Lots of us have been borrowing books for reading over the school holidays. If you would like to borrow some extra books, remember the library will be open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes next week.


If you have books sitting at home that you haven't got round to reading yet, bring them in and exchange them for something new.

Mark Walden's visit to Primary Seven

Primary Seven had a fantastic morning with Mark Walden, author of the H.I.V.E. series of books. Mark talked about his ideas and inspirations and his own way of looking at the world. Why are there lots of Evil Geniuses, for example? Why no Heroic Genius? Are villains naturally more intelligent? - Otto Malpense would definitely agree with that notion!

Mark has an encyclopaedic knowledge of film and storybook villains, there didn't seem to be a single one he hadn't come across at some time.

The H.I.V.E. stories themselves are exciting, funny and a very very good read. We hope you all enjoy reading them. The fifth book in the series Rogue is due out in 2010. We are all very grateful to Mark's publishers Bloomsbury who made this visit possible.

And I'm going to be reading Dreadnought over the holidays....

Mark Walden visit

Ever wondered where young supervillains go to school?

Mark Walden, creator of the HIVE series of books, is to visit Primary 7 classes on Wednesday 2nd December 2009.

HIVE is the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, training school for the supervillains of the future, home to Otto Malpense and his friends Wing, Laura and Shelby. Follow their adventures as they learn how to outwit every instructor and security guard in the school, not to mention the much easier job of evading the official forces of law and order. With explosions and excitement galore, and the occasional man-eating plant to contend with, life at HIVE is never quite what it seems!

Check out Marks's blog at www.markwalden.net and also www.hivehub.co.uk - which HIVE stream will you belong to?

Royal Mail Book Awards

The Royal Mail Book Awards were announced this week by the Scottish Book Trust. These awards are given to the best book published in Scotland each year. Children all over the country can take part and vote for their favourite book in each category.

The Early Years winner (0 -7) is John Fardell Manfred the Baddie.

The winner for Younger Years (8 -11) is Lari Don First Aid for Fairies and other Fabled Beasts.

You can find out more about the Royal Mail Book Awards at www.scottishbooktrust.com.

Theresa Breslin visit

Primary Five had a wonderful afternoon with award-winning author Theresa Breslin on 3rd November.

Theresa talked about her DreamMaster series of novels and how she built the characters in the stories. The session had lots of audience participation, with dressing up, helping to act out different feelings and looking at book covers in lots of different languages. Book posters were available as highly sought-after prizes.

You can look at Theresa's website at www.theresabreslin.co.uk

The school website has information about theresa's visit to the Senior school and some photographs too at www.hutchesons.org

Welcome back!

We hope you all had a good summer and that everyone is settling back into school for the new academic year.

Everyone is welcome in the library at lunchtimes on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12.30pm and we look forward to seeing you all.

Book Awards

Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist

The Greenaway Medal is awarded annually. This year's shortlist includes books which can be used with almost any group of children, proving once again that picture books are not only for the youngest children. Check out these titles at your local library or bookshop and let us know what you think.

The Snow Goose Angela Barrett
Hutchinson (Age range 10+)

Varmints Marc Craste
Templar (Age range 7+)

Little Boat Thomas Docherty
Templar (Age range 3+)

How to Heal a Broken Wing Bob Graham
Walker (Age range 3+)

The Way Back Home Oliver Jeffers
Harper Collins (Age range 3+)

The Savage David McKean
Walker (Age range 10+)

Harris Finds His Feet Catherine Rayner
Little Tiger Press (Age range 3+)

Molly and the Night Monster Chris Wormell
Jonathan Cape (Age range 3+)

Book Amnesty

Thank you to everyone who has returned their books to the library already. As you can see, the shelves are filling up rapidly.

If you haven't returned your library books yet, there is still time to check under your bed and in the car and hand them in before the end of term.

Good luck with the book hunt!

Anthony Horowitz Live Web Cast

On Friday 15th May 2009, P7D and P7M watched the live web cast of an interview with Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider books, the Diamond Brothers series and Necropolis, the latest in the Five Rings series.

The web cast was set up by the Scottish Book Trust and was watched by over 15,000 pupils from schools across the whole of Scotland. Children were able to submit questions and some of these were answered during the interview. The interview lasted an hour, but time flew past listening to Anthony talking about his inspiration and his plans for new novels. We can't wait for him to finish writing Crocodile Tears, the latest Alex Rider story!

www.anthonyhorowitz.com/ is Anthony's official website for those of you who would like to know more about him and his work.

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to our library blog.

We are coming to the end of another academic year, so it's time for everyone to check their bookshelves and return all the library books as soon as possible.

If you are in P1 or P2, return your books to your teacher.

If you are in P3 - P7, return your books to the library.

Thank you. :)