Fracture by Megan Miranda

A seductive yet chilling thriller about life after death.

Advent Calendar of Banned Books

An advent video calendar with a difference! A different banned book from around the world is featured every day throughout December.
http://www.kirjastokaista.fi/category/video/87/?strictmedialanguage=0&language=english

Read to a million kids

Justin Richards reads an extract from 'The Parliament of Blood' today. Watch the video and quiz!

Kimbookworms' Christmas Party

Another hilarious and, of course, noisy session with plenty of pizza and seasonal jokes!

Mrs Hart's Star Wars joke:

Darth Vader: "Luke, I know what you've got for Christmas"

Luke Skywalker: "How's that?"

Darth Vader: "I felt your presence!"

Double Shadow

Set against the back-drop of the Second World War, Sally Gardner's amazing new novel defies categorisation. It's a challenging tale for mature readers which plays around with time and memory. Once you read a couple of chapters, you'll be hooked.

The end of traditional reading?

A new survey has revealed that literacy rates are low and one in three children in the UK doesn't even own a book. The full results are available at National Literacy Trust

Trailer of the Week

Lionsgate have released the first full-length trailer for the forthcoming adaptation of Suzanne Collins' 'Hunger Games'. Will the film live up to the thrilling series of books? Meet Katniss and Peeta here and get a glimpse of what's to come in March.

Jeff Kinney

Jeff Kinney answers questions from Guardian Childrens Books' site members about his hugely successful Wimpy Kid series.
http://gu.com/p/33eg4

Kids' Lit Quiz

Another superb turn-out for the Central England heat of the Kids' Lit Quiz: 21 teams battled for the chance to get to the National Final in Coventry and the International Final in Auckland! Well done to Aylesbury Grammar School for capturing 1st and 2nd places and to Comberton Village College for securing 3rd. Kimbookworms and Kimquestors put up sterling performances winning book prizes along the way.

Seasonal wishes!

Pittsburgh Post

SLA Information Book of the Year

The School Library Association has just announced the results of the Information Book of the Year. The winner of the 12-16 year old category and the overall winner was "How to make a universe with 92 ingredients" by Adrian Dingle.

Carnegie Medal 2012 Longlist

The Carnegie Longlist was announced today. Lots of our favourites are there including Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls and David Almond's My name is Mina. The shortlist will be published on 27th March and the winner announced on 14th June.

MIDWINTERBLOOD by Marcus Sedgwick

What would you sacrifice for someone you've loved forever...?

Powerful storytelling from Marcus Sedgwick.

Charlie Higson: Halloween Virtually Live

Live interactive Halloween webcast!

Click on the link to register for Charlie Higson's spooky journey through

 the history of Horror on 31st October at 2pm.

House of Silk

To celebrate the forthcoming publication of Anthony Horowitz's new Sherlock Holmes' novel, Orion are running a competition to win a signed, numbered, proof copy of 'House of Silk'.

Watch the trailer of Anthony reading an excerpt, enter the competition or simply add your name to the library requests to be one of the first to read this brilliant mystery novel.

National Poetry Day: 6th October

Get ready for National Poetry Day by borrowing a book of poems from the library (see the display) or writing a poem. Get inspiration from the Young Poets Network at http://www.youngpoetsnetwork.org.uk/

Kimbookworms' Autumn Choices

The Kimbookworms created their own display for Open Day by

photocopying book extracts onto autumnal leaves.

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Christopher Paolini will be signing the first three volumes of The Inheritance Cycle at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London on Weds 28th Sept 6-7pm. This is a rare visit to the UK in the build up to the world release on 8th November of 'Inheritance', the fourth and final volume in the series.

Meet Ruby Redfort

Watch this stylish trailer from Lauren Child featuring her new girl spy, Ruby Redfort.

Ruby is also promoting a code-creating competition to celebrate the book launch.

Ebooks

Use this Which? guide to find and download free ebooks.

Our Summer Read

Another amazing story has been chosen for Kimbolton School's summer read. Hear Marcus Zusak talk about The Book Thief here.

War Horse trailer

The film of War Horse won't be out until this Christmas but here's a flavour....

Kimbookworms' storytelling

The Kimbookworms read stories to Year 1 pupils today. This was the climax to several weeks of shadowing the Kate Greenaway Medal (awarded for outstanding childrens' book illustration). Eight shortlisted picture books were read, analysed and voted for in the weeks leading up to the Prep School visit. Catherine Rayner's 'Ernest' was the overall winner at Kimbolton whilst 'FArTHER' by Grahame Baker-Smith won this year's Greenaway medal.
Watch one of the judges talking about the Medal winner here.

Carnegie Medal announcement

Monsters of Men, the final part of the Chaos trilogy, has just won the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Follow the link to read about Patrick Ness and his rallying cry for libraries. 

Patrick Ness accepts Carnegie Medal

Wish me dead

Today is the closing date for Spinebreakers' competition to win a copy of Helen Grant's latest book. If you're not successful, reserve a library copy instead.

