for-young-writers

You Could Be So Pretty

 

Set in a dystopian near future, where girls are expected to conform to exacting beauty standards and are constantly scrutinised and graded. Beauty comes at a price. And girls must pay. In Belle and Joni's world there are two options for girls: like Belle - follow the rules of the Doctrine - apply your Mask, work hard to be crowned at the Ceremony, be a Pretty. Or be like Joni - leave your face bare, work hard to escape to the Education, be an Objectionable. Bella, the highest rated ‘pretty’ in school, clashes with Joni, an ‘objectionable’ who refuses to follow the norms and wishes to be herself. The two girls initially clash and eventually work together to subvert the Doctrine.

This novel was really enjoyable and will hit a nerve with many young people today – is this so unbelievable when we look at our own attitudes and exposure to social media? It has been described as Uglies meets The Handmaid's Tale for the new YA generation, and that’s a pretty fair description. Read it and throw away your eyelash curlers forever!

GIRL, GODDESS, QUEEN by Bea Fitzgerald

To hell with love, this goddess has other plans...

Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying. The real story is much more interesting.

Persephone wasn't taken to hell: she jumped. There was no way she was going to be married off to some smug god more in love with himself than her. Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld's annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core. But consequences can be deadly, especially when you're already in hell .

This is a funny and romantic retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth, interwoven with mythical family dynamics. Persephone is no shrinking violet and it's great to see such a strong female character who's not afraid to be ambitious (and vulnerable, when it comes to the vagaries of love!) The 'will they, won't they' romance with Hades is appealing - one can't help but swoon - and the fraught relationship with her parents is well written. This will appeal to many of our older readers.

⭐⭐⭐⭐