Thursday 8 December 2011

Keith Gray Visit

Edinburgh based author Keith Gray will be visiting SMC on Monday 12th December.  Keith will be speaking to all of our S1 pupils during their English lesson but he will also be in the library from 1.30 pm for a Q & A session with pupils from any year group..  Keith will also be available to sign books and might even give you a preview of one of his new books! 

Here is some more information on the man himself...(taken from Jenny Brown Associates)

Keith was brought up in Grimsby and as a child tried to avoid books. Teachers urged and parents moaned, but all in vain. Books were a necessary chore and everyone was amazed when he raced through Robert Westall’s ‘The Machine Gunners’ from cover to cover - twice. This book was the starting point, making him want to write his own stories. His first book ‘Creepers’ was published when he was 24 and it was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award.


He has since written ten books including, Ostrich Boys, (shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal) Warehouse (shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award and winner of the Angus Book Award), ‘Malarkey’ (shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and winner of the South Lanarkshire Book Award) and for younger readers ‘The Runner’ (winner of a Smarties Silver Medal). 

He lectured for two years in Creative Writing at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, where he enjoyed working with people who shared the same interests and ambitions as he has. He now lives in Edinburgh with his partner Jasmine and their parrot, Bellamy.  He spends much of his time visiting schools to pass on his love of books and writing, as well as reviewing teenage fiction for the Guardian and the Scotsman.

Here is Keith talking about the book that changed his life...

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Neil Gaiman on Libraries

Neil Gaiman author of among other books, Carnegie Medal winning 'The Graveyard Book' , speaks about the value of libraries and the need for preseving funding for them.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

'Inheritance' has just been released and is now available from the SMC Library for loan. It is the final book in the Inheritance Cycle, which people have been patiently awaiting. Now all followers of the Inheritance series will know whether the evil dictator Galbatorix will be destroyed and what the destiny of Arya will be. This book is a thoroughly compelling read filled with sorcery and sword fights to enchant all ages. For all those who love fantasy and adventure, Inheritance is waiting.

Kamran and Raza in S2

Friday 18 November 2011

Fourth Estate Publishing's 25th Anniversary

Fourth Estate Publishing released an animation to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2008. It's an amazing animation featuring many of the titles they have published. It was produced by Apt Studio and it's well worth a look.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Cherub Newsletter

The latest edition of Robert Muchamore's Cherub Newsletter answers lots of FAQ regarding the series.  It includes news about a possible Cherub film, when the Cherub books will appear as e-books and news of when his next books will be published.  To read the newsletter in full click here

Thursday 3 November 2011

Useful History Apps

Anyone studying Intermediate 2 History might be interested in the following two apps now available from e-piblisher Collca.

The Cold War in an Hour Cold War
Easter Rising the Story of 1916 Easter Rising

Both of these apps are avaivble from Itunes (follow the links above) and have been approved by the King himself, Mr Longmuir.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

A Monster Calls

Check out this trailer for the new Patrick Ness novel; A Monster Calls.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Kids Lit Quiz

The Kids' Lit Quiz is an annual literature competition for children which puts readers onto the stage and lets them compete for fantastic prizes.  SMC are currently the East of Scotland Champions. 


If you would like to be part of the team which will be trying to win the title again this year please attend a quiz selection event in the SMC Library after school on Wednesday 12th October.  If you would like more details see Mr Wright. 

Please note boys must be under 14 years of age on 1 July 2012 in order to participate in this year’s quiz.

Thursday 22 September 2011

Young Writers Conference

Are you a Young Writer? If so you may be interested in a conference the Scottish Book Trust are hosting...

"The day will be a fantastic opportunity for young writers aged 14-17 to develop their creative writing skills in a variety of workshops and learn more about the publishing industry.
We have a fantastic list of speakers lined up including the award-winning author of Skellig, David Almond, playwright Douglas Maxwell, teen author Gillian Philip and poet Elspeth Murray."

