LGBT+ History Month – During February, the Pupil Library Committee and LGBT+ group pupils curated their own display for LGBT+ History Month, creating their own poster, bunting and selecting books to highlight from the Libraries collection. The school library also curated a digital booklist for Young Adult Fiction and Graphic Novels to add to Mr Lynch’s LGBT History Month interactive choice board, that enables pupils to learn about significant events, activists, and literary figures from the LGBTQ+ community. The Library also hosted an LGBT History Month quiz to highlight the history, social change, and figures with prizes to be won.
EAL Book Group – Our EAL book group completed two books. The House of Clouds by Lisa Thompson, a beautiful story that explores friendship, bereavement, and imagination. Our other book, Under the Skin by Cathy MacPhail, discusses bullying and refugee issues within a Scottish context. In the story, our main character Omar writes about how much he loves living in Scotland to his cousin Chat, which we modelled for our letter writing activity.
Reading Schools – The school library continues our Reading Schools journey. Our committee met to plan a wealth of activities for the upcoming World Book Day week. The Pupil Library Committee is heavily involved in this years WBD festivities, hosting pop-up Libraries, helping with arts and crafts workshops, and creating displays to promote an array of literary events taking place throughout March.
February Booklists:
February 2022 Booklists – BookTrust
Best new Children’s Books – Toppsta
Bookbug’s Books of the Month – Scottish Book Trust
Books of the Month – LoveReading4Kids
February Roundup – Love Reading
Book of the Month – Scholastic
Books of the Month – Waterstones
Children’s Book roundup – Guardian
Upcoming events:
African Festival of Emerging Writers (March 17th-19th) – ArifFesti (Cameroon)
British Science Week (March 11th) – British Science Week (UK)
Earth Hour (March 26th) – Earth Hours (International)
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21st) – United Nations (International)
International Women’s Day (March 8th) – International Women’s Day (International)
Jaipur Literary Festival (March 5th-14th) – Jaipur Lit Fest (India)
LitFest 2022 Mini Children’s Festival (March 11th-12th) – LitFest (UK)
Shakespeare Week (March 21st) – Shakespeare Week (UK)
World Book Day (March 3rd) – World Book Day (International)
World Poetry Day (March 21st) – UNESCO (International)
World Storytelling Day (March 21st) – (International)
Past events:
Alasdair Gray Day (February 25th) – Gray Day (Scotland)
Emirates Literature Festival – (catch up on YouTube) Emirates LitFest (UAE)
International Festival of Children’s and Youth Literature (Catch up on YouTube) – FESTILIJ (Spain)
Jewish Book Wee (February 26th-March 6th) – Jewish Book Week (UK)
Literary Awards & Prizes:
American Indian Youth Literature Award Winners – American Indian Library Association (USA)
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winners – Asian/Pacific American Library Association (USA)
Blue Peter Book Awards Shortlist – BBC/BookTrust (UK)
Bookbug Picture Book prize announced – Scottish Book Trust (Scotland)
Caldecott Medal Winners – American Library Association (USA)
Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Award Long Lists Announced – CILIP (UK)
The Klaus Flugge Prize Long List Announced – Klaus Flugge Prize (UK)
The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards 2022 (the Lollies) – Scholastic (UK)
Prémio Autores/ Authors Awards Winners – Sociedade Portuguesa De Autores (Portugal)
Waterstones Children’s Book Prize Shortlist 2022 – Waterstones (UK)
In the news:
17th Century Buddhist Texts for the Illiterate: how ‘Buddhist Emoji’ made the Sutra Legible for those who couldn’t read – Open Culture
Bologna Children’s Book Fair (March 21-24th) – Bologna Fiere (Italy)
The Book of Kells, has been digitised and put online – Open Culture
Campaign for every Scottish Secondary School to receive a copy of Me and White Supremacy (YA edition) by Layla F Saad successful – Lighthouse Bookshop (Edinburgh, Scotland)
