The Grey Coat Hospital Most Popular Books September 2013-May 2014

We've had the most popular authors, but what are the most popular individual titles at the Grey Coat Hospital? This list might surprise you!

12. Class A by Robert Muchamore [taken out 30 times]
11. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick [taken out 31 times]
= 10. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks [taken out 32 times]
=10. Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie [taken out 32 times]
=9. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness [taken out 35 times]
=9. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson [taken out 35 times]
8. The City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare [taken out 36 times]
7. Maximum Security by Robert Muchamore [taken out 38 times]
6. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare [taken out 39 times]
5. Dead Gorgeous by Malorie Blackman [taken out 43 times]
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins [taken out 55 times]
3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green [taken out 63 times]
2. Wonder by R. J. Palacio [taken out 70 times]
1. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman [taken out 71 times]

13 years after it was first published Noughts and Crosses continues to delight and inspire both staff and students at the Grey Coat Hospital.

The Grey Coat Hospital's 12 most borrowed authors January- April 2014

Top 12 most borrowed authors January- April 2014

12 Jeff Kinney [10]
11 Louise Rennison [5]
10 Cathy Cassidy [6]
9 Anne Cassidy [New Entry]
8 Ally Carter [New Entry]
7 Mary Hooper [8]
6 Meg Cabot [3]
5 Cassandra Clare [New Entry]
4 Sophie McKenzie [7]
3 Malorie Blackman [4]
2 Robert Muchamore [2]
1 Jacqueline Wilson [1]

Jacqueline Wilson and Robert Muchamore keep their top spots, but the number of loans is much closer than last time we looked – Jacqueline is only 8 issues ahead on 153.

Nice to see some new entries, Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series has been widely recommended, and Ally Carter’s spy girls have found a whole new audience in year 7.

Did you notice that 10 out of the 12 are women?

Honourable mentions to John Green at no.14 – if we had enough copies of The Fault in our Stars for the people waiting to have one each, then he’d be much further up the list! (there are 10 copies and they are constantly out!)

And still in the top hundred most loaned authors are J R R Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton and  C S Lewis – you can’t keep a good book down!

Being a Pupil Librarian

Today's post is written by another of our pupil librarians, Alice, who has written about 

I am a pupil librarian, and I have no idea how to go about writing about this job. I suppose I could start by describing it, but when one is in a library full of books that are full of words, you learn that using the right ones is very important.

I suppose a good thing to start with would be about books, but it is my philosophy that it is far better to be reading an actual book than any kind of most-likely-less-interesting blog post about what it’s like to work in a library. So if you have something good to read, I implore you to start reading that instead.

Working in the library is… wonderful. Fantastic. Enriching. Interesting. It provides so many opportunities and chances to gain experience, and I couldn’t think of any better activity to fill a mind numbingly dull lunchtime. Being a pupil librarian teaches you both how to organise and how to be organised, and you get to understand how the system works, learn your way around the library, recommend books, and sometimes even meet with authors. Some may consider things like putting away books boring, but some of my favourite books are things that I have found while putting away, and I don’t find it dull at all to see what my peers have been reading. If you have a keen interest in books and would like valuable experience for working life, this is the job for you.

A Review of Divergent

Book Review of Divergent by Veronica RothDivergent is about a world where you are put into a faction when you are 16 years old. You take an aptitude test and are given a result for either Abnegation-the selfless, Erudite-the knowledgeable, Amity-the peaceful, Candor-the honest and Dauntless- the brave.This is fine until somebody has more than one aptitude for more than one faction, divergent. Beatrice Prior is 16 and has to take her test, but when she doesn’t have clear results she must make a choice to leave her family, or stay in a faction she could never be.Dauntless are being tracked down and Beatrice is not safe, can she survive the training, physically, mentally and emotionally?I recommend this book to anyone’s who is interested in action packed, romances with interesting plots. I was unable to put this book down, the characters scare and amaze you.Natasha

Being a Pupil Librarian

My time as a pupil librarian has been really fun and enjoyable. As a pupil librarian I have many jobs required of me such as, stacking shelves, arranging the trolley into alphabetical order, returning and issuing books to people as well as computer passes to name a few. I really love being a pupil librarian and I feel that it gives me a sense of responsibility and also a job at the school.

My favourite part of the job is being at the desk issuing books to people and returning books as is the favourite part of the job for many other pupil librarians, I think that is probably because I can interact with other people and I am quite a friendly and talkative person so that is quite an enjoyable part of the job.

I feel that I do quite a good job at being pupil librarian and I am very glad to have been trusted with such a role of responsibility. I hope to continue pursuing as a pupil librarian throughout my time in year 8 and 9.

Harriette Y8

And we're back!

To celebrate the return of the Grey Coat Library blog, we have a week's worth of posts written by the librarians and pupil librarians that celebrate all we have been doing so far this year.

Our first contribution is a description of some of the exciting things that happened in the library last term by Natasha, one of our pupil librarians:

"In February we had a Valentine’s Day display. This included fictional couples which you could vote on to decide which the best couple were. There was also difficult and competitive quiz. Lots of students were eager to get their share in the topic of conversation. Some of the favourite couples were Anne and Gilbert (Anne of Green Gables), Hazel and Augustus (The Fault in Our Stars), Tris and Tobias (Divergent) and there were many more great romantic couples. The vote-winning couple was Peeta and Katniss from The Hunger Games.

On World Book Day (March 6th) we had a visit from the teen author Phil Earle. The library organised this event, including Phil Earle giving a talk about writing to year 8 and 9. This inspired and convinced many of the students to start writing and gave them ideas of good books to read. It was a brilliant scene in the library at break time as many students gathered around to get books, posters and bookmarks signed or to just have a chat with him about what it’s like to be an author."

Phil Earle's latest book cover. His website is http://www.philearle.com/