Author Archives: wellingtonlibrary

Two big Book Prize announcements this week – The Baillie Gifford Book Award (Non-Fiction) and the Costa Book Award Shortlists

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Baillie Gifford Book Award Winner Announced!

On 24th November the most prestigious award for non-fiction in the UK announced its 2020 winner. The shortlist was very strong and varied but Craig Brown triumphed with his work on the Beatles. The judges praised the biography as ‘innovative and experimental’.

One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time

One Two Three Four traces the chance fusion of the four key elements that made up The Beatles: fire (John), water (Paul), air (George) and earth (Ringo). It also tells the bizarre and often unfortunate tales of the disparate and colourful people within their orbit, among them Fred Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Maharishi, Aunt Mimi, Helen Shapiro, the con artist Magic Alex, Phil Spector, their psychedelic dentist John Riley and their failed nemesis, Det Sgt Norman Pilcher.

From the bestselling author of Ma’am Darling comes a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories. One Two Three Four joyfully echoes the frenetic hurly-burly of an era.

 

The 2020 shortlist is:

 

Costa Book Award 2020

On the same day, the Costa Book Award Shortlists were announced. These are for the categories – novel, first novel, biography, children’s and poetry and provide an interesting range of outstanding books published this year to explore. Why not pick up some great suggestions for Christmas holiday reading?

  • Category Winners announced: Monday 4th January 2021
  • Costa Book of the Year announced: Tuesday 26th January 2021

The Costa Book Awards started in 2006 (formerly the Whitbread Book Award from 1971). Have a look at the list of fantastic books which have been shortlisted and won over the history of the  Costa prize

Douglas Stuart wins the Booker Prize with ‘Shuggie Bain’

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Thursday 19th November 2020 The Booker Prize Winner was announced.

I was delighted to see that this year’s winner was  Douglas Stuart with his incredible debut novel ‘Shuggie Bain’.

We read this novel for the Wellington College Community Book Club and had a fascinating discussion about it. I was, at first, quite reluctant to read such a harrowing and gritty novel set in grinding poverty, hunger and unemployment in Glasgow in the 1980s. However, I’m very glad I did as it was a poignant, touching and beautifully written story of a young boy’s relationship with his mother who was struggling with alcoholism. Shuggie is a a remarkable boy who we travel with as he grows from 5 year old to teenager – fiercely loyal to his mother Agnes. This is a novel which transports the reader to that time and place and once read is never to be forgotten.

20th November 2020: Here are a selection of the latest book reviews and recommendations from the 3rd form:

Factfulness by Hans Rosling (recommended by Harry G)

It is a great book but does seem to drag on a bit with the same idea all the way through but  still a great book and very interesting and really made me think.

Geek Girl by Holly Smale (Lydia R)

I loved this book and how inspiring and interesting it was.

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (Theo B)

A very emotional book which covers a lot of modern problems

The Territory by Sarah Govett

(Alexander C) The book was very emotional and moving and had all the right things to keep you interested throughout the book.

and another 5 star review for The Territory:

A unique book, the first one I have read that is in a diary form. It has interesting plot development. Even though it has a diary like form, it has great scenery description and also because it is in a diary form, the story was told from one person only, keeping the readers guessing for what the other characters are thinking.

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah  (Nina G)

I rate this book 5 stars. It was very well written as it was based off a little boy struggling in a new country alone. It made me think about my life and how different it could be. It was quite an emotional book and my thoughts on all the characters changed constantly.

Modern re-tellings of the Greek and Roman myths

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Great books – not just for Classicists

This week’s book recommendations focus on the many enthralling re-tellings of Ancient Greek and Roman myths. Have a look at the Library padlet for a wide selection of novels which read like thrillers set in the Ancient World. Natalie Haynes, Madeline Miller and Pat Barker have written powerful and moving versions of the Trojan War and Greek Myths from the point of view of the women whose voices are not normally heard and Emily Wilson created a groundbreaking translation of The Odyssey in 2017 challenging the traditional male focused translations which have gone before. Robert Harris brings the political intrigue of the Roman world to life in his gripping Cicero trilogy – Lustrum, Imperium and Dictator. These are excellent books to broaden students of Classics knowledge of the time, history and personalities but they are exciting and satisfying reads for the interested general reader.

