November has been our busiest month so far this year! With Book Week Scotland festivities, author visits, and general school library mayhem on the go, it was fun times all around.

Author visits:

Ash Dickinson is an award-winning slam poet who joining us for a lunchtime visit where he discusssed his inspirations, his work as well as some fun exercises for pupils to explore their inner poet.

Neil Slorance is a Glasgow-based author/illustrator, best known for his work on Dragon Fun, Doctor Who comics, and for his pet tortoise Herman who went viral in 2015. Neil chatted with our entire S1 year group about what it’s like being a comic book artist and even taught us some drawing tips.

Maisie Chan is an award-winning Glasgow based author whose book Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths won her the Branford Boase award, the YA Prize, and the Jhalak Prize. Our Schools of Literature group have been reading Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu so Maisie popped along to chat about the novel and the rest of her works to some of our S2 Schools of classes.

Book Week Scotland: Fantastic turn out for our range of Book Week Scotland activities this year. We worked with Coffee Culture to host a Biblio Bistro in the Library where pupils and staff could grab a hot drink and peruse a selection of book stalls that displayed books tying into this year’s BWS themes. On Wednesday, our S4/6 quiz masters created and hosted a quiz. Our Book Swap was an outstanding success! We had 8 tables brimming with books and were left with a remaining two boxes of books saved for next year’s swap.

Mitchel Visit: We enjoyed a lovely visit to the Mitchell Library with our Advanced Higher Physical Education classes where the knowledgeable staff delivered tutorials of their eResources such as ProQuest and took us on a tour of the iconic building.

Schools of Literature: We created a our own mini biographical zines of famous/influential people in our lives using the books from our Equality and Empowerment and History sections to tie in with this year’s Nonfiction November. We also enjoyed an afternoon of children’s book storytelling, reading from our favourite children’s books using props from the wonderful School Library Outreach service located in the Mitchell Library

Book Group: Now that we’ve finished Edward Ross’ excellent Gamish: A Graphic History of Gaming, we’ve now moved on to the bestselling I Am Malala by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai. We’re not even through the prologue and it’s already prompted lots of thought provoking discussion.

Trending: November Booklists

Best New Children’s Books – Topptsa

Bookbug’s Book of the Month – Scottish Book Trust

Books of the Month – Love Reading For Kids

Books of the Month – Scholastic

Books of the Month – Waterstones

Children’s Books Roundup – Guardian

New Releases – Epic Reads

Literary and Cultural Events – December

3^rd-5^th Winter Tales Book Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland)

 Book Buzz

BBC

Book Riot

Buzzfeed

Epic Reads

The Erdvening Standard

The Globe and Mail

The Guardian

Huffpost

The New York Times

The Scotsman

The Telegraph

The Times

Times of India

 

 

With the mid-term break sandwiched between the beginning and end of the month, October felt like it was over before it started! We still managed to squeeze in some great activities over the last few weeks, so read on to see what we’ve been up to.

Schools of Literature: Our group has finished reading Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu by Maisie Chan and are currently finalising our paper lampshade disco balls that tie in with the book. Our Tweet was liked and shared by Maisie Chan who absolutely loved the activity!

Crafternoons: Pupils participated in our Black Out Poetry crafternoon event to celebrate National Poetry Dlay. We used pages from 1984 by George Orwell (this was a faulty copy with missing pages!) to create some amazing poetry. Most pupils were not aware of blackout poetry so found und the event fun and education, and English teachers participated too. The blackout potery was then displayed in the Library.

