Joint Schools' Carnegie Tea

It's not about the cake, but it helps! One hundred children from the six secondary schools in Abingdon came together for the launch of our local Abingdon Carnegie Forum. After a brief interactive talk about what makes a good book review, the shadowers from the schools got to know each other by giving their first reactions to the covers, blurbs and opening paragraph of the shortlisted titles.

Group votes:
Most popular title: More Than This
Most popular cover: More Than This
Most popular blurb: Cuckoo Song

Individual votes for the 'Book I would Most like to Read' went jointly to More Than This and Cuckoo Son.

The current shortlist.

Let the reading commence!

OLA shadowers rushed to the Ratcliffe Library to find out which books had made the shortlist for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. As they settled down to read what I can only describe as a 'delicious silence' descended; that quiet which comes from an absorbing activity, which every reader experiences at some time. Are we reading a future classic, a title which will become as well known as The Borrowers or Watership Down? Challenging themes including war, sickness and adversity run through the shortlist. But to quote part of the criteria, "The book that wins the Carnegie Medal should be a book of outstanding literary quality. The whole work should provide pleasure, not merely from the surface enjoyment of a good read, but also the deeper subconscious satisfaction of having gone through a vicarious, but at the time of reading, a real experience that is retained afterwards."

Shadowing the Carnegie Medal

On Tuesday 17 March come to the Library and find out which books are on the shortlist for this prestigious book award.

What does Shadowing the Carnegie Medal involve?

• Reading Books. Past Carnegie Medal winners have become classics. These include The Borrowers, Watership Down, Skellig, Flour Babies, and Northern Lights. You will be reading future classics!

• Meetings. There will be ‘shadowing’ meetings in the Library on Mondays, at 4.05, where you can come to change your books, chat about the books you have read, write reviews and persuade others why your favourite should win the Medal.

• Writing Reviews. You post your review on a special shadowing website, where other ‘shadowers’ around the country are doing the same.

• Meeting Carnegie Shadowers from other schools and the Carnegie Forum. The six secondary schools in Abingdon have worked together over the Carnegie Medal for over 10 years. We have three joint meetings: a launch 'tea' to introduce the books, a quiz a few weeks into the shadowing, and a joint Abingdon Carnegie Forum in the Guildhall, where 100 students from local schools discuss and vote for their Abingdon winner.

Caroline Lawrence at the Abingdon Joint Author event 2015

Year 7 pupils picked up some powerful writing tips from best-selling author Caroline Lawrence, best known for her Roman Mystery series. An avid film fan, and former classics teacher, Caroline set out her seven screenwriting ‘beats’ for moving along a story, afterwards using the example of her first book The Thieves of Ostia. This was a richly illustrated interactive talk with images from film and books demonstrating archetypal characters, as well as telling us about her research, favourite places of the classic world and her books.
Her current series is set in the Wild West of Virginia City in 1862, with a 12-year-old Private Investigator, P.K. Pinkerton. Her next series, out next year, will be set in Roman Britain in 94 AD. 'Seekers' will be about five children investigating mysteries.
The Joint Author visit is an annual event co-organised by OLA, Abingdon and St Helen & St Katharine school librarians, inviting other local schools. Over 600 school children attended her two talks.

The sponge on a stick caused great hilarity, but was in regular use by Ancient Romans.
More about the author
Inspiring tips here