Doon Reads!

My new blog

2011-08-24T09:29:00.002+01:00

From the start of Autumn term 2011, I am going to migrate my blog to Doon Library

Carnegie Winners Announced

2011-06-23T13:56:00.003+01:00

The winner of the Carnegie Medal 2011 is Patrick Ness for Monsters of Men - a book we didn't rate at all!

The winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal is Graham Barek-Smith for Farther, which was also not liked by our group, but it is a beautiful book.

To see the judges comments click here.

Carnegie Medal Shadowing

2011-06-22T11:14:00.003+01:00

Yesterday afternoon we had a small tea party in the Library for the Carnegie Medal judges while we decide which books should make it to the top of your reading barometer. Mrs Bax provided homemade cakes and tea and we went through the shortlist discussing each title one by one. In order of preference we came up with:

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick
Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace
Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin

Click here to see our barometer and read our reviews.

Funny books

2011-06-16T09:47:00.001+01:00

As the same time I spotted Don Calame's Top Ten Funny Teen Boy Books.
Again I do have some of them, if you are interested.
A very subversive list.

Unsuitable books for teens

2011-06-16T09:43:00.003+01:00

Patrick Ness, author of The knife of never letting go, has produced a list for The Guardian of his Top Ten Unsuitable Books for Teens
Have a look at the list and see what you think.
As they are unsuitable I only have a few in the Library!

Readers' Cup Final

2011-06-10T14:23:00.002+01:00

Friday 10th June saw 4 keen pupils travel to Auchinleck Academy with Ms Borthwick and Mrs Bax and their supporters to compete in the East Ayrshire Readers' Cup Final. The team of Halle Fitzsimmons, John Anderson, Katie Burrell and Keiran Madden tried very hard but were let down by their lack of Knowledge in the Battle of the Books round. The winners were St Joseph's Academy with a fantastic 42.5 points out of 50.
The audience had fun answering the questions for little prizes in between rounds.
Better luck next year!

Free books!

2011-06-06T15:30:00.001+01:00

Huge long list of free books online at 391 Places for Free books

Reader of the Month

2011-06-03T09:38:00.001+01:00

Reader of the Month for May is Rory Parker from S1. He has a fantastic record of 22 passes out of 22 Accelerated Reader quizzes over the last year and he has read 368.000 words.

Well done Rory!

May Book

2011-06-03T09:34:00.004+01:00

The staff book for May was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. We all really enjoyed a change from our normal reading fare. The mixture of popular science and social history was fascinating and we felt it followed on very well fron The Help by Kathry Stockett which we had read recently.

Kate Greenaway Medal Storytime

2011-05-23T15:12:00.005+01:00

Taylor, Robert and Aaron reading from Ernest.
Marina and Terry-Ann reading Heart in a bottle.
Iain and John reading Jim, a Cautionary Tale.
Kalvin and Brandon reading Me and YOu.
Marina and Terry-Ann reading Heart in a bottle to another group.
Some S2 pupils looked at the Kate Greenaway shortlist and picked 5 titles which they felt were suitable for reading to Primary 1 and 2. After practising their presentations they invited the P1/2 class from Dalmellington Primary School to visit the Library and hear the stories. The pupils came and listened to all the stories very carefully and Ernest was the winner by a clear margin from Jim.
The winning team with Mrs Gormanley and some P1/2s.
The winning team being presented with their prizes by Mrs Gormanley.

Reading Week 2

2011-05-18T13:29:00.002+01:00

S1 reading in Maths
S1 caught reading in Maths.
S2 reading in Maths.
May 16th - 20th was our second Reading Week where the whoile school spent 20 minutes first thing in the morning reading quietly. It is very popular with pupils and staff alike.

Carnegie Medal Videos

2011-05-10T14:54:00.006+01:00

If you want to see video interviews of the authors on the Shortlist, click on the names below.
Theresa Breslin
Meg Rosoff
Marcus Sedgwick
Geraldine McCaughrean
Patrick Ness
Jason Wallace

The most popular titles so far seem to be White Crow and The Bride's Farewell.

I enjoyed The Bride's Farewell, it was a really good story with lots of things happening during the book.
I had already read The Death-Defying Pepper Roux before the shortlist came out and I loved the way it played around with the truth and how the loose ends tied themselves up nicely in the end, but other people who have read it didn't like it.
I liked Marcus Sedgwick's other books so I was looking forward to White Crow. Gothic supernatural isn't really my thing, so it was still a good read.
Prisoner of the Inquisition is a terrific historical yarn and we made a video of the beginning last year with some of the then S2.

I am about half way through Out of Shadows and really enjoying it so far, and lastly I still have to tackle Monsters of Men. It seems a bit unfair to put the last part of such a fat trilogy on the list!

