St Roch’s Reads: January

New year, new books

Happy 2024 everyone! We’re back for a new term- and lot of lovely new books.

The boxes were barely open before library assistants dove in to see what’s on offer. Here are some of their top picks to read first.

You could be so pretty by Holly Bourne

Uglies meets The Handmaid’s Tale for the new YA generation in this mind-blowing novel from bestselling queen of YA Holly Bourne.

Pupils say: “This book looks interesting because of the title, it looks like a thriller. When it says ‘beauty comes a price’ it makes you want to pick it up.”

Wise Creatures by Deirdre Sullivan

I always thought that hauntings began with houses. They don’t, of course. It’s people, isn’t it? They begin with people. ..

Pupils say: “This looks like a psychological horror that might have a shocking ending…”

How to find a missing girl by Victoria Wlosok

For fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Veronica Mars, this whip-smart thriller follows a teen detective seeking the truth behind a growing trail of missing girls in small-town Louisiana.

Pupils say: “This book looks really interesting, it reminds me of ‘A good girls guide to murder’.”

Fir by Sharon Gosling / Savage Island by Bryony Pearce / Charlotte Says by Alex Bell

The Red Eye Series is a collection of bloodcurdling YA horror – from chilling ghost stories to addictive psychological thrillers.

Pupils Say: “I really like horror and Red Eye is a horror series. The best authors write this, so give it a try.”

All of these books are available to borrow now from the school library.

Special guests at Holyrood

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We love having visitors to the School Library. In December, we welcomed poet Tawona Sithole who led a creative writing workshop for S1/S2, involving music, games, drama- with some amazing acting skills on show, and writing our own stories.

Our young writers were very inspired, and supported each other by listening attentively as each group read their story out to the audience. Everyone had a great time, and we hope to see Tawona for another visit sometime soon.

This event was supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.

We continue to enjoy our Writing for Fun lunchtime club. Our new theme for January is poetry and we hope to write some poems about ‘things that make us happy’.

This week, Fiona Haddow from the Mitchell Library visited us to lead a Focus Group. We looked through a selection of books she had brought, and chatted about which authors we would most like to meet. Our young people felt very honoured to have this chance, as Fiona will use these opinions to help shape the programme for the ‘Wee Write’ Book Festival. This is a brilliant celebration of reading, where Glasgow Libraries brings authors directly into schools, and also holds events, including Family days, at the Mitchell Library.

Well done to our S2/S3 Focus Group. We really enjoyed speaking to Fiona, hearing about Wee Write, and everyone loved their thank you gifts of books.

New Arrivals in Our Manga Collection

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Just because it will never look this immaculate again – luckily so, as the librarian is looking forward to seeing the expressions of joy and surprise on the faces of our keen manga readers as they borrow all these newly-arrived books! These here are just some of our most requested titles, but there is plenty more to explore in the library: Naruto, One Piece, Komi Can’t Communicate and many many more!

: Seraph of the End

: My Hero Academia

: Demonslayer

: Blue Exorcist

: Attack on Titan

: Assassination Classroom

Manga club in Bannerman is always in full swing and we keep coming up with new activities and games. Here are some of them:

Guess the anime theme song (we play a theme song on Spotify and guess)
Who would say that? (we pick a widely popular manga and read out a pivotal speech bubble, the other club members have to guess which character says that line)
Colouring pages, always popular and by request
Blooket manga quiz that the pupils regularly update
Guess who? (we describe a manga character and have to guess who it is)
Learning to draw manga-style with our how-to books
Making bookmarks inspired by manga
Discussing the manga the pupils have been reading, exchanging recommendations
Manga Multiverse: we think of mashups of two different manga and what it would be like in terms of plot, characters etc, for example Demon Slayer x Tokyo Ghoul.

Smithycroft’s January Reads

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Finally, many new books have arrived to the school library in Smithycroft! The most recent order was aimed at fleshing out our 🤣 Comedy 😂 and 🐴 Animals=Pals 🐶 sections, however there were also a few new releases and pupils’ requests which are mostly pictured in the selection below.

Happy reading!!

Plans for 2024 – Whitehill Secondary School Library

Hello! I’m Miss DeLeavey, the new School Librarian for Whitehill Secondary School. In this blog, I will post monthly roundups of the events and activities that took place in the School Library.

Some plans for this year include:

February: We will recruit a Pupil Library Committee with the help of the library volunteers to ensure the service is led by and for young people. We will also circulate a BGE survey to inform our stock selection and plan the activities that our pupils will engage in. We will also share booklists for LGBT History Month and Children’s Mental Health Week (5^th-11^th).

March: We will organize some fun activities as part of World Book Day week (4^th-8^th), including a quiz and a 5-word Book Review competition. As part of Shakespeare Week (18^th-24^th) we’ll post an interactive choice board linked to information about Shakespeare and his works. We’ll also host a lunchtime Shakespeare or YA quiz where participants will guess whether the quote is from one of Shakespeare’s works or a popular YA novel. We will also share booklists for International Women’s Day (8^th), Ramadan (starting 10^th), British Science Week (8^th-17^th), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18^th-24^th), Anti-Racism Day (21^st) and International Transgender Visibility Day (31^st).

April: For World Book Night (23^rd), we will host a special ‘Biblio Bistro’ during lunchtime where pupils can ‘sample’ a variety of books from our book menu. We will host a 50-word short story competition to tie in with National Tell a Story Day (27^th) and a fun activity to celebrate Talk Like Shakespeare Day (23^rd). We will also share booklists for Stress Awareness Month, World Autism Day (2^nd), and Earth Day (22^nd).

