Introducing the new LRC Manager

On Friday the LRC was visited by the new LRC Manager, Mrs Hoskins. Mrs Hoskins spent the day in the LRC observing how it works and how it is used. She spent time talking to staff and students to gain an understanding of the library and mentally note how she will take it forward.

Mrs Hoskins is a very experienced school librarian, having spent over seven years at Bruton School for Girls and 2 years at King Arthur’s Community School. During her time at Bruton she has ensured a growth in user numbers by promoting reading through author visits and acquiring new fiction, as well as creating a welcoming environment for students to be in. She has kept up to date in developments in library issues by attending librarian conferences and contributing to the School Library Association journal and other publications. She has recently gained Chartership status with CILIP and is looking forward to taking on a bigger and more challenging library. She has lots of fresh ideas for updating the LRC, and ensuring it serves its 21st century users, both staff and students.

Mrs Hoskins will be joining the Gryphon School LRC 2 weeks after the Easter holidays.

The Hunger Games

For all of you who have read The Hunger Games, or are planning to watch the new film, there’s an interesting post and debate about the popularity of the book on the link below:

The Hunger Games debate

The premise of the debate is the rise in popularity of dystopian fiction among teenagers and young adults.

Mr Bull has written a much more comprehensive blog post on the Hunger games at:

The Hunger games

 

Student Book Review 2

A Series of Unfortunate Events: A Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

 

Review by a Year 9 student

 

The book starts off with Violet, Klaus, sunny, Mr Poe (an unhelpful banker) and Count Olaf (an evil villain).

 

I liked the book because the author tries to put you off reading it, but it only makes you want to read it more. The book itself is extremely funny in places and a page turner all the way through.

 

A good line from the book:

‘I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong.’ Chapter 3, p. 26.

 

I would recommend this book to people who like books about fire, disaster, clever children and evil schemes to steal people’s fortunes. 

Student Book Review

Here is the first in a series of student book reviews written for World Book Day 2012.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire

By Derek Landy

Review by a Year 8 student

Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and his sidekick, 13-year-old Valkyrie Cain, are back, to find Baron Vengeous before he unleashes the Grotesquery, a monster crafted together with pieces of different terrible creatures, onto the world. This book is an action/adventure/comedy, and based on a hidden world of magic.

I liked this book because it was a completely different, brilliant storyline that has never been thought of before. I’m also a big fan of the author, and have read all the books in the Skulduggery Pleasant series as they’re so good : )

A good line from the book:

 ’Vengeous scowled, “As you can see,” he said, “you are vastly outnumbered.”

“I usually am.”

“Your situation has become quite untenable.”

“It usually does.”

“You are within minutes of being swarmed by these filthy creatures of undeath.”

Skulduggery paused, “Okay, that’s a new one to me.”’

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy action stories.

World Book Day 2012

Tomorrow is World Book Day, a celebration of books, authors and most importantly, reading. Years 7,8 and 9 should by now have received their £1 World Book Day tokens from the LRC, along with a Scholastic brochure. The tokens can be used as a discount on any book costing over £2.99 at Scholastic, or to purchase one of the special £1 books published for World Book Day. These books are:

Skulduggery Pleasant: The End of the World by Derek Landy

How to Train Your Dragon: The Day of the Dreader by Cressida Cowell

Big Day Out by Jacqueline Wilson

Magic Molly: The Clever Little Kitten by Holly Webb

Where’s Wally Now by Martin Handford

Winnie Flies Again by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

The What the Ladybird Heard Song by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks

A selection of books will be available – free of charge – in the LRC – one book per student. The £1 book tokens are redeemable in WHSmith in Sherborne and Tesco, WHSmith and Waterstones in Yeovil. A big thank you to the Manager of WHSmith in Sherborne, for letting us redeem some of our tokens in order to provide free books in the LRC to students on World Book Day.

Also many thanks to all students who took the time to write reviews about your favourite books. They will be displayed in the lower library foyer and published on the blog over the coming few weeks. If you want to write a review, then collect a form in the LRC and hand it back in when you’ve done it.

Artichoke Hearts Book Review

Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari is a delicate portrayal of a twelve-year-old girl, Mira, and her responses to new events in her life. The most powerful storyline in the book centres on Mira’s close relationship with her free-spirited grandmother, Nana Josie, who is dying from cancer. Complicated emotions about death are explored, but the book is in no way morbid or a miserable read. It is a quiet novel full of beauty, love and fully rounded characters. Through the course of the novel, Mira learns to empathise with family and friends bringing everyone closer together.

