The World According to Elaine and Moira

Borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks free from the School Library Service using the Borrow Box app. Install Borrow Box on your smart devices to read and listen on the go!

Borrow Box is available to all public library members. Once you install the app, select Dundee School Library Service, enter your email address, library barcode and pin* to start borrowing.

* If you don’t know your pin, contact your local public library

Why not kick off by taking part in Dundee’s first Borrow Box Campaign. Throughout March, 500 copies of the eAudiobooks Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball by Laura Ellen Anderson and Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly will be available for download to enable groups of pupils, friends, families etc., to listen to the same book at the same time.

Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball by Laura Ellen Anderson  – Target audience Children (7+)

Welcome to the world of Nocturnia, where darkness reigns supreme, glitter is terrifying and unicorns are the stuff of nightmares!…Click on the image for a wee audio sample

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly – Target Audience Young Adult (13+)

Stepsister takes up where Cinderella’s tale ends.  We meet Isabelle, the younger of Cinderella’s two stepsisters. Ella is considered beautiful; stepsister Isabelle is not.

Cinderella is about a girl who is bullied; Stepsister is about the bully. We all root for the victims, we want to see them triumph. But what about the bullies? Is there hope for them? Can a mean girl change? Can she find her own happy ever after?…Click on the image for a short audio extract

Pupils taking part in Drawn From Experience had their first opportunity to get down to some serious drawing yesterday at DCCS. The two hour workshop, led by Dr Damon Herd, sped by as pupils learned about the art of making comics and started to create their own stories.  As the famous saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words so here are some images from the workshop captured by Steve Soave, 81 films.

Drawn From Experience is funded by the School Library Improvement Fund. 

We were lucky enough to secure funding, once again, from the School Library Improvement Fund (SLIF) to run this exciting transition project in partnership with Abertay University.

S1 pupils from Harris Academy are being asked to reflect on their experience of transition from Primary to Secondary school.  Over the course of the project they will produce writing and artwork which will be used to inform the creation of a generic comic on the theme of transition.

Professional comic artists and writers will use the work of the pupils as a brief to help in the production of a comic which will be distributed to all of our schools.

So far we have enjoyed two workshops. The first was presented by Fiona Stirling, Abertay University, and the second by Jenny Lindsay, Writer and Poet.

Fiona spoke about internalising and externalising feelings e.g. I am feeling anxious vs. I have a problem that’s causing me some anxiety. She also explained the importance of narrative using an image of an elephant with its trunk around the handle of a pram. Pupils had three minutes to write a short story about the picture…and there were some wonderfully creative results.  In this way Fiona was able to demonstrate, even if we all look at the same thing, our interpretations and perspectives are unique.  The final activity involved each group being assigned an emotion which they had to draw! This was quite tricky but the young people came up with some fantastic ideas and images.

Jenny’s focus was on THEN and NOW and challenged pupils to construct a ten sentence story about their transition from P7 to S1. Everyone had to draw round their hands and on each finger write adjectives or statements describing past and present feelings/thoughts.  Jenny scaffolded the workshop beautifully, giving instruction on what was required for each of the ‘fingers’ and providing a framework to insert the adjectives and statements to create the ten sentences.  The workshop was fast paced, fun, productive and delivered with panache!

Next week pupils will be visiting the Dundee Comics Creative Space (DCCS) for a two hour comics workshop. Check in again to see how they get on:-)

Thanks to Steve Soave, 81films for all of the wonderful photographs.

We have been super busy visiting all the classes signed up for this year’s Picture Book Award. It is great to meet everyone and we are always blown away by the lovely welcome we receive. The enthusiasm of our young people is almost tangible and we KNOW their P1s are going to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them:-)

Steve Soave, 81films, will be recording footage over the next few months for the film to be shown at the Award Ceremony in June. He has kindly provided these stills from our visits this term.

The books have arrived and will be delivered next week to all the schools taking part:-)  As ever, we have a fantastic line up and believe the task of choosing the winning title will be challenging AND FUN!

If you would like to find out a bit more about each book, click on the titles below to view their entry on Amazon:

Tiny Tantrum by Caroline Crowe & Ella Okstad

My Pet Star by Corrinne Averiss & Rosalind Beardshaw

Be More Bernard by Simon Philip & Kate Hindley

This is Gus by Chris Chatterton

Yaay! The Wishing Tree has arrived in Waterstones!

Elaine and I nipped in to Waterstones Dundee yesterday afternoon and popped it up:-) If you haven’t taken part previously, here’s how it works. The tree is covered in tags with information about books Dundee Young Carers’ would love to receive as part of their Christmas. Customers pick a tag, buy a book and Waterstones’ staff put these to one side. The presents are wrapped up on 16th December and delivered to Dundee Young Carers’ Centre in time for their Christmas party when the gifts are distributed. What’s not to love!!!!

Well done to the Mockingjays – Kate, Emily, Ava and Dominic, from Harris Academy, who won the Dundee Interscholatic Literary Quiz.

It was a very tough fought competition with all the S2 teams from across the City demonstrating a very impressive knowledge of books for young people.

Many thanks to everyone who braved the elements on Friday night to attend our talk at the University of Dundee.  We had intended to talk a little bit more about some of the incredible books available for young people but the clock was ticking!   However, click here, or on the image above, to open up a list of the books we had with us on Friday. Click on the pictures of the front covers and you will land on their Amazon page. Here you will be able to read descriptions and reviews of each title.

After the October holidays we will be sending out application forms for the Dundee Picture Book Award 2020. If you would like to see what it is all about, click on the image below and have a look.  Steve Soave, 81films has managed to capture months of work in 5 minutes:-) Enjoy!

As part of the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour, the Scottish Book Trust brought the amazing Chris Judge to Dundee. In addition to visiting schools, a large event was held in the Steps Theatre where Chris had everyone drawing pictures to accompany his Alien Adventure! Thanks to everyone who made this wonderful event happen:-)