Tag Archives: LGBTQI+ History Month

St Roch’s Reads: February

Our library assistants out done themselves with book displays and promotions this month. Well done everyone who pitched in!  Morire and Ava made our Dark reads for Dark nights display, full of thrillers and chillers. Along with a love-themed book display, Iman and Amani  decided to conduct some pupil research, asking library visitors to vote For or Against Valentine’s day. The votes were counted and ( drum roll)… turns out it’s an even split, so the love stories can stay. 

Everyone helped decorate for International Mother Languages Day. We’ve got colourful signs up to represent lots of the languages spoken in school. Did you know that in the library you can find books in languages from all around the world too? Including old favourites like Harry Potter, Dork diaries and Diary of a wimpy kid. 

New Books 

This month we had a delivery of new senior stock, hurray! Our senior collection includes fiction and non fiction for S4+ upwards. These new books were recommended by teachers, pupils and librarians. There’s lots of different genres, from contemporary to classic sci-fi, so there’s plenty to choose from if you’re ready to branch out from teen fiction. here.  

Ready player one / Ernest Cline
Ready player one is a thrilling science fiction novel by Ernest Cline that follows teenager Wade Watts as he navigates a virtual reality world in search of a hidden Easter egg that holds the key to a massive fortune. Packed with 80s pop culture references, high-stakes challenges, and a race against time, this book is a must-read for gamers and nostalgia enthusiasts alike. 

Klara and the sun / Kazuo Ishiguro 
From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans. 

In Klara and The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love? 

The night circus / Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus is a fantastical and enchanting tale of a mysterious, travelling circus that only opens at night. Within its black-and-white striped tents, two young magicians engage in a magical competition that could have far-reaching consequences for everyone involved. With its vivid imagery and intricate storytelling, this novel will transport readers to a world where the line between reality and illusion is blurred. 

The goldfinch / Donna Tartt 

The Goldfinch is a gripping novel that follows the life of Theo Decker after a terrorist attack changes his world forever. As he navigates loss, love, and the pursuit of a stolen painting, Theo’s story is a heartbreaking and captivating exploration of fate and redemption. 

LGBT history month 

LGBT+ History Month is celebrated every February across the UK and was founded in 2004 by Schools OUT UK. It started as a way to claim the past, celebrate the present and create the future for LGBT+ people.  

You’ll find a great mix of fiction and non-fiction books on display in the library to mark the month. If you prefer to use Libby, there’s plenty of ebooks and audiobooks available  too. 

Check out our LGBT+ fiction  and non-fiction book lists on Padlet to see what’s available.  

February 2022 Roundup

LGBT+ History Month – During February, the Pupil Library Committee and LGBT+ group pupils curated their own display for LGBT+ History Month, creating their own poster, bunting and selecting books to highlight from the Libraries collection. The school library also curated a digital booklist for Young Adult Fiction and Graphic Novels to add to Mr Lynch’s LGBT History Month interactive choice board, that enables pupils to learn about significant events, activists, and literary figures from the LGBTQ+ community. The Library also hosted an LGBT History Month quiz to highlight the history, social change, and figures with prizes to be won.

EAL Book Group – Our EAL book group completed two books. The House of Clouds by Lisa Thompson, a beautiful story that explores friendship, bereavement, and imagination. Our other book, Under the Skin by Cathy MacPhail, discusses bullying and refugee issues within a Scottish context. In the story, our main character Omar writes about how much he loves living in Scotland to his cousin Chat, which we modelled for our letter writing activity.

Reading Schools – The school library continues our Reading Schools journey. Our committee met to plan a wealth of activities for the upcoming World Book Day week. The Pupil Library Committee is heavily involved in this years WBD festivities, hosting pop-up Libraries, helping with arts and crafts workshops, and creating displays to promote an array of literary events taking place throughout March.

