Tag Archives: reading

Book Group @Holyrood Secondary

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Logo by Hunnah & Fabia

‘Chapter Chats’ is our new pupil-led, super friendly Book Group for anyone who loves reading. Started by Fabia and Hunnah in S3, we meet in the Library after school on Mondays. Drop in for a quick and friendly book chat. Our meetings last for about 15 mins. ….. perfect if you’re rushing home to do your homework or make the dinner. Everyone is welcome, both young people and staff.

 

Some of the books we’ve been chatting about :

What I’m reading ……

‘Yellowface’ by R. F. Huang – an unusual and gripping plot line about a young author who will stop at nothing to succeed. Themes include cultural appropriation, addiction to social media, plagiarism and becoming so lost in a lie you even start to convince yourself!                               (Ms Kindness)

Just discovered our young people are reading Rebecca Huang too:)

Sharing books at Chapter Chat group

Other events

We had great fun with Design a Book Token competition for World Book Day. Well done everyone. These designs by Maha and Victoria won joint 1st prize for S1.

Special thanks to our brilliant S6 Khola, Claire & Fahima who decorated the display board,  and presented prizes to all the winners at our lunchtime celebration. (Fahima is just out of photo as she’s chatting with and encouraging our S1 pupils).

S6 Guest helpers

A fond farewell to all our S6. Your contribution to library events, book groups, paired reading, your artwork, general fun, kindness and laughter has been much valued. Exciting times ahead !     “If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coelho

World Book Day at Holyrood

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For World Book Day, our focus was reading for pleasure. With so much fun to fit in, WBD became a Week, instead of a day!  Young people and staff enjoyed sharing their love of reading. Here’s a round-up of some of the activities.

Book Reviews: Fabia & Hunnah in S3 are keen readers of  new and trending fiction and popped in after school to chat about books.

 

“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” is such a thrilling book! It’s about a high school girl named Pip who decides to investigate a murder case for a school project. As she delves deeper, she uncovers secrets and twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. The book is full of suspense and unexpected turns. It’s a real page-turner! If you enjoy mysteries, you’ll love this one! Fabia, S3

“The Inheritance Games” I loved this book there are so many puzzles for you to solve all throughout the book, not just in the writing, but all of the people are just as mysterious as their words. I found that the subtle romance subplots involving the four brothers were also intriguing because one of them is a 10 but so is his brother. Hunnah, S3

 

 Chantelle, S6 always finds time for reading, even with a busy study schedule : For World Book Day, I recommend ‘A Song of Wraith and Ruin’ by Roseanne A. Brown. I rated this book five stars. It is a fast paced, action-packed story about two people who experience love, loss, betrayal and it is very bingeable! It honestly felt almost like watching a movie (I even bought my own copy after reading it).

Something I really liked was that the main characters are black. This is the first fantasy book I have ever seen to have a black main character, which as a black person myself, made me feel seen and recognised. I felt closer to the characters, especially Karina who bears the weight of expectation of everyone around her as she is the crown princess.

I loved that this book doesn’t portray black people as the negative stereotype seen in films, but instead portrays us as exactly what we are. Human. Chantelle, S6

 

 

Book Breakfast

Staff and Pupils joined together for a Book Breakfast before start of class, on World Book Day. We enjoyed croissants, fruit and snacks while chatting about what we’re reading. What a great way to start the day!

Throughout the day, a feast of activities was on offer, organised by our brilliant staff and young people all around the school, including a Book Swap table; Dressing up as your favourite book character (Mr. McGrath made an amazing Yarvi); a Drop Everything And Read session for the whole of S1-S3. And there were fun activities in English, including a Read around the World research task, and a Design a Book Token competition in the library.

‘Chosen By Us’ books

Our S2 Writers’ Group were given a budget of £100 to choose anti-racist, diverse books for the library. This was part of a School Library Improvement Fund project, continued from last year. So far the original group members have mentored a Writing Club for S1, written book reviews, poetry, and an article for eMag ‘Swatch’, and are now taking part in stock selection, while also welcoming some fantastic new members to the Group. The new ‘Chosen By Us’ section includes these superb authors : Onjali Rauf, A.M. Dassu, Sharna Jackson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Alice Walker. We also wanted to include some authors new to us such as Danielle Jawando, Faridah Abike Iyimide, and Clare Weze.

This is still a work in progress, and will take a bit of experimenting to get the labels in the right place to not hide the book covers! As American author Kwame Alexander says “All that is good and accomplished in this World takes work and a little chaos”.

We look forward to reading and chatting together about our new books.

Happy reading, and be kind to yourself this busy month!

