Author Archives: Markie Deleavey

February 2020 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School

Participatory Spend Books: Throughout October, the Library worked with six S3+4 classes to collect pupil book suggestions that would be used to inform purchasing new stock. This year the Library is prioritising books for reluctant, struggling, and learning readers. This means resourcing titles that will appeal to a broad readership and tastes. The Librarian narrowed the choice of books between two publishers: Barrington Stoke and Badger Learning. Classes were instructed to select the books that they found interesting from both websites. The suggestions were then collated and checked against the Library’s catalogue to ensure books already stocked in the Library were not purchased and therefore making the best use of the allocated budget. The Librarian then bought the most popular books from our supplier.

The books are now available in the Library and a display will be set up for World Book Day in March.

Click Barrington Stoke and Badger Learning Participatory Spend Titles Book List for more information about the books. 

  1. Ward 13 by Tommy Donbavand (13)
  2. Knife Edge by Robert Swindells (13)
  3. Runaway by Ann Evans (11)
  4. The Front Room by Michelle Magorian (11)
  5. Jon for Short by Malorie Blackman (10)
  6. Good Boy by Mal Peet (8)
  7. Ghosting by Keith Gray (7)
  8. White Eagles by Elizabeth Wein (7)
  9. Nightmare by Ann Evans (7)
  10. United by Emma Norry (6)
  11. The Lane by Iain McLaughlin (6)
  12. 2 Die 4 by Nigel Hinton (6)
  13. Letting Go by Cat Clarke (6)
  14. The Number 7 Shirt by Alan Gibbons (5)
  15. Have a Go by Jon Mayhew (5)
  16. Copy Cat by Tommy Donbavand (5)
  17. Ghost Stadium by Tom Palmer (5)
  18. Shadow Girl by Sally Nicholls (4)
  19. The Last Days of Archie Maxwell by Annabel Pitcher (4)
  20. Final Girl by Tim Collins (4)
  21. Wasted by Karen Moncrieffe (3)
  22. Tilly’s Promise by Linda Newbery (3)
  23. The Tiger on his Back by Bernard Ashley (3)
  24. Plague by Echo Freer (3)
  25. Kidnap by Tommy Donbavand (3)
  26. ME2 by Catherine Bruton (3)
  27. Keeper by Ann Evans (2)
  28. Home by Tommy Donbavand (2)
  29. The Wishing Doll by Beverly Sandford (2)
  30. Sitting Target by John Townsend (2)
  31. Change by Chitra Soundar (2)
  32. Stop by Jenny Spangler (2)
  33. Stalker by Tony Lee (2)
  34. The Corridor by Mark Wright (2)
  35. Johnny Delgado by Kevin Brooks (2)
  36. The Night Raid by Caroline Lawrence (2)
  37. Second Best Friend by Non Pratt (2)
  38. The Family Tree by Non Pratt (2)

Book Group: The Library launched a book group for S2+ pupils who are developing their English skills. We meet weekly in the English Base and read one or two chapters of the book. The title we are reading is Eagle Warrior by Gill Lewis. Set in the Scottish Highlands, this story follows a young girl and her grandmother who are determined to solve the mystery of an illegal poaching trade taking place in the area. Eagle Warrior was chosen because it introduces the pupils to Scottish landscape, language, and wildlife as well as prompting discussion of topics ranging from Scottish law, cuisine, and history.

More about Eagle Warrior: “Bobbie is thrilled that a golden eagle has settled near her family farm. She loves climbing the hills to watch it soar across the sky and stalk its prey. But not everybody shares her feelings for the magnificent bird. When it becomes clear that the eagle is in grave danger, Bobbie is determined to do everything she can to protect it. But she is also facing the threat of being sent away to boarding school, far from everything she knows. Will Bobbie be brave enough to fight for the bird and home that she loves?”

February 2020 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

LGBT History Month: The Library celebrated LGBT History Month by displaying the fiction and non-fiction titles selected by the school’s LGBT group. The titles were chosen as part of the LGBT SLIF-funded project. Pupils used homemade bunting as well as resources from the TIE campaign website.

Purple Friday was celebrated in the school’s Fuel Zone with live music and a bake sale. The Library marked the occasion as well by implementing our new Pride section that features fiction and non-fiction books about LGBT and equalities themes. The school’s LGBT group have decided on the criteria for the section. Double copies are placed within the relevant genre sections throughout the Library in order to cross-promote LGBT stories and authors.