Literature Trails: The School Library is working with our Values Ambassadors to create monthly literature trails around school. We select 10 books on a theme and create informational posters about each book that teachers display in their classroom windows. This month we promoted Black History Month and chose a wonderful selection of titles which include:

1. Becoming: Adapted for Young Readers by Michelle Obama
2. Black and British by David Olusoga
3. Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black heroes from Past and Present by Jamia Wilson
4. Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs by Jeffrey Boakye
5. Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah
6. Onyeke and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu
7. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
8. Black Artists Shaping the World by Sharna Jackson 
9. Superheroes: Inspiring Stories of Secret Strength by Sophia Thakur, illustrated by Denzell Dankwah
10. Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends, Legacies by Mireille Harper and DK Publishing

Pupil Library Collective: Our Pupil Library Collective is officially underway! Teams have been set up, roles have been established, and tasks have been delegated. We are currently working together on ideas for the design of the bulletin board outside the library, themed book lists to feature in the school library newsletter, and activities being planned for Book Week Scotland in November.

eResource Workshops: The School Libraries’ eResource Workshops have started back up just in time for upcoming study leave. The workshops connect pupils with valuable online resources available from Glasgow Libraries and other scholarly and authoritative information and are tailored to the subject and year group.

Publications: Pupils can submit book reviews, art, poetry, or short stories to be published in either the monthly School Library newsletter or the quarterly School Libraries’ eMagazine, Swatch. Access the current and previous issues of Swatch through these links:  Autumn 22 Summer 22, Spring 22, Winter 21, Autumn 21, Summer 21, Spring 21, Winter 20, Autumn 20

Trending: October Booklists

Best New Children’s Books – Topptsa

Bookbug’s Book of the Month – Scottish Book Trust

Books of the Month – Love Reading For Kids

Books of the Month – Scholastic

Books of the Month – Waterstones

Children’s Books Roundup – Guardian

Trending Books – Epic Reads

Literary and Cultural Events – November

2^nd-5^th: Faclan: The Hebridean Book Festival | An Lanntair Stornoway (Stornoway, Scotland)

3^rd-6^th: Push the Boat Out: Edinburgh’s International Poetry Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland)

11^th-13^th: A Write Highland Hoolie! Mallaig’s Book Festival (Mallaig, Scotland)

13^th:  Robert Louis Stevenson Day (Edinburgh, Scotland)

14^th-20^th: Book Week Scotland

24^th-27^th: Hay Festival Winter Weekend (Hayon-Wye, Wales)

26^th-27^th: Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival (Argyll & Bute, Scotland)

 

Literary Awards & Prizes

Winners:

The Booker Prize

Books Are My Bag Reader Choice Awards

Diverse Book Awards

Information Book Award

Little Rebel Awards

Na Duaisean Litreachais | Gaelic Literature Awards

The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

 

Book Buzz

BBC

Book Riot

Buzzfeed

Epic Reads

The Evening Standard

The Globe and Mail

The Guardian

Huffpost

The New York Times

The Scotsman

The Telegraph

The Times

Times of India

The School Library is back and busier than ever! We have a busy itinerary of events planned for this year, so watch this space for more information. Read more to see what we’ve been up to this month:

Inductions: We’ve really enjoyed meeting all the S1s and new pupils as well as reconnecting with the rest of our school community. Over the past few weeks, the School Librarian has been delivering Library and separate Libby inductions to our S1 English classes. Find out more about Libby and the Glasgow Libraries eOffer on the Glasgow Libraries’ website.

Schools of Literature: This year, the School Library is involved with the Schools of programme with a special class on Literature. Our group will read a themed book per month and tie it into crafts and other literacy-based activities. This month we’re reading Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu by the wonderful Glasgow-based author, Maisie Chan. We’ve also been making some top secret treats for our upcoming Pop Up Library stall for International School Library Month in October.

Comics Book Group: We’ve launched a very special book group in collaboration with our wonderful Support for Learning department focusing on comics and video games. Each Friday, our students read Gamish: A Graphic History of Gaming by Edward Ross where we discuss past, present and future of video games and gaming culture. Learn more about the importance of video games literacy in the report from the National Literacy Trust: Video games and literacy | National Literacy Trust

Literature Trails: The School Library is working with our Values Ambassadors to create monthly literature trails around school. We select 10 books on a theme and crate informational posters about each book for teachers to display in their classroom windows. This month we chose to promote East and South East Asian Heritage Month and chose a wonderful selection of titles which include:

Hanna Alkaf – The Girl and the Ghost

Maisie Chan – Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths

Sue Pickford aka Sue Cheung – Chinglish

Candy Gourlay– Tall Story

Jenny Han – To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the Shore 

Banana Yoshimoto – Kitchen

Viet Thanh Nguyen – The Sympathiser

Kazuo Ishiguro – Never Let Me Go

David Yoon – Frankly in Love

Pupil Library Collective: With the overwhelming success of the Pupil Library Committee this year, we’ve expanded our program to continue our journey towards embedding a pupil voice into the Library. Pupils will help select stock, create and deliver events, curate displays and booklists, and help with general light duties in the Library. We’ll be hosting inductions early next month and can be useful for those working towards either their saltire awards, Duke of Edinburgh or simply for work experience.

