Spring Reading

This week, the Library team have put together a Spring themed book list full of reading recommendations for the long Easter break. Complete with classic fiction, graphic novels, YA, romance and much more, this list is full of books with 'Spring-like' themes of fresh starts, nature, hope and change. 

For even more recommendations, check out the GCH Library Catalogue online where you'll find a longer 'Spring Reading' list under the 'Quick Lists' tab.

All titles listed are available to borrow from the Library and students can now borrow up to 6 books to stock up for the holidays.

The Abbey Mystery by Julia Golding [STA]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll [STA]

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta [STA/STM]

Chocolat by Joanne Harris [STA/STM]

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron [STA/STM]

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon [STA]

The Gilded Ones by Naima Forna  [STM]

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman [STM]

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkein [STA/STM]

The Hunt for the Nightingale by Sarah Ann Juckes [STA]

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak [STM]

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson [STA]

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll [STA]

Lovely War by Julie Berry [STM]

Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson [STA]

Middlemarch by George Eliot [STA/STM]

Ophelia by Lisa Klein [STA]

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen [STA/STM]

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain [STA]

Sheets by Brenna Thummler [STA - GN]

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim [STA]

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith [STM]

This Poison Heart by Kaylnn Bayron [STA]

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han [STA]

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean [STM]

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama [STA -GN]

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo [STA/STM]

XOXO by Axie Oh [STA]

Happy reading!

British Science Week

In this week's library blog post we're looking at British Science Week with a Women's History Month twist. 

At St Andrew's Library, we've put together a display encouraging students to learn more about some of the many amazing, and often previously underappreciated, female scientists of modern history.

As part of this, we want to highlight the work of scientists like Rosalind Franklin. 

Franklin made significant breakthroughs in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA yet was unacknowledged in the 1960s when Francis Crick was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the structure (using Rosalind's findings). You can read more about her crucial contributions to modern science in Rosalind Franklin by Cath Senker [STA - 575.1].

We've also included some fictionalised versions of other scientists including I, Ada by Julia Gray and The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage [GN]. Both titles offer more creative accounts of the life of Ada Lovelace - the 19th century Countess regarded as the very first computer programmer. 

You can also browse a selection of short biographies of female scientists from the following titles which demonstrate the vast and vital contributions women (both in Britain and beyond) have made to science so far:

Brilliant Ideas from Wonderful Women by Aitziber Lopez [STA 609]

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky [STA 509.92]

A History of Britain in 21 Women by Jenni Murray [STA 920.72]

Girls Can Do Anything by Caitlin Doyle [STA 920.72]

Find all of these and more at St Andrew's Library!

Happy World Book Day!

 This year, GCH will be celebrating a belated World Book Day on Wednesday 8th March. 

There will be bookish events all week (6th-10th March) including:

• Mrs Swan's Scavenger Hunt - find and name all the book characters in order to win a prize!
• Spot Staff Reading - some teachers and members of support staff will be wearing badges with their favourite books on. The aim of this game is to find all the badges, ask the wearer why this book is their favouite and record all these to show the Library team. Without these answers your findings won't count. 
• Book Recommendation Bingo - gain a library merit!
• Make a Bookmark -ask at the desk for pencils etc and make a bookmark at St Andrew's Library during break and lunch. 
• Book Swap - recycle your old books and pick up something new! This will be held on the balcony at break and lunch on Wednesday 8th March. 
• Poster Competition- showcase your 'Top 10 Reads' at St Michael's Library. 

And of course author Julia Golding will be visiting on Wednesday 8th for a busy day full of workshops, assemblies and book signing. For more information about her visit check out our previous blog post here!

Women's History Month

With the beginning of March, GCH Library is once again celebrating Women's History Month.

Check out our displays at St Andrew's and St Michael's Library for a wide variety of Women's History themed choices including historical fiction, classics by female authors, feminist retellings, biographies and non fiction history books covering hundreds of years of Women's History.

To mark the occasion, the Library team have also chosen a few of these to share in a timeline style reading list. All books in purple are fiction books (historical fiction, retellings and classics) while all titles in blue are non fiction books (history monographs or biographies).

Over 1000 years of Women's Stories:

Medieval Women by Henrietta Leyser [STA - 942.0144] - England 450-1500 (Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, Empress Matilda & many more!)