We’ve created an LGBT reading list that includes the titles chosen by the pupils: LGBT+ Book List

Blind Date with a Book: Our amazing pupil Library Assistant, Sharia, created her first Library display. To coincide with Valentine’s Day, her ‘Blind Date with a Book’ display featured books wrapped in paper. She wanted pupils to take a chance on a book they may otherwise not have chosen themselves and participants were told they had to read at least one chapter of the book before returning it. The display was a hit! One hundred books were issued from the display and the students had a lot of fun guessing which book they were matched with. Great job, Sharia!

Senior Participatory Spend Consultation: The Library will be dedicating a portion of our 2020-2021 budget on books for our Senior Section. This will involve engaging with S4 and S5 pupils through discussions and surveys in order to identify the authors, genres, and subjects that interest them the most. So far we’ve visited five S5/6 English classes and received some interesting feedback from the students. Throughout March we will work with S4 PSE pupils. Our findings will be published o the blog in April.

Twitter Avatar Contest – Shawlands Academy School Library

Did you know that Shawlands Academy has a Twitter account? We’re looking for a new Twitter avatar and who better to design it than our extremely creative and talented students!

To enter:

Draw a reading or book themed picture                                                                                             Submit to the Librarian by January 31st                                                                                                                                       Submissions will be displayed throughout February                                                                                Pupils will vote on their favourite design                                                                                           Winner announced March 2nd

December 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

LGBT+ Mitchell Event: Over the past few months, Shawlands Academy Library, Smithycroft Secondary School, and Hillhead Secondary School were part of an LGBT project funded by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).  The project is aimed to support LGBT+ young people’s wellbeing and digital literacy by creating an online community and safe space, which will develop and encourage digital creativity through sharing experiences and peer support. To do this, each Library created an online community with an equalities/LGBT+ focus across Glasgow Schools that will give pupils an opportunity to share experiences through creative writing and informal communication. Pupils were invited to partake in an LGBT+ book group supported by their School Librarian and share their opinions of the book on the GLOW blog. There were also opportunities for pupil involvement and input throughout the project through participatory purchasing which involves the pupils to select the LGBT+ resources they want in the Library. Authors in Residence were invited to work with students on their creative writing. Authors, Michael Lee Richardson, and Jem Milton, visited our school over October and November to deliver some interesting and thought-provoking workshops as well as create a piece of collaborative poetry to be presented at the Mitchell Celebration event.

December 3rd saw the project’s finale at the Mitchell Library where all three participating schools met to attend workshops and share their work. The event included workshops by Dean Atta, Jem Milton, and Kirsty Logan.

Read more information about the project on the Glasgow Libraries LGBT Blog

LGBT Youth Scotland: Shawlands Academy has been awarded their GOLD charter from LGBT Youth Scotland! It is the first secondary school in Glasgow to have received it and one of a handful in the country to have been awarded it. GOLD Charter is a programme that shows the school champions LGBTQI pupil inclusion and safeguards their rights. Read more about the Charter

November 2019 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School Library

Disco Books:  The Library celebrated Book Week Scotland by throwing a book tasting disco party! Blether was this year’s BWS theme, so pupils were invited to attend a special lunchtime Library club to learn and talk about books. Pupils took a seat along the table. In front of them were books ranging in different genres, lengths, and levels were positioned. The activity involved blasting disco music as pupils handed books around the table. When the music stopped, they had four minutes to read the blub and a section of the book then write what they thought about it, whether or not they’d read it, and who’d they recommend it to. Discoveries were made, conversations were had, and books were shared!

First Minister’s Reading Challenge shelf recommendation cards were distributed to S1 and S2 classes to encourage them to share their favourite book or a title they’d recommend. These were used to inform the books selected for our Book Week Scotland display.

Finally, the Library had a special guest, multi-award winning slam poet Ash Dickinson, to perform and deliver a workshop with one of our S3 classes during Book Week Scotland. Ash is a poet, author, performer, and workshop facilitator who has toured worldwide. Students got the chance to hear some of his performance poetry as well as having a go on creating their own.  

 

The Scottish Book Trust ran a poll to find out the Nation’s Favourite Scots word. Judges narrowed down 30 words from across Scotland that we displayed on our board outside of the Library to encourage pupils to vote on their favourite. The Librarian worked with S1 pupils who spent their lunch break collecting other students vote.  

