Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

How would you feel if when you read aloud from a novel, the characters came alive in front of you whilst simultaneously someone from your world was dragged into the story and disappears? Excited or terrified? This is what had happened to Meggie when her father read the book Inkheart to her and her mother 9 years ago. Suddenly her mother was gone, and the evil Capricorn had appeared.  However, Meggie remembers nothing of this until a fire-eater called Dustfinger appears at their house. Suddenly they are leaving to stay at her Aunt Eleanor’s book filled house and her father won’t say why. Has Capricorn finally has tracked down Meggie’s father? What evil does he want him to read out of Inkheart now? I loved all the characters in this book, and it gripped me right until the end. This is a book and a world that I really didn’t want to leave. I can’t wait to get stuck into the next one in this trilogy!

Mrs Godden

Fairy tales, Myths and legends in time for World Book Day

 

Fancy learning a bit more about fairy tales, myths & legends before our amazing extravaganza on this year’s World Book Day after half term. Look no further as here are a selection of books containing those stories for you to explore. You might even get some inspiration for your costume, and you will certainly be prepared when it comes to the World Book Day library quiz!

Slightly spooky books?

 

Fancy some books to curl up with during these cold days? I read these books over Christmas and loved the slightly spooky element that all three had. Why don’t you try one of them out?

         

Year 7 Library Activity

We have just finished a very enjoyable year 7 Library Activity with Hilliard’s House. Read on to find out what we got up to… 

 

Study Skills Collection

Calling all pupils approaching exams, mocks, assignments, essays, interviews and investigations. We have an expansive collection of study and writing skills guides in the Library just for you! Come and browse our displays...

Supporting cast by Kit de Waal

If you fancy a collection of amazing short stories set in the present world, then I would thoroughly recommend this book.

Easter Reading: (Other) things to think about this March!

We are nearing the Easter holidays and there is a lot for us all to grapple with at this time of year and that’s without “the pandemic that shall not be named” in tow. So we thought you might like some interesting distractions to remind you that the Earth is still turning and there is still intrigue and curiosity to be fulfilled!

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'.  

Welcome Back From Half Term

Welcome back from half term! If you have spent the last week really craving a good nonfiction book to devour then read on and delight in a selection of our new books just in.

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

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

Book of the Week

 

This week’s book is also a classic whodunit. The Guest List by Lucy Foley is her follow up novel after her highly acclaimed The Hunting Party. 

Guests are invited to Cormorant Island for the wedding of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. The setting is spectacular as the guests toast the golden couple but soon dark secrets start to spill out and old grudges surface. Then someone is found dead. In the age- old tradition of true crime novels, a storm means no one can leave the island. The killer is among the guests….circulating!! Everyone has a secret and everyone has a motive. Anyone who loves an atmospheric crime novel will love this novel. I thoroughly recommend it!

Mrs Godden

This week's Book of the Week

Every week we in the BGS Library are going to choose a book for you to consider ordering through our amazing Click and Collect system! This week I thought we would pick a classic written by the Queen of Crime writing herself – Agatha Christie. For those of you who have never read Agatha Christie I strongly recommend that you give her a go. Her relatively short novels have so many subtle twists and red herrings in the plot that I rarely ever guess the culprit before the big reveal at the end. She has written over 70 novels but I have chosen a slightly less well known one this week.

The Pale Horse was recently adapted for television and as such was changed rather a lot. However, that only makes it more imperative that you read the original for yourselves and decide which version you like best. This is one of Christie’s more mysterious books with a hint of paranormal in there. When an elderly priest is murdered, the killer searches the body looking for something that obviously was very important to them. What was it? And what had the dying woman just a few hours earlier confided to him? Murder or Black Magic? You decide!

Mrs Godden

World Book Day/STEM Week