Category Archives: All

Smithycroft Roundup – March!

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The past couple of weeks have seen a planning for World Book Day and meetings with English Department to improve the service we provide to our dear readers. For World Book Day, the well-established worldwide celebration of reading for pleasure, Mr Hassett set up a spectacular book display in the centre of the library, and Ms Bortolato organised a little party in the library with bookish activities and snacks, which were enjoyed by Smithycroft’s library regulars. Over the past week, the pupils have also received their £1 book token which will allow them to get a free World Book Day Book or £1 off other books!

At the time of writing, today is also International Women’s Day, so a new display honouring this has been set up in the library. We try every month to have a non-fiction display that is informative and promotes equality and diversity – so with March being Women’s History Month, this will hopefully catch our readers’ eyes and enable young people to learn about women’s contributions and history!

Bannerman Roundup

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March is another exciting month for Bannerman! We have quite a few events organised for all, starting this week as Thursday 7th March was 🌟📚World Book Day📚🌟, the annual worldwide celebration of reading for pleasure: the library was open at lunch with snacks and book-related activities available – which the pupils enjoyed as the before & after photo demonstrates! Last week, all pupils also received their £1 World Book Day token with a short presentation on how & where to use it.

world book day display
table of world book day activities world book days activities on table

For a family learning evening later in March, Ms Bortolato and the English Department are working on activities to involve parents into the junior fiction their kids read. Pupils from our Manga Club contributed by writing up a short history of Manga to place on the genre table at the event! 💻💭🗯

pupils at bannerman writing a presentation on manga history

That’s all for the moment! We’ll be back at the end of the Month for another update! 📖

Women’s History Month Book Recs

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Calling all history buffs, fiction fanatics, and everyone in between! This Women’s History Month, dive into the stories of amazing women who dared to dream big, defied expectations, and left their mark on the world.

We’ve got a fantastic selection of books waiting for you — from gripping true stories of real-life history-makers, to classic novels with unforgettable heroines, and even some thrilling adventures in fictional worlds. So, whether you’re looking for inspiration, a good laugh, or a heart-pounding read, there’s a book on this list that’s perfect for you!

Non-Fiction:

Hidden Figures: The Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
This captivating book tells the true story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson – brilliant African American mathematicians who played a crucial role in NASA’s early space missions.

Goodreads: 3.98/5 stars


I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
An inspiring memoir by Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who advocated for female education and was shot by the Taliban for her bravery.

Goodreads: 4.15/5 stars

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky
This beautifully illustrated book profiles 50 incredible women scientists throughout history, showcasing their groundbreaking discoveries and achievements in various scientific fields.
Goodreads: 4.45/5 stars


Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli, Francesca Cavallo
This gorgeous, illustrated book features 100 bedtime stories about remarkable women from history, covering a wide range of fields and backgrounds.
Goodreads: 4.32/5 stars

 

Fiction:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
A timeless coming-of-age story that follows the March sisters during the American Civil War. The novel explores themes of family, independence, and finding your own path in life. The library also has super readable and graphic novel versions!

Goodreads: 4.15/5 stars

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
This gothic classic follows the journey of Jane Eyre, an independent and strong-willed young woman who overcomes a harsh childhood in an orphanage to become a governess at a mysterious manor. As she navigates the complexities of love, class, and societal expectations, Jane’s intelligence and unwavering spirit shine through. This timeless novel explores themes of self-discovery, social justice, and the power of love.
Goodreads: 4.15/5 stars (Librarian: 11/10 🔥)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This dystopian young adult novel series follows Katniss Everdeen, a young woman who volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in a deadly televised competition. The series explores themes of courage, survival, and fighting for what you believe in.

Goodreads: 4.34/5 stars


Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
A graphic novel memoir by Marjane Satrapi that chronicles her childhood growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It’s a powerful and moving story about family, resilience, and the importance of finding your voice.
Goodreads: 4.26/5 stars

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Set in an alternate post-Civil War America overrun by zombies, this gripping novel follows Jane McKeen, a young woman attending a prestigious military academy who must fight for survival using her knowledge and skills. And if you love this one, we have the sequel as well!

Goodreads: 4.14/5 stars


Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
This powerful novel tells the story of two young women from different backgrounds whose lives become intertwined after a plane crash. It’s a story about resilience, sisterhood, and finding strength in unexpected places.
Goodread: 4.24/5 stars

 

Happy reading!

World Book Day Celebrations

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Happy World Book Day, everyone!

