The OPHS Online Library Newsletter September 2023 #26

 The OPHS Library Online Newsletter

September 2023  #26

A huge Welcome to our new Year 7 Students!!  And welcome back to our existing students!!!

Every month, in our new Library Newsletter, we will have reviews on wonderful books that we have in our Library, snippets of new books on the horizon and interesting information about lovely Authors and books-to-movies information. There will be links to access upcoming books that are in The Library and lots of book information that you will enjoy.  We will have competitions, winner announcements, links to short stories and poems and other interesting literacy information all in one Newsletter!  

If you would like to add a contribution to our next Newsletter (October issue), such as, what did you read over the summer?  What were your favourite and/or worst books that you have ever read?  Would you like to send in a book review and/or a literacy picture? Can you think of anything else that would look great in our newsletter?  Then please email:

ltaylor@oakspark.redbridge.sch.uk

If your contribution is displayed in the Library Newsletter you will get a ‘thank you’ certificate from The Library and fabulous achievement points will be added to your Bromcom account.  

Show us what you have read 

Take a photo of yourself reading your current book and it will go into the next Library Newsletter!

Miss Warner James, reading ‘Just my Luck’ by Adele Parks

Mrs Crisp, reading ‘Ouran High School Host Club’ by Bisco Hatori

Mrs Ford, reading ‘Breathtaking’ by Rachel Clarke

12 Reasons you should Read

 (at least) 12 books this year

1. Reading is good for your brain

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Joseph Addison penned this quote roughly 300 years ago, before modern science and research equipment could back up his claim. Today, however, scientific studies show that reading does make you smarter. Reading a novel, for example, increases the blood flow and improves connectivity in the brain.

2. Reading introduces you to new ideas and invites you to solve problems

Have you ever solved a case in a mystery book before you read the conclusion or predicted a turn of events in a novel? Your analytical thinking was stimulated merely from reading. Reading helps you detect patterns, solve problems, and assimilate new information as if you were living in the characters’ shoes.

3. Reading makes you a better writer

When you read, your brain absorbs good writing techniques and vocabulary. In your own writing, you will unconsciously copy the writing styles of books that held your attention. Reading also enhances your vocabulary and spelling. New words appear in their natural context and you can deduce meaning from the surrounding words, while visually imprinting their spelling for accurate recall.

4. Reading improves your conversational skills

Because reading increases your vocabulary and your knowledge of how to correctly use new words, reading helps you clearly articulate what you want to say. The knowledge you gain from reading also gives you lots to talk about with others.

5. Reading strengthens worldview and convictions

When you read a book with a concurring worldview, it reinforces your convictions. If you read a book with an opposing worldview, it broadens your perspective and causes you to examine your beliefs and search for truth.

6. Reading improves your self-discipline and consistency

With the modern barrage of media and instant technological information, our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Reading a book, unlike skimming a web page, forces you to focus. To get the most out of a story, you must fixate on the plot and complete the book. In doing this, your brain forms deep connections and practices concentration.

7. Reading increases your knowledge of history

Reading can teach you historical politics, customs, cultures, economics, and intellect. Often these facts are set in a context of a story, making history easy to remember. 

8. Reading increases cultural knowledge (without an expensive plane flight)

Reading books set in cultures different from our own provides knowledge of those cultures and the emotional and spiritual lives of the people who live there.

9. Reading challenges your imagination

As you read, you put yourself in the characters’ shoes. Your brain goes beyond the words on the page, imagining details such as appearances, emotions, and surroundings. William Styron wrote, “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”

10. Reading increases your skill in an area of interest

Reading about your specific field or interests can improve your success in your field. You’ll gain factual knowledge and learn from others’ experiments and mistakes. 

11. Reading inspires you

Reading a good book is like being around an inspiring person. You observe inspiring actions, feel contagious passion, and desire to live a better life.

12. Reading reduces stress

Reading about something you enjoy or losing yourself in a good novel is an excellent way to relax. It can ease tension in your muscles and heart while letting your brain wander to new ideas and live in someone else’s shoes. Reading is a mini vacation for your brain!

