12 Word Christmas Stories by Staff

1. In occupied territory, single mother gives birth in temporary accommodation. World changes! [Ms O'Reilly]
2. "Heaven's sake! You've burnt the turkey, Gerald!" She eyed the carving knife. [Mr Morton]
3. Sleigh breaks air speed circumnavigation record for yet another year running. [Ms Thompson]
4. Presents, presents, queen, presents, turkey, pud, sherry, indigestion, alka-seltzer, onesie, coma. [Ms. Salter]
5. For sale: baby manger, used once. Slight smell of frankincense and sheep [Mr McKeever]
6. The Real Christmas message: Fail to plan, plan to sleep horribly rough. [Mr Cooper]
7. Joseph: I told you we should have taken out private health care. [Mr Cooper]

12 Word Christmas Story Competition

The Library ran a competition to see who could come up with the best 12 word story about Christmas. Here are the winners and the best of the rest...

Year 7

 

1^st - Turkey with gravy. Yum! Christmas pudding. Delicious! Brussel sprouts – um, er – yuck!! [Wendy 7H]

2^nd - It is Boxing Day and I am disappointed.  I only got Brussel Sprouts. [Jennifer 7T]

1. It was Christmas Eve and a voice cried, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty!” [Lisa 7T]
2. The star will shine, on the Christmas tree, Jesus will be born. [Marianne 7T]
3. Dad: out drinking – Mum: sees Santa lying in bottles – Child: social services [Clara 7Y]
4. Yum, yum! A Christmas pudding just for me – hey, who ate it? [Wendy 7H]
5. In the postbox, then flying high, passing the North pole, my letter! [Wendy 7H]

Year 8

 

1^st - The decorations greeted each other again….All went silent when Emily came… [Ann 8T]

 

2^nd - Christ is here, let us cheer, we are saved, by this babe. [Olivia 8T]

 

3^rd - Christmas starts getting boring when you spend it writing twelve word stories. [Alice 8T]

1. I ran outside to enjoy the blissful aroma of fresh, crunchy, snow! [Hannah]
2. Santa Claus is coming to town, so you better watch out tonight! [Isabel  8H]
3. ‘What is it? Tell me!’ ‘Alright, an Easter Egg.’  ‘What?’ ‘Oh no…’ [Georgie 8T]
4. “this i-pod is EPIC!” “Wait, how do you know what…” “already opened!” [Aphrodite 8T]
5. Snow fell, Angels sang, all around, bells ring, Christmas had arrived again. [Olivia  8T]
6. “I bring you Myrrh.” “Gold, Myrrh? I brought you the i-phone 5.” [Josie 8T]
7. “Fa, la, la, is it Christmas yet?” “No!” “La, la, la, la.”[Ines 8T]
8. ‘We’re walking in the air…’ “Ahhh Mummy! There’s a flying snowman outside!” [Sophia  8T]
9. Knock, knock,“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wis –“ “ugh!” Slam! [Ines 8T]

The Grey Coat Hospital's Most Popular Authors Autumn/Winter 2012

And the winners are....

12. Grace Dent [New Entry]
11. Jodi Picoult [New Entry]
10. Jeff Kinney [9]
9. Jane Austen [New Entry]
8. Mary Hooper [10]
7. Sophie McKenzie [7]
6. Cathy Cassidy [New Entry]
5. Louise Rennison [4]
4. Malorie Blackman [2]
3. Meg Cabot [6]
2. Robert Muchamore [3]
1. Jacqueline Wilson [1]

No surprises, Jacqueline Wilson clings to the top spot like a limpet having more than double the number of issues of her nearest competitor, Robert Muchamore.

[comments in square brackets are a comparison with their ratings in the Spring 2012 chart]

Roald Dahl Day!

