The Carnegie Book Award 2016 shadowing takes off!

Carnegie group 2016The Carnegie Book Award Shortlist 2016 has been announced and our Y9 shadowing group members have collected their first books to read over the Easter holidays. It’s a fantastic shortlist this year including ‘The Lie Tree’ by Frances Hardinge; Costa Book of the Year 2015 and much praised and recommended by both librarians here. I thought ‘One’ was amazing and Sarah Crossan’s trademark style of writing in blank verse works well with the subject matter. Tipi and Grace are conjoined teenage twins and each chapter conveys a poetic snapshot of their life.

Read more about the shortlists here  You can watch author and illustrator videos here

Guardian reviews of all the books can be found here

Having multiple copies of the shortlisted books enables a large group of students to read the books simultaneously and provokes heated discussions about the merits and drawbacks of all of them. After the award process is over they become useful sets of contemporary fiction which can be read by tutor groups.

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The 8 shortlisted books are:

One by Sarah Crossan

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

World Book Day – 3rd March 2016 – Drop Everything and Read!

World Book Day 3rd March

Next week is a celebratory time for books and reading. Thursday 3rd March is World Book Day and to demonstrate our commitment to reading across the whole school we are running a D.E.A.R. – Drop Everything and Read event. Where possible we are hoping that all staff, including non-teaching staff, and students will stop what they are doing and read a book for sheer enjoyment at the start of lesson 3 on Thursday. So this will be 20 minutes of engrossed silence from 11.15am! All staff and students are welcome to come to the Library at break to stock up on refreshments and choose books or magazines to read. It is wonderful to see people of all ages enjoying reading and provides an opportunity to share favourites and make reading recommendations. For exam sets, teachers may provide subject specific articles or chapters of books for the whole group to read and discuss afterwards – an opportunity for students to be inspired and challenged in a more curriculum-related way. We have The New Scientist Archive Online as well as The Economist, New York Times, History Today, Philosophy Now and Cambridge Companions Online to name but a selection of our electronic resources which enable whole classes to read the same material simultaneously.

Parents, why not talk to your children about what they are reading at the moment and share your favourites with them? If you are looking for suggestions for Y9 –Y11 the Carnegie Book Award longlist has just been announced and includes some impressive contemporary fiction (many of which we have in the Library)

On Friday 4th March the Y9 are in for a literary treat. They are hearing two author talks in the theatre. Wellington English teacher, Virginia Macgregor has recently had her second novel published – The astonishing return of Norah Wells and will be talking to the students about her inspiration for her books and her writing process. Award-winning young adult novelist, Marcus Sedgwick will also be joining us and discussing his books and writing. Y9 read his novel ‘Revolver’ in the summer prior to arriving at Wellington. There will be plenty of opportunity for the students to ask questions.

Happy reading!

More young people are reading for pleasure – Don’t forget the impact of school librarians!

The National Literacy Trust questioned 32,000 pupils aged eight to 18 and  the survey suggests ‘enjoyment and frequency of reading are both at their highest levels for nine years’ (BBC News)

This is such positive news and it’s encouraging to see that the press have picked it up. I heard Jonathan Douglas of the National Literacy Trust talking about the report on Radio 5 Live yesterday morning. It was a very brief interview but he highlighted the fact that they’d included questions on digital reading in the survey this time. He mentioned that it is as important for children to be able to read emails as it is for them to read Jane Austen today.

My only gripe is the lack of mention of school librarians and school libraries in the press coverage. As school librarians we are passionate about inspiring young people to read for pleasure and promote an enthusiastic reading culture in our schools – whether it be fiction or popular science, biography, history – you name it we encourage it! Key to enthusing children and young people to read is allowing them the freedom to choose their own reading material and not be judgemental. I only hope this report doesn’t bring in its wake articles criticising children’s reading choices. As adults we don’t all read weighty classics all of the time!