And of course Donna Tartt’s brilliant ‘The Secret History’ is not to be missed.

Additional suggestions welcome!

Here’s an interesting article on LitHub – 10 brilliant retellings of Classical Myths by Female Writers

 

Royal Society Book Prize Shortlist 2020 – winner announced

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Winner Announcement

On Tuesday 3rd November the Royal Society held a fascinating live streamed event discussing the importance of popular, accessible science writing which was followed by the winner of the Royal Society Insight Investment Book Prize announcement. This year’s prize was won by Dr Camilla Pang for her book ‘Explaining Humans’

Subtitled – ‘What science can teach us about life, love and relationships.

Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of eight, Dr Camilla Pang struggled to understand the world around her. Desperate for a solution, Camilla asked her mother if there was an instruction manual for humans that she could consult. But, without the blueprint to life she was hoping for, Camilla began to create her own. Now armed with a PhD in biochemistry, Camilla dismantles our obscure social customs and identifies what it really means to be human using her unique expertise and a language she knows best: science.

We are continuing to read and promote the shortlist. Our Academic Support staff are reading ‘Explaining Humans’, a keen Physicist in Y11 is reading ‘The world according to Physics’, I’m thoroughly gripped by Susannah Cahalan’s ‘The Great Pretender’ and our Psychology staff and 6th formers are reading it too. Our Head of Economics read ‘The Double X Economy’ over half-term and wrote that ‘ it made me quite sad, as there are so many distressing stories about women. But equally it is so important that we are aware of what is going on, so I would definitely recommend it’. A biology teacher is reading Gaia Vince’s ‘Transcendence’ so I’m looking forward to hearing feedback on that book too.

9th October 2020 update. Our copies of the Shortlisted books have just arrived and we have an eye-catching display in the library. 5th and 6th form Scientists (and interested others!) are encouraged to borrow a copy and read it over the half-term break. Science Society will be leading this and we look forward to some lively discussions of the shortlisted books. I’m going to start with ‘The Great Pretender’ by Susannah Cahalan. Review here

We have e-books of 3 of the titles on our VLeBooks platform.

The Royal Society Science Book Prize Shortlist for 2020 has just been announced. As in previous years we are looking forward to reading the 6 shortlisted books with Science Society and other interested 6th formers.  The books are billed as ‘representing the very best in popular science writing from around the world for a non-specialist audience’.  From past experience the books are engaging, fascinating and informative and have enthused our students to extend their reading in academic subjects. As well as Physics and Biology being represented this year there is a book of interest to Economists – ‘The Double X Economy’ by Linda Scott. This book is considered ‘the first book to demonstrate the true impact of women’s economic exclusion – and map out the exciting potential for change. Psychology students and the curious general reader can explore ‘The Great Pretender’ by Susannah Cahalan which uses detective work to explore the famous 1973 Stanford study of psychiatric hospitals. She asks the questions ‘what if that ground-breaking and now-famous experiment was itself deeply flawed? And what does that mean for our understanding of mental illness today?’

We have e-books of ‘The Double X Economy’ by Linda Scott and ‘The world according to Physics’ by Jim Al-Khalili and ‘The Great Pretender’ by Susannah Cahalan on our VLeBooks platform which can be read immediately. ‘Explaining Humans’ by Dr Camila Pang and ‘The Body’ by Bill Bryson are already available in print form from the library.

You can view all the past winners here  Many of them are available to borrow from the Library.

The winner will be announced on 3rd November 2020. We look forward to our discussion meeting where students have the opportunity to champion the book they read if they feel it is a strong contended for the prize.