 

 

Lochend loves February

We end February here with a bit of mystery at Lochend Community High School.  We all love a new book, and what better sight than a brand new Peter’s delivery box landing on the library desk.  I wonder what’s inside this time? You’ll need to wait until next month !

We’ve been lucky enough to have lots of new books in the past month which have been flying off the shelves.  Our quick reads section is one of our most popular areas in the Lochend Library.  With so many quick reads books arriving in February, it was easy to highlight the choice in both subjects and length of books available here at our inclusive library.  Just check out the amount of quick reads we have to choose from on the trolleys !

 

Our book of the month for February though is the wonderful 100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe.  This quirky title is an unusual mix of manga and traditional novel styles, with cartoons then followed by a chapter of writing.  The story itself is great too.  It’s about Julian who meets a rabbit called Chie-san who leads him to the Tokyo Ghost Cafe.  There Mama-san welcomes them to this strange and unusual place, and tells them that she has found a young boy called Akira-San who has wondered into the cafe and told her that he is lost and needs to go home.  Mama-san asks them to guide Akira-San home.  However, this isn’t straightforward as Akira-san doesn’t quite know where home is and no-one really knows who he is.  As each trip progresses, Akira-san seems to remember more and more about home along the way.  However the group are met by set backs such as tigers, temples, crocodiles and snow blizzards  – which stop them in their tracks.  You’ll love this action packed adventure – with the unusual styles and Japanese words to learn thrown in – you won’t be able to put it down…  Lochend loves it !

And of course we are looking forward to World Book Day early in March !  Our tokens have already arrived, and Mrs Marshall is guarding them in a secret location…..  The books will land at Lochend on the Friday (as the library isn’t open on a Thursday) – and there’s lots of exciting plans for then too.  Here’s a taste of what’s to come …….

What We’re Reading @Holyrood

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This month in the Library, our young people highlighted two special events: – Holocaust Memorial Day, and World Hijab Day.

Our S3 Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers made a book display for Holocaust Memorial Day.

Readers from S1 & S2 classes chatted about what they’ve been reading, and here are their recommendations :

S1-S3 pupils’ booklist

 

 

 

We discussed the importance of books and films, as there are now very few remaining survivors of the Holocaust, making it more important than ever that their voices be honoured and saved for future generations.

 

 

On 1st February we celebrated World Hijab Day. Our book display included authors and book characters who proudly wear the hijab, including Ayaan Mohamud, A.M. Dassu, Tahereh Maafi, Hiba Noor Khan, & S. K. Ali.

Our Rights Respecting Schools pupils did a tannoy announcement, and explained all about the origins of World Hijab Day, founded by Nazma Khan. While making our book display, we chatted about Olympic fencer  Ibtihaj Muhammad (who has written several books), and ballet dancer Stephanie Kurlow. We all want to see more library books showing better representation of hijab wearing, so we did some research on this, and  have ordered some exciting new titles.

The lovely artwork is by Evelina and Brenna in S5.

 

 

Reading for pleasure

Lorraine, at her Waterstone’s book launch

I went to the book launch of ‘The Island Swimmers’, and met Lorraine Kelly at Waterstones bookshop. It was lovely to meet a TV personality who is such a passionate supporter of books and reading. Can’t wait to read this, as I’ve been to Orkney , where the book is set, many times, and it’s a place that I love (although I’ve never been wild swimming!).

 

Coming soon….

‘Reading Schools’ gifts from Scottish Book Trust

We have lots to look forward to in March including World Book Day, lots of reading, a good bit of book partying from our young people & staff, and more great work from our Reading Schools leadership group. Happy reading!

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.

Christmas @ St. Andrew’s

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We hope everyone is looking forward to some well deserved time off over the Christmas Break! In the meantime, here is our display (complete with possibly the smallest Christmas tree in the school) of some of our Christmas and Winter-themed books to tide you over, all hand-picked by our library helpers:

Thanks to all the staff and pupils at St. Andrew’s who have continued to support the library and we hope to have an even better 2024 complete with a shiny new library!

End of term fun, Holyrood Library

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The holidays are coming – time to celebrate the work of our amazing Library volunteers before we head off for a well-earned rest.  They’ve worked tirelessly to promote reading and make the library a friendly and welcoming place. Whatever you need, the library helpers will be there for you!

Senior helper evaluating books to keep

R. in S5 has used her I.T skills to master the library management system (Spark) and now adds in new stock, can search the catalogue, identifies old books to be weeded and comes up with excellent ideas inspired by her love of reading.

