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Author Patrick Ness has won the Red House Children’s Book Award for A Monster Calls, which tells the story of a boy whose mother has cancer. Malorie Blackman who was at the award ceremony says it’s a gem of a book.

But Dickens as hero?  This comes from a passage in the 2009 Intermediate 2 English exam paper. It is titled ‘Why Dickens was the hero of Soweto’, adapted from an article by Carol Lee. She tells the story of the Soweto uprising against oppression and in particular the South African government’s edict to make Afrikaans compulsory.Pupils thought that being taught in Afrikaans, the language of the regime that had tried to “unpeople” them, would cost them their remaining freedom. Many books were banned but not the classics of English literature.Pupils arriving hungry at school every day were captivated by the story of a frail and courageous boy named Oliver Twist, a boy who asked for more. Reading Dickens they felt that they were not alone and taking heart they  became determined not to be forgotten. Students at one of the leading black colleges formed a committee to ask for more. They asked for more food, more lessons and more books.

Dragon made by Mrs Edgar's pupils

Today is the start of Chinese New Year celebrations: Happy New Year. This is a good time to promote some of our books about or set in China. The first that springs to mind and a book I highly recommend is ‘Wild Swans’ by Jung Chang. This is a story told through the lives of three women and also a history of twentieth century China. I read this book a number of years ago and perusing it now, feel ready to read it again. A riveting read, illustrating what people are capable of, for good and bad. This is not an easy or quick read, not only is it a chunky book but also you will find yourself stopping to reflect and reread passages.By the way, Jung Chang was born in the year of the dragon. Another author I enjoy is Amy Tan. Her first novel ‘The Joy Luck Club’ is the story of four mothers and their first-generation American daughters. A title popular with our pupils is ‘Chinese Cinderella’ by Adeline Yen Mah. This is a sad tale of a daughter who was made to feel unwanted all her life. If you prefer adventure stories to sad tales then try Carole Wilkinson’s ‘Dragon Keeper’. Ping is a slave who rescues a dragon from her tyrannical master, the Imperial Dragonkeeper. It is this moment of bravery that seals her destiny as a dragonkeeper and sends her off on many adventures.

First day back and despite that fuzzy post-Christmassy feeling (you know the one I mean? when you just wanted to crawl back under the duvet, cosy in your now too tight jimjams), I’ve been thinking of some of the things we have to look forward to.

 Firstly, I’m looking forward to finding out what our staff who took up the ‘Christmas Reading Challenge’ thought about the books chosen for them.Each member of staff took home a young adult novel.I’m expecting to receive some interesting reviews.And talking about reviews, January 27th is the voting and review deadline for the Scottish Book Trust’s Scottish Children’s Book Awards. A group of our pupils are reviewing the titles in the older readers’ category. I will be interested to see if they have  a clear favourite  and which title will be the overall winner. January 23rd is Chinese New Year and this year it is the year of the dragon.I can feel a display coming on!

2012 is also the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. My New Year resolution is to read more of his works.Perhaps that’s a challenge for the school community too.But more about Dickens another time.This is also the year the Olympics comes to Britain. There will be so many exciting things happening this year and it will be quite a challenge to keep up with them all.

George Henry Krank from George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl invited by Chris; “Instead of cooking sprouts we could spend the morning flinging ingredients into a pot making marvellous medicine…”

Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis invited by Helen; “…who wouldn’t want to share their deep fried Christmas pud and squirty cream with the ultimate wise, compassionate and benevolent being?”

Skellig from Skellig by David Almond invited by Koren; “Iwould ask Skellig what it is like to have wings, and why his shrivelled up…”

Zaphod Beeblebrox from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams invited by Colm; “…Zaphod’s breezy obnoxiousness would liven proceedings up a bit…”

I put this question to members of staff who have accepted a Christmas  challenge to read a Young Adult novel.I look forward to reading their responses in the New Year. Meanwhile our Mr Kerr has replied with a list of characters he would like to invite to Christmas dinner:

1. Hermione from Harry Potter, because I think she’s fab.
2. The Hon Agatha Runcible from Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies because she’d be just too, too terribly amusing, wouldn’t she?  Or would she?
3. Newman Noggs from Nicholas Nickleby:  a good egg, despite his foibles.
4. Mark Tapley from Martin Chuzzlewit:  would be able to cheer us all on if sprouts soggy.
5. Lord Peter Wimsey (naturally I model myself on him;  did you guess?)
6. Lisbeth Sallander from the Dragon Tattoo books, because I think she’d be interesting.  Not very good company, though, I suspect.
7. Arthur Dent, from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy because, why wouldn’t you?
8. Capt Antonio Correlli, Pellagia Yannis and Carlo Guercio, all from the Eponymous Mandolin – all fab
9. Aslan – why, also, wouldn’t you?
10. Jeeves – good if a bit of shimmering were needed
11. Rumpole – a raconteur
12. Widmerpool (from Dance to the Music of Time) – a good butt (for jokes, I mean!)
13. Obélix – but get in extra.

For myself, I would invite Pod, Homily and Harriety from The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I would enjoy making tiny a tableand chairs for them, to sit on top of my dining table.  Listening to more tales of their borrowing adventures would be very entertaining and they may be able to solve the puzzle of my missing scissors and socks.

Who would you invite? (I’m hoping to get lots of responses, but especially from past pupil and now Glasgow university student Jennifer).

A happy reading Christmas to you all.

"A Christmas Tree"

We will soon be celebrating Charles Dickens’ bicentenary.It is said that Dickens invented Christmas, at least our notion of how Christmas should be celebrated.A favourite book of mine as a child was A Christmas Carol. I loved it and still do. After  visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, Scrooge waking up “as light as a feather…as happy as an angel” and wishes “A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! …Whoop! ” is especially uplifting.Inspired by his “A Christmas Tree” and assisted by a group of creative elves (aka S1 pupils ),we have this eye catching Christmas tree collage on display in the library.It’s been great fun to make.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Win a copy -but hurry!

Hurry, hurry, here’s your chance to win a copy of Melvin Burgess’ new book Kill All Enemies. But you really will have to get your skates on your fingertips as the closing date is 18th December (that’s this Sunday). It’s not a competition, all you have to do is register your details (you will need parental permission) as the winner will be randomly selected.Find out what Burgess has to say about his book by reading his blog post dated August 30th.

Captain Underpants - a star turn!

After a protest by Captain Underpants, demanding equal rights with fairies, he was installed on top of the Christmas tree in the library.His cape, he said, was as good as any set of fairy wings.

By the way, pupils have been busy decorating a second Christmas tree in the library. This one is a large collage pinned on the big notice board. There’s still lots to do so come and help if you’re feeling artistic. The idea behind this tree comes from Charles Dicken’s description in his   A Christmas Tree. As 2012 will be the bicentenary of Dicken’s birth it seems a good time to mount this particular display. Posted on the display board is a history of the Christmas tree, Christmas cards and Christmas decorations.Once the collage is completed I will post a photo.

The Young Joey?

I’m a little late in posting a link to the BBC’s Five Minutes With Michael Morpugo but here it is.  Steven Spielberg’s film of the author’s book War Horse will be released in the UK after Christmas. The film follows on from the immensely successfully stage production .The story is one of friendship, courage and hope.The Real War Horse gives an account of the fate of the half million horses requisitioned for the war effort.

Winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011  has been announced.The Brilliant World of Tom Gates won  the seven to fourteen category. It’s on our to buy list.

Other authors who like to tickle your ribs  include Steve Barlow, Pete Johnson, Jeff Kinney, Louse Rennison, Michael Lawrence, Sue Limb and Jamie Rix.