The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Want to read a book that makes you really think about your life and the choices you make as well as being a great story? This is the book for you!

 

Trilogies and Series for Cosy Christmases!

The inspiration for this month’s book reviews and recommendations was a rather guilty admission for a Librarian: apart from the Harry Potter books, I have never completed a series. I know, may Santa, bring me coal for Christmases evermore. So, I thought there is simply no excuse this coming holiday, I will finally get round to reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If we have the opportunity, staying home and staying safe could translate, loosely, into cosying up indoors and escaping into another world through an engaging series of books (?). On the back of this idea we compiled a list of all the series that we have in the Library. This covers a breadth of genres from High Fantasy and Space Opera to Romance and High School Comedies and there are around 200 to choose from. So here we have it, get some well-deserved rest and relaxation and read a series for the Christmas holidays 2020…

New Fiction Reviewed - Books of the Week!

Another complete coincidence that we both chose books set in the Eighteenth Century this week, it must be the weather! The winter cold is a good prompt to settle in and get lost in some good atmospheric historical fiction with twists and turns, dilemmas and dramas and there is plenty of all that in each of these…

New Fiction Reviewed - Books of the Week - Anti-Bullying Week Recommendations!

Today, the ‘Books of the Week’ are following the ‘New in the Library This Term’ theme of the month as well as tying in with Anti-Bullying Week. Before you ask, no, these two books were not chosen for their practically matching pink and yellow covers or the coincidental rhyming of the protagonists’ names but for the way they tell stories of dealing with bullying in two very different contexts. Both central characters are juggling trying to fit in in the world alongside being bullied at School (not to mention the other everyday dramas of teenage life). Exhausting! These stories inspire a new approach to living through it: recognising and remembering your own potential and the importance of surrounding yourself with allies.

New Fiction Reviewed - Books of the Week!

Show casing the new fiction that has arrived in the Library this term, this week: one for Year 7 + and one for Year 10 + Enjoy!....

New Fiction Reviewed - Books of the Week

This month we thought we would introduce you to some of the new fiction we have in the Library by reviewing one each for our 'Book(s) of the Week'.  

Black History Month - Book of the Week!

And last in our Black History Month themed series of reviews is an oldie but a goody:

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

Black History Month - Book of the Week!

Though fiction is our theme for Black History Month, this thought-provoking book by rapper, poet and activist Akala made it onto our list because it is so timely and important. 

Part memoir, it has also been described as a polemic with a good measure of history, sociology and geopolitics thrown in. Akala uses his experience of growing up mixed race, poor and working class in the 1980s and 90s to illustrate the social and cultural inequalities that lie at the heart of British education, government, law and order and other institutions. He traces the roots of racism in Britain back to the Empire, illustrates its absurdities and skilfully compares and contrasts current and past racism in Britain with that which exists in the USA. In one of the most powerful passages in the book, Akala (who freely admits to having used it in his music in the past), presents a compelling argument against the use of the ‘n’ word in black culture which, in my opinion, should be an essential part of any school’s anti-racism programme. He handles his heavy subject matter in a deft and readable way and does not attempt to stifle his natural voice so do expect robust language. This however, only serves to amplify his powerful message and while it may be an uncomfortable read for some, I recommend this book very highly.

Suitable for Y9 and above.

Mrs Osafo

Black History Month - Book of the Week!

 

Continuing our Black History Month fiction theme, this week’s book of the week is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

This novel is about two African sisters and their subsequent stories over six generations starting in the 1700s. Unaware of each other's existence, Effia lives in Ghana, West Africa married to a white slave trader and Esi is sold into slavery ending up in America. Each chapter is about the next generation, alternating between the two sisters’ families. I loved the characters in each mini story and very often was left wanting to know more - a mark of good writing! If you like short stories this is definitely the book for you. The last two chapters on the last two characters, Marcus and Marjorie bring the story right up to the current day when the two sides of the family finally meet having no idea that they are distantly related. Fascinating book!

Mrs Godden

 

Black History Month - Book of the Week!

This week’s Book of the Week carries on the theme of Black History Month.

 

Is hope a leap into the darkness or the only reason to keep fighting? Set in newly independent Zimbabwe, 15 year-old Shamiso is struggling to come to terms with the death of her journalist father and has been uprooted from Slough to her home country. She meets Tanyaradzwa who is battling serious illness. Both have different ideas of whether hope is worth it. This novel paints a vivid picture of a struggling new country and the difficulties it was getting in to as well as the mess the colonists had left it in. It made me wonder whether the so called ’Bread basket of Africa’ (Zimbabwe) could have been saved and whose fault it was that it wasn’t. A great read!

Mrs Godden

Black History Month

Let’s celebrate this October with some brilliant fiction that tells the stories of black lives and experiences through history.