Pop-Up Library: Prelims took place in the School Library throughout December, so we took the library to the classrooms! We delivered our ever-popular Pop-Up Library in the English classrooms during lunchtime, given our regulars a safe and warm place to chill as well as a chance to return books and get help with their Libby app before the festive period.

Festive Quiz: We visited ten S1 and S2 classes to deliver a fun festive quiz for a chance to win a prize. We had thirty questions across rounds: Literature, Film, Music, Traditions, Nature, and Food. Pupils found it both fun and challenging, with some of the questions prompting a lot of discussion and debate.

Swatch Magazine: Our Winter 2024 issue of Swatch, the Glasgow School Libraries eMagazine is out now including an exclusive interview with Skye McKenna, talking about her new book Seawitch.

 New Book Highlights

Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask by RL Stine, illustrated by Maddi Gonzalez

Artificial Intelligence: The Road to Conscious Machines by Michael Woolridge

Ditching Saskia by John Moore and Neetols

Author of the Week

02.12.24: Maz Evans

09.12.24: Danielle Jawando

16.12.24: Savita Kalhan

Series of the Week

02.12.24: Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce

09.12.24: Football Academy by Tom Palmer

16.12.24: BZRK by Michael Grant

Literary and Cultural Celebrations for December

UK Disability History Month (14^th Nov – 20^th Dec): UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) is an annual event creating a platform to focus on the history of disables people’s struggle for equality and human rights. It is a chance to discuss the history of disabled people, the positive contributions disabled people have made, and a chance to find out how we as a society can be more inclusive.

Bhodi Day (8^th December): Bodhi Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that Gautama Buddha (Shakyamuni) is said to have attained enlightenment.

World Soil Day (5^th December): World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.

Human Rights Day (10^th December): Human Rights Day commemorates the anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

International Animal Rights Day (10^th December): International Animal Rights Day is an annual event honouring animals as sentient beings who deserve the same protections as people. This global observance is marked by demonstrations that expose animal exploitation, mourn the animal victims of human tyranny and rally support for universal animal welfare.

International Migrants Day (18^th December): International Migrants Day gives us a special opportunity to shine a spotlight on the invaluable contributions of millions of migrants around the world. It’s also a day for us to highlight the increasingly complex environment in which migration occurs.

Yule (December 21^st): Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples. In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival.

Christmas (25^th December): Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.

Hanukkah (25^th December – 2^nd January): Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE.

Kwanzaa (December 26^th – January 1^st): Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day.

New Years Eve/Hogmanay (31^st December): In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year also known as Old Year’s Day. Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner.

Trending Book Lists

Epic Reads New Releases | The Guardian Children’s Book Roundup | LoveReading4Kids Books of the Month | Scholastic Books of the Month | Scottish Book Trust Book Lists |Toppsta Monthly Highlights | Waterstones Books of the Month

 Book Awards

Winners:  Lollies | The Saltires: Scotland’s National Book Awards | SLA Information Book Awards | Waterstones Book of the Year

Shortlists: Excelsior Awards

Book Week Scotland: The School Library held some fun activities to celebrate Book Week Scotland. On Monday 18^th, we announced our winner of the Shawlands Academy Quills Creative Writing Cometition on the theme of ‘Hope’ or ‘Scotland’, judged by our pupil-led panel. Congratulations to our S2 winner for their excellent poem ‘Hope’.  On Wednesday we held our annual quiz. On Friday, we held another successful ‘Biblio Bistro’ in collaboration with our talented baristas from Wider Achievement who served us up some very yummy, extra special hot chocolate. Pupils and staff were invited to come along to our ‘café’ and partake in our ‘Interview A Reader’ activity to chat about books and for a chance to entry our prize draw. And throughout the week, the School Library teamed up with the English Department to deliver a scavenger hunt that encouraged pupils to solve clues and locate picture of famous book covers displayed in classroom windows.

Rights Respecting School: Shawlands Academy are going for the Rights Respecting School bronze award and the School Library is thrilled to be involved. The Rights Respecting Schools Award UK is run by UNICEF UK, which ‘encourages schools to place the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of its ethos and curriculum’.

eResource Workshop for Seniors: We delivered a workshop specifically designed for seniors who are university bound, where we introduce them to online databases and how to navigate scholarly journals as well as tips for conducting research using these resources.

