New Books to Add to Your

30 July 2021

We were so happy to welcome you all back to the Learning Commons this week, and we’re back to having excit- ing new books for your “To-Be-Read” list. Today is Paperback Book Day. Did you know a long train journey was the reason why paperback books were first published? Find out more about this interesting bit of history behind this important day later in this newsletter. The importance of snakes is acknowledged on World Snake Day in July — respect them, protect them. Find out more about snakes from the display in the Learning Commons. NEW BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR “TO-BE-READ” LIST Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart: Ten years in the making and rejected by over thirty edi- tors! The writing in this debut novel that won the 2020 Booker Prize, and many other book awards, has been compared to that of James Joyce and DH Lawrence. Set in Glasgow during the 1980s, the story borrows a little from Douglas Stuart’s own life and is dedicated to his mother — represented by Agnes Bain in the story. Agnes Bain had had high hopes for her life — a loving husband and a beautiful home for her three children. But this was not to be. Her husband up and left her with the three children in a mining town that had been brought to its knees by Thatcher-era politics. Impoverished, Agnes tries to soldier on, but gradually suc- cumbs to alcohol for comfort. Her children are desperate to try to save her and keep their small family unit together, but they too lose hope as the older two, Catherine and Leek, eventually give up on her, leaving the youngest, Shuggie, to look after his much-loved mother. But Shuggie has problems of his own — he is battling with his own sexuality and is re- garded as a little strange by everyone. This novel is a challenging read — both beautiful and sad in the hopelessness of Shuggie’s deep love for his mother. A real winner.

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon: This is another beautifully written young adult novel from the author of “Everything Everything” and “The Sun is Also a Star”. Evie Thomas used to believe in love and romance — she has a bookshelf full of romance novels that she just adores. But, when her father has an affair, and he and her mother get divorced, she realises that her opinion of love has been very naïve and that, in real life, love stories always end in sadness and heartbreak. She is so determined to clear her head of her old opinion of love, that she decides to sell all of her romance novels. This decision brings her into contact with various people and leaves her with the address for the La Brea Dance Studio and a strange ability to predict how a couple’s love story will end — when she watches a couple kiss, she knows that there will be good times, but that the relationship will eventually end with a bitter break-up. In trying to figure out why she can see these visions, she goes to the Dance Studio and meets a boy named X. Soon X becomes her dance partner and they enter a ballroom dancing competition together. But, can Evie stop herself from falling in love with X?

Mega Monster by David Walliams: Where do the world’s naughtiest children go to school? The Cruel School is situated on a dormant volcano on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, far, far away from the rest of the world. The school building is an old castle and everything about the Cruel School is scary — even the teachers. The children who go to the Cruel School would never be able to escape because the island is far away from the mainland, and the sea surrounding it is infested with sharks. These sharks are hungry and will gobble up naughty children in one gulp. The teachers at the Cruel School are really frightening — Doctor Doktur, the evil Science teacher with beady eyes and a beaky nose, absolutely terrifies the children; Rank, the school dinner lady, serves the children such disgusting food that they battle to keep it down and, then there’s Digits, the weird Maths teacher who has a metal hand with six fin- gers and always gets the answer wrong. But, the hero of the story is a young girl called Lark- er who has been sent to the Cruel School because she is always telling jokes. What will she make of the strange “Monsterfication Machine” and the talk of a mega monster at the school? The Greatest Inventor by Ben Brooks: This is a fable about the dangers of people be- coming addicted to technology. Victor lives on a farm with his giant tortoise, Saint Oswold, in the village of Rainwater. When an inventor comes to the village to sell them some of his lat- est inventions and the people from the village don’t want to buy them, he puts a terrible curse on them and poisons their well. All the people of Rainwater are filled with horrible pain, except for Victor and Saint Oswold who realises that he must find the inventor and demand that he cures them and undoes the curse. The search for the inventor takes Victor through many villages that have bought inventions from the inventor — in one village the people just stare into a mirror of “lost time” and do nothing (sounds a bit like a television!); in another village the people don’t go outside anymore, but only look after their miniature indoor farms. Along the way, Victor meets other children who have not been affected by the inventor’s inventions and together they try to track the inventor down and save themselves and their villages from his inventions. A super adventure with a strong message. SNAKES ALIVE! It’s not easy being a snake! Snakes really seem to have landed up at the bottom of the pile when it comes to the popularity stakes, but is this fair? World Snake Day in July is an attempt to change the negative perception surrounding snakes, but to still treat them with respect. There are close to 3500 species of snakes throughout the world, 600 of which are venomous, so the majority of snakes are not a threat to human life — just get to know which ones are! The Black Mamba is one of the largest and most venomous snakes in the world; it is particularly feared as it is the fastest snake in the world, moving at between sixteen and twenty km/h, and it is also very aggressive. Snakes are dangerous and must be treated with caution, but it is important to remember that they are critical to many ecosystems — without snakes an ecosystem can become unbalanced, resulting in the en- vironment being negatively affected. Many species of snakes are also be- coming endangered because of deforestation and climate change causing a deterioration in their habitats, and the amount of available prey. Let’s learn to respect and protect snakes.

Challenging Circle BRAINTEASER “A snake knows more

about what is happen- Which number must replace the ? in the circle alongside to maintain the pattern? ing around than any other creature, A bite-sized chocolate for the first correct answer to this chal- lenge. Send your answer to the following e-mail:

because it has no ears [email protected]. to listen to gossip, only Well done to Sarah Buchanan and Mr Barrow who got direct perception .” last week’s Brainteaser correct. The two words/phrases were: Jagadish Vasudev 1. Nothing in life is for free 2. West Indies Yogi and author From: “The Most Enormous Book of Brainteasers Ever!”

Hooray for railway travel…. WEBSITE SNEAK PEEKS The popularity of railway travel in England is thought to be the reason for the origin of the

Prep Learning Commons Website paperback book! Sir Allen Lane, the owner of Ssslithering sssnakes are featured in our ssstories for the Junior the publishing company Penguin Books, could Primary this week. How will “Bring-Your-Pet-To-School” Day end not find anything decent to read when he went when Penelope’s brings her pet snake to school? Will a snake be on a long train trip. Hardback books were too able to eat an elephant for his sssupper? heavy and cumbersome, so, in 1935, Sir Allen’s Penguin Books focused on publishing literary On their trip through the history of transportation, the Grade 4s books in paperback format under the famous are now exploring air transport, hot air balloons and zeppelins. Penguin Classics covers — each colour depicts a Their web page has some interesting websites for these topics. different genre. In acknowledgement of the The Grade 5s are planning a road-trip through South Africa and publication of these books that made good liter- our diverse fauna and flora should feature on every tour of the ature available to the masses in an affordable country. The Grade 6s are venturing into the wonderful world of format, 30th July has since been known as Pa- Shakespeare — plenty of interesting websites on their web page. perback Book Day. Buy one today and celebrate

College Learning Commons Website the pleasure of a quality lightweight read! The super-human performances at the Olympic Games test our understanding of what the human body can achieve. Take a look at the physics behind gymnastic performances, the incredible technology invested in measuring these performances accurately, or the science that goes into the design of the sports equipment. Tired of sport? Enjoy the “Great Art Explained” YouTube video Channel and find out more about some artistic masterpieces. SNAKES ARE IMPORTANT — LET’S SAVE THEM TOGETHER!