 

November 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

Author workshops: Author, poet, and Bafta-award winning scriptwriter, Michael Lee Richardson, returned to deliver two more poetry workshops. Michael had introduced the pupils to ‘cut-up poetry’, a technique popularised by Dada artists Tristian Tzara in the 1920s where linear text is cut up then reassembled to create a new poem. Our version was LGBT themed, using some of Michael’s published text on Ru Paul and Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury. Our final  session with Michael saw us creating poems and creative writing pieces using LGBT photos as inspiration. In the latter part of the session, pupils were instructed to write about colours of pens they’ve chosen using sensory, descriptive words that he would then take away, rearrange and send back in poem form.

A big thank you to Michael Lee Richardson for his time and talent. The group really enjoyed the workshops and felt empowered and proud of the poems they created.

Book Week Scotland:  This year’s Book Week Scotland theme is Blether, so the Library has created a display of pupil suggestions taken from FMRC recommendation cards. Here’s what some pupils are saying about their favourite books:

Does my Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah: You’ll enjoy this book if you like realistic stories that you can relate to.

The Cupcake Wedding by Gillian Cross: You’ll enjoy this book if you like books about cupcakes and humour

S/He by Catherine Bruton: This book is worth reading because it shows the LBT community working together and you shouldn’t have to label someone. You should just be accepting of everyone.

Wonder by RJ Palacio: You’ll enjoy this book if you like realistic books, comedy and emotional text. It has an incredible ending.

Tokyo Ghoul 14 by Sui Ishida: You’ll enjoy this book if you like books full of action

Book Week Scotland Comics: The Library teamed up with the English Department who organised a week-long comic-making activity for all S1 pupils. Pupils were put into teams and given free rein to plan, design, and create their very own comic book. The top four comics were chosen by a teacher and the Librarian and winners would receive Amazon gift vouchers and would have their comics turned into a flip-book. Congratulations to the winners and well done to those who participated.

Book Week Scotland: Book Swap: We also enjoyed a cake, a book, and a blether as part of the Big Book Swap in the library to end an eventful Book Week Scotland. . Students and teachers were encouraged to donate books for the event in exchange for a slice of cake or a free swap. A huge thank you to Miss McLean of the English Department for organising some the event.

Shawlands Favourite Scots Word: As part of Book Week Scotland, the Scottish Book Trust held a poll to find out the nation’s favourite Scots word. Judges narrowed the selection down to 30 words. We thought it would be interesting to run our own poll within the school to find out Shawlands Academy’s favourite Scots words.

Here are the winners:                                                                                                                        Scotland’s favourite: Driech                                                                                                              Shawlands Academy’s favourite: Wheesht!

Hurricane Book Group: The Hurricane Book Group met for their Twitter chat with Muhammad Khan to discuss his book I Am Thunder. Pupils enjoyed pizza and soft drinks and were thrilled to have an opportunity to chat back and forth with a published author. Looking forward to the next term when we will read Sara Barnard’s prize-winning book, Goodbye Perfect.

Author visit: Jem Milton: The Library invited illustrator and author, Jem Milton, to visit some S3 pupils for an LGBT superhero character workshop as part of our SLIF-funded project. Jem introduced the pupils to LGBT identities and taught them how to create their own characters by thinking about their background, personality traits, powers and abilities, and how they identify. Students then had the opportunity to bring their superheroes to life using one of Jem’s templates.

 

October 2019 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School Library

National Poetry Day:   National Poetry Day – an annual UK-wide celebration of poetry now on its 25th year. This year’s theme is ‘Truth’. We’ve handed out FREE official National Poetry Day postcards. As it’s the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages, the featured ‘truth’ poems are written in Manx, Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Gaelic alongside their English translations. We’re also promoting these amazing YA titles written in verse. Download the list here: Books in Verse Reading List

Participatory Workshops:  Over the course of October, the Library worked with various S2-S4 English classes on selecting books for the library. This year’s emphasis is on acquiring more accessible stock that will appeal to a broad range of readers. We targeted publishers Barrington Stoke and Badger Learning websites.

