Back by Popular Demand: The French Café Returns for World Book Day!
After the overwhelming success of last year’s event, I was excited to reopen the French Café to celebrate World Book Day in style!




After the overwhelming success of last year’s event, I was excited to reopen the French Café to celebrate World Book Day in style!
March has been an exciting month in the Library, with celebrations for World Book Day, International Women’s Day, Ramadan, and World Poetry Day.
For World Book Day, we welcomed author Victoria Williamson for a brilliant workshop on ‘War of the Wind’. S2 pupils discussed the book, practised some BSL fingerspelling, had a wind-walker race, and cracked some codes using ciphers. Victoria’s books are extremely popular, and her visit sparked even more excitement around which title to read next. Well done 2L and 2M, and huge thanks to Victoria, and Scottish Book Trust – Live Live Literature funding – for making this possible. We also held a Coffee Morning, Book Swap, Scavenger Hunt and S1/S2 Read Around the World challenge, so the fun lasted for most of the month.
S2 enjoying workshop with Victoria Williamson
International Women’s Day, Biographies display
The Duke of Edinburgh volunteers created a book display of biographies for International Women’s Day featuring : Sabrina Cohen-Hatton (fire-fighter and homelessness campaigner), Indra Nooyi (former CEO of PepsiCola), Malala Yousafzai and Taylor Swift.
Our Book Group members were happy to see International Women’s Day, and Ramadan falling on the same month – he perfect opportunity to chat about our favourite female Muslim authors. These include Zanib Mian, Hafsah Faizal, Intisar Khanani, and Tahereh Mafi. We found out some fun facts, and looked at what inspires these fantastic authors.
Celebrating Muslim authors
Our Book Group is always a welcome space to chill out and share some quiet time together at the end of the week. For World Poetry Day, we watched a poetry video from Nadine Aisha Jassat ‘Prayer and Breath’
Nadine’s poem ‘Breath and Prayer’
This was so relaxing, we loved the calmness of Nadine walking through Glasgow Womens’ Library, and also the nature imagery. Imaan and Fatima were inspired to write their own nature poetry.
The Librarian is listening to : My Dear Kabul (BBC Sounds)
While we are encouraged to read books and enjoy creative writing in Glasgow schools, it’s important to remember that women in other countries are often denied basic human rights such as education and freedom to express themselves or even to leave the house. ‘My Dear Kabul’, tells the story of Women Writers who risk everything after the Taliban invade Kabul, using a WhatsApp group to keep in touch, as every book and piece of writing they own has been destroyed. Available on BBC Sounds.
World Book Day is annual celebration of authors, illustrators, books and the joy of reading. It’s one of our calendar highlights in St Roch’s Library. It’s a great chance to encourage reading for fun and celebrate with some book-ish games.
This year pupils got to choose from our Creative Characters stations or Book Jenga. Pupils used lego or modelling clay to make some very impressive creations. There were lots of wonderful characters, including some well known faces and plenty of 100% originals. We got the idea for Book Jenga from the Scottish Book Trust – and added in some bookish dares for people who knocked the towers over. It’s always popular, pupils love tower building games ( especially when they fall). There was heated discussions around the book questions and lots of shouting, hopping and scribbling for the dares. Looking forward to next year already!
March is an important month for our religious school community, with lent and Ramadan both taking place. Throughout the month, school challenges were held to raise money for local charities. Well done to all the pupils who took part in the Fast for a day or Readathon challenge.
International Women’s Day (IWD) happens on the 8th March every year. It’s a day to celebrate all the amazing things women have achieved, and highlight the many ways women have and continue to influence the world. Importantly, it’s also used to raise awareness about past and current issues women face around the world. if you’d like to find out more, we have loads of great books in the school library about women who have done amazing things. You can see a few of our top picks on the library Padlet.
Our library volunteers put together a display to mark IWD, choosing books about important or inspiring women to highlight. They also picked out some new and favourite fiction books written by women. Special thanks to Iman who found some great quotes to fit the display.