Publications: Pupils can submit book reviews, art, poetry, or short stories to be published in either the monthly School Library newsletter or the quarterly School Libraries’ eMagazine, Swatch. Access the current and previous issues of Swatch through these links:  Autumn 22 Summer 22, Spring 22, Winter 21, Autumn 21, Summer 21, Spring 21, Winter 20, Autumn 20

Popular Sections: Pupils are loving our new sections and layout too. So far, our most popular sections include:

 #Trending on BookTok: A one stop shop for trending titles on TikTok. If you’re not familiar with the subcommunity on TikTok, we recommend learning more by reading these articles: Wikipedia, The Rise of BookTok by Alison Flood, Guardian

Thrills & Chills: As ever, our Thrills & Chills section remains one of the most popular sections with our pupils. Here, there can find the best Thrillers, Crime, Espionage & Detective, and Horror books including: Friday Nights and Freddy’s, Murder Most Unladylike, Alex Rider, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

Graphic Novels & Comics: Our growing collection of new and modern classic comics and graphic novels, including: DC and Marvel universes, Lumberjanes, Adventure Time, Tillie Walden, Raina Telgemeier, Dog Man

Equality & Empowerment: This section blends fiction and nonfiction books together with the theme of human rights and empowering ourselves and others to promote positive, inclusive change. Highlighted titles include: Dear Martin by Nic Stone, Melissa by Alex Gino, I Will Not Be Erased edited by gal-dem, Amazing Muslims Who Changed the World by Burhana Islam, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali, Reya Ahmed, Saffa Khan, Aaliya Jaleel, Deema Alawa, Aghnia Mardiyah, I Am Not A Label: 34 Disabled Artists, Thinkers, Athletes and Activists from Past and Present by Cerrie Burnell, illustrated by Lauren Mark Baldo.

Slice of Life: Is this real life, or is it fantasy? (FIY, it’s real life). Fans of romance and realistic fiction love this bigger and better than ever section filled with books by top authors such as Holly Bourne, SK Ali, Alice Oseman, Simon James Green, Jenny Han, and Camryn Garrett.

Trending: September Booklists

Best New Children’s Books – Topptsa

Bookbug’s Book of the Month – Scottish Book Trust

Books of the Month – Love Reading For Kids

Books of the Month – Scholastic

Books of the Month – Waterstones

Children’s Books Roundup – Guardian

Trending Books – Epic Reads

Literary and Cultural Events – October

1^st – 2^nd: The Words of war Book Festival (Perth, Scotland)

3-9^th: Libraries Week (Scotland)

6^th-8^th: Ness Book Fest (Inverness, Scotland)

7^th-16^th: Cheltenham Literature Festival (Cheltenham, England)

8^th-9^th: Bookmark Book Festival (Blairgowrie, Scotland)

13^th– 16^th: Berwick Literary Festival (Northumberland)

14^th-31^st: Scottish International Storytelling Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland)

20^th-30^th: London Literature Festival (London, England)

27^th-30^th: Orkney Storytelling Festival (Orkney, Scotland)

29^th– Nov 6^th: Petworth Festival (West Sussex, England)

Literary Awards & Prizes

Winners: YA Book Prize, Klaus Flugge Prize

Shortlist: Booker Prize

Book Buzz

BBC

Book Riot

Buzzfeed

Epic Reads

The Evening Standard

The Globe and Mail

The Guardian

Huffpost

The New York Times

The Scotsman

The Telegraph

The Times

Times of India