The Librarian Recommends: All the Bright Places

Urgh, writer's envy is a terrible thing. And I felt it on basically every other page, if not more, of this amazing, amazing book. There's just so much I love about the surprising and original writing. And the characters are just so vividly drawn, not just Violet and the amazing Finch, but so so many others as well - their families, their school friends, even the bit parts are so solidly depicted. The love story is so well paced as well, so compelling. Literally could NOT put it down. I think this is one of the better, more truthful and sensitive depictions of mental health issues I've seen, as well as giving a fresh, original and realistic take on it. Totally jealous, and can't wait for the movie.

The Librarian Recommends: I'll Give You the Sun

I was transported to the rugged California coast by this beautiful novel, which tells the story of twins Noah and Jude, coming of age in artsy surf town Lost Cove.  The POV swaps between the twins and between two distinct timelines, one before the series of tragic events that drove the formerly very close siblings apart and one after.  We’re left to piece the story together pretty much as they do, since the assumptions they’ve made and the secrets they’ve kept from each other mean that they only each know half of the story.

It’s not an easy task to deliver two distinct and and unique voices within one book but Nelson is pitch perfect.  Both protagonists are artistic free spirits so their descriptions are unusual and original and poetic, rendering the novel into life as if it itself was one of the paintings that are so vividly evoked within its pages.  The love stories are believable and realistic while also being transcendent and beautiful.  The entire cast of characters are interesting, engaging and deeply flawed, fleshing out the bones of the twins’ family, history and community, the whole of which is brought to life with an honesty that is deeply moving.

An engaging, page-turning plot, sumptuous prose and a cast of fascinating characters - one of the best books I have read this year and one that stays with you, long after you read the final words.

Book Week 2016

The last week of Spring term was Book Week, and students had a great time celebrating reading and all things literary.  

Each day began with a special tutor activity, encouraging us to consider the benefits of reading, not only for our intellect, but also for our mental, physical and social wellbeing.  On Monday and Thursday lunchtime the library hosted book swaps, at which students exchanged loads of fantastic books and enjoyed each other's recommendations.  On Tuesday, students participated in the house competition challenging them to pair books with authors, with Falcons victorious for the second year running.  Wednesday saw the first of our Ask-The-Author sessions, in which Kate Ling (our librarian) talked about the process of writing her first published novel, and the students really impressed her with their very original, thoughtful and mature contributions to the discussion.  We also had a “Drop Everything and Read” session where the whole school enjoyed the benefits of doing just that for twenty minutes.  

The climax to the week, as always, was the final assembly, which featured the nail-biting final of the Spelling Bee (won for the third year running by Paloma in Year 8) as well as the final round of the book trailer competition, the entries to which were more creative and original than ever.

On top of all this, throughout the week students were listening to author podcasts created by the writers of Year 8 at our special Book Week listening posts, as well as taking book selfies for Facebook, and shopping after school at Book World’s pop-up shop.

All-in-all it was another fun-packed and inspirational Book Week and a great way to end a great term!

Accelerated Reader Effort Awards

Students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 were recently presented with effort certificates for all the fantastic reading they did last term, as part of the Accelerated Reader scheme.

On this scheme, students earn points by reading books and then correctly completing quizzes on these books to show that they understand what they have read.  Each student has their own personalised points target to meet each term.

All students who met their target were rewarded, with special awards for those who exceeded them.  Many scored up to 150% of their target, with others doubling, tripling or in one case almost QUADRUPLING their target score!

The library and the English department are extremely proud of those students who have seized the opportunity offered by the Accelerated Reader scheme with both hands.  Well done to the students on these stellar efforts to hone their all-important reading skills.

Proud to Use Accelerated Reader!

It's been a great start to this academic year in the library.  

Now that we are an Accelerated Reader school, our bookworms have been able to take their love of books and all things literary to a whole new level.  As well as enjoying the worlds created between the pages and adding to their vocabularies at the same time, they are able to measure and monitor progress and work towards specific goals and targets that will prove how great for their brains all that reading is!

Each of the books in our brand new Accelerated Reader section of the library is assigned its own book level, so that students can choose books within their range and be appropriately challenged.  Once they have read and enjoyed, they will sit a ten-question test on the book to show how well they understood it.  Once they pass with flying colours a certain number of points (depending on the level and length of the book) will be added to their running total.

Each student has been set their own, personalised target for the term, and some are already well on the way towards meeting it!  The top five students from each year group have had their names added to a special display in the library, and at the end of term certificates will be handed out to those who've made the best progress and efforts.

Well done to all our readers who are taking full advantage of this opportunity to maximise their potential by keeping their reading records up to date, reading every day and always remembering to bring in their reading book - keep it up!

Access All Areas

You already know that here in the library we have subscriptions to a range of magazines, newspapers and periodicals, so that you can come in and browse the latest developments in science, business and culture, or keep abreast of current affairs, during your free time.

But did you know that we also have access to the extensive archives of the magazines we subscribe to?  Well, we do.  And this is fantastic news, particularly for those of us that might like to use these in our research for projects, presentations and assignments.  The major bonus of these is that, as well as the fact that they allow us to read articles from the entire history of the publication, they are also fully searchable.  Simply type in what you are looking for and, hey presto, you will be shown every article they have relating to that topic.  Just like Google but with much more reliable, fully verified, high quality material. 