Young Sherlock Holmes

Undercover Reads

Walker Brothers have launched a new blog featuring the best contemporary teen fiction, from celebrity authors and Carnegie winners to screen writers and debut teen authors. All of the novels are debate-inspiring, page-turning reads. Visit http://www.undercoverreads.com/ for more information.

Alan Gibbons' trailer

Alan Gibbons talks about his latest release, due out on June 2nd.

Information Jungle

The heats for The Information Jungle quiz took place this week with lots of excitement as teams raced around the library to find the answers. The grand final takes place on Friday 10th June.

Wreckers

Julie Hearn's eagerly awaited latest book has just arrived on the shelves.

"A dramatic and thrilling tale, 'Wreckers' brings old myths into a near-contemporary setting. Dreadful and wonderful things happen when Pandora's box is opened...for the second time." (Book Bag)

If you're a fan of Dystopian novels, this one's for you.

Read the full review at Book Bag.

Movie night

Teddies, pyjamas, popcorn and chocolate cake were in abundance at the Kimbookworms' movie night yesterday. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the latest Narnia film - 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' - watch the trailer here (click on image) before you borrow the DVD from the library.

Copyright - the invisible shield

Imagine you're watching a DVD. What's the last notice you see before the film starts? It tells you that if you copy the film, you're breaking the law. Find out more about copyright and how it relates to books, films, music and your own internet publishing here:

Copyright- the invisible shield

Carnegie shortlist 2011 announced!

Click on the image or call into the library to see who's on the shortlist this year!

Charlie Higson reads from his book 'The Dead'

Charlie Higson: ‘The last thing you want is for..., posted with vodpod

Artemis Fowl webcast

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Artemis Fowl series with the hysterically funny author, Eoin Colfer. Log on to http://www.eoincolfervirtuallylive.co.uk/ to register and take part in the webcast on Weds 6th April at 11.30am.

Book Sale

The Book Sale on World Book Day raised a total of £54 for Book Aid International.

Many thanks to everyone who donated books and/or bought books to support this worthwhile cause. Find out about the work of this charity at:

http://www.bookaid.org/

World Poetry Day

Adisa and Rob Gee joined us on Monday 21st March to mark World Poetry Day. Poetry performances and workshops enabled everyone to take part in this celebration. An entertaining and creative day with lots of ideas for poetry writing!
www.adisaworld.com
www.robgee.co.uk

...is currently reading...

As part of the World Book Day celebrations, staff at Kimbolton School displayed details of the book they are currently reading. Posters appeared on classroom doors, in the Health Centre, outside the Headmaster's office...in fact all over the place! A simple idea that sparked a lot of interest and book-related discussion.

Grey Wolves

Click on the Grey Wolves book to hear Robert Muchamore talking about the latest Henderson's Boys tale and about his plans for the series. Reserve your copy in the library today!

Guardian Teen Books website

Click on the image to browse the Guardian's new website for teenagers. Links include podcasts, discussion, reviews and latest news on the world of books as well as opportunities for young people to add their own content.

www.guardian.co.uk/books/teen-books/

Happy World Book Day

'Meet, talk, give' is the theme for this year's World Book Day initiative to raise money for BookAid International.

Vanbrugh Library is running the annual booksale to support this worthy cause. Drop in to grab a bargain and whilst you're here have a go at the quiz - chocolates for all entries and a chance to win a book token.

And how many different books are currently being read by school staff? Check out the posters outside classrooms - again prizes for the nearest guess.

Devil's Triangle

Mark Robson's latest book, 'The Devil's Triangle', is due for publication on 31st March. Order the discounted book (£6) through Vanbrugh Library and read your pre-publication copy before everyone else!

Happy Birthday John Grisham

John Grisham celebrates his birthday in February. He has a new thriller coming out next month in paperback - his first for young adults. Download an extract here (you'll need to register with Lovereading) and put in a request to the library to make sure you get a copy of this thrilling legal read.

http://www.lovereading.co.uk/book/5441/Theodore-Boone-by-John-Grisham.html

Dark Matter

A chilling ghost story from Michelle Paver. 'Soul Eater', from her 'Chronicles of Ancient Darkness' series, showed her love of the Arctic and this latest adult novel is set in the same surroundings. A superb read - full of menace but also subtle and evocative. More details and trailer at: http://www.michellepaver.com/dark-matter-is-published

Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2011

The shortlist for this year's Waterstone's Children's Book Prize was announced last week. There are some very strong contenders this year. Have a look at the nominations by clicking on the banner.

The winner will be announced on 9th February.

Crime Reading

A new blog to celebrate crime fiction for teen readers has just been launched. Find out about new books, leave your comments and reviews, read interviews with authors and much more.

http://crimereading.blogspot.com/

Read Write Excite

The Carnegie Medal winning author Teresa Breslin has set a competition for Secondary School pupils on the theme of 'CONFLICT'.

Stories should be no longer that 1000 words.

Find out more about the competition and about Theresa's books at:

http://www.readwriteexcite.co.uk/aboutsecondary.html

World Book Night

Love books? You can give them away free to friends and family. One million free books are going to be given away by 20,000 passionate readers as part of World Book Night. Read more about the scheme here:
http://www.worldbooknight.org/

World Book Night is also on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/worldbooknight