New Book Highlights

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

Braids Take A Day by Zainab Boladale

Astronomy for Curious Kids by Giles Sparrow and Nik Neves

Books of the Day

1:11.24: Amazing Muslims Who Changed the World by Burhana Islam, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali, Reya Ahmed, Saffa Khan, Aaliya Jaleel, Deema Alawa, Aghnia Mardiyah

4.11.24: Horrible Histories: Woeful Second World War by Terry Deary, illustrated by Martin Brown

6.11.24: What’s the T? The No-nonsense Guide to all Things Trans and/or Non-binary for Teens  by Juno Dawson, illustrated by Soofiya

8.11.24: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

11.11.24: Armistice Runner by Tom Palmer

13.11.24: Black Poppies: The Story of Britain’s Black Community in the First World War by Stephen Bourne

15.11.24: A Different Sort of Normal by Abigail Balfe

18.11.24: Talking about Islamophobia: What is it and How Do We Challenge It? A Beginners Guide for Children by Sabeena Akhtar and Na’ima B. Robert

20.11.24: Lily and the Rockets by Rebecca Stevens

22.11.24: Keedie by Elle McNicoll

25.11.24: Muslim Girls Rise: Inspirational Champions of Our Time by Saira Mir

27.11.24: Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

29.11.24: Eyewitness World War I by Simon Adams

Author of the Week

4.11.24: Cath Howe

11.11.24: Sarwat Chadda

18.11.24: Yasmin Rahman

25.11.24: Renee Watson

Series of the Week

4.11.24: Crossover by Kwame Alexander

11.11.24: First Aid for Fairies by Lari Don

18.11.24: Pages & Co by Anna James

25.11.24: Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley

Literary and Cultural Celebrations for November

Anti-Bullying Week (11^th – 15^th): Anti-Bullying Week is an annual campaigned aimed at raising awareness, impact and prevention of bullying. This year’s theme is ‘Choose Respect’.

Book Week Scotland (18^th – 22^nd): Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and reading run by the Scottish Book Trust. This year’s theme is ‘Hope’.

Islamophobia Awareness Month: Islamophobia Awareness Month is aimed at raising awareness of islamophobia and challenge stereotypes as well as celebrate the contributions and culture of Muslims. This year’s theme is ‘Seeds of Change’.

Nonfiction November: Nonfiction November is an annual celebration of information and factual books run by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. This year’s theme is Why Don’t You? (Hobbies and Leisure)

Remembrance Day: Shawlands Academy honored Remembrance Day on November 11^th with a minute of silence at 11am.

Transgender Awareness Week 913^th-19^th): Transgender Awareness Week is a weeklong celebration leading up to Transgender Day of Remembrance. This year’s theme is ‘Our Trans Heroes’.

Trending Book Lists

Epic Reads New Releases | The Guardian Children’s Book Roundup | LoveReading4Kids Books of the Month | Scholastic Books of the Month | Scottish Book Trust Book Lists |Toppsta Monthly Highlights | Waterstones Books of the Month

Book Awards

Winners – Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction | Booker Prize | Diverse Book Award | Wainwright Prize

Libby Inductions: Now that the s1s have received their iPads, we visited s1 English classes to deliver Libby inductions. Pupils were given their library card numbers and given step by step instructions on how to access and navigate the eBook app suing their School Library cards.  Pupils loved the ease of access and range of topics and genres available on the app. For more information, visits the Glasgow Life Libraries Libby page.

Black History Month: We compiled scores of books by Black British authors as part of an S3s English reading project for Black History Month. Pupils were presented with a range of fiction and nonfiction books for junior, Young Adult, and Senior audiences to select from.

Pupil Library Committee: Our new Pupil Library Committee recruits successfully completed their first task of helping to process a huge six-box delivery. They helped stamped the date labels with the school library logo, sorted and arranged each book according to genre or subject, and helped shelved the books into the appropriate places.

Creative Writing Contest: Our Creative Writing Contest submission date was the 31^st October, and we received six excellent entries from pupils across all year groups. They have been handed over to our pupil judges who will select and announce the winner come Monday, 18^th November during Book Week Scotland.