May: We will host a quiet reading hour during lunch as part of Mental Health Awareness Week (13^th-19^th) and Keep the Heid and Read, a celebration of reading across libraries in Scotland to take the pledge to read for just 6 minutes. We will also host a Star Wars-themed quiz as part of Star Wars Day (4^th) and an Edgar Allan Poe or YA quiz for World Goth Day (22^nd). We will also share booklists for International YA Literature Month, and World Goth Day.

June: We will show some livestream author events as part of the annual Empathy Day (6^th) celebrations. The library will host a Reading Picnic as part of National Picnic Week (17^th-25^th). We will also share booklists for Audiobook Month, National Crime Reading Month, Pride Month, Refugee Week (17^th-25^th),

We’ve curated several themed booklists that have been uploaded to our Library Channel in Teams for pupils looking for reading recommendations. We will add new ones throughout the year to tie in with various literacy and cultural events, with input from our young people. The lists have a wide range of titles for Junior, Young Adult, and Senior and Adult fiction and nonfiction. Access the booklists on the Glasgow School Libraries Book Lists article on our blog.

Plans for 2024 – Shawlands Academy School Library

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We have some exciting events and activities lined up this year at Shawlands Academy.

February: A special drop-in surgery from our newly elected MSYP from LGBT Youth Scotland during LGBT+ History Month. We will announce the winning design from our School Library Mascot Design competition voted by pupils. We will also share booklists for LGBT History Month and Children’s Mental Health Week (5^th-11^th).

March: We will organize some fun activities as part of World Book Day week (4^th-8^th), including a quiz, a 5-word Book Review competition, and a Bookmark Design Competition. The winning design will be the official School Library bookmark for 2024. As part of Shakespeare Week (18^th-24^th) we’ll post an interactive choice board linked to information about Shakespeare and his works. We’ll also host a lunchtime Shakespeare or YA quiz where participants will guess whether the quote is from one of Shakespeare’s works or a popular YA novel. We will also share booklists for International Women’s Day (8^th), Ramadan (starting 10^th), British Science Week (8^th-17^th), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18^th-24^th), Anti-Racism Day (21^st) and International Transgender Visibility Day (31^st).

May: During the exam period, the School Librarian will visit all S1-3 classes to give pupils a list of books on loan as part of a major drive to return stock. We will also host a an Edgar Allan Poe or YA quiz for World Goth Day (22^nd) and an accompanying booklist.

Exciting New Projects & Adventures

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We start the new year waiting for many new exciting book releases and books that have created a buzz, among which: “Impossible Creatures” by Katherine Rundell, winner of Waterstones Book of the Year 2023; the long-awaited 5^th volume of “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman, sure to be constantly on loan; and “Treacle Town” by Brian Conaghan. We will be honoured to host Brian Conaghan for a session here at Bannerman soon as part of ‘The Library Young Team,’ a SLIF-funded project by Glasgow School Libraries & Renfrewshire School Libraries. This project focuses on the theme of gang culture and will also see Alan Bissett and Graeme Armstrong visiting Bannerman High for a session with our pupils.

As for the non-fiction focus of the month for the school library newsletter, Ms Bortolato has been thinking about travelling away from the darkness of January (and yes it’s only the 4th of January now, what about it?) and planning a new adventures as an antidote to the winter blues. Eager to share adventure ideas, she quickly realised that there is already too much planning to do in a school, so let it suffice that we might just enjoy a bit of bookish wanderlust within the pages of these suggested readings…

See, the school library provides you with extremely cheap travel opportunities so make sure you go to the libraryscanner(.com*) for the best bargains.
* Website doesn’t actually exist

Bannerman’s Readers’ Corner and Newsletter

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At Bannerman, we have a new welcoming display outside the library – a book recommendations wall! Pupils can pick up a recommendation slip from the library during their reading period, and when they have finished their book they can write a short review of it. This gives us a chance to showcase the range of books our young readers choose, as well as inspire other pupils take up their peers’ suggestion, and elaborate their thoughts on what they read thus becoming a bit more critical readers.

Ms Bortolato has also started a staff newsletter which will be monthly, with the aim of making school staff aware of what’s new in the wonderful world of children’s literature – plus a different curricular focus each month. This month, we shone a light on the library’s extensive music collection! What will be the next one…?

Hillpark Library Refurb!

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It may have taken us a while but it was well worth the wait…

2023 has been a huge year as the Library refurbishment was finally completed!

We now have brand new comfy furniture, shiny new shelves, awesome artwork and stunning signage.

Mr Wason is particularly chuffed with his smart new desk.

Feedback from young people and staff has been fantastic; especially for our showpiece Southside Mural. We asked the talented designers for a Glasgow skyline with bright bold colours and a focus on the Southside of the city. The end result incorporates Hampden Park, Pollok House, Bellahouston Park and a view towards the city, featuring famous landmarks like the Finnieston Crane and Squinty Bridge.

It’s been a pleasure seeing the reaction from classes as the refurbishment has taken shape. We can’t wait for everyone to continue enjoying the new Hillpark Library in 2024.

A special thank you to everyone from The Design Concept for all your help and advice.

Library Elves and Experiments in Christmas Trees

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The senior pupil volunteers turned elves for the season, and took their assigned task of decorating the Library for Christmas very seriously this year, and we ended up with three trees, one traditional (see below), two more booky.

The S6 pupils above are just some of the senior volunteers who spend at least one period a week helping out in the Library. In addition to their decorating duties, they also worked on selecting books from among the weeded Library stock, so that they can be included in the school’s Christmas hampers which are sent out to families in the local community. The younger Library elves also got involved in this work, prepping the books for being put in the hampers.