There are a lot of books written for young people now about issues, and my first reaction was sceptical. Do young people really need so much exposure to ‘real life’? Isn’t it better to escape in to another world? However, this book really deserves its commendations by authors like Anthony Browne, whose own illustrated books never shied from exploring difficult subjects with younger children. Another aspect of the book that was enjoyable was its quiet celebration of multiculturalism without any obvious references.

My favourite line in the book was very difficult to choose, but it would have to be: “Sometimes, because I don’t talk very much, some adults might assume I don’t think much either.” p. 92

This book is recommended for readers aged over 11 years as a degree of maturity is needed to appreciate the content and not be upset by the plot, although a few tears are unavoidable.

I’m now looking forward to reading Jasmine Skies, a continuation of Mira’s story, published in April 2012.

Career Choice: Librarian

Myth

Librarians are frumpy women of a certain age who ssh a lot and stamp books all day.

Fact

A qualified Librarian, who has an accredited degree, can work in the following careers: Librarian in a school, university or public library; Records Manager for the health sector or law firms; Information Researcher or Analyst for companies, media outlets, politicians or academics; Archivist and a Systems Manager or Designer. The list is endless and the roles break down into various specialisms such as classification, cataloguing, subject librarian and  information retrieval system designers of tools such as gateways, thesauri and bibliographies.

How do I become a Librarian?

To become a Librarian you need to follow a degree course accredited by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). After the degree you can become an Associate member of CILIP and register for Chartership the moment you find your first professional post. CILIP offers a longer route to Chartership for unqualified Librarians who are working in a professional role, but I would not recommend this as a preferred route for younger people, who really have to hit the ground running in today’s job market. Although it recognises experience in a particular field, it does not offer the range of skills or access to resources available in a higher education institute. Universities have a wealth of current resources including; highly specialized,experienced tutors and vast electronic databases. For example, at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, I was lucky to study under Professor Reid the President of CILIPS (Scotland). CILIP accredited degrees are also recognised by the American, Canadian and Australian Library Associations.

The degree course

You will usually study for a 3 year BSc (Bachelor of Science) or 1 year MSc (Master of Science) in Information and Library Studies. The topics studied will include: Research skills, Human and Financial Resource Management, Technical Skills (Cataloguing/Classification), Information Retrieval, Resource Management and Reference and Enquiry Services.

What personal attributes do I need?

This all depends on what area you wish to specialise in. If you gravitate towards the more traditional roles then a love of books helps, along with a high general knowledge. If you have a flair for IT you may wish to specialise in systems management and design. The most important attribute of all is the willingness to put aside personal preference and help your users to find the information they want as efficiently as possible.

For further information please see the following links:

Loughborough University

The Robert Gordon University

Aberystwyth University

Happy 200th Birthday Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Unless you’ve been living in a bunker, you cannot have failed to notice the amount of media coverage that has celebrated this event since before Christmas. Aside from the screen adaptations of Great Expectations and Edwin Drood, there have also been programmes about Dickens’ life, works and wife.  Alongside this is the usual criticism that young people no longer read Dickens. In truth, this criticism could be levelled at a large proportion of the adult population who are equally ignorant of his body of work.

As with all classic literature, Dickens writes about universal truths that are just as relevant to present day humanity as they were 200 years ago. His themes include: capitalism, debt, poverty, love, greed, class, madness and criminality. His books are full of big characters and a fine balance between the light and dark sides of human existence. If any criticism can be levelled at Dickens, it would be his portrayal of women and his somewhat rushed endings – although the end of A Tale of Two Cities is one of my personal favourites.

The writing style of Dickens may seem strange at first, but once you’re through the first chapters you should get drawn into the plot and then you will be rewarded with some of the most colourful storytelling in the English language.

Finally, a quote from David Copperfield, Dickens’  favourite book and the most autobiographical of his novels.

“My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest.”    

David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens

See the Dickens 2012 website for more information.

What to read next?

If you’re stuck for ideas about what you want to read next, then take a look at these websites. They have book reviews on both old and new authors, many written by teens for teens.

Love Reading 4 Kids

Teenreads

Reading Matters

If we don’t have what you are looking for in the LRC, then feel free to make a request.  Don’t forget to keep checking the new fiction stand as it’s updated weekly. There really is a book for everyone.

2011 Costa Book of the Year

Pure by Andrew Miller

Deep in the heart of Paris, its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, overflowing, tainting the very breath of those who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provincial engineer charged by the king with demolishing it.

At first Baratte sees this as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man of reason. But before long, he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own.