Barrington Stoke is a Scottish company who publishes books written by well-known authors that are suitable for different types of readers using specially designed dyslexia-friendly font and layout as well as printing the text on cream paper to reduce glare. The stories are short length than standard novels and designed for Reading Ages and Interest Ages. The language is specially edited to improve accessibility.

Badger Learning is a UK-based publisher who specialise in shorter length fiction for Young People. Like Barrington Stoke, stories are designed for Reading Ages and Interest Ages. Teen Reads, Two Sides, and YA Reads are different series published by Badger that includes a range of genres and themes.

Classes logged onto the Library’s PCs and were guided through the websites by the Librarian. Pupils were instructed peruse the titles and features of the website then list what books they thought would be good for the Library to stock. The Librarian correlated the data. See February’s post for the results. Pupils found the activity fun and made them feel included in the decision making of the Library

 Bookopoly –St Oswalds: The Library has been working with St Oswald’s English Department as part of the school’s FMRC. Bookopoly has been rolled out to all St Oswald’s pupils. This reading challenge encourages participants to explore genres and non-fiction subjects. Pupils are given their Bookopoly board. Each ‘property’ (or, ‘genre’) is colour coded on the board. Participants must read two books per genre (or one non-fiction book per subject) to collect their genre badge and have their name put into the end of the year prize draw. Further chances to win can be achieved by completing a ‘Chance’ block. This could be a recommendation from the teacher, the Librarian, a book that’s over 300 pages, etc. Participants can record their progress and opinion on the books they’ve read on the back of their Bookopoly board.

October 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

October was a very eventful month here at Shawlands Academy Library. Catch up with our highlights or keep scrolling to find out more info!

National Poetry Day: National Poetry Day – an annual UK-wide celebration of poetry now on its 25th year. This year’s theme is ‘Truth’. We’ve handed out FREE official National Poetry Day postcards. As it’s the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages, the featured ‘truth’ poems are written in Manx, Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Gaelic alongside their English translations.

We’re also promoting these amazing YA titles written in verse. Download the list here: Books in Verse Reading List

   

                                  

Black History Month: Black History Month is observed in the UK during October to celebrate the achievements of African and Caribbean people at home and abroad. It is an opportunity to honour those who fought for equality and civil rights against racism, discrimination, and colonialism as well as to highlight the societal contributions of black individuals and communities. Black History Month works to ensure that Black History is included in History and recognised in mainstream education throughout the year.

For Libraries, BHM is another opportunity to spotlight and promote some fantastic literary talent and books. Shawlands Academy helped support BHM by facilitating pupil-led information sessions and activities throughout October including BHM presentations by S4 pupils, a bake sale, and a pupil curated display in the library. The students involved created beautiful posters to be used for the display and throughout the school. Books were selected by the students. Click here for a full list of BHM + Beyond books available in the Library. Black History Month and Beyond 2019 Reading Lists

Shelf Help in the Library: October is Mental Health Month and  World Mental Health Day is celebrated on the 10th to raise awareness, education, and advocacy against the social stigmas attached to mental health matters. To coincide with these observances, the Library has launched a new non-fiction collection relating to mental health and welling as well as books about physical health topics. With a reported 1 in 8 children having a diagnosable mental disorder (NHS,  2017) as well as a significant increase in the number of specialist referrals  (22% between  2013/2014 to 2017/2018) (Audit Scotland, 2018), it is vital that Young People have access to relevant information.

The School Library can play a role by providing reliable literature to pupils. This year, we are promoting the Reading Agency’s Shelf Help and Reading Well Books on Prescription programme who supply a list of reliable, well-researched mental health literature endorsed and/or written by experts. We have invested part of our budget to purchase the remainder of the titles from the list that will be arriving later on in the year.

 

The Shelf Help and Books on Prescription Fiction titles are found in the Fiction section.

For a more detailed list of mental health-related literature available in the section as well as a wider range of fiction dealing with mental health topics and/or containing characters experiencing mental health issues, click here: Mental Health Book List. For more information about the Reading Well with Books on Prescription titles, click here. Many of these titles are also available from the Community Libraries and can be reserved on the catalogue

Find more mental health information for Young People on the following websites:

Glasgow Association for Mental Health, Mentalhealth.org.uk, Mental Health Network Greater Glasgow, SAMH , See Me Scotland, Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, Support in Mind, Young Minds

Sources:

Audit Scotland (2018) Children and young people’s mental health

NHS Digital (2017) Mental health of children and young people in England, 2017

Scottish Government (2018) Children and young people’s mental health taskforce: delivery plan

Author Visit: Shawlands Academy Library has invited author, poet, and Bafta-winning scriptwriter Michael Lee Richardson to deliver a series of poetry workshops to the school’s LGBT+ group as part of a project between Hillhead and Smithycroft secondary schools as part of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) school library improvement funding. Michael introduced himself and his work to the group and very generously donated copies of Proud, compiled by Juno Dawson, which features one of his short stories.