October is Black History Month in the UK: Dig deeper, look closer, think bigger.

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Thursday saw the start of October and with it the beginning of Black History Month. Google marked this with a Google Doodle celebrating the life of Ignatius Sancho Born on a slave ship, he was a former slave who advocated for abolition through letter-writing. He became a writer, composer, business owner and the first person of African descent to cast a vote in a British general election.

This week’s Library News Digest on Wakelet includes a wealth of articles, podcasts, documentaries and audiobooks by and about inspirational Black people:

Don’t miss the Black History Timeline display in Back Quad and the display of books in the library. Have a browse of the book recommendations on the Library padlets: Black Voices  and Fighting Racism

Wellington College Big Summer Read 2020

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We are eagerly anticipating our first ever whole school Reading Week from 15th – 19th June 2020.

We have chosen a fascinating and thought-provoking book as our Big Summer Read and are encouraging all students, staff and parents to read it and discuss it. The reading will start in the penultimate week of term when everyone will be expected to read daily and there will be a range of book related activities connected to the book. Reading will be completed over the summer holidays with follow up discussions, events and activities in September.

Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

An apt and positive book for the current times, subtitled ‘Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think’. Factfulness challenges all our assumptions about the world and includes fascinating and honest anecdotes about Rosling’s life as a doctor in rural Africa. Test yourself with the 13 question quiz at the front of the book – how much do you know about the world? The book is relevant to so many subjects – politics, geography, health and medicine, international development, economics, global citizenship and maths but is also very readable and engaging.

Hans Rosling co-founded gapminder to help people understand world health and development. Have a look at Rosling’s famous TED Talks, HERE He was a unique character with a passion for sword-swallowing in his spare time!

To order your copy:

If you’d like to help support independent bookshops you can order online from:

hive.co.uk   £9.09 for the paperback or £4.99 for an ebook (epub) version for immediate download

£8.99 paperback from Waterstones

 

 

Graphic novels for History

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One of the joys of being a school librarian is chatting to staff and students about books and hearing their latest recommendations. I was particularly happy to find out that one of our Y11 girls had discovered the wonders of graphic novels to support her History GCSE course. She was eagerly broadening her knowledge of  the history topics in the course in a quick and accessible way. The book which started this process was Marcelino Truong’s biographical graphic novel set in Vietnam ‘Such a lovely little War: Saigon 1961 – 1963’ and the sequel ‘Saigon Calling: London 1963-75’. This beautiful, gripping graphic memoir tells the story of Marco, the son of a Vietnamese diplomat and a his French wife, during the early years of the Vietnam War. They are visually stunning books and emotionally involving as the reader learns of the details of family life as well as the impact and events of the war closing in.
We’ve built up a diverse collection of graphic novels and particularly focused on historical events and biographies.

Here are a few suggestions:

March (3 Books) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. ‘With March, Congressman John Lewis takes us behind the scenes of some of the most pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. In graphic novel form, his first-hand account makes thiese historic events both accessible and relevant to an entire new generation… LeVar Burton

Maus (Book l and ll) by Art Spiegelman. Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel – the moving narrative of the Holocaust portraying Spiegelman’s father’s experiences of the Holocaust.

The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf ( 3 books)  This is a graphic memoir of a childhood in the Middle East, 1978 – 1984, Book 2 1984-1985 and Book 3 1985 – 1987). Riad Sattouf is a bestselling cartoonist who grew up in Syria and Libya. These books are funny, sad and brilliantly observed.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi ‘The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandaughter of Iran’s last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. This is a beautiful and intimate story full of tragedy and humour – raw, honest and incredibly illuminating.’

How to understand Israel in 60 days of less by Sarah Glidden

Malcolm X a graphic biography by Andrew Helfer and Randy DuBurke

Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by David Polonsky Published in 2018 this is the first graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s Diary.

