Friday 28th February – The Joy of Books
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Monthly Archives: February 2014
Thursday 27th February – New books in the library
The Disappearing Duchess, by Imogen Rossi is an adventure story set in an imaginary city called La Luminosa – it all feels very Italian, apart from the magic and the different history. Determined and curious Bianca, helped by Marco a tumbler in an acting troupe, are trying to find out who killed Bianca’s painting master. They are up against some very villainous villains and will have to use their wits, brains and some magic to succeed.
The blurb:
Enter an enchanted city, where nothing is as it seems…
Bianca feels like the luckiest girl in all of La Luminosa. She lives in one of the greatest cities in the world, and is apprentice to the famous painter Annunzio di Lombardi. Her life could not be more perfect!
But when tragedy befalls her master, Bianca’s peaceful existence is thrown into disarray. Something sinister is afoot in the labyrinthine corridors of the Duchess’s palace and the great houses of the city – and Bianca will stop at nothing to find out what it is…
Even better? This is the first book in a new series.
Wednesday 26th February – New books in the library
If You Find Me, by Emily Murdoch is an absolute page-turner of a book – I cared so much about what happened to Carey that I couldn’t stop reading. I think there were even bits where I was holding my breath.
This is not an easy read – Carey and Janessa are survivors because they have had to be survivors; Carey is a fierce protector for her little sister. Although it made me cry (and I will have to add it to my list of books to be loaned with tissues), ultimately I thought that If You Find Me was a hopeful book, about love, coping and family.
The blurb says:
Carey is keeping a terrible secret. If she tells, it could destroy her future. If she doesn’t, will she ever be free?
For almost as long as she can remember, Carey has lived in a camper van in the heart of the woods with her drug-addicted mother and six-year-old sister, Jenessa.
Their mother routinely disappears for weeks at a time, leaving the girls to cope alone. Survival is Carey’s only priority – until strangers arrive and everything changes . . .
Tuesday 25th February – Science Fun
Edinburgh University are coming into school with their Sci-Fun event this week. Clare interviewed Miss Aikman about what will be going on.
Today and tomorrow the S1s and S2s will be taking part in a Science Fair, organised by Miss Aikman. The hall will be set up with stations, a different experiment at each station. All three Sciences, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, will be taught. They will go round to all of the stations in their practical classes having fun and doing the experiments. It will benefit their Science education because they will be able to try other parts of Science that they might not have had the chance to try out before. It will be linked to real life and will help them be successful learners and confident individuals. It will be lots of fun and also educational. It will encourage them to enjoy Science and take part, and show them that Science is more than just sitting in a classroom.
Monday 24th February – Book of the Week
Constable & Toop (what an amazing title), by Gareth P Jones is both a ghost story and a mystery, set in Victorian London. It twists together the stories of Lapsewood, a shy ghost clerk who is sent out into the real world; Clara who lives in a doubly-haunted house and Sam Toop who has grown up in a funeral parlour and who can see and, most importantly, talk to ghosts.
Together they must try to solve the mystery of the Black Rot which infects haunted houses that have lost their resident ghosts.
The blurb says…
‘You don’t want to go messing about with haunted houses these days, mate…’
In the land of the dead Lapsewood is a clerk investigating why haunted houses are losing their ghosts. Young Sam Toop can see ghosts and he too is asked to help the spirits make sense of the terrible things happening, like the Black Rot infecting their homes and the demon hound roaming the streets of London.
But can Sam help while also keeping himself out of harm’s way?
My favourite bits were the Elizabethan ghost actor with yellow tights, the spirit hounds and their haunted sticks, Clara’s father and finding out what Mrs Pringle was reading!
And, the best thing of all? There’s even a song…
Friday 21st February – New books in the library
Today’s featured book is by Malorie Blackman – an author who has been writing books that young people love for many years, and who is the current Children’s Laureate. Noble Conflict is a novel about those on opposite sides, and about whether we should believe what we are told.
The blurb says:
Kaspar always knew that he wanted to grow up and fight the violent rebels, who threaten to destroy his homeland. Losing his parents made him even more determined.
Rhea is a rebel, with her own reasons for joining the fight. When Kaspar meets her – one of the people he has been taught to hate – he feels a powerful connection to this beautiful, mysterious girl, and is haunted by strange memories that could only belong to her.
Delving deeper into Rhea’s mind, he realizes he hasn’t been told the truth about what the rebels really want – or what he’s really fighting for.
Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman is currently on the new books shelf, just inside the library doors.
Thursday 20th February – New books in the library
The next book in our slow-release trickle of new books (I’m processing them as fast as I can, I promise) is Cat Clarke’s Entangled – the story of Grace who has a confused life and some very mixed up relationships.
The blurb on the back:
The same questions whirl round and round in my head: What does he want from me? How could I have let this happen? Am I going to die?
Seventeen-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with a table, pens and paper – and no clue how she got there.
As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she’s tried to forget. There’s falling in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal. But there’s something missing.
Grace must face the most important question of all. Why is she here?
I bought all three of Cat Clarke’s books because a few people had requested them, so watch out for Torn and Undone as well – they’ll all be on the new book display soon. I love all the covers, but I think Entangled is particularly striking with all that glowing vibrant red! And, Cat Clarke is a local author – she lives in Edinburgh according to her website, which you can get to by clicking on the book cover… go and have a look.
Wednesday 19th February – New books in the library
Katy Moran‘s Hidden Among Us is a dark tale about changeling children and covenants between the faerie world and our own. The blurb says…
When Lissy uncovers a dark secret in the village of Hopesay Edge she finds herself fighting the Hidden and their powerful elven magic. Unknowingly bound by an unbreakable bargain, Lissy is in danger, because if they catch her now, they will never let her go.
I get a sense of satisfaction whenever I come across a book about proper, tradition magic – one sunk in old-fashioned tales and story-telling, and I so enjoyed this one. Hidden Among Us is set here and now, but it crosses the line into, and back from there and then in an utterly believable way. And it’s such a complex book, with narrative threads twisting and turning through interconnected families and centuries, covered-up atrocities and deep secrets. I read it in an hour, and came away wishing it hadn’t finished and wanting to know more.
Sometimes the strength in a story is that you never know what happens next. This book is one of those.
Friday 14th February – The Book Thief
I have been waiting so long for this film to come out in the UK – it is based on one of my (and Miss Stirling’s) favourite books and I really, really want to go and see it. It seems very unfair that they keep on putting the release date back – it was originally due for release in January, then today – but now we’re going to have to wait until the end of February.
I’m not feeling very patient!
Thursday 13th February – New Books in the Library
I love it when a batch of new books arrives just before a holiday weekend – more reading time, and it’s just the kind of weather to curl up in a warm room with a good book. Some of this selection were recommended by students and some were requested.
If you want to be one of the first to read one of the new books, ask me, and I might even be able to have it ready for the long weekend.