Celebrating World Book Day at Bannerman High School went to a whole new level with the very first Bannerman Bookfest! Every single pupil was invited to the library where they could claim a free book, browse a book swap, make their own bookmarks, take part in a book quiz, dress up as their favourite book characters, grab a treat from the bake sale and even meet a local author! A fantastic day was had by all, and a big congratulations to Miss Doran and the Reader Leaders for organising such a wonderful event!
A whole day of events was planned by Miss Doran and the Reader Leaders!
Staff and pupils were given the opportunity to dress up as their favourite book characters and compete to win a prize!
There was a wonderful selection of books available at the book swap, meaning staff and pupils were able to grab a great selection of books for free!
Local author Ashlie McAnally came along to the Bookfest to talk to pupils about her new book and her career as an author!
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!
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. These designs by Maha and Victoria won joint 1st prize for S1. All entries have also been sent away to the national competition. Well done everyone, fantastic work.
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. Their contribution to library events, book groups, paired reading, artwork, general fun, kindness and laughter has been much valued. Exciting times ahead !
Hyndland library celebrate World Book Day with a Big Book Quiz at lunchtimes throughout the week. The Friday Finishers also created this wonderful display to celebrate the day.
World Book Day Display
World book Day quiz
March was an extremely busy month in the library. We had various World Book Day events and two amazing author sessions. Let’s have a look
The library was very busy during the week of World Book Day. We had a book themed Scavenger Hunt, a Big Book Quiz and an Easter basket full of goodies that was raffled off to teachers. All of the events were organised and ran by our Senior Literacy Ambassadors. Congratulations go to them, they did an absolutely fantastic job
Winners of the scavenger hunt
Big Book Quiz
Easter Basket Winner
During March the library hosted not one but two fabulous author visits. The first author was Hiba Noor Khan talking about her book ‘Safiyyah’s War’
Hiba talking about Safiyyah’s War
Our second author visit was from Brian Conaghan talking about his book ‘Treacle Town’. Brian’s visit was part of the Library Young Team Project supported by the Scottish Library Improvement Fund.
Brian Conaghan talking about his book Treacle Town
March means World Book Day time! The library has handed out lots of tokens and they’re available until the end of the month. WBD token can be used to claim a free book in bookshops an participating shops until 31st March. You can find out about the books and shops here.
To mark the day, this year pupils competed in quizzes and joined in some bookish games of Tumbling Towers. Every block had a question or action and we had some delightful reading dares as forfeits. Big thanks to all the pupil library assistants who helped out as activity leaders.
On 13th March the Yoto Carnegie award shortlist was announced and the pupil assistants have jumped right in. We’re reading Away with words , The door of no return and Steady for this at the moment, you can find out more about these titles below. Stay tuned for next month’s blog to see what we thought.
Away with words by Sophie Cameron
Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Cataluña to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi’s boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn’t speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self. Until she befriends Natalie, a girl with selective mutism. Set in a world where words appear physically when people speak, AWAY WITH WORDS explores the importance of communication and being there for those we love
The door of no return / Kwame Alexander
Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.
Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore
Shaun (aka MC Growls) is ready to drop his best bars and smash the competition at Raptology. That way, he’s convinced Tanisha, his crush, will finally give him a chance.
But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, Growls’s dirty laundry is literally exposed. He’s finally achieved his dreams of going viral – not in the good way.
Now Tanisha won’t look at him, he’s the joke of the school and there’s no way he can show his face at the competition. Will he ever catch a break?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, taking place in March and April this year. It is a holy month which Muslims observe by giving, fasting, worship, studying the Quran, spiritual reflection, prayer and helping others. The end of Ramadan will be celebrated in April with Eid al-Fitr – the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast. Remember to be considerate of your Muslim friends during Ramadan, as they may be fasting during the day.
