After a very nice (and very long) summer break, including a trip to Amsterdam to visit a friend, see the canals and eat cheese (yum), it's back to school time.
So what's new this term?
Well, an upgrade to our library management system has been providing us with variable amounts of joy and despair since July, when we moved from Eclipse.net to Eclipse (hosted) with the Reading Cloud. Teething problems with the Management module aside, this is a vast improvement on our old and very creaky version of MLS's software, with its old-school public catalogue. All the staff and pupils I have seen in library inductions love the Reading Cloud, with its social features, the ability to personalise and its modern look. Having said that, some of the pupils were so excited at the prospect of creating their avatars, they forgot they were in a reading lesson! Most of them have enthusiastically borrowed books so we're off to a good start.
My holiday reading involved catching up with that's cool in teen fiction. Unfortunately, quite a lot of this is dystopian worlds or about kids dying, so I didn't read as much as I had hoped. However, in the past six months I have at least read the Carnegie medal shortlist for 2015.
Here are my thoughts in "this is my favourite book" order:
Buffalo Soldier (worthy winner)
The Middle of Nowhere (atmospheric)
The Fastest Boy in the World (beautiful)
Apple and Rain (realistic)
When Mr Dog Bites (challenging)
Tinder (gripping)
Cuckoo Song (freaky)
More Than This (derivative)
Recent reads in teen fiction include:
Belzhar (insightful, but with a twist)
All the Truth That's In Me (disappointing - guessed the ending too early)
If I Stay (pleasantly surprised - really enjoyed this life or death novel)
The Fault in our Stars (not as miserable as I had expected - can understand why the girls like it)
Smart (clever grounded-in-real-life detective story)
Liar and Spy (in two minds about whether I liked this one)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (I was shocked by the content - drug refences and everyone smoking - published early 90s though)
Still on the bookshelf:
My Heart and Other Black Holes / Maggot Moon / The Miniaturist / The Monogram Murders / Apache / Cassandra's Sister / Peter Pan in Scarlet / The Bunker Diary / Looking For Alaska / The Hunger Games trilogy / Web of Darkness
So I'm getting there with the fiction, although I keep supplementing what I think of as my "work reads" with various non-fiction titles, my Agatha Christie Miss Marple collection and titles from the public library. There just aren't enough hours in the week to read as much as I would like to. Perhaps I should devote my time to scheduled "reading lessons" like we have for years 7-9 at school!
So what's new this term?
Well, an upgrade to our library management system has been providing us with variable amounts of joy and despair since July, when we moved from Eclipse.net to Eclipse (hosted) with the Reading Cloud. Teething problems with the Management module aside, this is a vast improvement on our old and very creaky version of MLS's software, with its old-school public catalogue. All the staff and pupils I have seen in library inductions love the Reading Cloud, with its social features, the ability to personalise and its modern look. Having said that, some of the pupils were so excited at the prospect of creating their avatars, they forgot they were in a reading lesson! Most of them have enthusiastically borrowed books so we're off to a good start.
My holiday reading involved catching up with that's cool in teen fiction. Unfortunately, quite a lot of this is dystopian worlds or about kids dying, so I didn't read as much as I had hoped. However, in the past six months I have at least read the Carnegie medal shortlist for 2015.
Here are my thoughts in "this is my favourite book" order:
Buffalo Soldier (worthy winner)
The Middle of Nowhere (atmospheric)
The Fastest Boy in the World (beautiful)
Apple and Rain (realistic)
When Mr Dog Bites (challenging)
Tinder (gripping)
Cuckoo Song (freaky)
More Than This (derivative)
Recent reads in teen fiction include:
Belzhar (insightful, but with a twist)
All the Truth That's In Me (disappointing - guessed the ending too early)
If I Stay (pleasantly surprised - really enjoyed this life or death novel)
The Fault in our Stars (not as miserable as I had expected - can understand why the girls like it)
Smart (clever grounded-in-real-life detective story)
Liar and Spy (in two minds about whether I liked this one)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (I was shocked by the content - drug refences and everyone smoking - published early 90s though)
Still on the bookshelf:
My Heart and Other Black Holes / Maggot Moon / The Miniaturist / The Monogram Murders / Apache / Cassandra's Sister / Peter Pan in Scarlet / The Bunker Diary / Looking For Alaska / The Hunger Games trilogy / Web of Darkness
So I'm getting there with the fiction, although I keep supplementing what I think of as my "work reads" with various non-fiction titles, my Agatha Christie Miss Marple collection and titles from the public library. There just aren't enough hours in the week to read as much as I would like to. Perhaps I should devote my time to scheduled "reading lessons" like we have for years 7-9 at school!
