Please click into the individual blog post, as the links are currently missing on the library page, (formatting issue being investigated).
Welcome back to everyone after the summer break and to those just joining us. I hope you all had a restful time. There haven't been many entries for the summer holiday reading challenge yet, so we're keeping it open until 28th September. That will also give Yr7 a chance to enter too. Don't forget there is an Amazon voucher waiting for one of you. As a reminder, the challenge was to read or listen to at least 3 books all by different authors, using Sora. Then write a short (300-500 words) review of one of the 3 books with your recommendation as to why someone in your peer group would also enjoy reading it, and email it to us. You can illustrate your review if you wish.
For those new to the school, here is how to access our Sora library app. There is a link to the Sora app at the top of the sidebar here on the library page. Download the Sora app or explore in browser https://soraapp.com Enter the setup code uksecondary if asked, and sign in with your school Google login and email password. And in the meantime, here is a Getting Started video guide or there is a PDF version on the P drive in the P:LIBRARYSora folder.
This week's top tip is if there is a book you wish to read and can't find listed on Sora, then please let me know and I will ask them if it is possible to add. We may or may not be lucky as some publishers don't sell to libraries. However I have already successfully requested them to add I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan and Hidden Planet by Ben Rothery, two titles which I have mentioned in previous blog posts.
Now let me explain the books return procedure that we are following currently. So that books can be quarantined for 72 hours, there are 5 boxes in the library foyer, labelled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. When you bring back library books, please put them in the appropriate box according to which day of the week it is today. We are aware that there are quite a lot of books still to be returned from last school year. Please can we have these back as soon as possible, particularly those that were recommended by your teachers, as the students in the year below you, are now waiting for these books.
13th September is Roald Dahl Story Day, which is celebrated by fans worldwide. Do you have a favourite Roald Dahl title? Here are details of what has been lined up for this year's event. Plus the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden reopened yesterday following lockdown.
Roald Dahl is famous for his children’s' fiction, but did you know that he also wrote adult fiction, in particular over 60 short stories, including Tales of the Unexpected which was adapted into a TV series. These all tended to be very dark indeed.
Book Award news has continued over the summer. Waterstones selected Bearmouth by Liz Hyder as their best book for older readers and then this week it gained another award. This time it has won the 2020 Branford Boase Award for the year’s outstanding debut novel for young people.
And earlier this week, Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty was chosen as the winner of the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing. 16 year old Dara is the youngest ever winner of a major literary prize, which he wrote when he was just 15. His book is an extraordinary portrayal of his intense connection to the natural world alongside his perspective as an autistic teenager juggling exams, friendships and a life of campaigning.
There is a local Sutton competition to design a poster about Hate Crime, how it can be prevented, and how to report it.
Submit your historical fiction for a chance to win the 2020 Young Walter Scott Prize.
Fun Kids Radio have set you a challenge for change. What do you think we could change to create better and more sustainable communities?
There are always plenty of giveaways on the Book Trust website. I thought I would point out this one which is ending soon, to win 13 Alex Rider titles by Anthony Horowitz.
Today is the last day for you to vote for your favourite book in the Children's Book Awards. This is the only national book award voted for solely by young people from start to finish and you may see more details here.
Don't forget that we will happily accept all book-related contributions from students and staff to our blog. And please email us your suggestions for what you would like to see on our blog.
And following the photography competition from last term, we are awarding a house point for this fun reading photo. Well done!
Finally now for a bit of fun, we have a Star Trek themed wordsearch to share with you, to link in with Star Trek Day which was on 8 September. I created this wordsearch at puzzle-maker.com myself and you may wish to try making your own word searches or crosswords there.