Event details:
When: Saturday 12th November 2011, 10am-4.30pm
Where: Scottish Book Trust, Sandeman House, Trunk's Close, 55 High St., Edinburgh, EH1 1SR
Tickets: Booking essential, cost £6 (including lunch)

More details here Young Writers Conference

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Scottish Children's Book Awards 2011

The 2011 Scottish Children's Book Awards were launched on the 6th September and I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Scottish Storytelling Centre for the ceremony.  The awards allow children and young people across Scotland to vote for their favourite children’s books across three categories:

Bookbug Readers (0-7 years)
Younger Readers (8-11 years)
Older Readers (12-16 years)

This year I was a member of the shortlisting panel which involved reading the 50+ books submitted by publishers and then deciding with my fellow judges which books deserved to be shortlisted.  It was really difficult to only shortlist 3 books in each catergory with so many great books being submitted.  In the end however we agreed on the following...

Bookbug Readers (0-7 years)
- DEAR VAMPA by Ross Collins
- THE LOON ON THE MOON by Chae Strathie and Emily Golden
- APPLE PIE ABC by Alison Murray

Younger Readers (8-11 years)

- ZAC AND THE DREAM PIRATES by Ross MacKenzie
- THERE'S A HAMSTER IN MY POCKET! by Franzeska G Ewart
- THE CASE OF THE LONDON DRAGONFISH by Joan Lennon

Older Readers (12-16 years)
- WASTED by Nicola Morgan
- THE BLACKHOPE ENIGMA by Teresa Flavin
- THE PRISONER OF THE INQUISITION by Theresa Breslin
 
To find out how to get involved in the awards please visit the Scottish Book Trust website Scottish Childrens Book Awards

Here are the authors and their books...

Thursday 1 September 2011

The World of Norm

Edinburgh author Jonathan Meres has launched his new book today and anyone who liked the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series is sure to love it. It's called 'World of Norm: May Contain Nuts.'  Here is the trailer about the book...Copies available in the SMC Library soon.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

New Library Twitter Account

The library now has it's own dedicated Twitter account.  From August we will be tweeting regularly with Library news, book and author news. And on occassion giving you the chance to grab some freebies.  The account will be pretty quiet just now but come August we will be regular tweeters.  Here is our username if to want to follow us: @stewmel_library

Follow stewmel_library on Twitter

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Scottish Book Trust - Opportunties for young writers

The Scottish Book Trust has two excting opportunties avaialable for young writers. Brief details are below but for more information visit the Scottish Book Trust website.

Writing Book Reviews for the Scottish Book Trust Website
The SBT want to know what you've read recently and whether you loved it, hated it, would recommend it or warn everyone against it. Email your book reviews to Heather Collins and they will put the best ones on the web. More nformation here Writing book reviews

Young Writers Award
Do you love to write? Ever dreamed about getting published? Would you like to work with a professional writer? Scottish Book Trust is currently on the lookout for three enthusiastic writers between the ages of 14 and 17 to participate in our Young Writers Awards. Miore information here Young writers awards

Monday 13 June 2011

E-books and the SMC Library


Keen readers of the Blog will have seen a post a few weeks ago which sang triumphantly that the library was to take delivery of an Ipad in time for the start of the new session. Bad news I'm afraid...the library is now no longer being given funding for an Ipad. However...we have instead been given funding for 5 Kindles instead!

I won't bore you with the long story behind this decision but this is still great news for the development of e-books in the SMC Library. The Kindles have already been delivered and one is available currently for use in the library. Speak to Mr Wright for more details.

Thursday 9 June 2011

S2 Book Reviews

Mrs Bakewell's English class have all submitted their latest book reviews for publication on the blog. Have a look at them here S2 Book Reviews it's a great way to find out about some of the amazing books people are reading at the moment.

Friday 3 June 2011

'Gone' Michael Grant

Gone is the first book in the sci-fi series by Michael Grant. It takes place in Peridio Beach which is in California. In the first book “Gone” Sam is sitting in school when all his teachers and everyone over the age of fifteen disappears. Sam, Quinn (Sam`s best friend) and Astrid (Sam`s girlfriend) set out about town. They realise that there is a sort of force field around the town. They also find some of the kids have powers. Sam realises his power of shooting deadly light out of his hands is the most powerful. Then Sam finds his long, lost twin brother Caine Who plans to take over the town. Caine is also as powerful as Sam with his power of lifting objects without using his hands.