The Plantagenet Prelude by Jean Plaidy - 12th century France (Eleanor of Aquitaine)

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman- 13th century England 

All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls - 14th century England (The Black Death, Yorkshire)

And I Darken by Kiersten White - 15th century Ottoman Empire (Vlad III  Gender Swapped Retelling)

Joan of Arc 

Divine Heretic by Jaime Lee Moyer  - 15th century France (Jeanne d'Arc, The Hundred Years War)

The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir [STA -942.05242]- 1530s England (Anne Boleyn)

Pirate Queen by Sam Hart and Tony Lee [GN] - 16th century Ireland (Grace O'Malley, Tudor control of Ireland)

Artemisia Gentilschi by Jonathan Jones [STA - 709.032 GEN] - 17th century Italy (Greatest female artist of the Baroque age)

The Familiars by Stacey Hall - 1612 England (Pendle Hill Witch Trials)

The Rover and Other Plays by Aphra Behn [822 BEH] - 17th century England (One of the first English women to earn a living through her writing. Behn was greatly praised by Virginia Woolf  and is considered a trailblazer who broke barriers for later generations of female authors)

Queen of Freedom by Catherine Johnson - 1720 Jamaica (Queen Nanny, First Maroon War)

Drama and Danger by J.T. Williams - 18th century England (Elizabeth Sancho and Dido Belle, London)

Dido Belle 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - 18th century Ghana-21st century America (Slave Trade, British Colonisation, American Civil War, Jazz Age)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - 19th century Europe (Arguably the very first Science Fiction novel)

The Five: the Untold Lives of the Women killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold [STM- 920.72]  - 1880s England (Victorian London, Experiences of working class women)

Mysterious Element: The Story of Marie Curie by Pam Robson [STA     530.092]- 19/20th century Poland and France

The Color Purple by Alice Walker - 20th century America (Follows the struggles of several Black women in rural Georgia. The great success of Walker's novel led to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in History in 1982 - making her the first African-American woman to do so)

Wild Swans by Jung Chang [ STA 920 CHA] - 20th century China (Experiences of three generations of women under Mao's rule of China and life during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960/70s)

Frida Kahlo by Andrea Kettenmann [STA 709.0431 KAH] - 1940s Mexico (One of the most significant 20th century painters and part of the Mexicayotl movement which aimed to define Mexican identity after the revolution of the 1910s)

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank [STA/STM 920 FRA] - 1940s Amsterdam (Follows teenager Anne's experiences living hidden in a warehouse for two years during WWII and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands)

The Wheel of Surya by Jamila Gavin - 1947 India (Partition of India and war in the Punjab)

Malala Yousafzai

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys - 1957 Spain (Experiences of working class woman in Madrid under the Franco dictatorship)

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly [STA 920 VAU] - 1960s America (Follows the four African-American mathematicians who made great contributions to the US space program - set during the Civil Rights era, Space Race, Cold War and gender equality movement)

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi [GN] -1970s Iran (Tehran, Overthrowal of the Shah's regime, Islamic Revolution and war with Iraq)

Becoming by Michelle Obama [STA/STM 920 OBA]  - 20/21st century America (Charts Michelle Obama's life so far including her childhood in Chicago, experiences as a successful lawyer, advocate for women and role as the first Black First Lady of the United States)

A Very Large Expanse of Sea - 2002 America (Experiences of an American Muslim teenage girl one year after 9/11)

I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb [STA 920 MAL] - 21st century Pakistan (Follows Malala's campaign for girl's rights to education beginning with the Taliban's seizure of Swat Valley in 2007) 

As usual all books mentioned are available to borrow from the school Library!

Upcoming author visit: Julia Golding

 On Wednesday 8th March, GCH will be celebrating a (slightly belated) World Book Day - an event made even more special by the attendance of author Julia Golding.

Known for her Cat Royal Adventures, Tudor romance series The Lacey Chronicles under the penname Eve Edwards and YA paranormal romance series The Benedicts written as 'Joss Stirling', Julia Golding's novels have been a GCH staple for many years.

The Library team are particularly excited to hear more about her new Jane Austen Investigates series which looks likely to be a new favourite of our Murder Most Unladylike, Sinclair's Mysteries and Scarlet and Ivy fans!

Julia will be speaking to Years 7,8 and 9 during P2 about her books and her life as an author. She will then be leading a writing workshop for Year 7 students during P3 and another for Years 8/9 students later in the day. 

Julia will also be in the Library during lunch to sign books so please bring along any copies you might have at home too. 

Please ask Mrs Swan if you have any questions about World Book Day. All students attending the workshops will be informed shortly!

LGBT+ History Month

Every February the UK observes LGBT+ History Month in celebration of the rich history of the LGBT+ community and in remembrance of the related histories of the gay rights and civil rights movements. 