New Book Highlights

The History of the Computer: People, Inventions, and Technology That Changed Our World by Rachel Ignotofsky

The Secret World of Plants: Tales of More Than 100 Remarkable Flowers, Trees, and Seeds by Ben Hoare

Lonely Planet Kids The Ocean Book: Explore The Hidden Depth of Our Blue Planet by Derek Harvey

Books of the day

02.10.24: Black Artists Shaping the World by Sharna Jackson

04.10.24: Dragonracers by Peter Bunzl, illustrated by Lia Visrin

07.10.24: Horrible Histories: Ghosts by Terry Deary, Illustrated by Martin Brown

09.10.24: Hidden Figures: the True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Shetterly

11.10.24: Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle

21.10.24: Wrath by Marcus Sedgewick

23.10.24: An Illustrated History of Ghosts by Adam Allsuch Boardman

25.10.24: Science Museum: The Book of Discoveries: Incredible Breakthroughs That Changed the World by Time Cooke and Drew Bardana

28.10.24: Black and British: An Illustrated History by David Olusoga, Illustrated by Melleny Taylor

30.10.24: Haunted Dolls by Martha London

Author of the Week:

01.10.24: Tom Mitchell

07.10.24: Ross Welford

21.10.24: Gill Lewis

28.10.24: Efua Traore

Series of the Week

01.10.24: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

07.10.24: My laugh Out Loud Life by Burhana islam

21.10.24: Strangeworlds Detective Agency by LD Lapinski

28.10.24: Thousand Worlds by Yoon Ha Lee

Literary and Cultural Celebration Book Lists and Displays for October

Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland (Sept 20^th – Oct 6^th)

World Space Week (Oct 4^th – 10^th)

Black History Month (Throughout October)

Mental Health Day (Oct 10^th)

Diwali (Oct 31^st)

Halloween/Samhain (Oct 31^st – Nov 1^st)

Trending Book Lists:

Epic Reads New Releases | The Guardian Children’s Book Roundup | LoveReading4Kids Books of the Month | Scholastic Books of the Month | Scottish Book Trust Book Lists |Toppsta Monthly Highlights | Waterstones Books of the Month

Book Awards

Winners: Diverse Book Awards | Forward Prizes for Poetry | Polari Prizes

Shortlist: Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction

With the Library back into full swing after last month’s S1 Library inductions, it has been one of the busiest months to date! We’ve issued over 700 books to our BGE classes this month alone.

Creative Writing Competition: We’re receiving some excellent piece for our Quills Creative Writing Competition on the theme of ‘Hope’ and/or ‘Scotland’. The winners will be selected by our Pupil Library Committee panel judges and announced during Book Week Scotland.

New Book Highlights:

The Djinns Apple by Djamila Morani

Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitrzgerald

Book of the Day:

02.09: Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

04.09: Sky Dancer by Gill Lewis

06.09: The Big Ask by Simon James Green

09.09: Cat Kid Comic Club by Dav Pilkey

11.09: Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran

13.09: The Upper World by Femi Fadugba

16.09: Meesh the Bad Demon by Michelle Lam

18.09: Kane Rules by Simon Mugford

20.09: We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

23.09: Usborne Politics for Beginners by Rosie Hore, Alex Firth, and Louie Stowell

25.09: Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon

Author of the Week:

WB 2^nd: Brittney Morris

WB 9^th: Elizabeth Wein

WB 16^th: Nick Lake

WB 23^rd:  Kacen Callander

Series of the Week:

WB 2^nd: Daevabad by SA Chakraborty

WB 9^th: Enemy by Charlie Higon

WB 16^th: Train to Impossible Places by PG Bell

WB 23^rd:  Imposters by Scott Westerfeld

Literary and Cultural Celebration Book Lists for September:

East and South East Asian Heritage Month: September is East and South East Asian (ESEA) Heritage Month with the aim to celebrate and honour people of ESEA heritage and their culture, and everything in between.

Trending Book Lists:

Epic Reads New Releases | The Guardian Children’s Book Roundup | LoveReading4Kids Books of the Month | Scholastic Books of the Month | Scottish Book Trust Book Lists |Toppsta Monthly Highlights | Waterstones Books of the Month

Recent Awards: UK book award winners, shortlists, and longlists

Winners: Klaus Flugge Prize, McIlvanney Prize Scottish Crime Book of the Year, Wainwright Prize, The Week Junior Book Awards

Shortlist: Booker Prize

Longlist: UKLA Book Award

Book Buzz: Latest book news from major media outlets and websites

BBC | Book Riot | Buzzfeed | Epic Reads | The Guardian | Huffpost

S1 Inductions: What a delight it was to meet all the new S1s in our library inductions this year! We managed to cover all 10 of our S1 English classes in August meaning as of September, we can begin our regular book borrowing periods. Throughout August, our S1s have borrowed 160+ books for class and personal reading.

