Hogwarts!

In honor of World Book Day (March 1st) and to get us all in the mood for March Media Madness Month, where we will debate which is better - the book or the movie, the Library has been transformed into Hogwarts.

House banners, educational decrees, a Daily Prophet wall with magical moving pictures and an Owlery all make the Library the best place to be this month.

Battle of the Books: The Final Round!

Voting for the Semi Finals of the Battle of the Books ended today and the results are posted on the draw boards.

In the 14 plus category The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins were walk away winners and easily advanced to the final round.

The 10 - 13 category produced an exciting race between A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.
Wrinkle just scraped through to the finals with a score of 82 votes to Percy's 80 and will battle against Wonder by R. J. Palacio for the coveted winning place.

If you aren't sure which amazing book should get your vote, plan to stop by the Library after half term for a lunchtime debate by members of our Library Squad, as they try to prove which book should become The Dragon's Den Best Book!

Marley Dias' new book! Read it over the holidays!

Marley Dias, founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks, is now on tour promoting her own book:

Marley Dias Gets It Done (And So Can You)

Her book is available on Amazon and a copy has been ordered for the Library.

"Marley Dias explores activism, social justice, volunteerism, equity and inclusion, and using social media for good. Drawing from her experience, Marley shows kids how they can galvanize their strengths to make positive changes in their communities, while getting support from parents, teachers, and friends to turn dreams into reality. Focusing on the importance of literacy and diversity, Marley offers suggestions on book selection, and delivers hands-on strategies for becoming a lifelong reader." (Amazon blurb)

Kirkus Reviews writes: "Dias understands that the personal is political and that one person has the power to make a difference. Dias' magnetic personality, outlook on life, and passion for change enliven every page, making this both a fun read and an irresistible call to action for people of all ages and backgrounds." 

Cool Quote Wednesday

1000 Black Girl Books

Meet Marley Dias, 12-year-old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks.

Marley Dias, founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks, at the Forbes' Women Summit in New York City
Photo by Uyen Cao for Forbes

In 2015 Marley launched a campaign to collect and donate 1000 books that feature black girls as the main character. To date she has collected 9000 titles!

In her welcome to the 1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide, Marley writes:

"I believe black girl books are really important because when you are young you want to read lots of books, but you especially like to read books with people that look like you. While I have books at home about black girls, the books at school were not diverse. Children do most of their reading in schools or because of schools. Teachers assign books that you must read. If those books are not diverse and do not show different people’s experiences then kids are going to believe that there is only one type of experience that matters. Also, if books are not diverse then kids will not learn about the experiences of other members in their community.

I love reading and I love reading all kinds of books. I think it is important that if we want the world to be a better place where everyone feels welcomed and understood then we must sure that children have books about black girls, and all kinds of people, not just white boys and dogs.

Black girl books are not just for black girls; they are for all children because not all black girl stories are the same. Teachers, school boards and parents need to make sure that all children have access to these stories. I hope this list of books will help you learn more about the diverse experiences of black girls. And I hope you enjoy and remember to keep reading."

Love

Marley Dias

Founder

#1000BlackGirlBooks"

In 2016, a publishing statistics analysis at the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison showed that just over 8% of books published had an African American protagonist. Only 1.6 % had a Native American protagonist; 7% a Latino protagonist.

Clearly there is a gap in the publishing industry.

Our Library has a gap as well and we would like to fix it.

Help us improve our collection of books by donating to the Library - perhaps for your birthday!

Check out the titles available in Marley's resource guide and let's make our Library truly representative of us all.

Tuesday's Book Recommendation!

Have you read Six of Crows? It is a 'duology'  (i.e. two books, not three) by Leigh Bardugo. The books are sort-of sequels to The Grisha series. Six of Crows, the first book, is set in a city called Ketterdam (fictional) and is about a thief called Kaz who leads a gang called the Dregs. Kaz is kind of evil and pretty scary, but he's only a teenager and he does have a heart. There are tons of people in Ketterdam, who work as servants, called Grisha. They all have magical powers (for example controlling water) and are kind of like walking fairies. Anyway, Kaz finds out about a weird problem - someone has created a drug which makes Grisha's powers escalate so that they can do crazy magical things or kill people. It turns out that the scientist who made the drug has been kidnapped and is being held in the Ice Court (basically a castle). Kaz is asked by a Ketterdam merchant to find a crew and get into the castle in order to rescue the poor scientist so that they can destroy the drug.

These books are AMAZING. We highly recommend them. They are really well-written and beautiful, and you can't put them down. (FYI: The second book is called Crooked Kingdom, and as far as our information tells us, you can find the books in the library.)

Thanks for reading  our recommendation!

- The Library Squad

The covers are awesome!

Battle of the Books

Some of the nominated titles.

In anticipation of World Book Day on March 1st, 2018, our favourite books have been battling it out in a tournament!

In January, students nominated books for two categories: Books suitable for 10 - 13 year olds and those suitable for 14 years and older.

About 40 books were nominated in each category and these were whittled down to 32.

Perennial favourites like Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird and A Wrinkle in Time made it into the draw along with titles like Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Declaration by Gemma Malley and Wonder by R.J Palacio.



Each week students have voted for their choice amidst much discussion, cheering and groaning and we are now down to the semi-finals!

Ages 14 plus:

 

And in the 10 - 13 category: