World Book Day - 1 March

World Book Day (WBD) is on 1 March, and there will be several activities to celebrate, starting with a Book Fair on Tuesday 28 February at lunchtime.
• World Book Day itself will end in 15 minutes of peaceful reading at OLA. The afternoon lessons are shortened by 5 minutes so that everyone in school can spend the last quarter of an hour with a book.
• £1 WBD vouchers will be given out by Form Teachers and these can be exchanged in book shops for special £1 books which includes a Skulduggery novelettte. They can also be used like a book token towards a purchase in most book shops or the new Cover2Cover magazine. The vouchers are valid until 25 March.
• Book Quiz. Collect a sheet from the Library or download it from the school intranet. Hand it in by Monday.There will be prizes for each year group.
• If you have a smart phone there is a brand new free World Book Day app which has six brilliant short stories written especially for World Book Day by some of the best Young Adult writers, including Charlie Higson, Malorie Blackman and Sophie McKenzie.
• And if you need some reading suggestions then come into the library and pick up an idea from one of the 'Inspiration Mugs' for Junior, Young Adult and Senior Fiction.

Red House Children's Book Award winners

The winners of the Red House Children's Book Award have been announced.
Books for Older Readers and Overall Winner:
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Books for Younger Readers:
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
Books for Younger Children:
Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell

Visting authors

The Two Steves, writers Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, entertained Year 7s on 9 February at the Joint Schools’ Author Visit, organised by the Librarians of OLA, Abingdon School, the School of SS Helen and Katharine. In front of a large audience which included pupils from other local schools, the children were, at first, unsure that were allowed to laugh since the duo were performing like a comedy act. But whilst telling anecdotes they revealed how experiences can feed creative writing. These authors of over 130 books entertained and inspired whist talking about three of their most popular series: the Challenger series which features daredevil teen hero Luke Challenger, and the iHorror and iHero series which are interactive stories where the reader is the Hero/Hunter and decides what is going to happen in the story. The Luke Challenger series take classic stories (The Lost World, King Solomon’s Mines and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea) and brings them into the 21st century. These would suit a reader with stamina, whilst the iHero series, with fantastic manga illustrations by artist Sonia Leong, will be ideal for reluctant readers. Many of their titles are also available as ebooks.

The Best Children's Book of the Last 10 Years

Blue Peter viewers can vote for the best children's book of the last decade. The shortlist is made up of the 10 bestselling children's fiction books of the last 10 years, with authors only appearing once:
Alex Rider Mission 3: Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling
Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend by Francesca Simon, illustrated by Tony Ross
Mr Stink by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
The Series of Unfortunate Events: Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket
Theodore Boone by John Grisham
Young Bond: SilverFin ─ A James Bond Adventure by Charlie Higson

More details on Blue Peter's website For the next three weeks, until 23 February, children under 16 can log on with their BBC iD and vote for their favourite.The winning book will be announced on Blue Peter on 1 March, on a special show tied in with World Book Day. The Blue Peter Book of the Year Award winner will also be revealed.