Our first exercise involved Michael displaying a lemon, three stones, a pair of plastic hands, and a Pride flag along a table. Unbeknownst to the group, each item represented an emotion. Pupils were instructed to write descriptive words about the objects relating to senses. The result…..

JOY (Lemon)

Joy is softish and round with no smell.                                                                                                    Joy looks like a lemon, yellow, tastes sour, feels lumpy, and smells questionable.                         Joy tastes of acid and citrus, and joy smells fresh.                                                                                Joy is round with a bumpy texture, smells very potent.                                                                        Joy is a luminous yellow baseball-like plant with a soft nip surrounding the Satanic, squishy, radioactive emblem stood there with a grace like 1,000 red angels.

ENVY (Stones)

Envy feels cold, it has nice colours and interesting shapes. It smells like absolutely nothing.       Envy is hard, round, flat and shiny.                                                                                                        Envy is disformed shapes smooth but gritty.                                                                                       Envy is vinegary, cold and smells like salt.                                                                                            Envy makes the sound, ‘thunk!’                                                                                                               Envy is calming seabed quartz it lights up the room with a relaxing aura.

FEAR (Plastic hands)

Fear smells like rubber feels like rubber it has a cool shape and details.                                           Fear is squishy, rubbery, and creepy.                                                                                                     Fear wouldn’t really make a noise.                                                                                                          Fear is a smooth plastic baby hand.

LOVE (Pride flag)

Love is a flag.                                                                                                                                                 Love is colourful it feels like fabric and smells like Skittles.                                                               Love is plastic and smooth. and smells like air.

Instagram: Some of the School Librarians are using the Glasgow Life School Libraries Instagram account to highlight some of the work they do. Over the course of the week, I’ve been asked to show what we get up to over my two schools: Shawlands Academy and St. Margaret Mary’s Secondary School.

Hurricane Book Club: The Library is one of three participating Glasgow secondary schools piloting a Young Adult version of Hurricane Book Group. Hurricane Book Group was originally started as an adult book group in Orkney Libraries that gave an opportunity for readers to connect with each other remotely and chat with the author online. This term we’re reading the 2019 Branford Boase award-winning book I am Thunder by Muhammad Khan which questions how far you will go to stand up for what you believe in.

“Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem is used to being invisible. So no one is more surprised than her when Arif Malik, the hottest boy in school, takes a sudden interest. But Arif is hiding a terrible secret and, as they begin to follow a dark path, Muzna faces an impossible choice: keep quiet and betray her beliefs, or speak out and betray her heart”.

Our first meeting was a chance to discuss our thoughts on the book so far and come up with questions to submit to the author for when we meet again in November and chat with Muhanmmad on Twitter. Pupils engaged in lively conversation and debate about the themes and the book and how they apply to our everyday lives.

 

September 2019 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

We held a number of activities in the Library throughout September.

Library Club

The Library Club was launched on September 2nd and runs Mondays during Lunch and Friday’s after school, offering space where pupils can participate in making book-themed crafts. Each month, we focus on making one craft so that all pupils are given the chance to create the craft if they are attending other clubs/activities during lunch or after school. Our September craft was creating bookmarks re-using damaged books and magazines. It was a relaxing way to spend a lunch break and practice some creative skills. Check out these beauties.

Library Inductions

It was a busy month full of Library Inductions. Each S1 class was given a short talk about the rules and sections in the Library. They were then given a Library Map with a set of questions that prompted them to explore the different sections of the Library so that they had an understanding of the layout and arrangement. They were then issued their School Library cards.

First Minister’s Reading Challenge

This year, the Library is participating in the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. To help support a school-wide Reading Culture, we’ll be showing the number of books issued in each class on the teleprompter at the entrance. Over 450 books were issued to S1 pupils in September! FMRC Shelf Cards were also distributed to S1s who were encouraged to recommend a book. Once the cards are completed, we’ll be posting the titles on our notice board outside of the Library and display the cards on the shelves.

