Award Winning Books in July

If you are looking for something to read in the sizzling summer heat, you might like to try the two amazing novels that have won this year's Branford Boase Award and the UKLA Book Award in the 12-16 category.

Winner of the Branford Boase Award for the best debut novel, Kick by Mitch Johson, edited by Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker, tells the story of a football crazy boy call Budi, who dreams of playing for a top team.  However, Budi's hopes are hampered by the fact that he works 10 hours a day in a factory in Jakata in Indonesia, making the boots that his footballing heroes wear.

Winner of the UKLA Book Awards in the 12 - 16 category, We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan is a bitter sweet story of two young people, with difficult backgrounds, who come together without the knowledge of their families.  Written in verse, it is a poignant and compelling read.

Both novels are available to borrow from the Discovery and War Memorial Libraries.

Win £5000 for your school Library

 annual schools competition to win £5,000 of National Book Tokens for your school Library ends on 31st July 2018 - so get voting here.

Win £5,000 f

Summer Reading and Post-A-Read 2018

The long summer holiday provides the perfect opportunity to relax with a good book or two! Whether you are going away or having a 'staycation', we would love you to let us know what you were reading by sending us a postcard!  All entrants will have their postcards displayed and will receive an achievement point.

If you are looking for ideas of what to read ask your Librarians or check out the Lovereading4kids.com summer reading suggestions.  For the ultimate summer reading guide for all the family, try The Reading Agency's ultimate summer reading book list.   

We have brilliant displays of new books as well as old favourites to browse and borrow.

Golden Man Booker - winner announced

Michael Ondaatje's novel, The English Patient, has won the Golden Man Booker prize. This one off prize celebrates the best of the Man Booker prize winners over the last 50 years, as selected by a panel of star judges and then voted for by the public.  

The English Patient and other shortlisted and winning Man Booker novels are available to borrow from the War Memorial Library.

Reading for Pleasure: Diverse Voices

Yesterday I attended the Guardian and British Library Reading for Pleasure: Diverse Voices conference.  The day was crammed full of interesting and inspirational speakers, both authors and performers, English practitioners, literacy consultants and an award-winning school Librarian!

The conference opened with the wonderful author, Patrice Lawrence, whose YA books, Orange Boy and Indigo Donut, we have in the War Memorial Library and are a must read!  Her talk was full of warmth and wit, with insights about growing up with a Caribbean Mother and Italian step-father, using poetry to articulate her feelings as a teenager and how she went from a being a compulsive reader to a writer.

Performance Poet John Agard was another highlight.  Engaging and animated, he performed a selection of his poems and stressed the importance of the oral tradition of storytelling and how the use of rhythm and music in recitation helps with memory.

In the afternoon, the conference moved to the British Library and included a visit to their Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land exhibition with a brief introductory talk by one of the excellent British Library education team responsible for school sessions.  The exhibition contains some fascinating videos, newsreels, photographs and artefacts, including Andrea Levy’s notes and research material for her novel Small Island, a copy of which is available to borrow from the War Memorial Library. It is well worth a visit!

I am looking forward to sharing all the brilliant ideas I picked up from the conference with the Librarians, Ms Roberts and Mrs Bhandari, and our English Colleagues.

Mrs Nolan
Assistant Librarian