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I hope you all had a restful half term. We are now approaching a big day in the library calendar. Next Thursday, 4 March will be World Book Day, when you will all be receiving a £1 voucher for a free book. Here is a preview of some of the choices of books available. I plan to publish next week's blog post early, with World Book Day being the main focus.
Congratulations to Mr Shergold whose story 'This Time It'll Be Different' made the longlist in February's Furious Fiction international competition. He had to write 500 words in less than 55 hours. ‘Flash Fiction’ is a house challenge that we are considering running at SGS in the future.
As mentioned before half-term, February is LGBT+ History month, celebrating achievements and diversity of LGBT+ people and raising awareness and combating prejudice against the LGBT+ community.
LGBT Youth Scotland have created a resource to take a world tour ‘visiting’ LGBTI historical sites and monuments using Google Maps. I have saved a copy of this on the P Drive in the P:\LIBRARY\LGBT+ History Month folder.
The Young Poets Network asked some Foyle Young Poets to share their LGBT+ poet heroes. So I'll mention one of mine, namely war poet Wilfred Owen whose Complete Works are available to borrow from Sora.
Book Spotlight!
Toppsta have curated a booklist for LGBT History Month, including the book I have selected for this week's Book Spotlight. This should appeal to Lower School students. Published earlier this month, Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow by LGBT author Benjamin Dean has been chosen as one of Waterstones Books of the Month for February.
You may enjoy watching a YouTube video of Benjamin Dean being interviewed by Anna James on series 2 of The Bookwanderers Club. The video includes him reading the first couple of pages of Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow and giving a writing prompt for you to write your own story. This episode of The Bookwanderers Club also includes interviews with authors Liz Pichon and Helen Rutter, and a new episode is released every other Friday.
Or you can watch him read the whole of the first chapter on Moon Lane TV, the Children's Book Channel. Moon Lane TV is worth checking out for videos with other authors including Adam Barron, A M Dassau and Ross Welford. And if you prefer reading it yourself, there is a preview of the book available to read on Amazon.
Here is the author's reaction to his book being chosen as Book of the Month. And author Benjamin Dean recommends his choice of top LGBTQ+ books and shares his reasons for writing.
This book also features on a booklist of LGBT+ Fiction for Children and Young Adults, recommended by Redbridge Schools Library Service for LGBT+ History Month. I've saved a copy of this list on the P Drive in the P:\LIBRARY\LGBT+ History Month folder. Plus it is on a similar list from the Scottish Book Trust.
This week is Empathy Week and this year's theme is resilience and diversity. Empathy Lab have chosen their 2021 Read For Empathy book collection which includes 20 titles for 12-16 year olds. Empathy is our ability to understand and share someone else’s feelings, a skill which we can develop when we are identifying with book characters. So reading any of these titles will help to build your empathy. We have saved a copy of the guide for the secondary collection on the P Drive in the P:\Library folder.
I'm highlighting a few of the titles which are available to borrow online from either Sora or LLC. The link for Sora is https://soraapp.com/
I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman (Sora) On The Come Up by Angie Thomas (Sora) Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story by Sue Cheung (Sora) Scavengers by Darren Simpson (LLC) When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (LLC) The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II by Michael Rosen (LLC)
There is also a series of free Empathy webinars next week for students aged 13+.
The Paisley Book Festival commenced during half term and they have made a selection of 8 videos from participating authors on the theme of Radical New Futures available to schools free for six weeks. I was watching one by Ellie McNicoll, author of A Kind of Spark. talking about Empathy, so very topical this week.
The longlist has now been announced for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal. 20 titles from which 10 will be selected for the shortlist next month. You may notice that some of them also feature on the Empathy collection above. At that point, the schools shadowing scheme commences where young people get the chance to read and vote on their choice for the winning book. Do email us if you would like SGS to get involved in the shadowing scheme for 2021. Obviously it may depend on whether the books which get shortlisted appeal to you. There will be lots of resources and promotional materials to support the books on the shortlist. I've highlighted below those which are available to borrow online from either Sora or LLC.
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (LLC) And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando (LLC) On Midnight Beach by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick (LLC) Burn by Patrick Ness (LLC) Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Sora) In the Key of Code by Aimee Lucido (Sora) Furious Thing by Jenny Downham (LLC) Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (LLC) Run Rebel by Manjeet Mann (LLC) Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk (LLC) Somebody Give This Heart a Pen by Sophia Thakur (LLC)
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Now for a quick round-up of a few other ideas, resources and articles.
Here's a topical riddle from Lisa Thompson, author of The Boy Who Fooled The World, (available on Sora). Her latest title The Graveyard Riddle was published last month. I have hundreds of leaves but I am not a tree. I have a spine but I’m not an animal. What am I?
If you don't know the answer, you may check here, plus see some more of her riddles. Email us if you have a riddle you would like to share on the library blog.
This week's author of the week on the National Literary Trust's Virtual School Library is Dominique Valente. The resources include daily instalments for you to listen to from the audiobook of Starfell: Willow Moss and the Lost Day. This title is also available to borrow from LLC.
This week marked the 200th anniversary of the death of poet John Keats aged just 25. The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association have two writing competitions open to those age 16-18, one poetry and the other an essay. The Complete Works of John Keats is available to borrow online from Sora.
The National Poetry Library has launched a competition to celebrate the theme of New Beginnings following a year of fear and confusion.
You may win a copy of Fearne Cotton's Your Mood Journal in a Book Trust giveaway.
Although Michael Morpurgo Month is drawing to a close, there is still plenty of time to submit your book reviews for an opportunity of winning a virtual book event with Sir Michael Morpurgo at SGS. Entries can be submitted until 4 April.
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, or if you wish to be involved with a podcast book chat or one of our Reading Groups. In particular, as regards the podcasts, we would love to hear if you have any ideas or editorial experience you wish to tell us about.
Lastly to get you in the mood ready for World Book Day next week, and in line with the theme of Jenny Pearson’s upcoming title The Incredible Record Smashers (due to be published in April), how about attempting a book-related Guinness World Record® like making the longest book domino line.
Jenny Pearson is also the author of The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates which is available to borrow with no holds on Sora. Plus email us your World Book Day photographs or videos by 15 March and we will award a housepoint each to our favourites.