Trinity : a graphic history of the first atomic bomb : graphic novel by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Nat Turner : graphic novel by Kyle Baker

Safe area Gorazde : the war in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-95 : graphic novel by Joe Sacco

Gettysburg – the graphic novel written and illustrated by C.M. Butler

 

Little White Duck – A Childhood in China by Na Liu and Andres Vera Martinez

Marzi – A memoir by Marzena Sowa. Told from a young gir’s viewpoint ‘Marzi’ is a coming-of-age story which portrays the tough life behind the Iron Curtain whilst exploring the daily life of an ordinary girl in turbulent times.

The Battle of the Bulge by Wayne Vansant. A graphic history of the Allied victory in teh Adrenne, 1944 – 1945.

Che: A graphic biography by Spain Rodriguez.

Line of Fire: Diary of an unknown soldier by Barroux. Introduced by Michael Morpurgo

Trotsky: A graphic biography by Rick Geary

Barefoot Gen Volume 1 A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima by Keiji Nakazawa

Barefoot Gen – The Day After Volume ll by Keiji Nakazawa

The Last day in Vietnam by Will Eisner.  This fictional memoir, drew on Eisner’s time in Korea and Vietnam involved with  military service.

Castro – A graphic novel by Reinhard Kleist

Don’t forget we also have a recently established collection of Historical Fiction in the History Department to provide another source of enjoyable and informative history themed reading.

We have other non-fiction graphic novels too:

Economics:

  • Economix – How our Economy works (and doesn’t work) in words and pictures by Michael Goodwin, illustrated by Dan E. Burr

Art:

  • Basquiat – Script by Julian Voloj, illustrations by Soren Mosdal

Science:

  • Radioactive – Marie & Pierre Curie: A tale of love and fallout by Lauren Redniss.
  • Feynman by Ottaviani & Myrick

 

 

Y9 Research Skills Course – information and digital literacy skills to support project-based learning

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Background

In 2016  we moved away from a curriculum focused heavily on content to a more skills based approach in Y9. With greater emphasis placed on developing independent learners throughout their school career from Y9 to Y13, I put a proposal to my line manager, Deputy Head Academic, to plan a short research skills course for all our Y9 students, led by the professional librarians. The aim was to teach them information and digital literacy skills to support the enquiry-based projects they would be undertaking throughout the year. This was also intended to lay the foundations for the research skills needed for the HPQ (Higher Project Qualification), EPQ (Extended Project Qualifitcation) and Extended Essay of the International Baccalaureate, higher up the school. The lessons are taught in groups of around 15 – 16 students and and are very interactive.

These skills are essential for life beyond the classroom and projects and coursework. It is crucial for the whole of society to be digitally and media literate. Universities and schools are important drivers in developing students’ digital capabilities. The JISC Digital Capabilities Model is very instructive in this area and includes 6 elements: 1. ICT proficiency, 2. Digital communication, collaboration and participation 3. Digital learning and development 4. Information, data and media literacies 5. Digital creation, problem solving and innovation 6. Digital identity and wellbeing.

Digital capabilities framework, ©Jisc, CC BY-NC-ND

(https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/building-digital-capability)

The JCS Conference 2019 – Digital Literacy in Schools: building capabilities provided librarians and teachers with a wealth of information and discussion on this subject and you can explore the presentations here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson 1 (Discovery and search skills) – 55 minutes

  • Learn how to use the library catalogue – look for and find a book in the library
  • Interactive ‘Research Race’ in teams
  • Exploring aspects of the AccessIT catalogue (Reading lists, reservations, loan history etc)
  • Accessing our e-book platform – Browns Books for Students VLeBooks

Lesson 2 (Evaluation) – 55 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Evaluating information – thinking critically.
  • Authentic and fake websites: Looking at information on websites. (Disclaimer, About Us, FAQS, Legal, domain names. Using the C.R.A.A.P test to evaluate sources). There are so many models for evaluating sources and although the C.R.A.A.P test isn’t perfect the students do find it memorable and a useful checklist).
  • Discussion of newspaper bias/advertorials/Opinion pieces etc
  • Card sort game
    – pros and cons and characteristics of different sources
  • Exploring the e-Library resources