Here are the archives we currently have access to:

New Scientist

Great for students of science and ICT, but also for humanities subjects like geography, business and psychology, this magazine contains news on all the latest developments and discoveries in science and technology.  Access it through this link

http://www.newscientist.com/

Username: library@swansschool.net           Password:  swanslibrary

Scientific American

Having published its first issue in 1845, this is the longest running publication in the US, and counts Albert Einstein among its previous contributors!  Invaluable for sciences and humanities.  Access it on this link:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Username: library@swansschool.net           Password: swanslibrary

Bloomberg Businessweek

Containing a wealth of information on business, economics and technology, and therefore a rich resource for students doing any projects in these areas.  Access it on this link:

http://www.bloomberg.com/europe

No username or password required.

Time Magazine

Time magazine is one of the most read weekly news magazines in the world.  Being a news magazine it contains a huge range of articles and is therefore worth searching for projects in a huge range of disciplines – sciences, art, history, geography, media studies as well as English and other humanities subjects.  Access it on this link:

http://time.com/vault/

Username: library@swansschool.net   Password:  swanslibrary2015

Muy Historia

We have yet to receive our first print edition of this Spanish language magazine, but we can already access its fully searchable website, which is a great resource for students of lengua, SFL, conocimiento del medio and socials.  Access it on this link:

http://www.muyhistoria.es/

No username or password required.

L’Express

Our first French language publication will soon arrive in the library, but in the meantime you can browse content on its fantastic searchable website via this link:

http://www.lexpress.fr/

No username or password required.

More titles, including National Geographic, are coming soon.

So do take a look today!  Whether you are researching school work or just looking for something to read that will broaden your mind and keep you in touch (as well as developing your reading skills!) these subscriptions open up a whole world of possibilities.

Book Week 2015

This year’s Book Week went off with a literary bang as always.

Students started the week by considering the books that they think everyone should read before they die, in the first round of voting for the Swans Book-It List.  With so much top notch YA fiction around these days it was a tough call, but a clear top ten of favourites was revealed in time for the second ballot which took place later in the week.  With all votes counted and verified, our eventual winner was the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth.  Here in the library we weren’t too surprised since these books are never on our shelves, this despite the fact that many students own personal copies!  We will be writing to the author of this exciting trilogy to make her aware of our choice and (who knows?) she may even reply.

On Tuesday, students took part in “Guess the Teacher’s Favourite Book” which pitted Kestrel against Hawk against Falcon against Eagle in Book Week’s first ever house competition.  Fourteen teachers wore clues to their favourite books and all students had to do was figure them out.  But there was a hidden catch… with so many to find and only one day to do it in, was it even possible?  On your own - certainly not; but in a house team – piece of cake!  It was the Falcons that were the eventual victors having seen that this challenge was as much about teamwork as it was being well-read – well done to them.

Wednesday saw students walk away with something new for their shelves in our second annual book swap, and on Thursday, students from Year 7 had the honour of meeting successful author Lorraine Mace who came in to read to them from her novel “Vlad the Inhaler” and also have a chat about the writing process in general.  The keenest writers of Year 10 also had the opportunity to meet Lorraine, who writes crime fiction under the name Frances Di Plino, and she gave them a writing workshop on the importance of characterisation and dialogue in fiction.  Such a thrill for all involved to meet a real writer and learn more about books from an insiders’ perspective.

On Friday the library launched this year’s reading challenge – Book Bingo – which challenges students to read a range of fiction in order to complete their grid.  This will continue until the end of the academic year with various prizes for form groups and individuals who meet their targets.  Game cards are available from the library now.

The best part of Book Week, however, is always the final assembly which takes place on Friday afternoon.  The book trailers that KS3 students have spent the past few weeks working hard on had been whittled down to the finalists, which were screened in front of a panel of judges (and the whole student body) so that a top three could be selected.  The standard this year was EXCEPTIONALLY high, but well done to the winning team who produced a chilling and original tribute to their source material.  KS4 students were challenged to create a mini movie inspired by Jekyll and Hyde and the finalists were startling thoughtful and original, with our eventual winner creating an animation (single-handedly) that managed to be frightening and moving in equal measures, not unlike the original story.  Well done to all.

The Spelling Bee was a truly epic battle, with the whole audience literally on the edge of our seats and the two strongest competitors taking it right down to the wire with their ninja-like spelling capabilities!  It was anyone’s game until propiety  propietry propriety finally stumped our close runner-up (and a fiendishly tricky one it is too!).  Excellent spelling is SUCH a valuable (and underrated) skill and we are fiercely proud of all the competitors in the Bee this year, especially having seen their feverish rate of revision in the library first hand!

So that’s it for another year.  But don’t despair - because, as we know, every week is Book Week as far as the English department and the library are concerned.  So keep reading, keep enjoying, keep discussing, keep sharing, keep on taking journeys to amazing and unexpected places without even having to leave your sofa. (AND KEEP GETTING YOUR READING RECORD SIGNED!)

PS If you have any ideas or suggestions for Book Week 2016, please leave them in the comments below.