Unsurprisingly, today is kind of a big deal in libraries — including ours. We spent the day decorating the library, giving out book tokens, munching on biscuits, and getting way, way too competitive at book quizzes.

Thanks to everyone who turned up for a fantastic time, even if only a couple of you correctly guessed which shelfie belonged to Ms Petrova.

And if you didn’t do as well as you thought in the quiz, don’t worry; there’s always next year!

February 2024 Reoundup – Whitehill Secondary School Library

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This month, we’ve been busy working on reorganizing the library by expanding and adding new sections to our Fiction and Nonfiction collections. So far, we’ve expanded the Comedy, Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction sections. Our new sections include:

Equality & Empowerment: Fiction and non-fiction books about equal rights for all and include our Shelf Help section with books about mental health and wellness.

Historical Fiction: Stories set in the past.

Slice of Life: Realistic stories, families, friendships, and romance.

Thrillers: Action, crime, and mystery stories.

 

What’s Trending: Popular and recently borrowed books this month.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby

Charlotte Says by Alex Bell

Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

 

Recent Arrivals: New book highlights.

The Football Encyclopedia by Emily Stead

Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

Plants & Fungi by DK

Amazing Ancient World Atlas by Nancy Dickman

Northern Soul by Phil Earle

 

Trending Booklists

Epic Reads – New Releases

The Guardian – Children’s Book Roundup

Love Reading for Kids – Books of the Month

Scholastic – Books of the Month

Scottish Book Trust – Book Lists

Toppsta – Our Favorite New Children’s Books This Month

Waterstone’s – Books of the Month

 

Recent Awards

Excelsior Award – Shortlist

Klaus Flugge Prize – Shortlist

Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize – Shortlist

YOTO Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration – Longlist

 

Book Buzz

BBC

Book Riot

Buzzfeed

Epic Reads

The Guardian

Huffpost

The New York Times

What’s On – March

World Book Day week:

5 Word Book Review Prize Draw – This year, we’re encouraging pupils to submit book reviews of some of their favourite or most recently read books using only 5 words. Each entry goes into our World Book Day prize draw. The reviews will be displayed outside the library on our bulletin board.

World Book Day Quiz – We’ll also be hosting our annual World Book Day quiz, hosted by members of our Pupil Library Committee during lunchtime.

Shakespeare Week:

Choice Board – Pupils can learn more about Shakespeare and his work using our interactive choice board which will be posted on our Teams Library Channel.

Shakespeare or YA Quiz – Participants must guess if a given quote was featured in either one of Shakespeare’s plays or from a popular Young Adult novel.

Displays and Booklists for March: Booklists of monthly cultural and literacy events.

Anti-Racism Book List: Anti-Racism fiction and nonfiction.

STEM Nonfiction Book List: STEM nonfiction.

Neurodiversity Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring neurodiverse characters.

Ramadan Reads Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books by Muslim authors.

International Women’s Day Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books about women’s history, feminism, and equal rights.

Trans & Gender Nonconforming Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring transgender and gender nonconforming characters.

February 2024 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening in Shawlands Academy School Library during February.

MYSP meet and greet: Our LGBT Youth Scotland MSYP representative held their first drop-in surgery during lunchtime, where pupils could come and discuss important issues.

Shawlands Acaddemy Anti-Racism Association: Shawlands Academy’s Anti-Racism Association group meets in the Library every Thursday during lunchtime where they discuss issues and plan events for the school. They were excited to unbox the new books we ordered as part of our participatory selection which will be added to our Equality and Empowerment collection:

Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers

Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany D Jackson

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

City of Stolen Magic by Nazeen Ahmed Pathak

Brown Girl Like Me by Jasprett Kaur

American Born Chinese by Gene Lurn Yang

Stolen History: The Truth about the British Empire and How it Shaped Us by Sathnam Sanghere

Whale by Myeong-Kwan Cheong

Black Skin, White Mask by Frantz Fanon

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

SfL Book Group: Our S3 book group in collaboration with Support for Learning continues as we select different short stories from Horowitz Horrors, a collection of spooky stories by Anthony Horowitz.

Pupil Library Committee: Members of our Pupil Library Committee have been busy helping tidy the library this month and prepping for our upcoming March display for International Women’s Day, British Science Week, Anti-Racism Day, Ramadan, and Neurodiversity Celebration Week

School Library Mascot reveal: Congratulations to Candice for the winning design of our School Library mascot! Each participant received a small prize for their amazing entries.