School librarians are experts in books for children and young adults. We read as many books as possible, keep up with the latest releases through The Bookseller, School Librarian publication and the press. Film tie-ins are hugely popular with our pupils and we make sure we stock these. We offer e-books which can be read on pupils’ phones and other mobile devices so that they need never be without a good book in the holidays.

As the report acknowledges, reading initiatives are a great way of inspiring children. The Summer Reading Challenge in UK public libraries engages younger children in particular and teenagers as ‘reading activists’. In our school Shadowing the Carnegie Book Award gets pupils reading the same 8 shortlisted novels and heated debates occur over there responses to the books. Although the survey found that boys are reading less than girls in our school the boys  often appear to be keener to share their reading and ask for book recommendations. Our breaktime ‘Book Chat’ book club is frequently boys only although a few girls are starting to come along.

scholars 2015

Parents can help too by reading with their children but also as reading role-models – sharing their book choices and reading with their children.

Press coverage of the children’s reading habits survey.

It’s interesting to see the way the different newspapers and news websites emphasise different aspects of the report:

The BBC reports that ‘Increasing numbers of UK schoolchildren are choosing to read in their spare time, with six in 10 having a favourite work of fiction, research suggests’

BBC News More pupils than “reading for pleasure” Useful summary of the survey findings in this report.

The Guardian headline focuses on digital media ‘girls like digital media while boys prefer print

The Telegraph reports that  Girls ‘are reading more than boys,’ boosted by ‘Twilight effect’ ….’novels like Twilight make reading “cool” for girls, new research shows

Carnegie Book Award Shadowing is underway!

carnegie shortlist 2015

CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015 shortlist:

  • Apple and rain by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)
  • When Mr Dog bites by Brian Conaghan (Bloomsbury)
  • More than this by Patrick Ness (Walker Books)
  • Buffalo soldier by Tanya Landman (Walker Books)
  • Tinder by Sally Gardner (Orion Children’s Books)
  • Cuckoo song by Frances Hardinge (Pan Macmillan)
  • The fastest boy in the world by Elizabeth Laird (Pan Macmillan)
  • The middle of nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean (Usborne Books)

This year’s beautifully colour-coordinated collection of shortlisted books have arrived! We discussed them with Book Chat club on Wednesday and they chose to start reading The Fastest Boy in the World and When Mr Dog Bites first. We have multiple copies of the books and are hoping to shadow the prize with a number of 3rd form tutor groups. 5 of the titles are also available as e-books. Are you up for the challenge of reading all 8 over the Easter holidays? If this is too much you have until 22nd June to read them and choose your winner!

carnegie 2015

On Monday 23rd March the Y9 Scholars and Exhibitioners started their shadowing. They enthusiastically chose shortlisted titles to read over the Easter holidays.

WC Advertising – Carnegie Book Openings

I’m constantly trying to spread the word about great new books in the library and I hit upon free advertising space in the ladies’ loos. To promote shortlisted Carnegie titles we created laminated A4 posters displaying the book cover image and the opening page. These were placed on the toilet doors. Apart from brightening up the place they have had the desired effect of directing people to the library to borrow the books, intrigued to know more.  I am ridiculously pleased that three copies of ‘Rooftoppers’ and two of ‘Blood Family’ have been borrowed by our wonderful support staff.   A number of staff have commented on how much they like the idea and enjoy reading about books they wouldn’t normally discover. Two 6th form girls have borrowed the books too having read the opening pages. No sign of any men borrowing these books yet although my male helpers insist they did put the posters up in the mens!

Teaching and support staff  get ready for the Summer YA Challenge – more information soon.

Pupils get ready for more book openings on toilet doors and a brilliant summer read coming your way.