As you can see, reading is good for you - very, very good for you. It can improve your academic, social, physical, and mental life. With these persuasive facts running through your mind, it's the perfect time to create your own reading goals!

 

Book Reviews from Students

Goodnight, Boy by Nikkie Sheehan

“Goodnight, Boy” is a story of a young boy named JC and a dog named Boy. It’s a story of two different worlds and emphasises hope, loss, love, and forgiveness. 

JC is a boy who has lost his family while living in a rough country, and when an earthquake turns his country to dust, JC thinks all hope is lost. But when he meets a doctor named Melanie who has come to his country to help people, he doesn’t know his life’s about to change. He gets to go home with Melanie and live with her and her husband, who is really bad-tempered, and everything is fine until Melanie has to leave for some time, and JC does something bad - the worst thing he’s ever done in his life. He is banished to live in the dog kennel with his best friend, Boy, and spends his hours and days telling his story to him, hoping he’ll soon be let out.

My favorite character in the story is probably JC because he is a tough boy who, despite losing everything, still tries to help himself and people around him. He is caring and makes the best of situations, even if they are the darkest problems. The story and the characters felt so real, the story kept me guessing and as the puzzle of the book fit together, my fingers couldn’t stop turning the pages, I was that eager to find out what would happen. It’s sad to know that a boy has to act grown-up in his childhood, and that he grew up in an environment which was dangerous and hard to cope with. A part of the story I particularly liked was near the ending of JC’s story, when he explained the reason for his banishment because it was tense and I felt dragged into the drama and the atmosphere of the scene.

I think the most unique fact about “Goodnight, Boy” is that it isn’t written line after line. It’s written creatively in a poetic sort of way and it brings the feeling that you can actually hear the conversation between JC and Boy, and I like this because it stretches my mind more and allows me to think of the story and guess what could happen next. However, the thing I didn’t like as much would be the fact that the story didn’t really explain what happened to some characters, so it was sort-of a cliffhanger, which can make the reader start wondering what would have happened to a specific character. It can confuse a reader sometimes.

Overall, “Goodnight, Boy” is a highly recommended book for young adult readers and it is simply stunning. It’s so unique and gives the lesson that hope is really important at rough times, and that’s sometimes all you need.  Available in The Library

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix by J K Rowling

The Setting

What Happened  

During the summer, Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors. Forced to use magic to fend them off, Harry is expelled from Hogwarts, but his expulsion is postponed pending a hearing at the Ministry of Magic.

Why

He gets expelled as magic is not allowed to be used outside of their school, Hogwarts.

The Main Characters

Hermione Granger

Hermione's most prominent features include her prodigious intellect and cleverness. She is level headed, book-smart, and always very logical. Throughout the series, Hermione uses the skills of a librarian and teacher to gather the information necessary to defeat Voldemort, the "Dark Lord".

Ron Weasley

Tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.Ron has the trademark red hair of the Weasleys and is indeed one of Harry's tallest schoolmates, even outgrowing some of his older brothers.

Harry Potter

Humble, brave, and loyal. Harry will do anything for his friends, including risking his own life. He stands up for the weak (like Neville Longbottom) and is willing to take on the evil and powerful, from snobbish classmate Draco Malfoy all the way up to He Who Must Not Be Named (Voldemort)

Luna Lovegood

Quirky, free spirit, but also surprisingly perceptive. She does not care what others think of her.She is also very funny and caring.

Conflict

Harry and his friends help the Order of the Phoenix in their quest to thwart the return of the evil Lord Voldemort. rising action Lord Voldemort begins to invade Harry's mind, controlling his dreams.

Solution

Members of the Order come to save them and they are able to get away.

What is the book’s main message?

• The Government vs. The Truth. 

• Unity in the Face of Evil. Another leading theme in Order of the Phoenix is the importance of uniting in the face of threat. 

• Life Is Not Defined By Death.