Reading Challenges: We’re launching three reading challenges this year. Bookopoly encourages pupils to read out with their comfort zone, challenging them to select books on different themes and genres they wouldn’t normally choose. Pupils have a chance for their names to be enter into a quarterly prize draw when the book is read and returned. Our 4 Word Book Review slips are a super easy way to get pupils to review and recommend books using only four words to describe the book. Each completed slip earns and entry into the quarterly prize draw. We’ve brought back Ask Me What I’m Reading challenge to encourage discussion around books and reading for leisure. Each completed form earns an entry into the prize draw.

Creative Writing Competition: The School Librarian is collaborating with the members of the Pupil Library Committee on launching our Quills Creative Writing Competition. We’re accepting any form of creative writing, maximum 500 words on the theme of ‘Scotland’ and/or ‘Hope’. Deadline is Friday, November 1^st.  Senior members of our Pupil Library Committee are judging the competition and we’ll announce the winner and three runner ups on Monday, 18^th November during Book Week Scotland.

AHE Gale Literature Resource Centre Workshop: We visited Miss McDonald’s Advanced Higher English class to deliver the Gale Literature Resource Centre workshop to help them with their upcoming dissertation. Gale Literature Resource Centre provides up-to-date biographical information, overview, full-text literary criticism and reviews for 13K+ writers, offering high quality source of information useful for Advanced Higher English pupils. Glasgow Libraries subscribes to Gale and pupils can access the resources with their school or community library card.

Games in the library: In last year’s pupil survey, respondents requested that the School Library have board games. We now have the following board games in stock to borrow during breaks and lunchtime: Catastrophe, Chess, Disney Villainous, Exploding Kittens, Lost Worlds, Monopoly: Glasgow Edition, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Throw Throw Burrito, Uno

Creation Station: The School Library now offers borrowable creation packs containing a selection of felt tipped pens, pencil crayons, mechanical pencil, sharpener, ruler, eraser and glue sticks to help pupils get crafty and creative.

Monthly Newsletter: We’ve relaunched our monthly newsletters this year, featuring new book and eBook highlights, current book award information, short books lists, genre spotlight, librarian recommendations, monthly book lists, and author and book birthday calendar. The interactive newsletter is in PDF format on the Library Channel in Teams.

New Book Highlights:

The Evolving Truth of Ever-Stronger Will by Maya MacGregor

Four Eids and a Funeral by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar

Gwen and Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

The Hills of Estrella Roja by Ashley Franklin

Medicine: A Magnificently Illustrated History by Briony Hudson, illustrated by Nick Taylor

Unlocking the Universe by Stephen Hawking

Book of the Day:

19.08: Thornhill by Pam Smy

21.08: Frankie’s World by Aoife Dooley

23.08: Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

26.08: Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

28.08: Brilliant Black British History by Atinuke, illustrated by Kingsley Nebechi

30.08: A Trip to the Future: How Today’s Science Will Shape Tomorrow’s World by Moira Butterfield, illustrated by FagoStudio

Author of the Week:

WB 19^th: Susin Nielsen

WB 26^th: Katherine Woodfine

Series of the Week:

WB 19^th: Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

WB 26^th: Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Literary and Cultural Celebration Book Lists for August:

South Asian Heritage Month: South Asian Heritage Month (July 17^th-August 17^th) celebrates the heritage of people with roots in South Asian countries. This year’s theme is ‘Free to be me’.

Trending Book Lists:

Epic Reads New Releases | The Guardian Children’s Book Roundup | LoveReading4Kids Books of the Month | Scholastic Books of the Month | Scottish Book Trust Book Lists |Toppsta Monthly Highlights | Waterstones Books of the Month

Recent Awards: UK book award winners, shortlists, and longlists

Winners: Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction | CWA Daggers Awards | James Tait Black Memorial Prize | UKLA Book Awards | Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, YA Book Prize | Young Quills Award for Historical Fiction

Shortlists: Forward Prize for Poetry | Little Rebels Award | Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing

Longlists: Booker Prize | Diverse Book Awards

Book Buzz: Latest book news from major media outlets and websites

BBC | Book Riot | Buzzfeed | Epic Reads | The Guardian | Huffpost