The Little Stranger

2011-05-10T14:41:00.004+01:00

The Little Stranger by Sara Waters was the Staff Book for April. Some people found it a compelling read and some who hadn't had time to finish it due to work pressures wanted to extend it so that they could. It's a gripping supernatural tale set during and after World War 2.

Carnegie Shadowing

2011-04-18T20:25:00.002+01:00

The 2011 Carnegie Medal shortlist is out.
Here are the titles.
BRESLIN, THERESA PRISONER OF THE INQUISITION
McCAUGHREAN GERALDINE THE DEATH DEFYING PEPPER ROUX
NESS, PATRICK MONSTERS OF MEN
ROSOFF, MEG THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL
SEDGWICK, MARCUS WHITE CROW
WALLACE, JASON OUT OF SHADOWS

We have two copies of each and extras of a few titles in stock.

Here is a link to our Shadowing page, where you can add reviews and post comments.

Reader of the month for March

2011-03-30T11:59:00.004+01:00

Reader of the month for March is Robyn McCluskey in S1. She has been working hard and passed 3 quizzes this month with 100% correct and earned a total of 11 points.

Well done Robyn!

Room

2011-03-30T08:58:00.003+01:00

Staff Book Group book for March was Room by Emma Donoghue. This was quite a controversial choice and split the group. Some members were unable to finish the book because of the subject matter and others persevered and loved it. It is written from the point of view of a 5 year old child who is imprisoned in a small room with his mother by "Old Nick". Despite the subject matter it is an uplifting story of the relationship between mother and child.
In the afternoon after the meeting Room came up for discussion in Radio 4's "A Good Read". You can still here the discussion on iPlayer.

For April we are reading The Little Stranger by Sara Waters.

Barry Hutchison

2011-03-25T14:20:00.005Z

By Guest Bloggers

On Friday the 25th of March a group of children from first year attended a trip to Auchinleck Academy to see the author Barry Hutchison. He was talking to us about some of his books, how he became an author and his childhood.

He told us a few very funny stories from his younger days. One of them was about SQUIRRELS!

Barry said that he is afraid of squirrels, because when he was five or six he was seeing his granny in Aberdeen, he saw a squirrel on the path in the park DEAD..! It was all mashed up with a leg missing and its brain pouring out its eye sockets. So now he hates squirrels!

Another one of his stories was when he was doing falconry, (because he is a bit scared of birds). He had the big glove on and the instructor gave him the bird, and said “throw it hard as you can and it will land on the perch.” So he did and it went flying through the air and kept going …AND GOING … (BY THIS TIME IT WAS WAY PAST THE PERCH)…and going till it hit a tree. It fell and flew back and bit him on the face!

We really enjoyed the trip and we definitely recommend his books to everyone of all ages.

By Kieran Madden Aaron Gilmore and Gareth Kerr

Barry Hutchison signing a book for some of our pupils.

Cathy Forde Visit

2011-03-24T12:02:00.003Z

The author Cathy Forde came to school and talked to S1 on Tuesday 22nd March. A group of pupils from Auchinleck Academy also came along to the talk.
Cathy talked about where she gets her ideas from and told lots of stories along the way, including one about the scary eyes in the ceiling of the spare room of her old house. She also told the story of a scary ghost walk in Edinburgh, and about her horrible P2 teacher who locked a child in a cupboard and left her there.
Everyone was fascinated by her stories and and asked lots of questions. Afterwards lots of pupils told me they really enjoyed her talk.

S2 Readers' Cup Quiz

2011-03-17T14:58:00.004Z

S2 Readers' Cup Quiz was held in the Library on Thursday 17th March period 3. the question topics were Lucky dip, Eoin Colfer, Witches & Wizards, Historical Fiction and Books& Films. Unfortunately the questions proved to be rather harder for s2 and the teams didn't score as well as S1.
Again the contest was between Finlas and Raecar with Finlas leading all the way through, until Raecar managed to overtake them in the final round with a very good score of 8 points.
Congratuations to the winning team of Tommy Campbell, Stephanie Carrick, Rachel Murphy and Halle Fitzsimmons, and commiserations to John Anderson, Nicky Fairbairn, Lorelle White and Sandy Napier.

Many thanks to the judges, Heather Dunn, Megan Mccleary, Nathan Gilmore and Paige Collins.