For those of you who don't know, last week was Roald Dahl Day, a celebration of the children's author and a chance to promote his charity, Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity. Here at Grey Coats we joined in by doing a Roald Dahl quiz. The girls filled in a sheet consisting of 9 questions plus a tie-breaker: "If you could be an Roald Dahl character, which one would you be and why?"
A staggering 90% of those who handed in quiz sheets said that they would be Matilda, and all but one person wanted to be a character from the same book.
Here is a selection of the best tie-breaker answers:

"If I could be a Roald Dahl character, I would be Hortensia (from Matilda) because she doesn't care if she gets caught or not. She's so cool, she's certified with swag. She has a sense of humour and her character may not be the best, most polite or pleasant but she makes the book Matilda really fun and enjoyable for me to read. Yes she plays pranks all day and she just makes me laugh most of the time" - Mary

"Matilda, because she's a book worm, just like me! She's adventurous and intelligent and a keen learner as well. I'd choose to be her so that I could have incredible supernatural powers just like her." - Kesaia

"If I could be one of the Roald Dahl characters, I would love to be Miss Honey. Although by no means a major character in comparison to others in the book, she is a character with an interesting past who learns not to care what Miss Trunchbull threatens her with, but that she has to make a stand which was a very admirable thing to do." - Bethia

"Matilda because she ends up living with lovely teacher, she has a library near her home so she can go whenever she wants and she has magic powers" - Bie Tu

"The Giraffe (from The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me) because I'm tall and I can reach tall trees" - Jasmine

First Post of the New Term!

The Grey Coat library blog is back in session for the new school year. There is plenty going on in the library at the moment, what with the upper school library being closed for refurbishment (should be finished at the end of next week!), thousands of textbooks to give out and lots of new students to show around!

Desert Island Reads is currently taking a bit of a break as we are so busy, but we hope to be able to bring you more next month. We are also hoping to have some more book reviews, and news of all the great activies the library is providing this year.

Desert Island Reads - Mr Jones

 

 

If you knew you were to be stranded on a desert island and you could take 5 books (not including the Works of Shakespeare and the religious text of your choice), 1 CD and 1 luxury item, what would you take? This is the question we ask in our new column, based on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Each week a member of staff, a student or a person of interest will put forward their choices.

 

Friday 13th of July 

 

Mr Jones, LSA and environmentalist.

 

1. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – like five novels in one, each with mind boggling detail to discover on every read.

 

2. The Life of Pi  by Yann Martel – beautiful book about being lost at sea, so maybe there’ll be some good tips for coping on a desert island. It’s also the kind of book you can read over and over without getting bored.

 

3. The Self Sufficient-ish Bible by Andy Hamilton and Dave Hamilton – Packed full of eco advice, from how to grow your own food to how to darn your socks. Great for tips on survival, but also on how to care for the environment on my desert island.

 

4. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – a magical book about a boy on a journey trying to get back home. I’d take the original version so that I can brush up on my French while I’m waiting to be rescued.

 

5. The Collins Illustrated World Atlas – so that I can explore the world even though I’m stuck on one island.

 

 

 

 

 

Luxury item: the biggest chocolate cake I can find.

 

CD: In Rainbows, by Radiohead. Choosing the band was easy, but if I’m forced to choose which album, it would have to be this one as it always makes me happy and I can leave it on repeat for days without getting bored of it.

 

If you would like your choices to be posted in this column you can email them to me at lsaint-smith@gch.org.uk  

Desert Island Reads - Mrs Thompson

 

 

If you knew you were to be stranded on a desert island and you could take 5 books (not including the Works of Shakespeare and the religious text of your choice), 1 CD and 1 luxury item, what would you take? This is the question we ask in our new column, based on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Each week a member of staff, a student or a person of interest will put forward their choices.

 

 

 

 

Friday 6th of July 

 

Mrs Thompson, maths teacher has sent in her choices.

 

1. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov (the short story in the anthology Nightfall One, not the later novel in partnership with Robert Silverberg)

2. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

3. What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe

4. So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor

5. Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams

 

Each of these books had a strong emotional impact when I first read them and I have since reread each of them countless times. I have recommended them to all my friends and family and do so to you now - read these books, you will love them!

 

My CD would be Second Coming by the Stone Roses and my luxury would be an endless (!) supply of pencils and paper.

 

 

If you would like your choices to be posted in this column you can email them to me at lsaint-smith@gch.org.uk