In the second book, Hunger, there is a fight with the darkness which is like an invincible power which needs a body. And in the third book, Lies, Sam and Astrid have a fight and Sam walks away when the town needs him the most. The next book will come out on April 2011 and I would recommend it to anyone.


Shuvam Sarkar

Tuesday 31 May 2011

Helicopter Man - Elizabeth Fensham

Mr Adams has kindly submitted his review of the book, 'Helicopter Man'...

I found this an interesting story, supposedly the diary entries of a 12-year old Australian boy. He's an only child whose single-parent Dad - it becomes clear - is now suffering from a mental illness. Although the Dad's a kind and generous person, he's become terrified to go out in case the helicopters get him. His Dad's irrational fear distorts his son's lifestyle as much as it does his own. They're living rough and the Dad refuses send his son to school. The boy has few friends apart from a couple of pet mice, and struggles alone to reconcile the internal conflict between what's best for his Dad's mental health, set against his natural loyalty to him as a much-loved parent.

Although the author's motive for writing 'Helicopter Man' was 'to ease the pain and bewilderment' of youngsters who find themselves in a similar situation, this doesn’t mean that the book is not of interest to anyone else. It's written as a 12-year old really might speak, which makes it entertaining. A friend described it to me as 'quirky' meaning, I suppose, a bit unusual. So it is, but none the worse for that.

O Adams

New book from Alan Gibbons



Author and ferevent supporter of libraries Alan Gibbons has launched a new novel. Watch the trailer for it here...








Sunday 15 May 2011

Happy Gaming!!

Well its working, just remember you have to change your password before you can go online

PSN is BACK!!!

Well as you may have heard Sony have begun the restoration process in phases. USA is back up and so is most of Europe, although I am waiting for the UK PSN to come back online.

I suggest you follow Playstation on Twitter as they will tell you when its working....

P.S. I will make another post when its back up here :)

Tuesday 10 May 2011

PlayStation Network con't

This post is for further information of the PlayStation Network.
Sony Executive Kazuo Hirai apologized and said PlayStation would resume their services on/by Friday at the end of this week (14th May)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE CLICK ME

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Book Review: 'Once' by Morris Gleitzman

This is a gripping, sad tale about a young Jewish orphan named Felix, He thinks his parents are still alive and he escapes and attempts to find them. But unfortunately this was during WWII and his parents were Jewish too. On his way to the city, he makes a good friend named Zelda, but he had an interesting way of meeting her, but I’ll let you figure it out for yourself. He gets found by a Nazi and he has to go on a ‘pilgrimage’ to find his parents. But a secret saviour helps him, Zelda and many other Jewish kids from the Nazis.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good gripping story.

Aaron Semple 1J

The two next books are: 'Then' and 'Now'.

Pupil Librarian Book Reviews



The Pupil Librarians have been busy reading and reviewing a number of books recently...Keep an eye on the Blog to over the next few weeks to see all the latest reviews

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Ipad - now available in the SMC Library!



The SMC Library now as an Ipad available for you to use! The Ipad is currently on trial but at the start of the session it will be available at all times. The Ipad will allow you to read e-books using either the Amazon Kindle App or the ibooks App. A number of other Apps will also be downloaded and be available for you to use. To find out more see Mr Wright or one of the Pupil Librarian's.






Wednesday 27 April 2011

Playstation Network

Yes you saw it, it says 'Playstation Network' although it doesn't have anything to do with books I still wanted to post this to inform you of the crisis occurring to Playstation network users. If you have registered a credit/bank card with your account your information may be at jeopardy, as a hacker has hacked into Playstation Network causing it to shut down on Wednesday last week. The hacker may have received the number on the front of the card but according to a Sony spokesperson the hacker never got the 3-digit security code on the back. So just because he doesn't have that code it doesn't mean your safe although nobody has reported anything wrong with the billing on their card there still could be some peoples full details that he got.

If you would like to read more on this topic CLICK ME



Tuesday 29 March 2011

Reach for the Sky

Reach for the Sky is the inspirational story of Douglas Bader, an ace pilot in WW2. He was captured and held in the infamous Colditz Castle. You may remember Mr. Clark speaking about it during an assembly.

