Christmas Bookmarks!

 Congratulations to our Christmas Bookmark designers Clara L, Sumayah M, Jessica G, Kamina A, Daisy W and Evridiki D!

These designs are now available at the library desk. 

Happy reading and Merry Christmas!

Black History Month, Westminster and GCH

 This month it seems especially important to remember two African men with a particular connection to Westminster and St Margaret's Church in particular.

Olaudah Equiano (1745-97) was an ex-slave and prominent member of the abolitionist movement in London. He campaigned for an end to slavery and published a memoir of his experiences in 1789. Equiano was baptised under his slave name Gustavus Vassa in St Margaret's Church. Next time you go there for a service, look for the plaque commemorating his baptism.

Ignatius Sancho (c.1729-80) was famously the first person of African heritage to vote in a British election and have an obituary published in the papers. Born on a slave ship, he was a man of letters, a composer and an abolitionist. Sancho married his wife Anne Osborne, a black woman from the Caribbean, in St Margaret's Church Westminster and all of his children were baptised there. According to Westminster Abbey he was buried in St Margaret's churchyard, but his grave is now lost. He is also said to be buried in what is now Christchurch Gardens on Victoria Street. 

Summer Reading Challenge: Bookmark Winners

Congratulations to the winners of our Summer Reading Challenge bookmark competition! From left to right these designs were created by Tamina A, Sienna A, Mimi K, Rosanna H, Verity G and Soraya MJ. 

These bookmarks are now available in the library.

Summer Reading Challenge!

 We will announce the prizes for the Summer Reading Challenge on Monday 28th September. Thank you to all those who took part for your for your amazing entries and hard work. 

A Black Lives Matter Reading List

A selection of books we have at GCH library (and a few that I recommend or am looking to read myself) that explore race and celebrate black voices. This list is by no means comprehensive and we would welcome your recommendations to add to the library collection.

Books we have at the library

Natives - Akala

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

Sold as a Slave - Olaudah Equiano

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Beloved - Toni Morrison (and all Toni Morrison’s books!)

Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

Becoming - Michelle Obama

Small Island - Andrea Levy

Another Country; Giovanni's Room & Go Tell It On the Mountain - James Baldwin

Black and British: A Forgotten History - David Olusoga

Kindred - Octavia Butler

Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You - Hanna Jansen

Crossing the River & Cambridge - Caryl Phillips

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

Stay With Me - Ayobami Adebayo

The Spider King’s Daughter - Chibundu Onuzo

Tail of the Blue Bird - Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Ghanaian murder mystery)

Second Class Citizen; The Slave Girl & The Bride Price - Buchi Emecheta

Young Adult Fiction

The Poet X and With the Fire on High - Elizabeth Acevedo

Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds

Kwame Alexander’s books

The Whale Rider - Witi Ihimaera [the first Maori writer to publish a novel]

The Hate U Give and On the Come Up - Angie Thomas

Dear Martin - Nic Stone

Noughts and Crosses series - Malorie Blackman

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet - Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze

The Black Flamingo - Dean Atta

Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi

Lies We Tell Ourselves - Robin Talley

The Icarus Girl - Helen Oyeyemi

March - John Lewis & Andrew Aydin

Blended - Sharon M. Draper

Books we do not have in the library yet but I heartily recommend

Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga

Omeros - Derek Walcott (we do have Walcott’s selected poetry)

The poetry of Langston Hughes

The Lonely Londoners - Sam Selvon 

Black Skin, White Masks - Frantz Fanon

Wole Soyinka’s plays

On my reading list 

Monster - Walter Dean Myers

A Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson

Miles Morales: Spider-Man - Jason Reynolds

Second Class Citizen - Buchi Emecheta (also her autobiography Head Above Water)

The poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson

Afropean: Notes From Black Europe - Johnny Pitts

The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion - Kei Miller

Don't Touch My Hair - Emma Dabiri

Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair is here every day until Wednesday 5th February!

A few books to look out for in particular:

One of Us Is Next - the hotly anticipated sequel to One of Us Is Lying. 

The new David Walliams book The Beast of Buckingham Palace.

A beautiful new edition of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy with all three books in one.

There are loads of books to choose from plus it is all in aid of getting more books for the library so come along and have a look!