Surrounded by books

S6 pupil book recommendations

C. in S6 shares book recommendations, is always up to date with new releases, and is a life-long lover of books. She balances this with a busy S6 schedule, often studying in the library after school.

Our Duke of Edinburgh S3 Volunteers bring fun to our lunchtimes. S1 loved their  design a Christmas Tree, & Elf Hat activities. It’s been a privilege to see a special bond grow between S1 and S3. So far 120 pupils in S1 have completed the Christmas Reading Challenge, run in collaboration with Community Libraries.

Lunchtime competition for S1

S1 Helpers at work

S1 Helpers also do a great job, running the issue desk at intervals and lunchtimes, coming up with games & colouring in, and encouraging everyone to borrow books.

 

 

S1 pupils enjoyed our special writing competition for Book Week Scotland. This competition was pupil led and inspired by award winning author Lindsay Littleson’s book EuroSpies. The mission was: “Write a job application to become a Spy” Some great entries. Lindsay thought they would definitely get the  job!

A last thought as we’re doing our Christmas shopping – good to consider how important books are not only for enjoyment but also for wellbeing and achievement. Research  by the Scottish Book Trust explains that “access to books at a young age allows children to flourish” and “Reading for pleasure is the biggest indicator of a child’s future success”  https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/articles/the-importance-of-book-ownership

Here’s a lovely personal memory shared by one of our sixth year pupils, about the importance of books.

 

Well done everyone and Happy Christmas !

St Paul’s at Christmas Time

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It’s Chriiiiiiiistmaaaaaas!

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the library
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
Because the prelims were on..”

T’is the season of giving and currently the library desk is giving serious festive vibes, unlike the display which is giving serious lack of festive stock vibes. However, we have tried, and feel proud about shoehorning in that Christmas cookbook.

An attempt has been made 🙂

We tried

Staff Borrow Box

The holidays are fast approaching and what better time to catch up on your reading. In the true spirit of Christmas the Reading Schools team has created this Staff Borrow box. It contains contemporary YA fiction and non-fiction titles for your delectation. The box is situated within the school foyer. To borrow a book, simply fill in the form with your name, title of the book and date of borrowing. Just sign it back in when you are finished. Merry Christmas!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parent/Carers Book Recommendations

Pupils have been busy this month collecting book recommendations from parents/carers. These have been collated and presented in this Sway presentation. Hope it gives you some reading inspiration!

https://sway.office.com/IIaxsOCysIRuRHfD?ref=Link

 

St Paul’s Library Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

September @ St. Andrew’s

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We’re back for another school year and have lots of things to update everyone on!

Library move/refurb

After our move to English 4, we have moved again! This time to a much larger space. We are currently awaiting a full refurb of the library but once this is done, we look forward to bringing back our full programme of clubs and events – no less the Manga Club! Watch this space for updates.

S1 Inductions

September was a month for meeting and getting to know our new S1s. It was great having them down for their library inductions and there were a lot of keen readers amongst them.

ProQuest/GALE sessions

We are already underway with our research skills workshops as Advanced Higher Drama got their first ProQuest/GALE/Oxford DNB session of the year. We are hoping to continue this with both Social Subjects and English classes next month.

 

Next Month

October will see us continue with our class borrowing periods for all S1 to S3 pupils and work with S6 paired readers. As the new S1s get their iPads, we are looking to begin Libby/Borrowbox sessions to promote our online resources. October also marks Black History Month (UK) and we will have a pupil-curated display in the library to mark this.

Lochend new non fiction

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We’ve had some amazing new non fiction arrive last week at Lochend.  Why don’t you prepare for Halloween at the end of October by reading some gruesome and scary new books?

Do No Harm and Cursebreaker 

Nothing is scarier than real life, and in Do No Harm there’s lots of real life medical stories from the past to the present day.  This book shows how we’ve come from cutting off limbs with saws right up to date – making progress in the fight against cancer and other diseases.  A great read, with short sections and fantastic graphics

 

Cursebreaker   

Want to be scared?  This book, with it’s creepy adventures, gives you the choice to play a game where you can escape from prison – then fight your way to freedom via a fantasy world.  Great fun.

New Non Fiction

There’s lots to love in our new non fiction selection. Whether you want to find the confidence to speak up and be heard, or select a new film to watch there’s something for everyone.  Even a new Vegan cook book to get you cooking new recipies !

 

 

 

Book of the Month for October – Artificial Intelligence by Tom Jackson

This tiny book is a colourful explosion of  great information, with 4 chapters taking us from the early days of AI decades ago right up to today.   It’s a great read, giving clear information and you can dip into topics without having to read the full book.