Royal Mail Book Awards

The Royal Mail Book Awards for 2011 were announced on Tuesday 22nd February.

The winner in the books for 0-7 category is Julia Donaldson What the Ladybird Heard. This is the story of how all the animals work together to prevent two thieves from stealing the farmer's prize cow. Each page has a sparkly ladybird to find too.

The winner in the books for 8-12 category is Barry Hutchison for Invisible Fiends: Mr Mumbles. This is the first in a series of very scary stories, not to be read after dark!

Thank you to all of our pupils in P2, P3 and P5 who took part in voting for this year's winners.

For more information on the Royal Mail Book Awards and a look at the awards ceremony go to http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/

Book Week

Book Week 28th February - 4th March 2011

We are all very excited about our School Book Week next week. An amazing group of authors and illustrators are coming to visit us.

Ross Collins will be drawing with Primary 1and 2 on Monday.
John Fardell will be chatting with Primary 3 on Tuesday.
Allan Burnett will be enthusing Primary 4 and 5 on Wednesday.
Katie Grant will be enthralling Primary 7 on Friday.
Keith Charters will be entertaining Primary 6 on Friday.

Primary 6 O will be performing a special World Book Day Assembly, with treasure chests from each class. Remember to bring your pirate hat!!

National Poetry Day

Today is National Poetry Day. This year the theme is 'Home' and many of you have been writing your own poems on this topic, or have found a poem you will be reading to your class. Assembly on Friday will be about poetry too - so look forward to it!

If you need some more inspiration, check out the displays in the library. Don't forget there are lots more poetry books on the shelves too, at section 821. We have hundreds of books, from traditional ballads like Hiawatha and The Highwayman, to books by Michael Rosen, Ted Hughes, Allan Ahlberg, Jackie Kay and loads of other poets.

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.