Kids' Lit Quiz - selecting OLA teams for the Oxford Heat

All this week the preliminary rounds to select OLA's two Kids' Lit Quiz teams will be taking place during Year 7's and Year 8's Library lessons. Higher scorers will be invited to a second round taking place in their own time, and they will need to confirm their availability to take part.

This year the Oxford Heat will be taking place at Our Lady's Abingdon on Tuesday 11 November, 4.30 - 7.30 p.m. It’s a great spectator event and super entertainment: put the date in your diary now!

Word of Mouth

The National Year of Reading’s monthly theme for October is Word of Mouth. It's a great opportunity to celebrate oral storytelling traditions.
Have fun storytelling!
Enjoy reading out loud!
Spend some time reading together!
Explore poetry!
Entrance an audience by reading aloud!
Suggestions for the month can be seen at: http://www.sla.org.uk/nyr-booklist-october08.php. These include the following, all in the Library:
The Iron Man by Ted Hughes Age 6+
One of the greatest modern fairy tales raising questions about good and evil…
The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dave Pilkey Age 6+
George and Harold create the greatest super-hero in their school's history. Meet Captain Underpants. His identity is so secret, even he doesn't know who he is. Great to read out loud with lots of sound effects!
The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer Age 8+
Will and Marty are packed off to the library during the school holidays. Can they escape the clutches of the legendary librarian Spud Murphy and her gas-powered spud gun? How did Ugly Frank got his nickname? Who gets tattooed with the pink Barbie stamp? Read on to discover how Will and Marty find out that libraries and books aren’t so bad after all...
Holes by Louis Sachar Age 10+
‘If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy.’ When he is sent to Camp Green Lake Detention Centre Stanley Yelnats has to dig a hole five foot wide by five foot deep each day and report if he finds anything. Digging holes has got nothing to do with turning a bad boy into a good boy and Stanley eventually digs up the truth...
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz Age 10+
Alex Rider’s world is turned upside down when his guardian is killed. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex trains with the SAS and armed with special gadgets is sent off on his first mission. Why would he need to investigate Herod Sayle who is giving free computers to every school in the country?
Witch Child by Celia Rees Age 12+
After her grandmother is hanged for witchcraft Mary escapes to a new life in America but soon realises that the atmosphere of superstition and suspicion have followed her. Mary uses all her wits and skill to survive the corruption of those around her.

Teen novel wins 2008 Guardian children's fiction prize

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Age 13+) has won the 2008 Guardian children's fiction prize. Todd is the last boy left in Prentisstown, a place where only men live; they exist in a world of noise, as their every thought can be heard. As Todd approaches his 13th birthday, he finds himself in great danger. Accompanied by his dog and guided by nothing but his own good sense, Todd must flee from Prentisstown and make his own way in a bleak and desolate world.
The Guardian children's fiction prize is the only children's book award in which writers are judged by their peers. This year's judges were Jenny Valentine, who won last year with Finding Violet Park, Mary Hoffman, author of The Falconer's Knot and Mal Peet, author of Keeper. The author receives a cheque for £1,500.
Report http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/25/guardianchildrensfictionprize.booksforchildrenandteenagers
Longlist http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/may/24/guardianchildrensfictionprize.booksforchildrenandteenagers
More about the prize http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/guardianchildrensfictionprize

Book Swap - Tuesday 30 September

Next week there will be a Book Swap in the Library all day Tuesday from 10.30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
How does it work?
- Bring in a book in reasonably good condition that you no longer want, which is suitable for your age group
- Receive a token in exchange
- Exchange that token for another book.
No money changes hands.
All day there will be different books, depending on what people bring, so it's worth coming at morning break, lunch time and after school. You can also keep your token for the next term's Book Swap (or I can keep it for you).

The richest children's book prize

Seven UK authors have been shortlisted for the £400,000 Astrid Lindgren Memorial award: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, the creators of the Gruffalo, illustrators Quentin Blake and Anthony Browne, as well as novelists David Almond, Michael Morpurgo and Eva Ibbotson.
The award was established by the Swedish government following the death of Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren in 2002, aged 94. Last year's winner was Australian writer Sonya Hartnett, and other recipients include Philip Pullman and Maurice Sendak.
This year nominations were received from 60 countries, and also include book projects as well as writers. The winner, picked by a panel of judges, will be announced in March 2009.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/19/astrid.lindgren.award.childrens.books

Booked Up

This autumn every 11-year-old in England will be able to choose a free book from a list of specially selected titles. This is a national programme called Booked Up, supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. All Year 7 pupils have received a magazine with details of all the books, and the Library has a set of the books to help students make their choice by browsing through them and chatting about them to their friends. In addition we have been watching a short DVD where all the Booked Up authors talk about their book, which is then reviewed by a reader. I will be asking Year 7s to make their choice later this week so I can place the order.
Last year over 637,000 children received a free Booked Up book with 5,400 secondary schools taking part in the programme. If the timing is similar then we might expect the books to arrive in early December. There is more information at http://www.bookedup.org.uk.

Can you 'spot' a good read?

101 Reasons to Read a Book!

101 books in the Junior Fiction Library have been secretly chosen. If a reader borrows one of the mystery books they will find a slip with a picture of a Dalmatian puppy. Once the book is read, the slip is completed, and handed in with the book.

The slips are being pinned around the Dalmatians display in the Library. Once all 101 Dalmatians have been found, the slips will be been entered in to a draw for a prize - a book, of course, plus loan of the toy puppies for the classroom for 2 weeks.

Younger readers in the Library have been excitedly hunting the 101 mystery books. It's been so successful we may end up with another 101! My thanks to my Library helpers and holders of the Gold Reading Olympics, who helped select the mystery books.