Christmas TV (Part 2)

Information courtesy of Mrs Helen Smith, School Library Manager, Rawmarsh Community School: A Sports College, Rotherham.

Look out for these films and programmes on TV this Christmas that are all based on books and plays.

Sunday 28th December

10.05am BBC2 Howl's Moving Castle from the book by Diana Wynne Jones

11.30am BBC1 The Borrowers from the book by Mary Norton 8.00pm

BBC1 The 39 Steps from the book by John Buchan

9.00pm ITV1 Affinity from the book by Sarah Waters

Monday 29th December

1.30pm BBC1 Muppet Treasure Island based on the book by Robert Louis Stevenson

2.00pm C5 Oliver Twist from the book by Charles Dickens

2.50pm BBC2 Miss Marple: They Do It With Mirrors based on the books by Agatha Christie

4.25pm BBC1 A Series of Unfortunate Events based on the first three books in the series by Lemony Snicket

4.45pm BBC2 Agatha Christie: a Life in Pictures

8.30pm BBC1 Superman Returns

9.00pm BBC2 Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking based on the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Tuesday 30th December

2.25pm BBC2 Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery based on the books by Agatha Christie

2.40pm BBC1 Goal from the book by Robert Rigby

Wednesday 31st December - New Year's Eve

1.45pm ITV1 Goodnight Mister Tom from the book by Michelle Magorian

3.45pm ITV1 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the book by Ian Fleming

9.00pm BBC2 Chocolat from the book by Joanne Harris

Thursday 1st January - New Year's Day

12.05pm ITV1 Pollyanna from the book by Eleanor H. Porter

2.25pm ITV1 Poirot: The ABC Murders based on the books by Agatha Christie

3.50pm BBC1 Stuart Little from the book by E. B. White

4.25pm ITV1 The Spy Who Loved Me based on the James Bond books by Ian Fleming

8.00pm C4 The Fantastic Four based on the comics

Friday 2nd January

2.20pm BBC1 The Thief Lord from the book by Cornelia Funke

Happy Holidays

Our term ends on Thursday 18th December so I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in January.

Christmas TV (Part 1)

Information courtesy of Mrs Helen Smith, School Library Manager, Rawmarsh Community School: A Sports College, Rotherham.

Look out for these films and programmes on TV this Christmas that are all based on books and plays.


Saturday 20th December

10.25pm BBC2 V for Vendetta from the graphic novel by Alan Moore

Sunday 21st December

3.25pm BBC1 Dustbin Baby from the book by Jacqueline Wilson

6.30pm C4 Oliver Twist from the book by Charles Dickens

7.00pm C5 Christmas With the Kranks based on Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

7.45pm BBC1 Lark Rise to Candleford based on the books by Flora Thompson

Monday 22nd December

12.35pm C4 Christmas Carol: the Movie

2.50pm C5 Christmas Carol: the Musical

both from the book by Charles Dickens

4.00pm BBC1 The Cat in the Hat from the book by Dr Seuss

4.00pm ITV1 Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

5.55pm BBC2 Finding Neverland based on the story of J. M. Barrie and his story of Peter Pan

Tuesday 23rd December

11.55am C4 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea from the book by Jules Verne

4.35pm BBC2 Seabiscuit from the book by Laura Hillenbrand

Wednesday 24th December - Christmas Eve

12.30pm C5 The Three Worlds of Gulliver based on the books by Jonathan Swift

3.00pm ITV1 The Polar Express from the book by Chris van Allsberg

4.50pm C5 Scrooge

6.45pm C4 Christmas Carol

both based on the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Thursday 25th December - Christmas Day

10.00am BBC2 My Fair Lady based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

3.10pm ITV1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

based on the third book in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

4.00pm C4 Scrooged based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

6.00pm BBC1 Doctor Who

6.45pm C5 Memoirs of a Geisha from the book by Arthur Golden

11.45pm BBC1 Bend it Like Beckham from the story by Narinder Dhami

Friday 26th December - Boxing Day

11.25am ITV1 Black Beauty from the book by Anna Sewell

11.50am BBC2 The Importance of Being Earnest from the play by Oscar Wilde

11.55am BBC1 Ella Enchanted from the book by Gail Carson Levine

1.25pm ITV1 The Railway Children from the book by E. Nesbit

5.50pm BBC1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
from the book by C. S. Lewis

5.55pm BBC2 Nicholas Nickleby from the book by Charles Dickens

Saturday 27th December

12.00pm BBC2 Swiss Family Robinson from the book by Johann Wyss

1.55pm C5 Ivanhoe from the book by Sir Walter Scott

3.35pm ITV1 Emma from the book by Jane Austen

9.30pm BBC2 Starter for Ten from the book by David Nicholls


At the cinema this Christmas...

