Linda Strachan Book Week 2012

Linda Strachan visited our school on Wednesday 29th February to speak to Primary 1 and Primary 2.

Primary Two met Hamish McHaggis and his friends Rupert the hedgehog, Jeannie the osprey and Angus the pine marten. When Shona the squirrel comes to tell them the news that the young prince of the forest is lost, Hamish and the others set out in the Whirry Bang to help in the search.  All the woodland creatures are helping to look for the lost prince, but you'll never guess who managed to find him, and met someone very special at the same time!

Linda read Hamish McHaggis and the Skye Surprise to Primary One.  In this story, Hamish and his friends go to the island of Skye.  Jeannie the osprey has been on holiday and brought back lots of presents including a very special present for her brother. A surprise birthday party is being organised on the island. Things don't quite work out as Jeannie had planned, and it is up to Hamish and his friends - and the Whirry Bang! - to sort everything out.

We all had a marvellous time listening to stories and learning about how books are published and how many people it takes to get a book onto the shelves in a library or bookshop. Thank you to Linda for two excellent sessions!

Visit Linda's website www.lindastrachan.co.uk to find out more.

Allan Burnett - Book Week 2012

Primary Four children met Allan Burnett on Tuesday and were enthralled by his stories from Scottish history.  Did you know that Columba was responsible for the Loch Ness monster (probably)? Or that Robert the Bruce spoke four languages?

There were loads of fascinating facts to learn, all about the heroes and villains from Scottish history.  Primary four are just beginning to learn about the Scottish Wars of Independence, so they were keen to find out more.  Allan gave us a timeline to show how everything fits together, which always helps when you are trying to keep track of which king or queen was on the throne when!

We had a look at his new book which has stories about the Second World War, from people who lived and worked here in Scotland at the time. He also showed us the book Invented in Scotland - from the first indoor toilet at Skara Brae to computer chips!




Everyone really enjoyed this author visit.  Allan has left us with lots to think about and to research further.....  Thank you!


For more information on Allan's books, check the publisher's website www.birlinn.co.uk/author/details/Allan-Burnett-67/  

Scottish Children's Book Awards 2011

The winners of the Scottish Children's Book Awards have been announced!  Children from all over Scotland vote for their favourite among the shortlisted books.  Children in P1, P2 and P3 have all voted this year for the books in the Bookbug category, for ages 0 - 7.  A small group of P5 children have been voting in the Books for Younger Readers category, for ages 8 - 11. To be able to vote, everyone had to read all three of the shortlisted books in their age category. So well done everyone!

Ross Collins has won the Bookbug category with Dear Vampa, a story about a family of vampires who are a bit worried by the strange habits of their new neighbours.  They stay awake all day and even lie outside in the sun!  They make so much noise the Pires can't sleep all day. Is there anything they can do to make things better?






Zac and the Dream Pirates by Ross MacKenzie was the winner in the  Younger Readers category. Zac and his grandmother are drawn into a different world where dreams - and nightmares - can come true. Zac and his new friends have to fight the Dream Pirates and their allies, a horde of werewolves and vampires, who try to turn good dreams to nightmares and use the power to take over the world. Zac could be too scared to go to sleep again - ever!



Nicola Morgan was the winner in the books for older readers category with Wasted, a young adult novel.

Look for more information here www.scottishbooktrust.com

Book Week 2012

Next week is Book Week here in Kingarth Street and everyone is really excited about all the things which will be happening.

We have a spectacular line-up of authors visiting to talk to all the children.
Linda Strachan will be with P1 and P2
John Fardell with P3 and P5
Allan Burnett with P4
Catherine MacPhail with P6 and P7

There are Olympic-themed reading challenges for every year group, paired reading sessions, voting for the Gold Medal laureate, a special World Book Day Assembly and, of course, everyone will receive their World Book Day  £1 book tokens.

Remember your book on Monday for our musical event - don't be late!

Red House Book Awards 2012

The winners of the Red House book awards have been announced!  This award is voted for by children who choose from a shortlist of titles in each category.

The winner in the category for younger readers is Liz Pichon for The Brilliant World of Tom Gates.  This story is really funny and should appeal to everyone who enjoyed the Wimpy Kid diaries. Things are not going particularly well for Tom, and at school the girl he most wants to impress just doesn't seem to notice.  Even his long-suffering teacher Mr Fullerton is getting annoyed.....

The picture book winner is Chris Wormell for Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice. One day a small scruffy bear meets six terrified white mice who are scared of the dark forest and all the  creatures that live there, including an owl, a fox and a slithery snake. Scruffy Bear has all kinds of clever ideas about how to keep them all safe.

The overall winner of the Red House Book Awards this year is Patrick Ness with his novel for older readers A Monster Calls, based on an idea by Siobhan Dowds.

Read more about the awards at www.redhouse.co.uk

Storm Singing and other Tangled Tasks

Storm Singing and other Tangled Tasks is the third of Lari Don's stories about Helen Strang and her friends, the others being First Aid for Fairies and other Fabled Beasts and Wolf Notes and other Musical Mishaps. Helen is a vet's daughter, which helped her with the First Aid part!, and also a talented musician. Her friends include a centaur, a dragon, a selkie, a fairy, a phoenix and a shape-changing wolf - none of which are creatures you would expect to find in your garden. 

In this story, Helen and her friends head north on what her parents think is an ordinary camping holiday but is actually a trip to the selkie Storm Singing competition and Rona's chance to win the right to compete to be Sea Herald. Rona wins the competition outright as the first true Storm Singer in years, but she then has to compete against the best of the mermaids and the Blue Men. Someone is trying to sabotage the competition and set the powers of the sea against each other in the most destructive storm ever seen.

Helen's presence as a human is not universally welcomed among the selkie clans, nor yet among the other sea creatures.This book gives us a much better idea of how the mythical creatures manage to survive in our world without being found. Secrecy is paramount and Helen represents a security risk. The quest format really suits the story, choosing the three competitors the three tasks, the final journey as Sea Herald and companions to convey messages between the deep sea rulers. There are some scary moments - dodging killer whales and being left to drown as the tide comes in were two of them for me. Also quieter discussions about the ethics of the competition - how much help is cheating when you are trying to save lives?

I really enjoyed Storm Singing, possibly the best one so far in this series, and am very much looking forward to the next one later this year.

You can find out more about Lari Don and her work at www.laridon.co.uk

It's a Book

The wonderful thing about a book is that you can lose yourself in the story.  It doesn't tweet or play music or make any other noises - you just read it.  A book doesn't run out of battery power in the middle of the most exciting bit.  And when you are finished reading, or have lent your book to a friend, you can go to the library and get another one!!!

Lane Smith's book loving monkey and his friends debate the pros and cons of the new reading technologies. The illustrations are pared down, using a limited palette of colours. The expressions on monkey's face are brilliant as he talks to his gadget-loving friend. Clever use of type face to show the different speakers adds to the fun. In the end, it is all about the power of the story.

The author's website is here www.lanesmithbooks.com and you can watch this too!

OK I admit it, I love this book - one of my favourites from 2011