My thanks to the librarians at Middlesex University for sharing this excellent idea.  They have developed a wide range of hands-on activities which form useful bases for discussion and group work. All their resources are found here:

http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/MDXGames

 

We’ve had some interesting discussions about what a parody is and the meaning of the word ‘veracity’. It’s interesting to observe that the students are not as proficient at spotting fake websites as they assume they are. We emphasized the need to cross-check information elsewhere and to critically evaluate information not simply go on a gut feeling about a website or source.

Lesson 3 (Academic Honesty and Referencing) – 55 minutes

  • What is plagiarism? What is Academic Honesty?
  • Referencing your sources
  • Discussion of academic honesty and avoiding plagiarism.
  • How and why to cite sources.
  • Using Word to generate Bibliography and references.
  • Showing students that many online resources provide the citation for them to import into the Bibliography.

For this final lesson we have found the Newcastle University Study Skills for 6th Form website very useful – we’ve run the plagiarism quiz and video with our classes and found it very accessible and fun for the younger year groups.

After the research skills course the Y9 students use study periods known as ‘Lab Time’ to research and write 3 mini projects relating to History, Science, Art, English and Geography. There is a large element of choice in these projects so that the students can explore topics that interest them. This is also an opportunity to use the digital resources on our extensive e-Library to research the projects as well as the library printed book stock and magazines and journals.

In Y10 and Y11 all our students undertake the HPQ (Higher Project Qualification) which develops independent study skills further and the librarians support this research with refresher workshops on the e-Library resources and how to find  relevant books and articles.

We are working on greater analysis of the impact of this course but we have noticed a marked increase in searches undertaken on the library online catalogue and book reservations  placed online. We will also be looking at the quality of Bibliographies and the referencing of the projects. We modify the course each year to keep it up to date and respond to feedback from the students.

Useful Websites

FOSIL Darryl Toerien, Head of Library at Oakham  has done a huge amount of work on inquiry learning and I would like to adopt the ideas in the FOSIL model over the coming years. See the Framework of Skills for Inquiry Learning.There is much to explore on the FOSIL website including resources licensed under Creative Commons.

CILIP Information Literacy Group

JCS Conference 2019 – Digital Literacy in Schools: building capabilities

JCS Conference Presentations 2018 From Digital Literacy to Independent Learning

The School Library Association

CILIP SLG

IFLA How to spot fake news infographic

 

Reading Times – Christmas 2019

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Reading Times 2019 TV

The eagerly awaited Reading Times 2019 TV has just arrived. Every year we are grateful for the hard work Mrs Smith, Librarian at Eckington School puts into creating a guide to all the holiday viewing based on books. A highlight for me this year is the animation of Judith Kerr’s wonderful picture book ‘The tiger who came to tea’ (Ch4 7.30pm on 24th December). The perennial Dickens’ favourites including ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Scrooge’ are available. Plenty of other classics on offer too including  George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ based on Alexandre Dumas’ ‘The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped’, ‘Dracula’, ‘The Great Gatsby’,’Pride and Prejudice’. More recently  two very moving books came out ‘Lion’ by Saroo Brierley and ‘The boy who harnessed the wind’ by William Kamkwamba. These books are available from the library and the films are on on Netflix.

For YA book fans you can watch ‘The Fault in our stars’ and ‘Looking for Alaska’ based on John Green’s books, ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘The Twilight Saga’, Divergent and Mazerunner. The ‘His Dark Materials’ series on the BBC currently (available on iPlayer) is fantastic and it’s well worth reading the trilogy if you haven’t read it before.

I’m particularly looking forward to watching ‘Elizabeth is Missing’ but want to re-read the book by Emma Healey first!