Twilight based on the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer

Inkheart from the book of the same name by Cornelia Funke

The Tale of Desperaux based on The Tale of Despereaux: by Kate DiCamillo

Malorie Blackman

Watch Malorie Blackman, author of the Noughts & Crosses series, talk about the latest installment, Double Cross, at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KeOChaMJSms.

Inspired? Get writing! Creative Writing Competition 2009

Entries are invited for the fourth year of this highly successful writing competition run in partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland, the English-Speaking Union and the Scottish Poetry Library.

Poetry or prose must be inspired by something from across the National Galleries permanent collection and be no more than 1,000 words in length. Images of many of the works can be accessed through the Online Collection at http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_home/4:315.


There are five categories: under 12 years; 12-15 years; 16-18 years; unpublished adult; published adult.

For full details visit the National Galleries of Scotland website at http://www.nationalgalleries.org/education/competition/6:3740/5913/.


The closing date is Friday 23 January 2009.

Twilight Film Tops US Box Office

The film of Stephenie Meyer's book Twilight , directed by Catherine Hardwicke, has set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a female- directed film in the US. It made $70.6m (£46m)!

Producers Summit Entertainment have already announced a follow-up to Twilight, based on the second in the series New Moon.

Find out more at http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

Britain's Funniest Book

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend has been named as Britain's funniest book in a recent survey of over 2000 people, by Reader's Digest.

Find out which other books made the Top 10 at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3490952/Adrian-Mole-beats-Bridget-Jones-to-top-poll-of-funny-books.html

Booktrust Teenage Prize Winner 2008

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness has won the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize.

The award celebrates contemporary fiction for teenagers, and is judged by a mixed panel of adults and teenagers.

Amanda Craig, chair of the judging panel commented that "it made the judges laugh, cry and debate its contents with passion; a striking mixture of thriller, science fiction and literary tour de force, it's influenced by writers as diverse as Laurence Sterne and Ursula le Guin, and should appeal to a wide readership."

The book has also won the Guardian Children's Fiction prize this year.

Blue Peter Book Awards Shortlists

The shortlists are:

Best Book With Facts
Archaeology Detectives by Simon Adams (Oxford University Press)
100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet by Anna Claybourne (A&C Black)
Horrible Geography Handbooks: Planet in Peril by Anita Ganeri, illustrated by Mike Phillips (Scholastic)

Book I Couldn't Put Down
Abela by Berlie Doherty (Andersen Press)
Shadow Forest by Matt Haig (Corgi)
Foul Play by Tom Palmer (Puffin)

Most Fun Story with Pictures
Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman (Egmont)Fleabag by Helen Stephens (Alison Green Books)
Lost! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong (Puffin Books)

The winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards will be announced in the spring of 2009, to coincide with World Book Day.

Halloween Special

Why not try some of our favourite spooky stories and authors for Halloween - they are all available from the Library.

Junior Fiction

Tom Becker – Darkside series
Thomas Bloor – Worm in the Blood series
N.M. Browne - Basilisk
Rachel Caine – Morganville Vampires series HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Cassandra Clare – City of Bones/City of Ashes series HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Stephen Cole – The Wereling series
Joseph Delaney – Spook’s Apprentice series
Alan Gibbons – Legendeer Trilogy
Nick Gifford – Piggies
Anthony Horowitz – Horowitz Horror, The Power of Five series
Cliff McNish - Breathe HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Stephenie Meyer - Twilight series HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Christopher Pike - The Last Vampire series
Books by Celia Rees
Books by E.E. Richardson
Sebastian Rook – Vampire Plagues series
Marcus Sedgewick – My Swordhand is Singing HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Darren Shan – The Saga of Darren Shan series, Demonata series HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Justin Somper – Vampirates series
Cate Tiernan – Wicca series HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Daniel Waters – Generation Dead HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Robert Westall - The Scarecrows
Scott Westerfeld - Parasite Positive


Senior Fiction

Books by Kelley Armstrong
Books by Joanthan Aycliffe
John Connolly - Nocturnes
Books by Stephen King HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Books by Anne Rice
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Bram Stoker - Dracula

More Award News

Children's Laureate Michael Rosen has launched the Roald Dahl Funny Prize to celebrate humour in children's writing. The shortlists have been released with the winners will be announced in November.

