OLS Reading Week 2018

The final week before the midterm break was Reading Week here at OLS. Our One Book One School pick this year was ‘Star By Star’ by Sheena Wilkinson, a timely read as 2018 marks the centenary of Irish women gaining the right to vote. The week was filled with brilliant bookish activities, including The Great Book Bake-Off, the Wonder Woman exhibition of inspirational women, blackout poetry sessions inspired by Sarah Crossan‘s #WeAreThePoets campaign, and scavenger hunts in the school library. Students and staff alike read Star By Star during DEAR time each day and we rounded off the week with a visit from the author herself, Sheena Wilkinson.

The first team to crack the Library Scavenger Hunt. This clever pair used their library skills and book knowledge to solve all the clues within the time limit of 15 minutes. Future librarians, perhaps?

Tasty creations.

Kaylin won a prize for this inspired piece of blackout poetry.

The brilliant Sheena Wilkson!

A rapt audience as Sheena reads from Star By Star.

Happy readers 🙂

 

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CBI Shadowing Video 😍📚✌🏻

Last week I attended the Children’s Books Ireland Awards ceremony where the Shadowing video featuring our Book Club was shown for the first time! I was so proud to see them up on the big screen and all of the authors were raving about how great they were afterwards! You can see the video below.
Marie Bishop B5 and I were judges for this years awards and it was such a wonderful experience to be there yesterday as the winners were announced.

Well done to all the featured students!

Marie Bishop, Sarah Hyland, Catherine Galvin, Rachel O’Connell, Roisin O’ Neill, Roisin Evoy, Aimee Moran, Karen Waters, Roisin Doheny, Rebecca Harper, Caitlin Evoy, and Sarah Moore.

The winners of the CBI Book of the Year Award were Deirdre Sullivan and Karen Vaughan for Tangleweed and Brine. During the ceremony students from King’s Hospital presented Laureate na nÓg Sarah Crossan with the Children’s Choice Award for Moonrise. The Judges’ Special Award: Eoin Colfer for Illegal. The Eilís Dillon Award for a first children’s book: Meg Grehan for The Space Between. Honour Award for Fiction: Sheena Wilkinson for Star by Star. Honour Award for Illustration: Kevin Waldron for Chocolate Cake.

See link below for more info on the winners

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/children-s-books-ireland-book-of-the-year-revealed-1.3504396

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Sarah Crossan is the new Laureate na nÓg! 👏👏👏👏

Just announced today Sarah Crossan, the author who visited us in November is the new Laureate na nÓg!
Watch her video below where she talks about her plans for her Laureateship #WeAreThePoets

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Another OLS Author! ✌🏻📖✏

We have an author in first year! Casey Anne in B1 has posted her first Fan Fiction online! If you haven’t guessed by the quote above, it’s Doctor Who fan fiction and you can read it here https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12916508/1/Tales-of-the-TARDIS

#DoctorWho #FanFiction #writing #creativewriting #libraries #SchoolLibrary #AreYouAHariboJellyBeanBaby

 

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The Baileys Women’s Prize longlist! ✌👭📖❤🤓

Without fail every year at least one new favourite book of mine comes from reading books from the longlist of the Women’s Prize for fiction.

This year’s longlist is looking just as promising, you can see the whole list here: 

Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist 2018

The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon
Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Sight by Jessie Greengrass
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy
Elmet by Fiona Mozley
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

So far I have only read one on the list, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and  I would highly recommend it to seniors! Two more sound particularly interesting to me, The Idiot by Elif Batuman, and H(a)ppy  by Nicola Barker (this one because it sounds dystopian and I have a soft spot for dystopian fiction!)

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE

Gail Honeyman

 Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything. One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life. Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely anything is better than…fine?

THE IDIOT

Elif Batuman

Selin, a tall, highly strung Turkish-American from New Jersey turns up at Harvard and finds herself dangerously overwhelmed by the challenges and possibilities of adulthood. She studies linguistics and literature, teaches ESL and spends a lot of time thinking about what language – and languages – can do.

Along the way, she befriends Svetlana, a cosmopolitan Serb, and obsesses over Ivan, a mathematician from Hungary. The two conduct a hilarious relationship that culminates with Selin spending the summer teaching English in a Hungarian village and enduring a series of surprising excursions. Throughout her journeys, Selin ponders profound questions about how culture and language shape who we are, how difficult it is to be a writer, and how baffling love is.

H(A)PPY

Nicola Barker

Imagine a perfect world where everything is known, where everything is open, where there can be no doubt, no hatred, no poverty, no greed. Imagine a System which both nurtures and protects. A Community which nourishes and sustains. An infinite world. A world without sickness, without death. A world without God. A world without fear.

 

 

 

 

Last year there was Hagseed by Margaret Atwood and The Power by Naomi Alderman which went on to win it!

 

In 2016 we The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara, and The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerny which was the winner that year.

 

And in 2015 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and The Bees by Laline Paull.

 

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CBI Book of the Year Awards 2018 Shortlist 📚📚📚

The Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Shortlist was announced last week, and our Book Club members will be joining in on their Shadowing Scheme again this year! 🤗 (some members pictured)

The shortlist was compiled by a group of judges, two of whom were Marie Bishop B5 as the young judge, and Ms. Lundon the librarian. The shortlist represents the best in Irish Children’s Literature each year. All titles can be seen on the poster below and are available for loan.