S1 Readers' Cup Quiz

2011-03-17T14:37:00.005Z

The S1 round of Doon Academy's Readers' Cup Quiz was held in the Assembly Hall, last period on Wednesday 16th March. The categories for the questions were Heroes & Heroines, Jacqueline Wilson, Lucky Dip, Comics and Animal Stories.
After a very hard fought contest between all four teams, Finlas and Raecar edged ahead and the contest ended at the bell in a tie with both teams having a respectable 30.5 points.
The final result was decided with a tiebreaker between Finlas and Raecar the following day. Both teams got 6/10 in the tiebreaker and so it went to sudden death and Finlas just managed to answer the last two questions more quickly so they won.
Congratulations to the winning Finlas team of Alana Murray, Morgan Davis, Shannon Clelland and Keiran Madden. They all received W H Smith vouchers.
Well done to the other teams especially Raecar who were pipped to the post.

A big thank you to the judges, Heather Dunn, Lisa McTaggart, Rosie Coles and Hayley Bone.

Carnegie Medal Shadowing

2011-03-16T11:32:00.003Z

We will be running a Carnegie Medal Shadowing Group again this year. If you join in you will have a chance to read some really exciting new books and give your opinions on them, plus have some fun along the way.
This is the link to the Carnegie Medal page.
We also have a Doon Academy Shadowing Page.

There are some quizzes and competitions at ReadWriteExcite

World Book Night 2

2011-03-04T14:25:00.003Z

World Book Night free book giveaway continued..

Lots of pupils came down to the Library during mentoring and chose a copy of one of the three titles we had to give away.
Agent Zigzag was by far the most popular, followed by The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

World Book Day

2011-03-04T11:22:00.002Z

For World Book Day, we invited P6 and P7 boys from Dalmellington Primary School to join S2 boys in the library to watch Eoin Colfer on BBC Authors Live for World Book Day.

Eoin Colfer was very entertaining and had all the boys in stitches laughing as his stories about his awful little brothers and his sons. He uses their antics in his books especially in the Artemis Fowl series to show how the baddies behave!

World Book Night

2011-03-04T11:03:00.002Z

We gave away lots of books to the staff at morning break. The most popular title was Agent Zigzag. The others were Case Histories and the Reluctant Fundamentalist.

For more information and to give your opinion on the books go to World Book Night.

Once you have read the book, you can pass it on to someone else. All the books have a Book Crossing number in the back. Book Crossing is a global experiment where people release books "into the wild" and the website allows you to enter the unique number and track where your books ends up - or came from.
Happy Reading!

Digi-Tale

2011-03-04T10:59:00.002Z

www.digi-tale.co is a new website where you can share your thoughts on books and reading. There is also a story widget which enables you to put yourself or your friends as characters.

Missing People

2011-02-28T14:08:00.001Z

To complete the missing persons exercise, please go to this link Missing People.

Author visits

2011-02-25T13:51:00.004Z

S2 pupils who have been enthusiatic participants in Accelerated Reader will be invited to go on the trip to Loudoun Academy to hear the author Gillian Philip talk about her work. The trip is in the morning of 15th March.

We have run a competition for S1 pupils to go to Auchinleck Academy to hear Barry Hutchinson talk about his work on 28th march. They were asked to write up to 200 words on why they wanted to go. We have 20 enthusiatic winners!

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-02-20T00:40:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-02-13T00:39:00.001Z

Scriblink - Your Online Whiteboard

tags: whiteboard
YouTube - How to Understand the Dewey Decimal System

tags: dewey youtube library information_literacy
Learning and Leading - February 2011

tags: shelfari reading collaboration
Historypin | Map

tags: history maps web2.0 mashup

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

World Book Day

2011-02-10T13:22:00.003Z

3rd March 2011 is World Book Day. To join in the fun go to World Book Day. Everyone will get a £1 book token nearer the time which you can use to get £1 off any book or one of the special World Book Day books.

We are writers has lots of ideas for would-be writers and a great competition.

Spring Read programme

2011-02-10T10:27:00.007Z

The authors coming to visit East Ayrshire schools in March this year are:
Keith Gray
Gilliam Philip
Barry Hutchinson
and Cathy Forde

For more information have a look at these links
Cathy Forde Cathy Forde will be coming to Doon so lots of pupils should have a chance to see her.

Gillian Philip We are plannning to take a minibus to see Gillian Philip at Loudoun Academy. If you are keen to go see your English teacher.

Barry Hutchinson we are planning to take a minibus to see Barry Hutchinson. There will be a competition for places to see him. Ask your English teacher for more information.
Invisible Fiends

Keith Gray

Reading Week

2011-02-09T13:34:00.004Z

Our Reading Week was a great success. Here are some pictures of our keen readers concentrating on their books.

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-02-06T00:39:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Story cubes

2011-02-03T11:14:00.001Z

Find more photos like this on Write Path International Connections

Great idea for getting kids to think of stories.
The cubes are available from http://www.storycubes.com/

National Storytelling Week

2011-02-02T13:53:00.001Z

As part of National Storytelling Week, most of the pupils from Dalmellington Primary School came to visit my Library and to find out what a librarian does - apart from stamping books and tidying shelves.