February Booklists:

February 2022 Booklists – BookTrust

Best new Children’s Books – Toppsta

Bookbug’s Books of the Month – Scottish Book Trust

Books of the Month – LoveReading4Kids

February Roundup – Love Reading

Book of the Month – Scholastic

Books of the Month – Waterstones

Children’s Book roundup – Guardian

 

Upcoming events:

African Festival of Emerging Writers (March 17th-19th) – ArifFesti (Cameroon)

British Science Week (March 11th) – British Science Week (UK)

Earth Hour (March 26th) – Earth Hours (International)

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21st) – United Nations (International)

International Women’s Day (March 8th) – International Women’s Day (International)

Jaipur Literary Festival (March 5th-14th) – Jaipur Lit Fest (India)

LitFest 2022 Mini Children’s Festival (March 11th-12th) – LitFest (UK)

Shakespeare Week (March 21st) – Shakespeare Week (UK)

World Book Day (March 3rd) – World Book Day (International)

World Poetry Day (March 21st) – UNESCO (International)

World Storytelling Day (March 21st) – (International)

 

Past events:

Alasdair Gray Day (February 25th) – Gray Day (Scotland)

Emirates Literature Festival – (catch up on YouTube)  Emirates LitFest (UAE)

International Festival of Children’s and Youth Literature (Catch up on YouTube) – FESTILIJ (Spain)

Jewish Book Wee (February 26th-March 6th) – Jewish Book Week (UK)

 

Literary Awards & Prizes:

American Indian Youth Literature Award Winners – American Indian Library Association (USA)

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winners – Asian/Pacific American Library Association (USA)

Blue Peter Book Awards Shortlist – BBC/BookTrust (UK)

Bookbug Picture Book prize announced – Scottish Book Trust (Scotland)

Caldecott Medal Winners – American Library Association (USA)

Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Award Long Lists Announced – CILIP (UK)

The Klaus Flugge Prize Long List Announced – Klaus Flugge Prize (UK)

The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards 2022 (the Lollies) – Scholastic (UK)

Prémio Autores/ Authors Awards Winners – Sociedade Portuguesa De Autores (Portugal)

Waterstones Children’s Book Prize Shortlist 2022 – Waterstones (UK)

 

In the news:

17th Century Buddhist Texts for the Illiterate: how ‘Buddhist Emoji’ made the Sutra Legible for those who couldn’t read – Open Culture

Bologna Children’s Book Fair (March 21-24th) – Bologna Fiere (Italy)

The Book of Kells, has been digitised and put online – Open Culture

Campaign for every Scottish Secondary School to receive a copy of Me and White Supremacy (YA edition) by Layla F Saad successful – Lighthouse Bookshop (Edinburgh, Scotland)

 

February events

Hello Readers,

Here we are at the end of another busy month… February has marked many events and celebrations, and so many ideas have been going on. So here is a wee summary of what our busy Library Assistants have done to celebrate the following events.

LGBTQI+ History Month

Our permanent book display has seen some new titles added and a wonderful new poster made by one of our new library team members. We have also helped our LGBTQI+ school group distributing LGBTQI+ friendly door display for teachers! Our librarian has also been rewarded with a beautiful mug and these kind words:

” Ms Spaltro, our librarian. Thank you for all that you do for our LGBT+ pupils. We have a greatly stocked library of LGBT+ reading materials, thanks to you. And thanks for being so supportive of the community. Nominated by many pupils. “

Harry Potter Night Event

Harry Potter event decorations: a witch hat and a poster saying "Hogawarts" made by the pupils.

Molly and Abigail, two wonderful senior pupils, have worked tirelessly to organise and deliver a fantastic Harry Potter event on the 3rd of February. They did such a good job including everyone that even the most reluctant participants enjoyed our event. A special mention goes to one of our EAL pupil, who was initially afraid it could have been to hard, but he ended up been in the winning team! Attached a wee picture of the decorations that our pupils have used to make our library magical! We are also very grateful to the Drama department that has let us use some of their costumes to make the scene more suggestive.

Languages Week Scotland

Multilingual book display for the Languages Week Scotland.

Our multilingual assistants have made a beautiful display to mark this celebration. Full of multilingual books and smart quotes to highlight the importance of learning languages. They have also involved our library regulars into creating multilingual welcoming posters that have been displayed at the entrance of the library.

Unfortunately, the lights aren’t great, so you will need to visit us to admire them!

Welcome to the library posters in different languages

These are only few of the many tasks that we have completed in the library, but many more are to come!

Please stay tuned to see what we are planning…