Monday 11 November 2019

Magical Winter Reads and Neglected Books in the Library




The reserves list for Karen McManus’ One of Us Is Lying is currently eleven people deep and counting. We have ten copies of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas in order to try and meet the demands of our students, yet the book is still rarely to be found on the library shelves and Raina Telgemeier’s latest graphic novel Guts is quickly proving just as popular as her well thumbed previous work.

We are beyond proud of how much the students at Grey Coat use the library and always love to hear girls recommending books to each other and to see them excitedly approach the desk to collect a title that they have been waiting for for weeks. Yet so many of our favourite books remain overlooked in favour of new and popular titles and seem to never be chosen by students. So, we decided to draw attention to these brilliant neglected books and make a display of some of our favourites, starting with the theme of magical reads.






We have been very pleased with how many girls have tried books from the display so far and it is so lovely to have beloved authors like Eva Ibbotson and Diana Wynne Jones front and centre in the library again. Which overlooked books should we celebrate next?










Here are some of Great Coat Librarian’s favourite magical reads that we think deserve more attention:

Knife by RJ Anderson
A fairy called Knife is convinced that interaction with humans is the key to regaining the magic that is fast dwindling from her community. It is warm and really well told story I highly recommend it!

Howl's Moving Castle and Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
We have dedicated a whole section of our display to the brilliant Diana Wynne Jones. In perhaps her best-known story, Sophie searches for the enigmatic and fearsome wizard Howl so he can lift the curse put on her by an evil witch.


We also love Witch Week which takes place in a world where magic is forbidden and Chrestomanci must discover who in his class is a witch.


Sabriel by Garth Nix
An epic magical fantasy that deserves to be read more widely.


Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson
A wizard holds a spell casting competition to find the most powerful and villainous witch to be his wife. A really fun and engrossing read.



Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
12-year-old criminal genius Artemis Fowl kidnaps a fairy to hold him for ransom, little expecting a group of armed and dangerous fairies to retaliate and do absolutely everything that they can to thwart his plans. An excellent novel that deserves to find an audience with young adults today.


Wildwood by Colin Meloy
A magical adventure where Prue must rescue her baby brother who has been kidnapped by crows. This must be one of the most beautifully illustrated books in the library.






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