Reader of the Month January 2011

2011-02-02T12:55:00.002Z

Morgan passed 3 quizzes and 86.7% average. Well done!

Spring Read Authors

2011-01-31T09:41:00.004Z

This year's Spring Read authors are Keith Gray,Gillian Philip, Barry Hutchinson and Cathy Forde. If you are a fan and would like to be on the trip to go and see them, let me know.
To find out more about them click on the links below.
Keith Gray at Scottish Book Trust
Gillian Philip's website
Barry Hutchinson's website
Cathy Forde's website

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-01-30T00:39:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Caught Reading posters

2011-01-28T14:13:00.006Z

Here are some of the great posters that S1 pupils have created. The real ones have been printed and put up round the school to publicise reading and our Reading Week.

Reading Week

2011-01-28T14:10:00.002Z

Next week everyone in school is going to read for the first 20 minutes of the day every day of the week. Everyone seems quite up for it and all classes have been given a supply of reading materials in case they haven't got anything suitable.
Should be great, I'm looking for a chance to read at work!

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-01-23T00:40:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Book Swop

2011-01-20T09:55:00.000Z

Book Swop
There will be a book swop on the Wednesday in the Library P4 – P6. Bring in books, magazines and comics the week before and hand them into your English teacher or to the Library. You will get a token for everything you hand in. On the Swop day, you will get a chance to come to the Library to choose books matching your tokens.

Reading Week

2011-01-20T09:53:00.002Z

31st January - 4th February

Why?
“The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
~ Dr. Seuss ~

When?
31st January to 4th February, first 20 minutes of P 1
every day of the week.

Where?
In all subjects and rooms in the school.

Who?
Everybody on the staff and all pupils from S1 – S3. (S4 - S6 are busy with prelims that week)

What?
You can either read your Accelerated reader book or bring in a favourite book or magazine from home, or borrow a book from your class teacher. The Library will be available on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning to change books, but it will be closed on Thursday and Friday morning due to exams. Please change your books during Registration.

How?
Just sit quietly, relax and read!

Get streetwise

2011-01-17T08:53:00.002Z

Check out this list of the latest urban legends going the rounds.
Snopes 25 Hottest Urban Legends
Snopes makes fascinating reading!

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-01-16T00:39:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Great Reading Suggestions

2011-01-14T14:00:00.002Z

Bill Boyd has a terrific list of 100 novels for 10 - 14 year olds in his blog.
Fiction list
All the titles have a short plot summary to give you a feel for the book.

Writing Competition

2011-01-11T10:12:00.003Z

Calling all budding writers!

Renaissance Learning are sponsoring the Carnegie Medal this year and they are running a writing competition for secondary school pupils on this website http://www.readwriteexcite.co.uk/ . You are asked to write no more than 1000 words on the theme of CONFLICT.
Check out the site and have a go.

Useful Websites (weekly)

2011-01-09T00:42:00.001Z

Free Photo Printing - 570 Free photo prints

tags: photography
General: – an article from iansyst Ltd

tags: dyslexia fonts
TargetMap - Create & share customized data maps on Googlemaps. Free Online Mapping tool

tags: maps database
YouTube - Project Based Learning: Explained.

"these preferences, please use the links in the footer at the bottom of the page.

Click "OK" to accept these settings or click "Cancel" to set your language preference to "English (UK)" and your location filter to "Worldwide"."

tags: projectbasedlearning Video commoncraft
Library Stuff | 130 Tools in 160 Minutes

tags: webtools socialmedia library2.0
High School Units

tags: libraryinduction information_literacy
A dozen ways to teach ethical and safe technology use - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog

tags: ethics digitalcitizenship digitalliteracy
At-A-Glance Comic Tutorials - a set on Flickr

tags: comics graphicnovels
Create your own Star Wars themed hangman game | What2Learn

tags: games quizzes
Power League | Home

tags: powerleague projectbasedlearning lessonplans science maths
Pollmo Polls - The simplest polls on the web

tags: survey polls

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Reader of the Month for December

2011-01-06T13:08:00.002Z

Well Done Danni in S1. 3 quizzes passed and 24 points.

Accelerated Reader successes

2010-12-21T15:32:00.002Z

These pupils have achieved their targets for Winter 2010 in Accelerated Reader.
S1
Rebekah Copeland
Danni Cullen
Charlie Lindores
Robyn McCluskey
Tamsin Thorburn
Catherine Roberts
Wendy Roulstone

S2
John Anderson
Stephanie Carrick
Lauren Gerrard
Damian Slocombe
Rachel Murphy
Shannon Brown
Reece Higgins

well done to all of them for their hard work.

