November book

For November the staff reading group read The wildfire season by Andrew Pyper. Set in the wilds of Canada, it is the story of a group of forest firefighters, particularly their leader who has been devastated by a previous fire, and a bear. Some of the group found this book to be so depressing that they couldn't finish it. Some people finished it but didn't enjoy it and wouldn't recommend it and a couple of people liked it. The lead firefighter lost a crewmember and was badly burnt in a previous fire, which caused him to end his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend. We did not find him particularly sympathetic, in fact most of our sympathies lay with the mother bear whose cubs were shot. Better luck next month!

Local winner

Local author Cathy Cassidy, who has been to Doon to talk to pupils, has won the Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books, Older Readers category for her novel Scarlett.

"She said: "Scarlett is a story about friendship and families, and deals with some difficult issues like what it might be like for all kids if parents get divorced, with lots of laughs and some sad things too.""
Well done Cathy!

October book

The book the reading group read in October was The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn. The consensus was that it was a mildly entertaining, but very lightweight read. We felt that the story was very formulaic and that the ending was a cop-out. However it was an interesting insight into the weird world of high-powered New Yorkers and the lengths they will go to to get their children into the best schools. It did provoke a heated debate on the pros and cons of private education versus state. Hopefully our next book will be a better read, even if it is less contentious.