I’m already looking forward to National Poetry Day on 2nd October 2014 so we can do ‘WC Poetry’!

all the truth openingrooftoppersbunker opening

Y9 Carnegie Book Award Shadowing Update

Carnegie Book Prize – 3rd form reading and reviewing

Mrs Lunnon challenged her 3rd form English class to read all 8 shortlisted Carnegie Book Award titles over the Easter break and very impressively Mira, Anna and Ella succeeded. All of the pupils read a variety of the books and it was lovely to see the class writing reviews and discussing their opinions of these books in the Library this morning.

carnegie discussionsHere are some of their comments on ‘All the Truth that’s in me’ by Julie Berry which has proved a popular story.

Anna: This was a quite disturbing read and I wouldn’t recommend it if you are afraid of gore. The story is set in a peaceful village when a young girl returns home at the age of 18 after an awful trauma, two years ago she was kidnapped, her best friend was killed and her tongue was severed. Because the loss of her tongue she can’t explain what happened to her. It’s dark and depressing however, its language is lyrical, it has a good mystery and a compelling heroine. I really enjoyed this book.

Francesca: I really enjoyed ‘All the truth that’s in me’.  Julie Berry uses such an unusual and unique style of writing to describe a young girl’s return to her hometown following her kidnapping which really engages and intrigues the reader. I found there to be continuous twists and unpredicted points throughout the novel, and would definitely recommend it.

Edie: It has a thrilling plot, and is highly original. Although it can be extremely dark and sinister (maybe too much for some people), I would definitely recommend it.

Lucy Atherton: The Carnegie Award judges books on 3 criteria – style, characterisation and plot and I would say this book excelled at them all. A thrilling read which unravels details tantalisingly slowly.

Read more of the 3rd form reviews on the Carnegie Shadowing website

Watch a video of the author Julie Berry talking about writing the book and giving advice to young writers.

 

Carnegie Book Award Shortlist 2014

carnegie covers 2 2014

The eagerly awaited Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2014 was announced on Tuesday 18th March. This annual book prize is awarded to the writer of an outstanding children’s book. Schools around the UK and the rest of the world shadow this prize – by reading and discussing the 8 books and voting for their favourites. A panel of school librarian judges make the final decision. We will be joining in – with groups of 3rd form pupils reading the shortlist. A number of the books are well-suited to 4th and 5th form too, so do encourage your children to choose some exciting, well-written and compelling fiction for the Easter holidays. Here’s a BBC News article on this year’s prize.

Watch clips of all the authors talking about their books here.

We also have the Kate Greenaway Medal picture book shortlist in library stock.

‘The Kate Greenaway Medal was established in 1955, for distinguished illustration in a book for children. It is named after the popular nineteenth century artist known for her fine children’s illustrations and designs.The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. The winner receives a golden medal and £500 worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.’ (http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway/)

These beautifully illustrated and often very humorous picture books make a great addition to our stock for young children. We very much enjoy our visits from the staff babies and toddlers and on Wednesday afternoons a group of pupils read the picture books to the children as their service activity.

carnegie covers 2014

 

Carnegie Book Prize Shadowing 2013

The Carnegie Shortlist for 2013 was announced in April and reading is underway. Join in the book chat and pick up one of the 8 shortlisted titles from the Library today! The winner is announced on 19th June.

Click on the pinterest board to view the shortlisted books.

Mrs Lunnon’s 3rd form class are shadowing the prize and all read one of the books over the Easter holiday. They have named their group “Giveitsomewelly” and have started adding their reviews to the Shadowing page. Ms Williamson’s 4th form tutor group are about to embark on the books.

Join in the debate – which is your favourite? What do you think of the shortlist?

You can tweet your comments/feedback on the books using the hashtag #ckg13

Any 3rd form who would like to join a Library Shadowing group come to a meeting at morning break tomorrow (Friday 19th).

Biscuits and drinks provided!

To get a flavour of the Books look at the book trailers on youtube:

Wonder trailer | Maggot Moon |In Darkness | Code Name Verity

Interview with Roddy Doyle about his book “Greyhound of a Girl”

 

 

 

 

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