Hurricane Book Club

We’ll be one of two Glasgow secondary schools piloting a YA version of Hurricane Book Club. Hurricane Book Club is an online book group that originally started as a collaboration between PanMacmillan and Orkney Libraries. Now running on its fourth season, Libraries and bookshops across Scotland are now connecting with each other and authors on Twitter. Glasgow Libraries have teamed up with Lourdes Secondary School and Shawlands Academy to trial a YA Hurricane Book Club. Pupils will be reading I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan, a recent Branford Boase award winner which questions how far you’ll go to stand up for what you believe in.  The book group was advertised within the Library. Members will be meeting in October to come up with questions for the author who we’ll be Tweeting in November.

LGBTQ+ in the Library

The Library has also been participating in a SLIF-funded project for LGBTQ+ students, partnering with Hillhead and Smithycroft Secondary Schools. We’ll be hosting author workshops for our LGBTQ+ pupils who’ll also be involved in the selection of titles for an LGBTQ+ section that’ll be launched in February 2020.

Blog

Lastly, as you can see, our blog is now up and running! heck here for information for Library events/activities, pupil and Librarian book reviews, reading lists, and all things School Library related! Follow our Twitter page at @Shaw_Acad_Lib

Coming Up

October will be a busy month for our wee blog, with observances such as Black History Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, Dyslexia Awareness Month, Challenge Poverty Week, National Poetry Day, and National Tell a Story Day just to name a few! Watch this space for more information, recommended reading lists, feature fiction, and book reviews throughout the month.

September 2019 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School Library

Welcome to St. Margaret Mary’s Library!

The Library is divided into three main sections: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Senior.  The Fiction section is arranged by genre and the Non-Fiction section is arranged by subjects. This is a result of a pupil survey that was circulated in December 2018. The pupils opted for a Genre-based system so that they could access the stories that interested them.

Action:  Spies and espionage, missions, survival, adventure

Fantasy: Magic & wizardry, supernatural powers and beasts, adventures & quests, myths, legends, folklore, fairy tales

Historical Fiction: Based on true events/people, set in the past, diaries/memoirs. Currently covers stories set in Neolithic period through to the end of WWII

Horror: Ghosts, hauntings, zombies, creepy dolls, dangerous creatures, Gothic stories

Humour: Comedy, diary stories, jokes

Comics, Graphic Novels, and Manga: DC/Marvel, Simpsons, Adventure Time, Lumberjanes.  novelizations of chapter books & classics (Alex Rider, Percy Jackson, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pokemon, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail

Realistic Fiction: Bullying, discrimination & racism, refugee stories, bereavement, mental and physical health stories, poverty, homelessness, coming-of-age

Relationships: Romance, families, friendships, crushes, first-love, crushes, emotional connections

Science Fiction: Space, time travel, alien beings, dystopian futures, alternate reality/universe, gamer stories

Thriller/Mystery: Detectives, crime, disappearances

Non-Fiction Sections: The Non-Fiction Subject arrangement ties in with the curriculum so that pupils can easily access the information they require for classwork or leisure reading. Sections include History, Society, Arts, Literature, Science and Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Languages, Mental and Physical Health, and World of Work.

Senior Section: The Senior section holds a small but well-stocked range of classics old and new, award-winners, Scottish authors, popular film tie-ins, and best-sellers, non-fiction titles, and adult graphic novels.

Inductions

It was a pleasure getting to meet our new S1 pupils from St Margaret Mary’s as well as classes from St. Oswalds . Classes were introduced to the library and the resources available to them. It turns out we have plenty of keen readers this year who are already making their way through new book series.

Bookopoly

This year, we’re rolling out the Bookpoloy reading challenge for S1s and 2s. This reading challenge encourages participants to explore genres and non-fiction subjects. Pupils are given their Bookopoly board. Each ‘property’ (or, ‘genre’) is colour coded on the board. Participants must read two books per genre (or one non-fiction book per subject) to collect their genre badge and have their name put into the end of the year prize draw. Further chances to win can be achieved by completing a ‘Chance’ block. This could be a recommendation from the teacher, the Librarian, a book that’s over 300 pages, etc. Participants can record their progress and opinion on the books they’ve read on the back of their Bookopoly board.