Monthly Archives: March 2012

Friday

RMS TITANIC

The Titanic sank one hundred years ago this April 15th – you may have noticed that there is a lot of fuss about it just now…

If you want to know more about the Titanic there are thousands and thousands of websites – Encyclopedia Titanica is one of the best I’ve found. Or you could just read a book, from the Unsinkable? display next to the main entrance of the library.

Useless Titanic facts… all found in books!

RMS stands for Royal Mail Ship
Only three of the Titanic’s funnels worked – the fourth was just to make it look better
Several dogs survived the sinking
Newspapers initially reported that “no lives were lost”

Thursday

Leave a reply

BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service is in school today to take donations from sixth year and staff. Giving blood is a really positive and simple thing that you can do to help others, although you have to be seventeen or older to do so – click on the logo to have a look at how the Blood Transfusion Service saves lives.

Wednesday

Leave a reply

BOOK CLUB

Alison and Jacqueline from the Book Club recommend coming along because we do lots of different things including writing book reviews, reading and talking about books. The Book Club is a good place for people who love books!

We visit the Edinburgh Book Festival each year, and we meet an author like Morris Gleitzman or Celia Rees, which means we get a trip out of school too.

Tuesday

Leave a reply

THE PIRATES! IT’S A FILM AND A BOOK…

The Hunger Games is amazing, but, it’s not funny. This is funny. The book (which obviously we have in the library) has jokes, footnotes, life-skills, and clear and precise instructions on how to fend off a pirate attack using trilobites. Oh, and it has Charles Darwin in it too.

The blurb describes it as the least historically accurate book you’ll read this year, so please don’t show it to any history teachers!

The film, which comes out tomorrow, has Martin Freeman and Hugh Grant and David Tennant in it, and is animated by Aardman, famous for Wallace and Gromit. But it probably doesn’t have quite as many bad jokes as the book.

Monday

Leave a reply

BOOK OF THE WEEK – THE GIRL IN THE MASK

This week’s book of the week has a very modern heroine, but is set in Georgian times. Fifteen-year-old Sophia can’t imagine anything worse than having to marry and settle down, but her tyrannical father has plans for her that she seems to have no choice but to follow. Until she decides to pay back some scores and take control of her own life…

The blurb on the back of the book…

“Stand and Deliver! Hand over your valuables if you value your life!”

Sophia’s duty is clear: look pretty, behave well, and find a husband as soon as possible. But Sophia hates the social whirl of balls and masquerades – so under the cover of darkness, she secretly swaps her ball gowns for breeches, and turns to highway robbery.

Friday

Leave a reply

THE HUNGER GAMES

I thought The Hunger Games would make a fantastic film when I first read it in 2008, and I’ve been waiting ever since. Now everyone is reading The Hunger Games – if you want to join in, ask in the library. We have lots of copies, as well as the sequels Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Click on the Hunger Games logo to go to the official film site, where you can watch the trailer.

Thursday

Leave a reply

ECO SCHOOLS

Today is the day when the school will be inspected to see if we have achieved an Eco Schools Scotland green flag. Mr Begarnie and the Eco Club have been working hard to make sure everything is perfect, so please remember to be especially environmentally aware today.

Wednesday

Leave a reply

WWW

You’ll see this check sheet on the back wall of the library (above the computers), and there are copies on the resources trolley as well. It’s there to help you find appropriate information when you are researching on the internet.

Tuesday

Leave a reply

WRITING ABOUT BOOKS

When you don’t have a clue what to read next, there are some wonderful blogs and review sites around to offer suggestions. Have a look at…

Teenreads which is part of the Book Report Network, or Booktrailers4kids&YA, where I get some of the book trailers I use to promote new books – it has lots of older ones too, or Forever Young Adult which describes itself as for YA readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A, and Chicklish, which is my favourite site for dipping into and finding something new to read.

Click on the icons to go to the sites.

Monday

Leave a reply

BOOK OF THE WEEK – THE HUNGER GAMES

With all the publicity surrounding the release of The Hunger Games film on Friday, this week’s Book of the Week really had to be this – the first in the Hunger Games trilogy.

Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister’s place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

Click on the picture to go to the official UK Hunger Games site, with downloads, games and a fiery countdown to the film release.