Library Newsletter 2: Winter 2015
As the nights start to draw in and the weather takes a turn towards wintry, this newsletter reflects upon what has been a busy first term in the library at Campbell College, filled with author events, a successful book fair and lively discussion with our book group. There’s nothing like curling up with a good book when it’s cold and miserable outside, so I’ve also put together a showcase of some brilliant new books – perfect to keep all ages occupied over the holidays! Have a lovely break. Miss Skipper.
Book Group We’ve had a varied start to our book group this year, as our meetings have been focussing on three national book awards: the Royal Society’s Young People’s Book Prize; the School Library Association’s Information Book Award; and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. We really enjoyed shadowing the Young People’s and Information Book Awards – stand out books for us were Pop-Up New York, Shackleton’s Journey, Animalium and Utterly Amazing Science. We were particularly interested by the use of illustrations and paper engineering in some of the books to create pop-ups and flaps to create interaction with the text. The books long listed for the Children’s Fiction Prize were varied and thought provoking, with themes ranging from slavery and the American Civil War to a modern retelling of the Orpheus myth set in the North East of England.
Next term, we’ll be looking at graphic novels with the Stan Lee Excelsior Award – we meet over lunch time on week 1 Wednesdays, and new members are always welcome!
Author Visits Year 8
Year 9
Dan Freedman
David Gatward
The best-selling author of the Jamie Johnston series visited Year 8 on the afternoon of Thursday 12th November. Dan started his session by talking a little about himself, his attitude to reading and his career – he was a football journalist for many years, and worked for the Football Association prior to becoming an author. Following this, Dan opened the floor to questions from the audience, answering these with a mix of video clips, photos and anecdotes. There was a prize of a signed book and football for one lucky pupil, who asked the best question of the day: what advice would Dan give to his younger self? There was a frenzy at the book stall as almost every boy in the year group clamoured for a copy! The picture above was taken at the end of a very successful and informative afternoon, and perfectly captures the excited atmosphere Dan created for books and reading.
Young adult horror writer David Gatward visited the college for a whole day on Tuesday 3rd November, and carried out an author visit and creative writing sessions with Year 9. The day began with a high octane talk for the whole year group in the drama studio – David’s hugely engaging presentation took in the entirety of his life and career, from caravan holidays with his family (where he first got the reading bug) to author, via dodgy perms, 80s climbing tights and salmon farming. The creative writing sessions were carried out in the library. David taught the boys his technique for story plotting, using a hand as a mnemonic, before letting them loose to write their own stories, complete with atmospheric background music and a ventriloquists puppet as a visual aid. The stories produced in such a short space of time were outstanding, and you can see some of them being read on our website.
Winter Wish List You really can’t beat a good book at Christmas. Although my wish list of books grows rapidly by the second, here are a few titles that I would be particularly pleased to find under the tree on Christmas Day. Historium - Katie Haworth
The Fox and the Star - Coralie Bickford-Smith
Mystery in White - J. Jefferson Farjeon
This wonderfully illustrated book is part of the Welcome to the Museum series, which also features Animalium and Story of Life: Evolution. This title gives an overview of historical artefacts from across the globe. Each chapter takes the form of a gallery that gives an overview of a period of ancient history, as well as delicate and detailed illustrations of some artefacts with brief but informative explanations of each. As well as beautiful, this book is also educational and is one that can be enjoyed by all ages.
This stunning book was recently awarded Waterstones Book of the Year, and it’s easy to see why! It’s a simple fable about a lonely fox who loses his friend, Star, and must journey into the forest alone. Although the text is sparse, it is beautifully illustrated throughout, with a limited colour palette that only enhances the striking simplicity of the novel. Although it deals with some big subjects (friendship, loss and coming of age), it is heartwarming as well as moving and I think is destined to be a future classic!
On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house nearby, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea - but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst… This classic from the Golden Age of crime, reissued by the British Library, is perfect for dark winter nights!
50 Years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Rosamund Kidman Cox
Through the Woods - Emily Carroll
642 Things to Write About (Young Writers’ Edition) - 826 Valencia
I love nature and landscape photography, and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year in particular for its stunning collection of images. This book looks at the development of both the award and photography over the last fifty years, and is packed full of some of the most memorable nature photographs of all time. This book highlights the importance of photography in recording some of nature’s most mesmerising creatures and moments – but most of all just makes me wish I was a better photographer!
Although this is advertised as a graphic novel, it is actually a collection of five short illustrated stories by artist Emily Carroll. Described as a modern day Brothers Grimm, the stories are all quite dark in nature, and are perfect for fans of horror or of slightly more macabre tales such as those written by Edward Gorey. The tales are suspenseful, and the quirky, simplistic illustrations add to the spine-tingling atmosphere. Be warned, this book contains no neat and happy endings!
This is an inventive book full of brilliant, funny and thoughtprovoking writing prompts that’ll fill up the holidays nicely! Ideas range from the very simple (‘List five names that would be perfect for an evil villain.’) to the more complex (‘You’re in the middle of a coffee shop, and time grinds to a halt. Describe the scene.’). There are a range of titles in the series – 642 Things to Draw, 104 Things to Photograph, 104 Things to Paint – so there really is something for everyone even if creative writing isn’t your strong point!
Firefly Like other departments in school, the library is using our new VLE, Firefly. You can use it to find information on the library and its resources, watch a short presentation on how to use the new library catalogue, Eclipse, get book recommendations and find out more about our clubs. The library page is accessed through the societies and clubs link on the homepage. New content is being added all the time, including the Christmas TV guide, so don’t forget to keep an eye on it!
Resource Focus
Philip Allan Magazines
Book Fair Our annual Scholastic Book Fair arrived on the 30th November, and ran for two weeks, taking in the Continental Market. With a range of popular fiction and non-fiction titles on offer, we were very pleased to raise over £600 in commission, which will be used to provide some new titles as well as replacements for popular titles in the library’s stock. Like last year, a portion of the commission will be used to make a donation of books to a local charity.
Cork Conference On Friday 13th November, our librarian was invited to talk to the Public Libraries Section conference of the Library Association of Ireland about her experiences as a member of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway judging panel over the last two years. Although not an auspicious date to take part in a panel discussion, this was a great opportunity to help further promote the award and the college’s involvement in it.
Librarian: Cath Skipper Campbell College Library Belmont Road Belfast BT4 2ND Tweet: @ccb_library
As well as a range of magazines for reading for pleasure, the library subscribes to magazines tailored specifically for GCSE and A Level study. Each magazine contains a variety of articles designed to support the topics studied for each exam board, as well and hints and tips on answering exam questions, ideas for careers related to the subject and quizzes to help further your knowledge. We subscribe to the following titles for A Level: Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, English, Geography, PE, Physics and RE, as well as a GCSE Geography title. There are also extra supplementary resources available online for free.