Ages Seven to Fourteen:

• Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman
  
• Paddington Here and Now by Michael Bond, illustrated by RW Alley
  
• Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison
  
• Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
  
• Aliens Don't Eat Dog Food by Dinah Capparucci
  
• Urgum and the Goo Goo Bah! by Kjartan Poskitt, illustrated by Philip Reeve

Ages Six and Under:

• Stick Man by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
• Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt
• The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers
• The Witch's Children Go to School by Ursula Jones, illustrated by Russell Ayto
• There's an Ouch in My Pouch! by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Garry Parsons
• Manfred the Baddie by John Fardell

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Winner

Congratulations to Patrick Ness for winning the Guardian Children's Fiction prize for his book The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Imagine you're the only boy in a town of men. And you can hear everything they think. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don't fit in with their plans...
Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping secrets from him. Secrets that are going to force him to run...

Find out more about Patrick and The Knife of Never Letting Go at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/27/booksforchildrenandteenagers

Award Shortlists Announced

Books shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize have recently been announced.

The Guardian shortlist is:

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

The Booktrust Teenage Prize shortlist is:

Creature of the Knight by Kate Thompson (Bodley Head)
The Knife that Killed Me by Anthony McGowan (Definitions)
The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner (Orion)
Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz (Walker)
Apache by Tanya Landman (Walker)
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Walker)

You can see the books courtesy of our nifty widget from Amazon, on the right hand side of this page. Most are now available to borrow from the Library, or will be arriving very soon.
Personally, my favourite of the ones I've read so far is The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner, a fantastic story set in Paris and London at the time of the French Revolution. Highly recommended!

Best Reads for Autumn

Look out for these books which are being released soon and will be available from the Library:

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Eagerly anticipated sequel to Eragon and Eldest - sure to be a huge bestseller!

Following the colossal battle against the Empire's warriors, Eragon and Saphira narrowly escaped with their lives. But, more awaits the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by promises he may not be able to keep, including his oath to cousin Roran to help rescue his beloved Katrina. Conflict, action, adventure and one devastating death await readers as Eragon battles on behalf of the Varden while Galbatorix ruthlessly attempts to crush and twist him to his own purposes. Can he become a leader who can unite the rebel forces and defeat the King?

Wolf Island by Darren Shan

The eighth dramatic title in the Demonata series. As the mysterious Shadow builds an army of demons, Grubbs and his team search desperately for answers. But when they follow up a new lead, it takes them to an old, unexpected foe - the Lambs. The curse of the Gradys has returned with a vengeance. Werewolves are on the loose. And they're hungry!

Jimmy Coates: Power by Joe Craig

The sixth action-packed adventure for Jimmy Coates - who seems like an ordinary boy, but he's not. He's genetically engineered to grow into the perfect government assassin. Speed, strength and deadly instinct - it's all in the blood. He has to fight not to kill, while his government fights to kill him. Jimmy's country is under attack. His body is poisoned. With time running out, he discovers what some people will do for power - and what he must do to stop them...

Welcome Back

Welcome back to all pupils and staff for the start of the new session!

Twilight Film

Can't wait for the film version of Twilight - check out the trailer here!

New Stephenie Meyer Book

If, like me, you can't wait for Breaking Dawn the new book in the Twilight saga (published on August 4th!!!) you might want to try:

City of Bones and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Tell Me What You See by Zoran Drvenkar

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Find out more about the film version of Twilight here: http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

Connected Magazine

The latest issue of Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Connected magazine has now been published and can be found at:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/LTSConnectedSum08_tcm4-491144.pdf

Refugee Week 16-22 June

Find out more about Refugee Week, including events in Scotland, at

http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk/Home/

You can also read about the plight of refugees in the following books:

Fiction

Divided City by Theresa Breslin

Mud City by Deborah Ellis

Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman

Girl in Red by Gaye Hicilmaz

Kiss the Dust by Elizabeth Laird

Ruby Tanya by Robert Swindells

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah

Non Fiction

21st century Citizen: Immigrants and Refugees by Cath Senker

In the News: Immigration and Asylum by Iris Teichmann

It Happened to Me: Refugee by Angela Neustatter

One Day We Had to Run: Refugee Children Tell Their Story in Words and Paintings

Book Events in Glasgow

Rodge Glass Thursday 5th June Waterstone's Sauchiehall St 6.30pm Free

Christopher Brookmyre Monday 9th June Waterstone's Sauchiehall St 6.30pm £3

Andrew Murray Scott Saturday 14th June Borders Buchanan St Noon Free

Chris Ryan to Visit Hutchie

We are delighted to announce that best-selling author and former SAS soldier Chris Ryan will be visiting the school on Tuesday 13th May to talk to S1 pupils about his new book Vortex.

