The holidays are here! I hope you enjoy your holidays, and eat lots of chocolate eggs! Remember that school returns on Monday 15th April.
Happy Easter!
image by feeliz, used under creative commons license.
If you are looking for something to do over the Easter holidays, why not visit the Edinburgh International Science Festival? You can click on the logo to go to the site, and see what’s on. There are masses of things to do, in lots of different venues (including the zoo, the camera obscura and even Livingston centre), and it is on until the 7th April, so there’s plenty of time to visit.
Warm Bodies is a modern version of the classic tale Romeo and Juliet, which features a battle between Zombies and Humans. It follows the love of the brainless zombie, R, and the human, Julie. We think this is a good novel because it brings together two people in a romance that fate has so far prevented. We would recommend this book to anyone because it is just faultless really:) We expect to see more from the spectacular author, Isaac Marion, in the future.
I’ve just finished reading Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick – one of the Carnegie Medal shortlist books for 2013. It is an intense, dark, almost Gothic read. The novel is made up of seven stories spanning centuries and retelling the lives of the same three characters – there are moons and hares, sacrifice and eternal love. If you like your books to be complicated, satisfying, and full of imagery then you should read Midwinterblood.
What would you sacrifice for someone you’ve loved forever?
‘I will live seven times, and I will look for you and love you in each life.’
In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a ritual sacrifice takes place.
It echoes a moment ten centuries before , when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire, they come close to finding what they’ve lost. But can love last forever?
I Love Rural West Lothian… look at 0:34s – there’s the Eco Club!
Today is BBC News School Report day when students from all around the UK get the chance to make and broadcast their own news. Our own intrepid reporters – Hannah, Jacqueline, Alison, Megan, Chloe and Alice – have lots of interesting reports ready, so go over to the WCHS School Report Site by clicking on the banner, and have a look at what’s going on. You can even follow their twitter feed, which is also running in the right sidebar.
The CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist was announced last week and I obviously have some reading to do, because I have only read three of the eight books on the list. The shortlist consists of:
If you would like to read any of these books you can request them by asking at the Library desk.
When I first started reading ‘The Long Weekend’ I didn’t actually think it was as good as the blurb made it sound. The style of writing seemed almost child-like, which was really off-putting. There were a lot of references to popular musicians, books and films, which made it seem like the writer was trying too hard to describe a modern pre-teen. Reading ‘The Long Weekend’ was difficult, and not because the writing was bad; actually, as the book progressed, the childish writing made the story more hard-hitting and real. When the boys were kidnapped, I was struck with a deep sense of dread that stayed with me throughout the book, and even after I had finished reading it. The storyline was so possible, which really scared me. I will never again take on a book not suitable for younger readers with the same amount of gusto.
Veronica Roth writes action-packed dystopian novels set in an alternative version of Chicago, where society is divided up into five factions – Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless, Amity and Erudite – in an attempt to make a perfectly balanced society. The first in the series, Divergent, will be a film next year.
Sixteen-year-old Tris is forced to make a terrible choice. In a divided society where everyone must conform, Tris does not fit.
So she ventures out alone, determined to discover where she truly belongs. Shocked by her brutal new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her.
The hardest choice lies ahead.
We also have the sequel Insurgent, in the Library. The third in the trilogy is due out in October this year, and is still untitled.
If you have ever read (or attempted to read – it’s a bit more difficult than you might expect) The Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum, you will know that it is a very strange read. The new Disney film, Oz the Great and Powerful is a prequel to the Oz books and is apparently just as weird!
If you want to read The Wizard of Oz, we have a copy in the Library.