Tag Archives: Book Prizes

May you enjoy your new books

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May in Eastbank Academy has been a super busy month as the seniors are all studying for exams – meaning the library reverts to being a much quieter space than usual.  But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening ….

In the May bank holidays, Mrs Marshall enjoyed reading a couple of the Yoto Carnegie nominated titles and is looking forward to representing the Scottish Branch of the Youth Library Group at the Yoto Carnegie Award ceremony in June.  Here are the reviews of 2 of the books in contention for the Award.

Book Review – Steady for This 

What a funny book with wonderful storylines.  I loved it so much that I was laughing out loud when I was meant to be overseeing a study session in the library.

Steady for This

MC Growls is the main character who is trying his best to win a rap contest and get prize money to help his mum out.  However, Growls does not have the “usual” style of rapping and some of his beats really leave the reader howling.  He streams one of his practice sessions inadvertently which end up with his dirty laundry being exposed in public – literally.

Although funny, the book tackles friendships, family struggles and the challenges faced by young carers in the main storyline.  However this doesn’t take away from the humour, and isn’t a heavy read at all.  Instead, you’ll be flying through the pages and chuckling away in no time !  This copy is currently available to borrow in the school library.

 Book Review – Away with Words 

And another wonderful title nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Writing Award is Away with Words by Sophie Cameron.

Gala has just moved from Spain to Scotland, where her Dad has moved in with his partner.  However Gala doesn’t speak English and starting school is very difficult for her.  So she makes friends with a girl called Natalie who has selective mutism.  This is a fascinating tale of friendship and the challenges they both face being unable to communicate at school.  It’s a must read and available in the school library now !

Eastbank Winners !

We’ve won a couple of book prizes from our x posts this month !  You can enjoy the really fun Magicalia and also The Stone Age Clash, and you can read along with both books using the fun bookmarks sent to us by the publishers.  Lucky Eastbank 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.

Reading Highlights at Holyrood

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We hope you enjoy our reading highlights from December/ January. Huge thank you to our visitors, and also to the wonderful Library Helpers and young people for taking part!

Miss Brown’s S2 enjoyed a drawing workshop with Neil Slorance. We were inspired to hear about Neil’s early comics, love of drawing, travelogues and astronomy, and the brilliant graphic novels ‘Dungeon Fun’, and Doctor Who. We learned how to draw  faces, adding features to create expressions, and even had a shot at drawing our own comic strips, collaboratively with classmates.

This event was funded by the School Library Improvement Fund.

   

Also in January, we welcomed author Manjeet Mann, Clare from Refuweegee, and Fraser, Thomas and Clara from the Scottish Book Trust. This event was part of a Scottish Friendly Book Tour. This workshop was amazing! We heard about Manjeet’s journey as a writer, enjoyed readings from her verse novels ‘Run Rebel’, and ‘The Crossing’, tried some free-writing exercises, shared our work to the audience, had a Q. & A. So much great feedback :

“I loved the part when we had activities to do with a famous author. It inspired me to be more imaginative and to write more”   Haya (S2)

“S2  are currently looking at equality and empowerment, and this event helped to bring what we had been talking about in class to life. The pupil interaction (writing task) was brilliant. All round super event!” Mrs Ford, PT Pupil Voice

Also impressive was the care and effort  put in by all young people and staff to provide a warm welcome. An outstanding day, happy memories were made, and pupils left inspired!

In December, we had visits from Ailbhe and Martha, from Glasgow Zine Library. We loved making our own zines at these fun workshops.  GZL is an amazing local resource, and we are very grateful to Ailbhe for setting up links with us and working with our wonderful Equalities Alliance and Anti-Racist groups.

 

Also in December, over 200 S1 pupils completed the Glasgow Libraries Christmas Reading Challenge and received these lovely certificates. Well done everyone.

Our pupil helpers have been busy creating displays. Here is a selection:

World Hijab Day

Holocaust Memorial Day

Burns Day Poetry

The Reading Schools Committee is back in action. We enjoyed a Christmas party, put together a list of favourite books to read for Christmas and we’re now getting to grips with the YAldi shortlist. YAldi – Glasgow School Libraries’ Book Award – is a new event in the reading calendar, organised by Ms DeLeavey and Ms Sferrazzo 😊. We are looking forward to interviewing Ann Sei Lin via e-mail (what an amazing opportunity)! and voting for our favourite book in April.

Ann Sei Lin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Reviews Ending on a high note, our keen readers are always happy to share their book reviews. We hope that these will help you find a book that you will love. Happy Reading !

The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten “I really loved this book. It’s the definition of a fantasy book. It’s so magical and really transports you to another world. Definitely my favourite book.” Isha, S4

 

 

 

 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell “Beautifully written and full of historical detail. Deeply moving; I would recommend this book” Ms Blackburn