Staff Book Group Christmas lunch

2010-12-21T13:41:00.001Z

Here are the members of the staff book group at their Christmas lunch with their book shaped parcels from Santa.
Happy Holiday Reading!

Readers'C up First Round Winners

2010-12-21T13:36:00.002Z

The winners of the in class round of the Readers' Cup Quiz are
S2
Halle Fitzsimmons, 2MD
Alexander Nutt, 2SB
Brandon Gasson, 2NP
S1
Danni Cullen, 1MD
Michael Roberts, 1SB
Harry Sloan, 1NP

The highest scorers will go on to represent their clans in the S1 and S2 competitions in March.
Well done to all the high scorers in a very tough quiz.

Calling budding writers

2010-12-14T19:36:00.002Z

Figment
If you are a budding writer looking for comments, or a keen reader looking for new writing to follow.
"Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors. Whatever you're into, from sonnets to mysteries, from sci-fi stories to cell phone novels, you can find it all there. "

Readers'Cup Quiz

2010-12-08T12:14:00.003Z

The first heats of this years quiz will be held in the Library during english lessons this week and next week.

November Reader of the Month

2010-12-08T12:10:00.003Z

Well done John - 19 points and 100% correct.

Suitcase Kid trailer

2010-11-30T15:24:00.004Z

The S1 library club made a short video trailer for The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson.

Reader of the month October

2010-11-30T15:22:00.002Z

October's Accelerated Reader of the month was Stuart in S1. He had passed the most quizzes.
Well done Stuart!

The Secret Scriptures

2010-11-30T15:21:00.002Z

The Secret Scriptures by Sebastian Barry was the Staff Book for November. It was very popular with the group who nearly all said they enjoyed it.
Highly recommended.

Interesting ways to teach

2010-11-12T11:29:00.002Z

Two links but really good sites.
Interesting Ways to use webtools in the classroom
and Tom Barrett's blog with ideas for using Class blogs

For more on class blogs have a look at BoxofTricks.net

Brilliant video!

2010-11-03T17:15:00.001Z

This is a challenge for Doon Academy!

Library Creative Club

2010-11-01T12:23:00.002Z

At the Library Club we are having a go at making book trailer videos. At the moment a group are working on a video on The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson.
To find out more about book trailers have a look at Book Trailers for Readers.
Come along and join in the fun.

Yacoubian Building

2010-10-29T15:18:00.003+01:00

The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany is considered a modern Egyptian classic and has been available in English for many years. As a change of perspective, the staff book group read it in October. Some staff enjoyed it, but most dislike the fractured nature of the separate stories of the different residents. This combined with some of the content meant that it was not a popular choice.
November's book The Secret scriptures by Sebastian Barry may be more popular.

Accelerated Reader Certificates

2010-10-26T11:02:00.003+01:00

At a special assembly lots of S2 pupils were given Accelerated Reader certificates.
Featured are Lauren with 2 Classic Reader certificates, Naomi and Rachel with their Star Reader certificates and Reese with the prize for the winner of the Wall of 100% draw. Well done to everyone!

Top 100 tools for learning 2010

2010-10-25T09:45:00.001+01:00

Top100 Tools for Learning 2010

View more presentations from Jane Hart.

Interesting that Twitter is top of the list.

How to make descriptive videos

2010-10-23T22:02:00.000+01:00

Chance to tell your story

2010-10-19T22:14:00.004+01:00

Have a go at the Scottish Book Trust Family Legends competition. Talk to your mum or dad or grandparents, ask them about the time the dog ate your mum's boots or the time your sister got locked in a hotel toilet, and then write it up and send it in.

Good Luck.

Some really useful tools

2010-10-19T21:59:00.000+01:00

Best of the EdTech Web 2010 - With Links

View more presentations from Richard Byrne.

I can't wait to try out some of these!

Reading Group Guides

2010-10-18T15:27:00.001+01:00

Loads of good ideas and information to help you choose a book for the reading group at
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/content/index.asp

Wasted by Nicola Morgan

2010-10-07T13:10:00.001+01:00

check out Nicola Morgan's blog on Wasted, her latest book. Loads of good stuff and competitions.

Book Trailers

2010-10-06T15:38:00.002+01:00

Here are the links for ideas for book trailers
Story tubes
Book Video Awards
Kirkus Review Book Video awards

This is the site with all the information about how to make book trailers
Booktrailers for readers

Good Luck!

