Please click into the individual blog post, as the links are currently not visible on the library page, (formatting issue being investigated).
The Scholastic books are due to arrive in school later today, so your Scholastic book orders will be available for collection from the library on Monday.
For those of you who haven't tried the 'Click and Collect' service for the school library out yet, here is the link to our new library catalogue. Key in SUT, to search for our school. Books reserved before lunchtime, will be available for collection after school on the same day. If you don't see a book you are searching for listed, please let us know and we will consider adding it to our wishlist. Sora will continue to be available in parallel for those of you who prefer ebooks or audiobooks, plus it may offer a wider choice of titles to those on our shelves here.
And please may we remind you to return books to the Library lobby as soon as possible. There are still over 200 overdue books.
Fiction books are arranged in the library alphabetically by author's surname whilst non-fiction are arranged by classification. This week's top tip is how to search the library catalogue by a particular classification.
Click on Advanced Search. Then in the dropdown Field menu, select Class and in the dropdown Operator menu, select Equal To. And key in the classification number in the Value field. So in this example, I have chosen 330, the economics classification.
Then click the Add button, followed by the Search button.
We welcomed new members to our book club for Carnegie Shadowing this week and we enjoyed watching a video, where the authors shared what made them become a writer. It's not too late if anyone else would like to join the group. We meet in the library after school on Wednesdays for 30 minutes.
Book Spotlight!
This week is Walk to School Week and May is National Walking Month, so for this week's Book Spotlight, I've chosen Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds, which is a series of 10 linked short stories set on the walk home from school. It is one of the books shortlisted for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal, so we are looking at this book in our Shadowing group. You may see the Carnegie resources for this title here and watch an interview with the author or listen to a podcast featuring him, from about 32 minutes in.
On this theme, Collins have a National Walking Month competition to win a bundle of walking and i-spy books.
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Earlier this week on 17 May it was the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. To celebrate the occasion, Sutton Council has unveiled the UK's first transgender crossing outside Asda, painted in the colours of the transgender flag.
We have a selection of inclusive reads here in the school library and I will mention a few. There are also a choice of titles available to borrow online via either Sora or LLC.
Trans Teen Survival Guide by Owl and Fox Fisher This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson What is Gender? How Does It Define Us? And Other Big Questions for Kids by Juno Dawson The Gender Games by Juno Dawson
And for a wider range, there are plenty of specialised collections throughout the UK, such as those at the University of Reading and LSE.
The winners have now been announced for the British Book of the Year Awards. There are lots of categories, so I'll just highlight a few. You may recognise some of them from previous book prizes mentioned in earlier blog posts. For each category, you can also view the other shortlisted titles.
Children's Fiction - The Highland Falcon Thief by M G Leonard & Sam Sedgman Children's Non Fiction - Black and British by David Olusoga Pageturner - Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Non Fiction Narrative- Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty Crime and Thriller - Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (pseudonym of J K Rowling)
And the overall Book of the Year winner is Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
And there has been plenty other book award news this week. Firstly the Indie Book Awards shortlist has been released, with 6 titles in each of 4 categories.
And the delayed Kelpies Prize For Writing 2020 has been won by Jude Reid. You may read an extract from her title The Nighthouse Keepers, a book to watch out for once it gets published.
Boy Everywhere by A.M. Dassau has won the Crystal Kite Award for the UK and Ireland area. This is awarded by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
What I'm reading listening to this week!
This week I chose to listen to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I selected this title for Mental Health Awareness Week because the protagonist, 15 year old Christopher is autistic. I also listened to The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket, which is the first title in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I borrowed these audiobooks via LLC, but we have copies of both titles here in the school library. I highly recommend both these titles. What have you read recently? How about posting a review of your latest book on Reading Cloud.
Now for a round-up of some other ideas, resources and articles.
A new virtual book club is being launched on 7 June. This is the National Teen Book Club for those aged 14 - 19. Sessions will take place weekly at 3.30pm, but on different days each week. The first book is Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle.
You may catch up with the latest news from Michael Morpurgo in his video.
There is a design competition here to submit a piece of visual art reimagining a more sustainable future and an ocean free from plastic pollutants.
The Hay Book Festival kicks off with the Schools Programme next week shortly followed by the Main Programme. All sessions can be caught up later, but some from the Main programme may then become chargeable. Every session on the senior Schools Programme sounds excellent with 9 authors including Liz Hyder, Patrick Ness, Manjeet Mann and Robert Muchamore. I am also highlighting a couple from the Main Programme as follows.
Jonathan Stroud will be talking about his latest book The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne on 2 June. And Michelle Paver will be introducing her latest book in the Wolf Brother series, Skin Taker on 3 June.
BritSciFi was last weekend and if you are interested, you may catch up with the sessions on YouTube. BritSciFi is a celebration of iconic science fiction films, TV programmes, books, comics, games and art.
For those of you who haven't logged into Sora yet, here is a reminder of how to borrow library ebooks via Sora. But if you are having any difficulties accessing Sora, then I will be happy to help you.
There is a link to the Sora app on the pupil page of the school website or 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, select Sutton Grammar School 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:\LIBRARY\Sora folder.
This week's puzzle is a crossword with clues related to historical London, mainly fictional to tie in with May being Local and Community History Month.
Crossword created at puzzle-maker.com