Many St Roch’s pupils are observing Ramadan this month, including some of our library volunteers. They put together a lovely library display to share information about Islamic culture and promote Muslim authors. Well done to Rose & co for their work.
Ramadan Mubarak & Happy Easter to everyone celebrating.
February and March have given the Library minions many opportunities to create some wonderful book displays.
S4 Rene and some friends kicked things of with a Valentine’s day display, complete with red and pink confetti.
To say farewell to their favourite TV series, Our Flag Means Death, S6 pupils Lucy and Scarlett created a celebration of all things pirate (yaaar). We mourn the cancellation of the show; it had such potential. We can commemorate its demise by honouring the Pirates Code, some tenets of which feature in the book display.
February was LGBT+ History Month, celebrating the work LGBT+ people have done in the field of medicine, with the hashtag #UnderTheScope. The Library book display was more of a general celebration of LGBTQ+ people’s presence and achievements, but identified a need to seek out more books about their work in the medical field.
In March, S6 Molly took on the job of creating a book display to celebrate International Women’s Day, with the input of the latest additions to the cohort of Library Minions, S1 Julia and S3 Will.
S6 volunteers Mariam and Melissa put together this year’s World Book Day display, including stories set in different parts of the world, and non-fiction about the wide variety of cultures, food, art, festivals, religions, history and so on around the world. There’s a lot to find out about!
The Library noticeboard on the ground floor – a new addition to the Library Kingdom – is also getting busier and brighter, with lots of new notices, particularly about World Book Day. Don’t forget to look at it when you’re going past to find out what’s going on at the Library!
World Book Day is all about celebrating the magic of storytelling and the joy of reading. It’s a chance for book lovers of all ages come together to share their favourite stories, discover new adventures, and explore the wonderful world of books. Every year during March, you can claim a FREE book from book shops and participating retailers. All you need is a World Book Day token- and there’s lots of available in school. You can collect tokens from your English teacher or the school library until March 31st. Check out what books are available to choose from here.
The CHS Equalities group provides a welcome space for all LGBTQ+ pupils and allies to meet every Wednesday at lunchtime. The group has been meeting in the library recently, where
they’ve made a new LGBT+ book display, bringing a lovely bit of colour to the shelves. This month everyone has been reading Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. The latest book in the series is in high demand, so if you have to wait, you can try one of Alice Oseman’s other books like Loveless, Solitaire or Radio Silence.
Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they’ve never met … until one day when they’re made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance.
But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.
International Women’s Day is held annually on 8th March. The aim of IWD is to raise awareness for gender equality and challenge stereotypes. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women across the world, both from the past and the present day. These can range from female leaders to pioneers in technology to the women in our everyday lives, like female friends, mothers and grandmothers.
We have two spotlight lists for IWD this month. Our ‘heroines’ list features stories with inspirational women and girls, chosen here for their bravery, conviction,and smarts. Our HERstory list features books about real women who have done amazing things throughout history in science, art, politics and society.
You can view both lists on our School Library Padlet.
There are loads of new books to choose form this month, particularly if you like a murder or a lol in your stories! Here’s some that we’re most excited to read this month.
A dark and twisty murder mystery – Ace of Spades meets Riverdale
Trapped in a mansion with a murderer and a family of liars – how would you survive? A mind-blowing thriller from the author of THIS BOOK KILLS, perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus.
Shocking twists, family secrets, a fish-out-of water protagonist and a page-turning mystery combine in Little White Lies and Deadly Little Scandals (The Debutantes Duology) – perfect for fans coming from THE INHERITANCE GAMES series looking for their next addictive read from the Master of YA Mysteries, Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
Loki’s third doodle-packed diary in the number one best-selling series.
The first book in the hilarious new seven-part highly-illustrated series for fans of Tom Gates, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the Treehouse series.
Lottie Brooks continues to navigate the many perils of growing up in this fantastically funny illustrated series, filled with friendship, embarrassing moments and plenty of lols.
Happy reading!