Manga

The library has a shiny new section dedicated to Manga and graphic novels.
For those who don’t know what Manga is let me explain. Translated from the original Japanese the word manga literally means “humerous pictures”. Manga characters all follow a distinctive style; huge eyes, large heads, brightly coloured hair and extreme emotions. (for example when they cry they cry buckets of tears)

Traditional Manga should be from the back of the book to the front as is done in Japan. US and UK Manga is often produced under the publisher Tokyopop who have a very cool web site that you should check out.

Currently available in the library you can borrow
or

and many more.

So if you are a true fan or a complete newbie there should be something for everyone.

Carnegie 2010 – picture poll

New projects

NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW

This year I am all about trying to get as many pupils reading as many different ways possible… hmm come to think of it I think that’s really what I have been doing for the last *coughs* years.

My main projects are two wikis and a reading scheme.

My first wiki is a historical one ( if you read the CCBC on this blog you will know I have a fondness for things historical NOT hysterical!). I have an S2 group studying historical fiction. 5 different groups, 5 different time periods.

Pupils have to read the books and then make up their own wiki pages on all sorts of related topics, from reviews, to poetry, to images, to mucis to cookery to… well just about whataver they can think of. I started the wiki with a few templates as examples and they added to 17 pages of work.. we are now up to over 450 pages! Such busy bees! At the end of the scheme ther groups have to present their work and this looks to be a fantastic opportunity for them to show off what they have learned in a creative and fun way. I am really looking forwards to it!.

My second wiki will be with an S1 group but Shhh! they don’t know this yet. I have called it reading clans. But do not be misled by the title this is not your heilan’ hame, tartan scottie dog shortbread clans oh no these are your online MMORPG guild style clans, though I don’t plan to incorporate Modern Warfare 2 as part of the project ( it is an 18 after all!) I do plan to get pupils to strategise, work in teams and take individual responsibility for their work much in the same way that clans or guilds online do.

My last project is called Read2gether and this is with an S2 class. Pupils choose their own book buddy for the project and read the same book. They set their own deadlines and try to keep each other enthused. There are activities along the way such as making gender bookmarks (ask me nicely and I will tell you more), casting their books (what actor would play your main characters?) and at the moment we are creating wanted posters for arguably the mo0st interesting characters in books – the baddies!

I had though pupils might read 1 or 2 or maybe even 3 books during the length of the scheme but oh no I have underestimated just how brillaint some of our pupils can be and some have read 5 yes 5 books! Our only real problem now is to stop them talking about their books all the time when they should be doing work.

Well done to all the pupils who are working so hard on these projects and remember shhh don’t tell the S1’s what I have planned.

DB

How do you read what you read?

Not sure why this has slid down the page a bit but scrolling can be fun so…

Poll ends soon.  So, how do you read?

In the news

Since no one else will, I wrote an article for the ever popular magazine Information Scotland (The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information professional) on the successes of East Renfrewshire’s school library Carnegie event. Often one writes these things and they are consigned to the wastebasket of contributions. But not this time a full half page ( non-edited!) and a colour picture graced the August edition.

Next stop… The New York Times.

(maybe)

A Visit to the Mitchell

Not to be typecast I was invited by the History dept to accompany a group of Advanced Higher pupils on a trip to the Mitchell Library.

Split into two groups  we were given a tour of a small part of the library. (A tour of the whole place could have taken weeks!). We saw the inners of all three buildings that make up the whole and were given a rare and much appreciated opportunity to handle original papers and magazines from 1919 and 1945.

Pupils were then given free run ( quietly , of course it is a library) of the rescources and the reading rooms.

Many thanks to Miss Scroggie for arganising the trip and the very helpful staff at the Mitchell Library.

DB

Coming soon.. Credit Crunch Book Club (CCBC)

Are you a parent or teacher or pupil feeling the pinch this season but still want to keep up-to-date with your reading? 

Then join the CCBC  (not to be confused with the lesser known BBC or even CBeebies).  Just contact me through my blog and I will let you know what you have to do and it’s all free!

Click on the page link CCBC top right to take you to the latest reviews.

The end is nigh

Well it is almost the end of term. And many of you willl already be picturing yourself lying on,
a) a sunny beach
b) the couch, or
c) your bed till 1pm.

So why not have a guilt -free holiday and return all your overdue library books. It will make you happy, it will make me happy and it means you can return to a fully stocked ( almost bursting at the seams full) library in August.
If you have lost or damaged your book please come in for a chat. Remember this school never has, and as long as I have anything to do with it , never will fine pupils for late books.

So bring them in and enjoy the holidays!

New Library Assistant

In times of the credit crunch I was surprised that I was offered the services of a new library assistant to help out.

What are their qualifications?

Have they worked in libraries before?

Do they like reading?

Do they like pupils?

Do they like chocolate?

Well, with my new “mystery” assistant in place I set about trying to find out the answers to those very questions. Unfortunately, after many seconds of intensive grilling I have found out nothing.

I would say s/he was being tight-lipped about their past that is if they had lips. So, they say a picture paints a thousand words.. here are three thousand words on my new assistant.

 Why not pop in and say hello?

Or come up with a good suggestion of a name?

Carnegie Short List 2009

So the list is out. I managed to guess 3 out of the 7 not so bad. I’m very surprised that Theresa Breslins’ Nostradamus Prophecy is not on the list and even more surprised that Airman by Eoin Colfer is. I will have to read it to see what all the fuss is about. I am in the process of trying to buy more copies of each title so that as many pupils as possible can get in on shadowing. So, if you are interested please pop in and see what is available, stocks are low so hurry, hurry.

Here are the super seven…

Liam Digby is tall for his age. Very tall. Everyone thinks he is too big to be a little boy anymore, but he isn’t old enough to be a grown-up either. In a world where everyone wants to grow up fast; and then stay young forever, things get very confusing for Liam, especially when he ends up lost – in space.

Pete Boland was busy doing nothing that long hot summer. Then Nicole called. “Listen Pete…you know that funfair up at the recreation ground…I thought we could all meet up…You know, for old times sake”. But old times mean old tensions, and as secrets, bitterness and jealousies resurface, five old friends are plunged into the worst night of their lives.

Conor Broekhart was born to fly. In an age of discovery and invention, many dreamed of flying but for Conor, flight is more than just a dream – it is his destiny. In one dark night on the island of Great Saltee, a cruel and cunning betrayal destroys his life and steals his future. Conor must win the race for flight to save his family, and to right a terrible wrong.

Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds something that makes his heart stop. Curled up deep in the bog is the body of the child. And it looks as if she’s been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the troubled world around him (it is 1980s Ireland), a little voice come to him in his dreams and the mystery of the bog child unfurls.

Kenny, Sim and Blake are about to embark on a remarkable journey. Stealing the urn that contains the ashes of their best friend Ross, they set out to travel 261 miles from Cleethorpes on the English east coast, to the tiny hamlet of Ross in southern Scotland, in a bid to give their friend a proper send-off.

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown, a town like no other where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy and there are no secrets. Or are there? Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles on a spot of complete silence. And now he is going to have to run…

When Bobby’s mother moves the family into a rented house in the country, a neighbour tells him that a child was once murdered there. Bobby doesn’t care. All he wants is to get back to Dublin and resume his old life stealing cars. But getting his old life back turns out to be difficult, especially as the longer he spends in the old cottage, the more convinced he becomes that something strange is going on there

All images and reviews courtesy of the wonderful Carnegie site:

http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/current_shortlist.php