Kids' Lit Quiz success

The author Celia Rees has called the Kids’ Lit Quiz “a pub quiz without the beer”! In fact the quiz is a hugely popular annual literature competition that spans 3 continents. Teams of 4 have to answer 100 questions on children’s literature divided into 10 weird and wonderful categories such as Anatomy (What body part was the Pobble missing?) and Sea Monsters (What kind of whale was Moby Dick?). Teams work collaboratively to answer each question put to them by the New Zealand Quizmaster Wayne Mills.

The Kimbookworms, comprising Madeleine Kluth, Grace Bowland, Natasha Green and Sasha Semple, battled heroically to come second out of eighteen teams in the Central England regional heat held at Roade School in Northamptonshire. They came away with book tokens and lots of goodies for the school library as well as a real determination to take part next year – not least because the grand final will be in Hamilton, New Zealand!

The new 'Twilight'?

'The Hunger Games' from Suzanne Collins has had an amazing impact in the USA and its popularity is spreading here in the UK. The second book in the trilogy, 'Catching Fire', has been snapped up by readers desperate for more since its publication this September. The trilogy is set in the future with the United States divided into 12 districts ruled by an oppressive government which keeps them short of food. Each year, teenagers are selected by lottery to compete in a huge reality show/game to win food for their district. Suddenly it's kill or be killed, whilst the citizens of the district watch and hope for their competitor to survive and win them food...

Leigh, a librarian visiting Kimbolton with students from the Bridgewater-Raritan High School, has kindly donated the first two copies of this trilogy. Reserve your copy today!

'Exposure' wins Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

Mal Peet has won the 2009 Guardian Children's Fiction prize for his modern retelling of Othello. 'Exposure' turns the Moor of Venice and his wife, Desdemona, into the South American equivalent of Posh and Becks.

Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009

The shortlist for the Booktrust Teenage Prize for 2009 has just been announced. Check out the posters in the library, pick up your review postcard and request one of the books to read. The details of he longlisted books are also available on the Bookheads website.

Booked Up

All First Form pupils will be choosing their free book over the coming week. Details about each book are available in the magazine with more information on the web at http://www.bookedup.org.uk/.

And the winner is...

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd has been awarded the Carnegie Medal for 2009! The Carnegie Shadowers had chosen either Black Rabbit Summer or Cosmic as their favourite books from the shortlist of seven. However those who read Bog Child (including Mrs Hart and Mrs Henson) loved the book and were hoping that this would be the winner. See the Shadowers' reviews at:

http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/grouphomepages/index.php?GroupID=122

Unfortunately this will be a posthumous award as Siobhan died last year. Before she passed away, she established The Siobhan Dowd Trust. The aim of the trust is to help disadvantaged children improve their skills and experience the joy of reading. It will offer financial support to: public libraries; state school libraries; children in care; asylum seekers; young offenders and children with special needs.

NK Day - Where's the green parrot?

The Information Jungle theme continued when the new First Form visited the library this week. Each 'jungle explorer' was issued with a passport and a variety of questions. By the end of each session pupils had learned more about the rainforest and about how to use the library and its resources successfully.

The Information Jungle

The final of the 2nd Form Library Challenge took place today. Four teams raced round the library to win this quiz with a difference. Quizzers earned points by finding the answers using appropriate resources and for recording their sources of information. 2L were the overall champions and were rewarded with book tokens and points for the House Championship.

Coraline

Seven members of the Kimbookworms enjoyed a visit to the cinema to see the 3D animation Coraline. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the film, especially when the needle appeared to come straight out of the screen! Neil Gaiman's book had been altered in parts (Wybie and his Grandma were new characters) but all agreed it was an amazing experience. http://coraline.com/

Meet the Author

I was lucky enough to meet Julie Hearn at the School Libraries Group Weekend School over Easter. She spoke about her latest novel 'Rowan the Strange' - a real page-turner set as the Second World War begins. Rowan is diagnosed as schizophrenic and sent away to a hospital where the latest treatments are available. But the treatments are experimental still -and nobody predicts the effect they will have on Rowan.

See and hear what Julie has to say about the book herself at

http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1829.html

Carnegie Shadowers

The Carnegie shortlist of 7 titles has now been announced. The new Carnegie Shadowers group at Kimbolton School has met for the first time to choose the book they will read and discuss when we meet after half term.

Full details of the books are available at http://www.ckg.org.uk/shadowingsite where the shortlisted authors talk about their books.

Orange Prize for Fiction

A new addition to Vanbrugh Library is Ellen Feldman's Scottsboro which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction last week. It tells the story of the infamous Scottsboro case, in which nine young black men are arrested in 1931 Alabama for the supposed rape of two white girls, told from the perspective of a young journalist battling to save the youths from the electric chair

For the full details of the shortlist click here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2009/apr/21/orange-prize-shortlist-books?picture=346249468

ADISA the Verbaliser

To kick start Kimbolton School’s World Poetry Day celebrations, Adisa, the award-winning performance poet, hosted two poetry workshops for 1st Years and then gave a performance of his poetry to all 2nd Year pupils. Adisa’s energy and inspiration certainly brought poetry to life and showed that it can be accessible and fun. A great stimulus for the World Poetry Day competition next week.

Christopher Paolini replies

Great excitement this week as the letter from Montana arrived. The Kimbookworms and Ingrams pupils had sent off their questions to Christopher Paolini earlier this term and his reply arrived just in time for the last meeting before Easter. Read his letter here:

file://serverx/departments/Library/sh/Kimbookworms/paolini%20reply.mht

Science Week

Pick up a book for Science Week or have a go at the quiz. Lots of science-related books are on display in the library along with copies of the quiz. Email your answers to library@kimbolton.cambs.sch.uk by 14th March. There are prizes for the highest score in each year. A plain version of the quiz is available here: http:\\serverx\departments\Library\sh\Science Week Quiz.htm

Book Sale

A book sale to raise funds for Book Aid International will take place in the library after February half term. Please donate any unwanted books in good condition to this good cause.
http://www.bookaid.org/cms.cgi/site/index.htm

Winner: Costa Book Award

Irish author Sebastian Barry has won this year's Costa Book of the Year award for The Secret Scripture, a moving account of a woman approaching her 100th birthday who has been wrongly incarcerated in a mental home for much of her life. Reserve your copy of the book in the library today. Read more about the awards at http://www.costabookawards.com/

Books for Schools

Remember to bring in your Times and Sunday Times tokens for the Books for Schools scheme. We already have over 100 but each book 'costs' over 20 tokens so we need lots more in order to boost the libraries at the Prep and Senior Schools.

Campaign for the Book

Children's author Alan Gibbons has started a campaign in protest against cuts to library book-funds and the closure of both public and school libraries. The campaign aims to create a national network to help coordinate the efforts of all who want to protect the status of the book and reading for pleasure. There will be a conference on 27th June 2009 in Birmingham featuring a Question Time session on the future of libraries and reading. More information is available on www.alangibbons.net.

Michelle Magorian has scooped the 2008 Costa Children's Book Award this month with 'Just Henry', another emotional tale like her other award winner, 'Goodnight Mister Tom'. It's set in 1949 and full of period detail but with an extra layer - stories of film stars from the movies of the day. Keep a box of tissues handy when you read this one.