New Non-Fiction Books 2009/10

2010-09-30T10:08:00.003+01:00

The 10 minute brain workout Moore, Gareth
250 innovative ideas
50 people who fouled up football Henderson Michael
50 reasons to buy Fair Trade Litvinoff, Miles ; Madeley, John
Abortion - rights and ethics
Alternacrafts Vitkus, Jessica
The animal rights debate
Bad science Goldacre, Ben
Band of brothers: E Company,506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. Ambrose Stephen E.
Barack Obama; the making of a president Allette, Dawne
Basic psychology Gleitman, Henry
Body image and self-esteem
The book of big excuses Turner, Tracey
Britain in 2010
Bullying issues
Cheat! 217
Cheat extra 218
Cheat extra 219
Christmas foods Vaughan, Jenny ;Beauchamp, Penny
Citizenship and participation
Consumer kids: how big businessis grooming our children for profit. Mayo & Nairn
Crime in the UK
Denmark; a kingdom
Drugs in the UK
Earthquakes Graham, Ian
Extreme wheels
Fair Trade; a beginner's guide DeCarlo, Jacqueline
The globalisation issue
Hail! Hail! rock 'n' roll Harris John 1969-
Harry Hill's whopping great joke book. Hill Harry 1964-
Health issues for young people
How to make your own video or short film. Harvey Bob
In search of Australia and the South Pacific
Is the fair? Fair Trade Atkinson, Mary
Leadership and the one minute manager Blanchard Kenneth H. Zigarmi Patricia Zigarmi Drea
A life like mine; how children live across the world UNICEF
Marriage and cohabitation
The men who stare at goats Ronson Jon 1967-
Money and finances
The new Anchor step-by-step encyclopaedia of needlecraft:patchwork, embriodery, quilting,sewing, knitting, crochet,applique
The No-Nonsense guide to Fair Trade Ransom. David
Our human rights
Philip's guide to fossils Potts Joanna
Poland Kadziolka, Jan ;Wojciechowski,Tadeusz
Predicting the effects of climate change Townsend, John
Privacy and surveillance
Racial and ethnic discrimination
Reproductive ethics
Romania
School survival Tym, Katie ; Worms,Penny
Self-harm
Selling sex
Sexual health
Shackleton's way Morrell Margot ;Capparell Stephanie
Shells Saunders Graham D.1944-
The silliest joke book ever
Staying fit
The story of Billy McNeil Mavor, James ; Martin, Michael
The story of Celtic McIvor, James ; Martin, Michael
The story of Liverpool
The story of Manchester United
The story of Rangers Geddes, Jack
The story of the Scotland mnational team
Study for survival and success Meredeen, Sander
Supermodels Gogerly, Liz
A sustainable future Spilsbury, Louise
Tackling child abuse
Teen movie stars Foy, Debbie
Three cups of tea Thomson Sarah L. ;Mortenson Greg ;Relin David Oliver
Waste issues
Xmas games expert 220

What I saw and how I lied by Judy Blundell

2010-09-08T09:43:00.003+01:00

Pupil Review by Stephanie Carrick S2

What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell

What I Saw And How I Lied is a very good book. News of the World claimed "You'll be holding your breath as you turn every page." But I must say that I disagree. This book is quite hard to get into because it has a very slow start. However, nearer the end, it gets much more exiting. It was not my favourite book, but it is one I shall never forget.

This book is about a 16 year old girl called Evie, who lives with her mother, Beverly, her step-father, Joe, and her grandmother, Gladys. It is set in the late 1940's, and Joe has just returned form WWII. He suggest's that the family go on vacation to a little island in florida, called Palm Beach. They leave the very next day, and while there, they meet on of Joe's army friend's, Peter Coleridge. Both Evie and her mum fall in love with Peter, leaving a huge mess. They both have a secret romance with him at the same time. However, whatever happened during battle, has caused Joe and Peter to fall out. Therefore, Joe decides that Evie and Beverly should stay away from Peter. However, they ignore Joe and continue with their romances. Thats when strange thing's begin to happen.

It is not until quite far on in the book that all the secrets begin to come out. This happens after Peter falls overboard while on a fishing trip. A huge hurricane hits, causing the boats engine to stop, then a huge wave knocks poor Peter overboard. Joe and Beverly survive, but when they arrive back at Palm Beach, to find Evie, they discover that people think they murdered Peter. Evie, Beverly and Joe find themselves catapulted into a terrible and messy situation, in which they must stand trial in Palm Beach Court. I am not going to tell you if they are found guilty or innocent. If you really want to know, you can borrow this book from the library.

Over-all, I give this book three and a half stars out of five.

What reading means to S1

2010-08-30T10:29:00.000+01:00

New term - New books

2010-08-20T13:55:00.006+01:00

We have lots of bright new books for everyone to read this term, incuding the third part of Patrick Ness' amazing series Chaos Walking - Monsters of men.

