Whole School Reading Challenge

This is a very busy term for us all in the library. Book Week will be held during the first week in March, when we will be welcoming authors to our school, taking part in reading challenges, and celebrating World Book Day.

One of the reading challenges this year is for all of us - the whole school. We are going to try to read the height of the school by the end of this term!

All the books we read will be measured and the totals added up and we shall see how high we can read. As books are returned to the library, we will measure them and add the total on. If you are reading electronically using an e-reader or tablet, let us know as you finish each book and we will add on the appropriate number of millimetres to the total.

Let's go for it - how high can we read???

Happy New Year - for reading!

Welcome back everyone. I hope you have all had a good break and managed to do lots of reading as well.

Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? If you did, or if you haven't made any yet, how about adding reading to your list of things to do. One of my resolutions is to read as much as I did last year, but to try and read some more books by new authors. I am also going to try and clear out my to-be-read pile, and return all the books I have borrowed to the libraries and friends they came from.

This is a very busy term for us here at Kingarth Street library. Book Week will be taking place in March, and we have some brilliant authors coming in to visit us then. Each year group has it's own reading challenge to complete, slightly different for for all of us but with the aim of encouraging everyone to read as widely as possible. We also have the whole school reading challenge which will be starting soon.

Look out for lots more information on all of these exciting events in the library and around the school.

Happy Reading in 2013!

Stanley's Christmas Adventure

Fans of Flat Stanley will enjoy meeting the Lambchop family again in this seasonal adventure. Two days before Christmas, Father Christmas has had enough - children don't care any more, they no longer believe. So he has decided not to go out delivering presents this year. Sarah Christmas is sure that a visit from the boy who wrote Santa's favourite letter would cheer him up. After a midnight visit from Sarah, the whole Lambchop family takes off for Snow City in Santa's borrowed sleigh. All is not well, the Elves are worried and Santa is still being crabby and determined not to go out this year.  It's up to Stanley to save the day - again!

Jeff Brown has written another heartwarming story about Stanley and his family. The message is timeless - to think of others before ourselves, especially at this time of year.


Published by Egmont Books.

My Brother's Christmas Bottom - unwrapped!

A Christmas story about Nicholas and his amazing family - featuring Cheese and Tomato, the famous twins born in the back of a pizza delivery van.

All is not well in Nicholas' house in the run up to Christmas this year.  Dad has just lost his job and things are looking grim - no cake, no presents, in fact a distinct lack of Christmas cheer. The family come up with some amazing money-spinning ideas, which are more or less successful, but nothing really takes the place of Dad's wages. It's time for Cheese and Tomato to come to the rescue again.

The twins are too old to star in a nappy commercial this time round, but how about advertising a new range of children's clothes? Needless to say, things do not go according to plan...

Yet another really funny story by Jeremy Strong, if you haven't read My Brother's Famous Bottom, try reading that one too.

Published by Puffin Books

First Snow

First Snow by Kim Lewis is a lovely gentle story about the morning Daddy was ill, so Mummy and Sara and Teddy had to feed the sheep instead. As they walk up the hill with the dogs towards the sheepfold, the first early winter snow begins to fall. Sara and Teddy are going to have to be quick with the sheep or the snow may get too deep to walk home.

The illustrations are wonderful, giving the reader a real sense of how things look on a high farm at the beginning of winter. The pictures are full of the sort of details which bring the characters and setting to life - particularly the picture of the collie sheepdog close to the end of the story. The greys and pale blue shades on the snow-covered landscape at the end are perfect to give anyone a little shiver and reach for gloves and a woolly hat!

Published by Walker Books

Fairy Tales - from Snow White to Shampoozel!

 

Primary Five have been reading and writing their own fairy tales this month. To begin with, everyone had to read lots of fairy tales to see what a traditional tale was like. Absolute silence descended on the library as everyone chose a picture book or short fiction version of a story and started reading.






After that, we all had a look at more picture books and non-traditional versions of the stories. Even more silence in the library as more fairy tales were read - punctuated by smothered giggles, and outright laughter! We all had a great time, and are looking forward to reading the finished stories.
If you would like to read more twisted tales as well as the original versions have a good look in the picture book section and the first readers section in the library, there are lots to choose from. Why not try the Seriously Silly Stories by Laurence and Catherine Anholt?

If you would like to read something rather more challenging, try books like the Tom Trueheart books by Ian Beck,the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley, or titles by Robin McKinley and Shannon Hale.

Published by Red Fox and Orchard Books

Scottish Children's Book Awards - There's More!

While everyone in Primary 1, 2 and 3 are reading the shortlist for the Bookbug Award, some of the Primary 7 pupils are starting to read their way through another shortlist. This list is for the books aimed at children between 7 and 12.

Soldier's Game by James Killgore starts out as a football story, Ross is fed up always being on the losing team. in an attempt to cheer him up, his Gran gives him a box full of old press cutting, boots and a Hearts Football jersey. Ross is now on a mission to find out more about the man who wore these boots, and what happened to him and his team mates when the Heart of Midlothian lads enlisted for the Great War. A fascinating read for boys and girls, with a strong historical background as well as the football.

Cathy MacPhail has come up with a spooky new book Out of the Depths. Tyler Lawless can see dead people - not something your average teenager can do.  Starting at a new school is hard enough, but when you start seeing ghosts life gets even harder. After all, Tyler had to leave her old school because of her stories, her overactive imagination. Even though it is bound to cause more trouble, she decides she has to solve the mystery so that the ghosts may rest in peace.

 Norm is your average thirteen year old boy, with a family who just don't understand him. Nothing that Norm does ever goes right, and it's not his fault that things get broken, or people get angry, or just that life gets in the way. He never means to cause any trouble - it just happens. Jonathan Meres' World of Norm: May Contain Nuts will appeal to many children with the same sense of humour and the feeling that sometimes it's the world that is wrong, not you.

 

Further information about this year's Scottish Children's Book Awards can be found on the website of the Scottish Book Trust at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/scottishchildrensbookawards