Here is a link to the amazon page-
Reach for the Sky

Guardian Books for Kids Site

You may have heard about the Guardian Books for Kids, which looks very promising. It aims to increase awareness about books and reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site
I would highly recommend that you take a look at this awesome new site!

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Keep Calm and Carry on Reading

This phrase has been translated into 10 different languages...can you translate all 10? If you think you can then come into the library and pick up a sheet and maybe you could win the new Cathy Mcphail book Grass.

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Catherine MacPhail Visit


Last Thursday, 3rd March,World Book Day saw Cathy MacPhail visit us at SMC. Cathy gave a captivating talk to our S2 pupils and I am sure many of them left full of ideas for writing stories. It was interesting to hear Cathy speak about where she got her ideas from, how she developed these ideas and why she enjoyed writing so much. It was lovely to hear her say that she still couldn't believe all the books on the table behind her were written by herself!

Friday 4 March 2011

Library has Twitter!

Much to m,y surprise, the specially computer able Mr. Wright has set up an awesome Twitter account! To follow it, check out:
www.twitter.com/loveliterature

Enjoy!

Thursday 3 March 2011

The Kindle v The Printed Book


Yesterday saw some of our best young debaters debating the motion' The Amazon Kindle is an appropriate replacement for the Printed Book'. Lots of great points from both sides including, the role librarians play in recommending books, the speed of access the Kindle provides to books, the influence Publishers can have on what we read with the advent of book charts similar to Itunes, the impact on bookshops and what would we do if we forgot to charge our Kindle! Good floor debate afterwards and it's fair to say it was probably a draw!




Wednesday 2 March 2011

Secret Code 2!

Another chance for a prize has arisen - come top the library and say "Carnegie" to Mr. Wright.

Pupil Librarians may not enter this competition.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Design A Bookmark Competition!!!

There is a new competition about! The 'Design a Bookmark Competition' is the perfect way to flaunt off your art skills while getting loads of book vouchers as well! Have a look at the prizes below:

First prize: in each age range is £250 National Book Tokens for the school, £100 for the school child and £100 National Book Tokens for the teacher.
Second prize: in each age range is £150 National Book Tokens for the school, £50 for the school child and £50 National Book Tokens for the teacher.
The bookmark templates will be out soon in the library. Keep a lookout for them!

Monday 28 February 2011

SECRET CODE

First person to come to the library and say the word "literature" to Mr. Wright will be given sweeties.

Please note that pupil librarians cannot enter.
That means you to Matthew. And Abhishek. And you, Mr. Lawton.

Friday 25 February 2011

I gotta feeling parody








What a great parody! Hope everyone is having a great holiday!

Thursday 17 February 2011

The Forgotten Highlander

As you may have heard in assembly, Mr. Gray's uncle features in the book. This is an important part of our history, and particularly since our role is often forgotten. Many have enjoyed this book and many more will. It is a tribute to the brave men of the Second World War.

Six Nations Display


We have a new six nations rugby display at the back of the library and I recommend you check it out. It has a league table that is updated after every game. There are also many books on rugby to borrow at the back next to the display.

Friday 11 February 2011

Numbers - Rachel Ward


Writing a series of books seems to be very much in vougue at the moment for authors (am I being too cyncial to think it's because they make more money that way?) and another great one is 'Numbers' by Rachel Ward. http://www.rachelwardbooks.com/ The 3rd instalment of this series, 'Numbers 3: Infinity' will be published on the 6th June 2011.

Plague (Gone) - Michael Grant


Good news for fans of the Gone series http://www.thefayz.co.uk/ (and if you haven't read it yet - why not!). Book 4 'Plague' will be published in the UK on the 4th April. If you were really desperate you could order the book from the US where it is already published...

People's Republic - new from Robert Muchamore


It looks like Shadow Wave wasn't the end for CHERUB as 'People's Republic' will be published in August 2011. It won't feature James and his gang but will see a new hero - Ryan. Meet Ryan in an exclusive sample chapter available on the Cherub Campus website http://www.cherubcampus.com/book13.html

Thursday 10 February 2011

Welcome to the SMC Library Blog

Hello and Welcome to the Stewarts Melville College Library Blog. This is where the library is keeping you up-to-date with Library affairs. We hope you enjoy this new enterprise, run by the Pupil Librarians.

The Library Bloggers