Competition

2010-08-02T10:39:00.001+01:00

Get to your local library befor August 15th and you could win an iPod Touch!
At the library go online to Britannica and enter their quiz!

Boys reading

2010-08-02T10:33:00.001+01:00

Two great blogs for boys who are into reading:
GUYS READ
and
BOYS, BLOKES BOOKS & BYTES

Great new reads

2010-07-30T14:05:00.003+01:00

I have just finished Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan. It is one of the best books I have read for ages. Its funny,scary, dramatic, exciting and I couldn't work out what was going to happen next. Try it as soon as you can.
Also in my holiday reading bag was Spirit Hunter by Katy Moran - another great read but completely different. This is set in Ancient China and is an adventure with two main characters who are on opposite sides in a time of struggle; a girl who is from the Horse Tribe and a boy who is a Chinese warrior monk.
Killing God by Kevin Brooks is another great read, told by Dawn Bundy who is fifteen and lives with her mum. She is unattractive and doesn't have any friends. Her dad disappeared two years ago and at the start of the book she is going to kill God!

Free eBooks

2010-07-26T14:15:00.002+01:00

Ar you a fan of Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore? They have written loads of fun books from Star Bores, to Vernon Bright and the magnetic banana. If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch you can get hold of some of them for free. Go to iTunes and type in Sleepydog, choose a title and download it.
For more info go to Sleepydog.

Summer Reading Challenge

2010-06-24T14:53:00.003+01:00

This year for the first time we are going to have a summer reading challenge.
To join in you have to just follow these easy steps:

Read a book
Post a review in the comments on this blog entry
Mention the author and title of the book in the review

The prize will be awarded to the most entertaining comment/review.
Tips for winning:

Make Mrs Bax laugh
Read your book somewhere exciting
Make your book sound so interesting that someone else reads it and adds a comment

Good Luck

Carnegie Medal winners

2010-06-24T14:43:00.003+01:00

The Carnegie Medal winner was announced at 12.30 today. The winner was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Our Shadowing group had made it our No 1. choice, so we picked a winner! Well done to our group. Our CKG Shadowing pages

Harry and Hopper by Freya Blackwood and Margaret Wild won the Kate Greenaway Medal. It was our 3rd choice.

P1 story time

2010-06-24T09:29:00.002+01:00

This is the video of Mr Paton's S2 class reading stories from the Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist to P1 at Dalmellington Primary School. The primary pupils really enjoyed the story time and voted for "There are cats in this book" as their favourite book.
To get to our Shadowing page go to

Readers' Cup Final

2010-06-18T14:08:00.003+01:00

The annual East Ayrshire Readers' Cup Quiz final was held this morning at Auchinleck Academy. Our team of Fraser Buchanan, Mark McLean, Laurne sham and Halle Fitzsimmons had been practicing and reading for weeks and their hard work paid off with our best ever result of joint second place tied with St Joseph's. Auchinleck won again! Doon was leading after the first round but fell away a bit in round 2 only to make up ground in round 4. Congratualtions to the team, supporters and their coach Miss Borthwick.

P1 storytime

2010-06-02T14:30:00.003+01:00

This afternoon some of our S2 pupils read contenders for the Kate Greenaway Medal to the P1 class at Dalmellington Primary School. The Primary pupils decided after a vote that they liked There are Cats in this book best. After the stories our pupils gave the visitors juice and biscuits. The winning readers were Rachael, Demi and Robbie. The other readers were Joe, Kyle and Robert.

Copenhagen presentation

2010-05-31T12:10:00.003+01:00

Copenhagen trip on Prezi

Use arrow keys to click through this prezi.

New Football books

2010-05-19T11:01:00.003+01:00

Loads of new books in stock today. World Cup 2010, Famous Football Stars, The story of Rangers, The story of Celtic, Manchester United, Liverpool. Plus books on Crocodiles, NASCAR racing, manga and comics.

Carnegie Medal Shadowing

2010-04-26T09:54:00.002+01:00

This year for the first time, we are sadowing the Carnegie Medal as a class activity with Mrs Dorans' S2 class. They came into the library the day the shortlists came out and personalised our Shadowing Group home page, had a look at the shortlisted titles, found out more about individual titles and told other members about them.
To see our Shadowing site click here.

April book

2010-04-26T09:49:00.004+01:00

The book the staff group read in April was The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.
On the whole the group really enjoyed it, but there were a few quibbles about perceived gaps in the plot. We would have liked to know more about the housemaid who was narrating the story. We felt that she actually had a more interesting life than the aristocratic sisters she was serving. We wanted to know more about her later life and her family. However the bits about life below stairs in a grand house were interesting and illuminating.

