Welcome!

Welcome to our new year of reading and library activities.

We hope you all had a good summer and that you managed to read shelves of books each! Well, perhaps one or two. Many of you have been telling us about your favourite books from the summer during our library discussion time and it has been fascinating to hear what you have enjoyed reading this summer.

There are several things to look out for in the library over this year - including visits by some amazing authors! Keep an eye out for new books arriving on the shelves, information books to amaze you (and help with homework) and stories you will remember for years to come.

We are looking forward to a great year.

The very visible Beatrice and Sara afternoon...

When your sister's completely invisible, and your parents take her side in every argument, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Frank has just moved house, again, and this time he wants to stay put. Elizabeth justs wants to do all the things normal teenage girls do, but it's a bit difficult when you are invisible and the people you like can't see you - and when Elizabeth gets miserable, everyone suffers.

This is a brand new story by Beatrice Colin and Sara Pinto, just out in the US and due to be published in the UK very soon. Beatrice and Sara came in to school to talk about the book to Primary Four. Sara read the first chapter to us, and Beatrice the second. It was really interesting to hear the differences between the American version and the UK version as they changed over. They answered lots of questions and explained that while it was great fun writing a book together, you did need a lot of coffee and chocolate to get to the end! There are plans for a second book if this one does well. Judging by the reaction from P4, it will.

For more about Frank and Elizabeth, have a look at http://www.myinvisiblesister.com/.

As Frank says, trouble is so much harder to handle when you can't see it coming....

Frank Rodgers

Frank Rodgers and Primary Three had a wonderful morning on Tuesday 4th May.

Frank is one of P3's favourite authors, so they were very excited and delighted to have him come in and talk to us. We all sat and listened as he read us his very first picture book, and talked about how he had come to be a writer and illustrator of children's books. And he drew some lovely pictures of a very scary monster,and some dogs, and Wilf the witch's dog who is a great favourite of ours. Frank answered all of our questions, no-one wanted the session to end. We were still chatting as he signed books and the lunch bell rang.

Frank's most recent book is another story about the pirate penguins as they roam the seven seas in search of treasure - and fish!

If you would like to find out more about Frank's work, log on to http://www.frankrodgers.co.uk/

Moira and Hamish

Well, we all had a fantastic time with Moira and all her pictures of Hamish the Bear who wanted to find his Special Child. We listened and laughed and sang a song about a bear too.

Everyone in Primary One and Primary Two had a brilliant time, for many the best bit was when we all threw our teddies in the air to celebrate.

Thank you Moira for a fabulous author visit.

Moira Munro visit

Moira Munro is coming to visit Primary 1 and Primary 2 on Wednesday 28th April 2010. Everyone in P1 and P2 is very excited, and we are all looking forward to meeting her. Moira is going to talk about her books and her pictures. She might tell us some stories about Hamish the teddy bear, too.

Our teddies have been invited too, so the library is going to be full of people and bears on Wednesday.

www.moiramunro.com

Michael Rosen

Primary 5 classes joined thousands of children in schools across Scotland on World Book Day to watch Michael Rosen in a live web cast performance of poetry and chat.

Michael told stories and performed poems, seamlessly moving from one to another. The live web cast was quite different from just watching a TV programme - we were part of it all, waving at the screen and joining in with the poems and doing the actions just as if we were there too.

The web cast was done jointly by Scottish Book Trust and the BBC. There will be highlights available at www.bbc.co.uk/authorslive

Keith Charters Visit

WOW we all had a fantastic time listening to Keith Charters talking to Primary 6.

He told us all about his writing, and he read an extract from Lee and the Consul Mutants. We were given the choice of hearing a funny and exciting bit, or a funny and disgusting bit - and of course the funny and disgusting bit won!! And it was - extremely funny and yucky too.

Keith held the audience in the palm of his hand as

he explained how he planned his stories, and where he got some of his ideas. He also talked

about how long it takes to write a book and have it published. As he said, it takes a long time even when you run the publishing company too. It's amazing that Keith finds time to write his own books between publishing other people's books, looking after his authors, and doing lots of school visits and book talks

P6 have been asking when he will be back in school - maybe next year or the year after.

You can find some more information at www.keithacharters.co.uk