I recommend this book as it’s really fun and interesting. The book makes you want to feel like reading the rest of the series. If you like adventure or fantasy this is a great book for you.   Available in The Library

Goodnight Boy Book Review (The second book review of the same book)

What I expected from the book. I expected the book to be a little bit more descriptive of what has happened in JC’s life, but in the stories he told he breaks down his key moments throughout the book by being straightforward and not describing his life as much as I thought he would. But you cannot have everything you want in a story. The author still tried really hard to add these bits in though.

What is the genre of the book? The genre of the book is young adult fiction. What this tells us about the book is that it shows Jean Caleb (JC) explaining  his challenging issues that he had to tackle himself, which teaches us that life has unexpected twists and turns. This book is for ages 12+.

The plot of Goodnight Boy. The plot of Goodnight Boy is about a boy named Jean Caleb who was born in a place called the riverbeds with his older and younger brother’s, but one day a man in a suit, who knew his mother, asked him if he would like a ride home and he said yes but he did not know that they were going to abandon him once they got the chance. So after they dumped JC at the Sweet Angel Orphanage his hair got shaved off and he ended up making a good friend in the Orphanage.

The main characters in the story are Jean Caleb, Boy, Melanie and one unnamed character who is the husband of Melanie and also soon to be stepfather of JC. I enjoyed this book alot because it has a lot of laughs, a lot of drama and quite a lot of heartwarming messages towards the readers. That is why I encourage others to read this book as well so it can have the same effect on others as it had on me. One scene I really enjoyed in the book was when his new father’s sister spoke to JC over the fence saying that she thinks JC’s new father might have killed his actual son. I recommend this book to people who like drama because this book is filled with it.

I can compare this book to Goodnight Mr Tom because it had a lot of sad parts in it as well and it was very uplifting as well as Goodnight Boy because it teaches people very valuable lessons and life skills. Overall I urge others to read this book because you can see how people are actually living in different conditions. The moral of this story is to be grateful for everything you have because some people have nothing. I would give this book a rating of 4 stars

Links to Fabulous Author’s Websites:

David Walliams     https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com

Benjamin Zephaniah    https://benjaminzephaniah.com

Cliff McNish    https://www.cliffmcnish.com

If you like reading about Authors and their books,  use the link below and pick some new Author’s!!

https://www.pickabook.co.uk/childrens-authors-websites.aspx

Books to Movies

What is your favourite Movie that has been adapted from a book?  Below are a few that you might have read already…...and if not, give them a try!

• Charlotte’s web by E B White

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by C S Lewis

• The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum

• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madelaine D’Engle

• Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

• Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

• Coraline by Neil Gaimon

• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

• The Fault in our Stars by John Green

• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

• The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

• Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

• Divergent by Veronica Roth

• The Maze Runner by James Dashner

• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

If your favourite book to movie adaptation is not on this list, let me know the name of the book and movie, saying if you prefer the book or the movie, and why.  I  will then add your contribution to our next Newsletter in October!

Quotes from Great Books from our Wonderful Students

Reading quotes:

•  If a book is well written, I always find it too short

•  A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man      who      never reads lives only one

•  Reading is to the mind like exercise is to the body

•  Reading is dreaming with open eyes

•  We read to know we're not alone

•  Reading is a passport to countless adventures

•  To read is to voyage through time

•  When you read a book, you hold another's mind in your hands

• You don't have to go far to look for treasure, it's all in the library

• Whenever you feel down, just read, read, and read again!

• The more you read the more you know - The more you know  -The more you teach!

Inspirational quotes:

• When there's a will, there's a way

• All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them

• Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become

• The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination 

• Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world 

• Be the change you want to see in the world 

• Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later 

• Failure is success if we learn from it 

• The expert in something was once a beginner

• Education is the key to success in life

• The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you'll go

• Good, better , best. Never let it rest. ' Till your good is better and your better is best 

• nothing is perfect that's why erasers were invented.'

• It is okay to struggle, it is not okay to give up

• Don't compare yourself to anyone, be YOU!  

