South Asian Heritage Month

In our final blog post of the academic year, the Library team would like to draw attention to South Asian Heritage Month. This year, SAHM begins on 18th July and concludes in the middle of the summer holidays on 17th August.

August 17th is a particularly significant date as it marks the anniversary of the Partition in 1947 - a major change in political borders which created the two independent dominions of Pakistan and India following the end of almost two centuries of British colonial rule in South Asia. 

 This year, SAHM have chosen the theme 'Stories to Tell' and in this spirit we have selected a range of books which we hope embody the month's central ideas of 'Celebrate, Commemorate and Educate'.

Artichoke Hearts and Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari (STA)

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar (STM)

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (STM)

Ellie Pillai is Brown by Christine Pillainaygam (STA)

Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan (STA)

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (STM)

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna (STA)

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton (STA)

Asha and the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan (STA)

The Wheel of Surya by Jamila Gavin (STA)

My Story: Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan by Sufiya Ahmed (STA)

The Balloon Thief by Aneesa Marufu (STM)

Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan (STA)

Further Reading:

The following titles are not at GCH but are worth looking out for at your public library this summer!

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (YA Contemporary)

All My Rage by Sabba Tahir (YA Historical and Contemporary)

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (Adult Fiction, Hindu Mythology)

Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena (YA Fantasy)

Partition Voices: Untold British Stories by Kavita Puri (Biography, History)

The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain (Adult Fiction, Family)

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi (YA Romance, LGBTQ)

The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim (YA Romance)

Recommended for schools from the SAHM website:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid 

Brick Lane by Monica Ali 

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 

Summer Reading

This week, the focus of the Library blog is summer reading! As many of you will have noticed, there are summer themed displays now up at both libraries featuring a wide range of recommendations and all students without overdues can now borrow up to 8 books over the holidays.

In other library related news, there are plenty of book adaptations coming out this summer to look out for and now is a great time to catch up on the novels before you watch them!

• 
  Heartstopper Vol. 2 will be available to watch on Netflix on August 3rd. The original graphic novels by Alice Oseman are available to borrow from both libraries but we'd encourage you to reserve this popular series to avoid disappointment!
• Jenny Han's It's Not Summer Without You ( alternatively titled The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2) is also being released on Amazon Prime later this week on July 14th. 
• Benjamin Alire Sáenz's Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe will soon be out in theatres after premiering at the International Toronto Film Festival last autumn.
• And finally a follow up series to Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman will also be out on Prime Video on July 28th. Although there is no published material source for this sequel, this second season will be based on some of the plots invented by the two authors before the death of Pratchett in 2015. 

To help you choose those 8 books, we've also put together this list to get you started!

Summer Reading Recommendations:

The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff (STA/STM)

'This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer – the summer when everything changes. In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn’t, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers – irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit and surly, silent Hugo. Suddenly there’s a serpent in this paradise – and the consequences will be devastating.'

Zyla & Kai by Kristina Forest (STM)

Alternating between the past and the present, this YA Romantic Mystery follows two students as they form a friendship over the summer, fall in love over the course of their senior year, (maybe) break up and finally run away together to the great confusion of their friends and families. 

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson (STA - Crime Spinner)

In this stand-alone mystery, Truly Devious protagonist Stevie Bell pursues her first mystery beyond Ellingham Academy. Called to Sunny Pines to work on a true crime podcast, Stevie is soon drawn into the summer camp's famous unsolved murder case but as she delves deeper into the case it becomes clear that the something evil remains and Stevie may not make it back to Ellingham alive.

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi (STA)

Author of GCH favourite Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi turns to YA Fantasy Romance in this first installment of her brilliant Persian Mythology inspired trilogy. 

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (STA)

'Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge.

KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.

MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.

None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible. With an alliance in place, there will be no more “I wish I’d said…” or “If I could go back and do things differently...” These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.'

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales (STA/STM)

The 1970s classic musical Grease gets a modern update in this summery LGBTQ+ retelling. 

Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather (STM)

Set in the Caribbean, Facing the Sun follows the lives of four friends throughout one summer as a hotel developer threatens their beloved community -compounding their own individual struggles and bringing the group together against a common enemy. 

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean (STM)

Teenager Izumi Tanaka's life is turned upside down when she learns that her previously anonymous father is actually the Crown Prince of Japan in this fun story of family, romance and belonging. 

Simone Breaks all the Rules by Debbie Rigaud (STA)

Simone and her friends attempt to end their last year at school on a high as they work through their Senior Year Bucket Lists and choose their own dates to the prom - much to the disapproval of her strict parents. 

The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth (STA/STM)

'Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out.

But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.

Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real.'

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala (STM)

Mars investigates a possible connection between the violent death of his twin sister and the mysterious group of beautiful girls she lived with at summer camp.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson (STM)

'Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.

A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night.'

Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson (STA)

Follows two girls over the course of a three day festival in a beautiful story about love, grief, connection and the power of music.

  

Happy Reading!

Pride Month at the Library

This week, the Library team have been working on displays and reading lists for Pride Month!

We have included some of our personal favourites below but for a longer list check out our page on the Library App.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (STM Library)

'Best known at GCH for their highly successful Heartstopper series, Alice Oseman is also the author of several brilliant contemporary YA novels - my favourite of which is Radio Silence.

Radio Silence follows sixth form student Frances and her new friend Aled - the creator of her favourite podcast and brother of Frances's missing childhood friend. 

Together, the two characters start to question everything they know about themselves and what they want from life in this exploration of identity, academic pressure and the complexities of teenage friendships.'

- Ms. Weston 

More Than This by Patrick Ness (STA/STM Libraries)

Chosen by Mrs. Swan 

'A boy called Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he is here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighbourhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust and completely abandoned. 

 

What's going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this...' 

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (STM Library)

'Girl, Woman, Other deservedly earned Bernadine Evaristo the Booker Prize in 2019 (shared with fellow feminist literary trailblazer Margaret Atwood) for its innovative structure and compelling intertwined narratives that explore gender, class, sexuality and race. Evaristo's characters are mostly women of colour, and range from banker to cleaner, teacher to activist, old to young, rich to poor, gay and straight. As the author herself explained, "I wanted to put presence into absence".' 

- Ms. Steadman

For more recommendations, check out our displays at St Andrew's Library (pictured below) and at St Michael's Library.

Happy Pride Month!