What’s Trending: Popular and recently borrowed books this month.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus – ‘Saw this on TikTok and wanted to read it’

Heartstopper 5 by You Are A Champion: How to be the best you can be Alice Oseman –  ‘I’ve been waiting ages to read this book! So excited to see it in the Library’

My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi – ‘My favorite Manga series’

Glitter Boy by Ian Eagleton – ‘I laughed. I cried. Great book for LGBTQ+ teens!’

You Are A Champion: How to be the best you can be by Marcus Rashford, Carl Anka, and Katoe Warriner – “This is a nice book”

 ‘Book of the Day’ chosen by pupils: Featured pupil recommendations.

Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu

Diary of a Confused Feminist by Kate Weston

The Weirn Books, Vol 1: Be Wary of the Silent Woods by Svetlana Chmakova

Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

 

Recent Arrivals: New book highlights.

Stand Up by Nikesh Shukla

All About Romance by Daniel Tawse

I Feed Her to the Beast by Jamison Shea

Mythopedia: An Encyclopedia of Mythical Beasts and their Magical Tales by Good Wives and Warriors

City of Stolen Magic by Nazeen Pathak

 

Trending Booklists

Epic Reads – New Releases

The Guardian – Children’s Book Roundup

Love Reading for Kids – Books of the Month

Scholastic – Books of the Month

Scottish Book Trust – Book Lists

Toppsta – Our Favorite New Children’s Books This Month

Waterstone’s – Books of the Month

 

Recent Awards

Excelsior Award – Shortlist

Klaus Flugge Prize – Shortlist

Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize – Shortlist

YOTO Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration – Longlist

 

Book Buzz

BBC

Book Riot

Buzzfeed

Epic Reads

The Guardian

Huffpost

The New York Times

 

What’s On – March

World Book Day week:

Annual Book Mark Contest – Each year during World Book Day week, the School Library hosts a book mark design contest. Submissions are posted anonymously on the Teams Library Channel for pupils to vote their favorite design. The design with the most votes becomes the official School Library bookmark for 2024.

5 Word Book Review Prize Draw – This year, we’re encouraging pupils to submit book reviews of some of their favourite or most recently read books using only 5 words. Each entry goes into our World Book Day prize draw. The reviews will be displayed outside the library on our bulletin board.

World Book Day Quiz – We’ll also be hosting our annual World Book Day quiz, hosted by members of our Pupil Library Committee during lunchtime.

Shakespeare Week:

Choice Board – Pupils can learn more about Shakespeare and his work using our interactive choice board which will be posted on our Teams Library Channel.

Shakespeare or YA Quiz – Participants must guess if a given quote was featured in either one of Shakespeare’s plays or from a popular Young Adult novel.

Displays and Booklists for March: Booklists of monthly cultural and literacy events.Interactive booklists available on the Library Channel on Teams

Anti-Racism Book List: Anti-Racism fiction and nonfiction.

STEM Nonfiction Book List: STEM nonfiction.

Neurodiversity Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring neurodiverse characters.

Ramadan Reads Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books by Muslim authors.

International Women’s Day Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books about women’s history, feminism, and equal rights.

Trans & Gender Nonconforming Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring transgender and gender nonconforming characters.

All go at Eastbank on the shortest month

What a fabulous February we’ve had at Eastbank School Library !  It’s such a short month, but we’ve packed so much into it here at Eastbank.

Spring is coming soon and Mrs Marshall our School Librarian has been spring cleaning – or refreshing – some of our favourite sections of the library. First of all, the senior section is looking so much better.  The shelves have been tidied and books refreshed with some new stock. The display is looking far more contemporary and the addition of the new stock has really brightened the place up.

 

 

 

 

There is even a new area now showing all the senior arrivals.  Hopefully the students don’t get too distracted from their studies by hunting for books with so many great choices displayed in front of them.

And there’s plenty of new books for all the other students to enjoy as well.

These manga were loaned out within 2 days!
2 of the new Black Clover books didn’t even make this photo as they were loaned out the same morning they came in….

Some great new books about beauty and transport also were a welcome addition to our stock.  They look amazing and I’m sure they’ll be popular too.

Following on from January, our staff book club is going from strength to strength.

In the library on the last Tuesday of the month we all gather and talk about all things bookish, and compare reads and recommendations.  We also participate in the entirely voluntary book dare scheme !  It’s a great example for the pupils to see how many staff, across all different subject areas in the school, love reading too.  And the staff really enjoy showing off their, “Ask me what I’m reading?” badges as well.And that’s not all.  Also, we’re really looking forward to World Book Day in March.  The tokens have just arrived !  Watch this space and we’ll tell you what we get up to all through next month.