• If the sky's the limit then why have people reached the moon

• Give up isn't in my vocabulary 

Book Quotes from Authors

Rubik’s Cube Club has started!!

Pop into the Library to put your name down to join the Club, which is held every Wednesday in The Library

Book Reviews from Students

Book name and Author: Mollie on the March by Anna Carey

My favourite character: Mollie

Summary of the book:

This book is about a young girl called Mollie who is a Suffragette. Mollie and her friend Nora are given a shock when Nora’s annoying cousin Grace comes to stay with Nora. Grace takes a liking to tennis and Mollie’s neighbours' annoying dog, which surprises Mollie and Nora. Mollie and her friend Nora want to protest so Millie’s sister and her friend sneak Millie and Nora into the protest where a lot of things go wrong. As well as the protest, Mille has to worry about Nora's cousin, who Millie saw at the protest, and the dog that Millie and Nora call ‘the menace’.

My favourite part: My favourite part of the book is when Millie and Nora sneak out to go to the protest.   Rating: I rate this book 4/5 stars

A book review on ‘How to Train your Dragon-How to seize a Dragon’s Jewel’

by Cressida Cowell

This book is highly recommended by me as this book is the best fit for people who like to read fun books. This book contains humour and suspense.  The suspense is so incredibly large that you may also fall off whatever you are sitting on.

You are also going to get addicted to the book and read the whole series. I know this for a fact because I have told my friends to read the book and they got addicted to it so much that they read the whole series in a week. (This also happened to me).  

The book has emotional parts, for example, the main character almost failed on the quest. This book is cleverly written by the wonderful author Cressida Cowell.  

 

                       SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT

           Mortal Coil

            BY DEREK LANDY   

    

This book is about Valkyrie having a dark secret that the gang does not know about.  HOWEVER, the gang is as vulnerable as ever as they have to stop a plague of body snatchers which are known as Remnants and stop a hired adept killer.

My favourite part is when the remnants are free and when they cause havoc and murder.  Also, when Tanith got a remnant gor stuck inside of her for more than four days and now the remnant is stuck inside of her forever controlling her mind.  When Dr Nye(a creature that probably has no gender) had to seal Valkyrie’s true name but things got a bit messy.

My least favourite part is when Dr Kenspecle Grouse dies and when Tesseract(the hired killer), murdered inspector Davina Marr before Skulduggery and the gang got answers from the inspector on why she blew up the sanctuary and killed 29 sorcerers. 

The reason why I recommend this book is because it is full of action, magic, comedy and crime.  This is the fifth book in Skulduggery Pleasant

Student Poem

Choices

 

Choices,

Some hard,

Some easy,

Some might even call it breezy,

It's a funny word,

That not all understand,

How important it can be,

Choices can affect.

Choices can hurt,

Choices aren't all bad!

Though the ones you make are important.

But always remember,

Life is full of choices ,

Make sure you pick the right one!

ePlatform

Please do not forget that you can also use our reading app ePlatform to read lots of fabulous electronic and audio books!  For instructions on how to use ePlatform, please use the link below:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8064653522683152574/1799106046324446297

Book Art, aka, “Artists' books” 

(Or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book.  From giving old books a second life by making sculptures out of their pages, Artists have found a better second life for unwanted books.

(Source:  https://www.google.com/search?q=book+art&rlz)

(Source:  https://www.google.com/search?q=artists+that+use+books&rlz)

N.B.  Please do not try this with books from the Library 

Accelerated Reader

All Year 7 and Students MUST have at least ONE library book on them at all times.  You must read your AR library book for AT LEAST twenty minutes every night.  Please do not forget to write your completed book in your planner on page 20.  You must then complete your online book quiz within 24 hours of completing the book, then write your quiz result on page 19 of your planner!!!

Yummy Treats that look like Books!

(Source:  https://www.google.com/search?q=cakes+that+look+like+books)

Well, that is the end of this month’s Library Newsletter!

Is there anything else that you would like to see in The Library Newsletter?  If you have any contributions, queries or great ideas please email: ltaylor@oakspark.redbridge.sch.uk