The Shadowing Scheme allows reading groups all over Ireland to read and vote on their favourite titles. The winner of this receives the coveted Children’s Choice Award. Last year’s winner was our favourite The Call by Peadar O’Guilin! We can’t wait to see what the reader favourite will be this year! The award ceremony will be held in May so all will be revealed then. 🤔📚❤

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Shortlisted Titles:

A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell

A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea written by Sarah Webb and illustrated by Steve McCarthy

Chocolate Cake written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Kevin Waldron

Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers

Illegal written by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin and illustrated by Giovanni Rigano

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

Rabbit and Bear: The Pest in the Nest written by Julian Gough and illustrated by Jim Field

Star by Star by Sheena Wilkinson

Tangleweed and Brine written by Deirdre Sullivan and illustrated by Karen Vaughan

The Space Between by Meg Grehan

Senior Book Club March Edition

Our Senior Book Club met last week to discuss their January read which was Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.

This month the title they have chosen is

THE AWARD WINNING, INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

THE CHOICE BY EDITH EDGER

‘The Choice is a gift to humanity. One of those rare and eternal stories that you don’t want to end and that leave you forever changed’ DESMOND TUTU, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

In 1944, sixteen-year-old Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz. There she endured unimaginable experiences, including being made to dance for the infamous Josef Mengele. Over the coming months, Edith’s bravery helped her sister to survive, and led to her bunkmates rescuing her during a death march. When their camp was finally liberated, Edith was pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive.

In The Choice, Dr Edith Eger shares her experience of the Holocaust and the remarkable stories of those she has helped ever since. Today, she is an internationally acclaimed psychologist whose patients include survivors of abuse and soldiers suffering from PTSD. She explains how many of us live within a mind that has become a prison, and shows how freedom becomes possible once we confront our suffering.

Like Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, but exceptional in its own right, The Choice is life changing. Warm, compassionate and infinitely wise, it is a profound examination of the human spirit, and our capacity to heal.

 

 

 

Previous Book Club picks:

Senior Book Club January Edition📚📚📚

Senior Book Club December Edition 🎄❄☃📚

November Book Club Sarah Crossan Special!

October Senior Book Club

September Senior Book Club Picks

Summer Senior Book Club Picks

May Senior Book Club Books

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Take a look at OLS Library on Instagram at olslibrary

and Twitter @ourladyslibrary

Wellbeing Week & Make your own origami bookworm! 🤓📖🐛

We unfortunately missed World Book Day 2018 due to Snowmageddon, but everyday is World Book Day here in Our Lady’s Library!!

It’s now Wellbeing Week here in the school. You can see the full schedule just below as well as an info document explaining what it’s all about. At break and lunchtime each day this week there is mindfulness colouring happening so come in and get colourful! We also have a Wellbeing week display with books and magazines with information relating to all aspects of wellbeing, such as managing stress, mental health, sexuality, diet, fitness etc.

Wellbeing Week 2018 Schedule
Wellbeing Week 2018

This is a repost from last year but the Origami Bookworm is timeless 🙂

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Take a break from study and relieve some stress by making your own origami bookworm! She’s a super cute little bookmark 🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛 and it’s also a great idea to get us ready for World Book Day next month! 📖📚✨🎉

SO cute. 😍

You can collect the template from the library any lunchtime, or print your own at home from the link here bookworm-template-a4

Once you have your template follow the instructions below and also watch the instructional video here

I tried to make one without the template… DO NOT make the same mistake that I did! Here’s my poor little mutant 😂😂😂

Good luck! (Don’t forget the templates are in the library!) 😊❤📖🤓

Take a look at OLS Library on Instagram at olslibrary

and Twitter @ourladyslibrary

Senior Book Club January Edition📚📚📚

Our Senior Book Club met last week to discuss their December read which was the beguiling Tangleweed and Brine by Deirdre Sullivan.

This month the title they have chosen is Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.

THE INTERNATIONAL AND NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Blurb form Goodreads:

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics

All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Yes, to follow world events you need to understand people, ideas and movements – but if you don’t know geography, you’ll never have the full picture.

If you’ve ever wondered why Putin is so obsessed with Crimea, why the USA was destined to become a global superpower, or why China’s power base continues to expand ever outwards, the answers are all here.

In ten chapters (covering Russia; China; the USA; Latin America; the Middle East; Africa; India and Pakistan; Europe; Japan and Korea; and the Arctic), using maps, essays and occasionally the personal experiences of the widely traveled author, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present and future to offer an essential insight into one of the major factors that determines world history.

Senior Book Club will meet to discuss this book and choose another one in mid February. Other Seniors who wish to join then are more than welcome!🤗

Previous Book Club picks:

Senior Book Club December Edition 🎄❄☃️📚

November Book Club Sarah Crossan Special!

October Senior Book Club

September Senior Book Club Picks

Summer Senior Book Club Picks

May Senior Book Club Books

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Take a look at OLS Library on Instagram at olslibrary

and Twitter @ourladyslibrary

Christmas Tree of Knowledge and book craft 🎄📚🎄📚🎄📚

The annual Christmas Tree of Knowledge is back!

It’s a Christmas Tree, made from books!

 

 

Crafty Books and Booky Crafts! 

This year we are also hosting book and paper craft sessions in the library! Sessions started on Friday at lunchtime and will run every lunchtime until Christmas. We are making Christmas decorations out of very old and unusable books. Anyone is welcome to come in and learn! See the girls in action below.

 

 

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Take a look at OLS Library on Instagram at olslibrary

and Twitter @ourladyslibrary