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

National Libraries Day

Saturday 4th February is National Libraries Day.  So tomorrow get out and go to the library. Visit your local library and take your books back, borrow new ones, or borrow DVDs, CDs or download your favourite book.


If you don't know where your nearest library is, find out and go and have a look. Join up and start borrowing books. You can put your library on the map of the UK using this app www.findalibrary.org.uk.


Lots of libraries around the country have events running tomorrow to celebrate the day - go along and join in the fun! More information is available here www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/

Primary Seven Olympic Reading Challenge 2012

The Read Eleven in Primary Seven reading challenge has taken on an Olympic theme this year - read your way round ten Olympic sports and your gold medal eleventh title for a winning performance!

The challenge has started and will finish next term on Friday 11th May 2012. Everyone has their own challenge sheet to fill in and each class has a record sheet as well.  We all have 17 weeks to do this, including school holidays, so we should all manage it.

The starting pistol has gone off, the race is on........!

Tumtum and Nutmeg

Hidden in the broom cupboard in Rose Cottage is the most amazing little house - Nutmouse Hall.  Home to Mr and Mrs Nutmouse, otherwise known as Tumtum and Nutmeg, two of the kindest friendliest mice you could ever meet.  They live very happily in Nutmouse Hall, enjoying the company of their friends, eating delicious meals  and doing all the things which make life fun.

By contrast, life in Rose Cottage is not going well.  The family have become very poor since Mrs Mildew died.  Mr Mildew is trying his best to come up with another invention to make money for the family, but ideas are scarce, and money to keep himself and Arthur and Lucy at Rose Cottage is dwindling. As the winter gets colder, Tumtum and Nutmeg decide that something will have to be done. Otherwise, the cottage may have to be sold, and then what would happen to the hidden Nutmouse Hall?

This is the first in a series of books featuring the Nutmouse family and their friends. The most recent is called Trouble at Rose Cottage.  If you would like to find out more, have a look at Emily Bearn's website www.tumtumandnutmeg.co.uk.

Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency

Emily Brown is back in her third exciting adventure story.  Join Emily and Stanley as they go whitewater rafting on the Zambezi River, search for dinosaurs, and climb Mount Everest with their friend Matilda. They all have a wonderful time, until Matilda's Mummy phones to make sure she is all right and has everything she needs.  Matilda's Mummy worries a lot. And because she worries, she phones an awful lot.

Emily, Stanley and Matilda get quite cross about all the phone calls, until the day when Matilda's Mummy doesn't phone. Now this is a real emergency and the three friends have to rescue Matilda's Mummy!

We love Emily Brown and this book is just brilliant - recommended reading for Mummies everywhere!

You can find out more about Cressida Cowell at her website here
http://www.cressidacowell.co.uk/

Scottish Writing

Happy New Year everyone!

During January, we have a display of Scottish Writing in the library.  You will find a mix of poetry and stories as well as information books about Scotland. There are books written in Scots and in English - look out for The Eejits if you haven't already read it.

There are also lots of books written by people living and working in Scotland at the present time. Authors who visit our school are usually living in Scotland - look for Catherine Macphail, Ross Collins, Moira Munro, Katie Grant, Keith Charters, Frank Rodgers, Allan Burnett, John Fardell and Vivian French among others.

If you haven't chosen your poem for the Scots Verse competition, have a quick look through the books on Burns, and titles like A Bairn's Sang.