Shadowing the Carnegie Medal

The Carnegie Medal is awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book for children and young people. Shadowing involves school students reading the books, assessing them using the same criteria that the judges will use, and writing a review.

Many schools have, like us at Our Lady's Abingdon, set up a shadowing book group, and meet regularly to change books, exchange views and opinions, and write reviews. The reviews will be posted on a special website.

There are also plans for keener readers to meet with students from other local schools, and those who contribute most reviews will also be able to take part in a joint forum to nominate our ‘Abingdon’ winner of the Carnegie Medal.

Timetable for Shadowers:
18 April Shortlists announced. Start reading!
Weekly shadowers’ meetings: Mondays after school
24 April 3.00 – 4.45 Carnegie ‘Tea’, St Helen and St Katharine School, for initial reactions and tips on reviewing books.
15 May 1.10 - 3.30 Carnegie Quiz at John Mason School.
25 June 11.30 – 3.30 Abingdon Carnegie Forum at Abingdon School.
26 June Carnegie Medal Winner announced nationally, and revealed hot of the press in the Library at 1.15 pm

Find out more about the shadowing scheme, where you can read about the shortlist , and read student reviews. Click on ‘Shadowing Groups’, at the top, then ‘Reading Groups’ to find Our Lady's Abingdon. It may even inspire you to read some of the titles or past winners.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Win a Weekend with The Tales of Beedle the Bard, handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling as a complement to the Harry Potter series.

This competition by Amazon is open to muggles 13 and older, to write in 100 words or less on one of three Harry Potter themes:
• What songs do wizards use to celebrate birthdays?
• What sports do wizards play besides Quidditch?
• What have you learned from the Harry Potter series that you use in everyday life?

Amazon.com purchased The Tales of Beedle the Bard, one of only seven copies, at auction in December 2007, with proceeds of the purchase benefitting J.K. Rowling's charity, The Children's Voice.
More details at http://www.amazon.co.uk/books

JK Rowling wins Outstanding Achievement Award

At the 2008 Galaxy British Book Awards the author J.K. Rowling received the Outstanding Achievement Award. Francesca Simon won the W.H. Smith Children's Book Award for Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman, and Afghan novelist Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, won the Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year award for his follow-up novel A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Full details

National Poet of Wales

The post of National Poet of Wales was established in May 2005 by Academi – the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Writers. Gillian Clarke will succeed Professor Gwyn Thomas as National Poet of Wales next month. Born in Cardiff and now living in Talgarreg, west Wales, Gillian is a poet, playwright, editor and translator. A set-text poet for GCSE and A-level English, she is well-known to students and teachers throughout the UK.
More information

Story Museum

The Story Museum was set up in 2003 to create a museum for children about children’s books and stories. The long-term aim is to build a museum in the centre of Oxford, where books and stories will be brought to life – through exhibitions and adventures, historic treasures and intriguing objects, story readings and story telling, creative workshops and holiday clubs, play spaces and reading areas as well as resources for parents, teachers and specialist researchers.

Although it may be several years before the real museum opens, a ‘virtual museum’ is available on the web, with writers, illustrators in ‘residence’ and storytellers, running Story Museum events and activities in schools, colleges, theatres, shops, tents, gardens, even in the street. And we are developing touring exhibitions.

More information at http://www.storymuseum.org.uk

Book Swap Tipi, Oxford 5-6 April

As part of the Oxford Literary Festival a Book Swap Tipi will be open in the Master's Garden at Christ Church
Saturday 5 April 9.30 am - 5.30 pm
Sunday 6 April 9.30 am - 5.30 pm
Entrance free.

How does it work?
Like our school book swaps: bring along a book that you've enjoyed and finished with, leave it for someone new to enjoy and take away a different book that has been loved by someone else.

For more information click Oxford Literary Festival.

Read all about it!

National Year of Reading officially starts later this month, on 25 April. There will be plenty of publicity, especially encouraging people to join and use their local public library. Monthly themes start with April’s Read all About It!

A suggestion of books for the month can be seen at: http://www.sla.org.uk/nyr-booklist-april08.php
I recommend First News, a ‘weekly newspaper for kids' Available in the Library, it arrives in school on Fridays, and is also on sale in newsagents and supermarkets and by subscription.

The rest of the year’s themes for National Year of Reading:
May: Mind and Body
June: Reading Escapes
July: Rhythm and Rhyme
August: Read the Game
September: You Are What You Read
October: Word of Mouth
November: Screen Reads
December: Write the Future