There will then be a book signing for ALL interested staff and pupils at 12.30pm.

Books will be available to buy on the day but please remember to bring money as they can't be reserved.

Revision Help

Exams are coming soon for S4-6 pupils - for some useful revision help try these links:

Study Skills from Learning and Teaching Scotland
A collection of interactive materials to help students to become effective learners and manage their own learning. This resource focuses on important exam issues such as essay writing and memory skills.
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/studyskills/15to18/index.asp

Past Paper Questions
The SQA past paper service allows you to download free National Qualifications (NQ) question papers from the 2007 diet.
http://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers/findpastpaper.htm

Exam Guide 2008
This Exam Guide was produced by the Sunday Herald in Spring 2008 to help pupils with revision. It contains useful information on exam structures and technique with practice questions and worked examples for Standard Grade, Intermediate 1 and 2, Higher and Advanced Higher subjects.
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/resources/e/nqresource_tcm4477838.asp

Carnegie Medal Shortlist Announced

The books shortlisted for this year's Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals have just been announced:

Carnegie Shortlist (for older children)
Gatty's Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Ruby Red by Linzi Glass
Crusade by Elizabeth Laird
Apache by Tanya Landman
Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve
What I Was by Meg Rosoff
Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine

Kate Greenaway Shortlist (for younger children)
Silly Billy by Anthony Browne
The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Ann Duffy and Jane Ray
Penguin by Polly Dunbar
Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett
Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears by Emily Gravett
Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell
Banana by Ed Vere

Winners will be announced on June 26th!

Check out the special display in the Library to see any of the shortlisted books and watch out for details of how you can take part in the HGS Shadowing Scheme, which is coming soon.

Fairy Tales

To celebrate the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, born 2nd April 1805, why not try re-reading some of his fairy tales like Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and The Snow Queen which are all available in the Library.


Or try some modern re-tellings of other famous tales:


Happy Ever After by Adele Geras

The Tower Room: Based on Rapunzel - when Megan glimpses Simon from her tower room, their worlds are changed forever...

Watching the Roses: A modern version of Sleeping Beauty - an ill-wishing has been placed on Alice, and it seems to be coming true...

Pictures of the Night: A retelling of the Snow White fairytale - is Bella's stepmother really as wicked as she believes?


The Princess and the Pauper by Kate Brian

Princess Carina is psyched - she's going to LA without her parents. Even better, she will finally get to meet Ribbit, the hot lead singer of Toadmuffin. The trouble is, how is she going to get to meet him at his gig, when it's the same night as the Ambassador's reception in her honour?Cue, Julia. An ordinary girl at an LA High School. Her chance meeting with Princess Carina is the start of a crazy plot for the two girls to swap places for one extraordinary night.


Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

"Spindle's End" is a retelling of the fairy tale, "The Sleeping Beauty" - the curse placed on Rosie at her christening will hunt her down through the years...

Author Visit

We are very happy to announce that author Carmen Reid will be visiting us on Monday 31st March at lunchtime, to talk to our pupil book group Connections, about her writing.

Carmen has written five novels for adults and also writes columns, articles and short stories. She is currently working on her first novel for teenagers.

Find out more at http://www.carmenreid.com/

Food for Thought

Dr McCarthy's S2 form class wanted to raise awareness of Homeslessness in Scotland. For their charity effort they collected cans which could then be given to a charity which helps homeless people.

The house of cans currently on display in the Library will be disassembled and donated to a soup kitchen run by St. Silas Church in Glasgow.

New Manga Collection

The Library has recently started a Manga collection, with titles such as Bleach, Vampire Doll and Mega Tokyo now available for borrowing.
Thanks to everyone who has recommended titles so far - please contact the Library if you have any ideas on what we should buy.

Celebrate Chinese New year

Why not celebrate Chinese New Year by reading some novels set in China? Check out our display at the entrance to the Library or our recommendations here:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Behind the Wall : A journey through China by Colin Thubron

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

A House by the River by Sid Smith

The Picador Book of Contemporary Chinese Fiction

Red Azalea: Life and Love in China by Anchee Min

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Uninvited by Yan Geling

Waiting by Ha Jin

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Details on all of these books can be found via the Library Catalogue on the school intranet.