Bookmark competition

2010-03-31T12:25:00.002+01:00

The Doon Academy winner of the National Book Tokens bookmark competition was Siobhan Robinson (S1). Her design of a bookworm and Read 15 minutes a day was felt to be the most encouraging. The runners-up were Fraser Buchanan and Shannon Brown.

In the Dark

2010-03-31T11:04:00.003+01:00

For our March book the staff group read In the Dark by Mark Billingham. It's a fast paced detective mystery set amongst the gang culture of London with some surprising twists in the plot. Most of the group really enjoyed the book, especially as the setting was so different from here. It was also complete different from our previous book, Who's that girl?
At the meeting we swopped some of our own books too. One Day by David Nicholls is working its way around the group having been highly recommended. The Harry Hole series of Norwegian crime thrillers by Jo Nesbo is also popular.

S1 Readers' Cup

2010-03-22T11:33:00.011Z

Raecar, the winners!

Thursday 18th March saw the S1 round of the Readers' Cup competition. Teams from all 4 clans answered questions on Cathy MacPhail,Christmas, Baddies, Families and of course the Lucky dip round. Raecar led from the start and were clear winners. Bradan and Doon fought neck and neck until Doon ended up 2 points ahead in the final round.

The results were First Raecar, then Doon, Braddan and Finlas.

As usual, between round the audience had a chance to test their knowledge and answer some of the questions.

Congratulations and well done to all who took part.

Some of the winning team will go on to represent Doon Academy at the East Ayrshire final in June.

Audience participation!

During the quiz!

Raecar hard at work!

Theresa Breslin

2010-03-17T13:28:00.004Z

A group of S2 pupils led by Miss Borthwick and Mrs Bax travelled to Kilmarnock Acacemy to hear the famous author Theresa Breslin talk about her work. She told us about using solid objects like shrapnel and gas masks to help with her ideas for stories. She explained about the 3Ps that she uses - People, Place and Plot, which are the ingredients of a good story. Ms Breslin read excerpts from Remembrance Divided City and told the pupils about the background to the stories. To help keep everyone interested there was a raffle with her books as prizes.
At the end she signed pictures of her book covers. Ross Tait asked a question and won a signed poster of Divided City.

Readers' Cup S2

2010-03-15T11:57:00.005Z

Friday 12th March saw the hotly contested S2 round of the Readers' Cup quiz. The question topics were Keith Gray, Lucky dip, Crime & detectives, Horror and Scottish connections. The quiz was closely contested until the last rounds when leaders started to emerge. The winners were Raecar with a clear lead of 3 points over their next rival Doon. Thanks for S6 pupils for marking the quizzes.

Keith Gray trip

2010-03-10T10:13:00.003Z

On Tuesday 9th March, Mrs Dorans' S2 class went to Auchinleck Academy to hear the famous author Keith Gray. Keith was very entertaining and told stories about his childhood adventures, travelling with his friend to Keith in Scotland and being a bear in a carnival parade. He also read from some of his books. Everyone enjoyed the event and thought he was great fun.

Cathy MacPhail visits Doon

2010-03-10T09:42:00.003Z

The famous author Cathy MacPhail visited our library on Monday 8th March and spoke to S1 as well as some visitors from Auchinleck Academy as part of our Spring Read programme. Cathy chatted to pupils for an hour on her books, how she gets her ideas and what makes a good story. She has inspired some of our budding writers to put pen to paper.

Michael Rosen event

2010-02-25T09:21:00.001Z

Click here to go to the BBC Author Live event and see Michael Rosen talking.

"Although he claims to have become a children's poet by accident he's become a great performer of his own work and is guaranteed to engage and entertain the audience. Michael will be telling stories from his childhood and performing a selection of his poems."

Spring Read Logo Competition

2010-02-10T12:03:00.002Z

The lucky winner of the Logo Competition was Liam Haining S3. The runners-up were Siobhan Robinson and Nicky Fairbairn, both in S1. Well done to all of them.

February staff book

2010-01-29T13:10:00.005Z

The Staff Group book for February is Who's that girl? by Alexandra Potter. A rom/com which looks at what might happen if you could turn back time. The perfect antidote to stress!

New books

2010-01-29T13:10:00.004Z

Lots of new stock coming in soon! vampires, fantasy, long books, short books, something for everyone - hopefully.

Christmas books

2010-01-29T13:05:00.003Z

Our usual Christmas party produced some interesting and different offerings from Santa.
Melissa Benn - One of us
Barbara Kingsolver - The bean tree
Cecelia Ahearn - A place called here.
Lots of reading time over the Christmas holidays!

November book

2009-11-27T13:08:00.004Z

The Staff Book Group book for November was Enderby by Sebastian Faulks. Two members managed to complete the book, but everyone else either ran out of time or found the main character so unsympathetic that they gave up.