This year the UK celebrates the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the census for the first time in over 200 years. As Stonewall summarises: 'after years of invisibility, we are now officially part of our country's story'. 

2023 also marks two decades since the repeal of Section 28 - a law which banned the 'promotion of homosexuality' which led to censorship in schools and libraries all over the UK.

To mark LGBT+ History Month, the Library team have set up displays in both libraries. Here you can find a wide range of books including classic works of literature written by famous LGBTQ authors including Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker, biographies of historical figures such as Anne Lister and Alan Turing, historical fiction featuring queer protagonists and novels we have highlighted for their roles in introducing larger audiences to LGBTQ+ stories.

To find out more about literary queer icons Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, E.M. Forster and Alice Walker check out last years blogpost 'LGBT+ History Month at the Library' here!

We have also highlighted some (of the many!) figures in LGBTQ+ History below with an accompanying book recommendation. 

Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Alan Turing: Enigma by Andrew Hodges [STM: 920 TUR]

• Alan Turing was responsible for breaking the Nazi's code during WWII. He played a major role in ending the war and his work is said to have shortened the war and undoubtedly saved many lives.
• He was convicted for his relationship with another man and prosecuted in 1952.
• In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a public apology to Turing on befalf of the government.
• Turing was eventually pardoned in 2013 by Elizabeth II and the 2017 law that retroactively pardoned all men convicted for homosexual acts is commonly known as the 'Alan Turing Law'.
• He has been voted 'The Greatest Person of the 20th Century'.

Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992)

What's the T? The Guide to All Things Trans and/or Nonbinary by Juno Dawson  [STM: 301.415]

• Marsha was an American trans and gay liberation activist.
• When Marsha was 23, police raided the famous Stonewall Inn in New York and used excessive force against the patrons. Marsha stood up to the police during the raids and led protests demanding rights for the LGBT community. 
• Together with Silvia Rivera, Marsha founded an organisation called STAR in order to help gay and trans people who had become homeless. 
• Marsha is remembered as the 'Saint of Christopher Street' by many for their unfailing generosity to the LGBT community in New York. 

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Frida Kahlo by Andrea Kettenmann [STA: 709.0431 KAH], Anthology of Amazing Women by Sandra Lawrence [STA: 920.72] and The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver [STA/STM]

• 
  Frida Kahlo was a famous Mexican artist and openly bisexual woman. 
• Kahlo taught herself to paint whilst recovering from a serious bus accident and her art was often influenced by her experiences with chronic pain. It is thought that prior to the accident, Kahlo intended to study medicine.
• Her works are also notable for their explorations of class, gender, race, identity and postcolonialism. 

Peter Dorey, Ernest Hole and Jonathan Cutbill 

Pride: the Unlikely Story of  the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate (Coming Soon to GCH Library!)

• Dorey, Hole and Cutbill were activists who founded the UK's first LGBTQ bookshop Gay's the Word in 1979.
• They provided a much needed space for the LGBTQ community in London to meet and share their love of books.
• In the 1980s, the store served as the headquarters of 'Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners' in support of the striking workers. 

Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

Girls Can Do Anything by Caitlin Doyle [STA: 920.72] and Who's Who in African-American History by Sande Smith (ed.) [STA: 920.092]

• 
  Josephine Baker was the first African American woman to star in a film.
• During the German occupation of France she worked for the Red Cross and spied for the French Resistance.
• Though she lived in France, she travelled back to the U.S. to partake in Civil Rights demonstrations.
• Baker had romantic relationships with both men and women including French author Colette and artist Frida Kahlo.

Jacqueline Wilson (1945-)

Jacky Daydream, The Runaway Girls and The Story of Tracey Beaker [STA]

• 
  Jacqueline Wilson is a much-loved children's author but before the breakthrough success of Tracey Beaker in the 1990s, she had already written over 40 books.
• Wilson took the A-Level English exam when she was 40 years old - for which she was awarded an 'A'.
• In 2020 she publicly announced that she was in a relationship with her partner Trish. They have now been together for over 20 years. 

All books mentioned can be found at GCH Library.

Spotlight on 'Britannica'

This term Y8 students have been visiting the Library during registration to learn how to use Britannica. As we have learnt, Britannica contains only articles published by reliable sources and all information there has been very carefully edited - making it the perfect resource for homework!

Britannica is accessible via the Library App. You can also find this under 'The Grey Coat Hospital', 'Library' in SharePoint if you're working at home, or pinned to your desktop if you're using a school computer.

1. You now need to login to access Britannica. To do so, click 'Guest' in the top right corner of the screen and select 'Login via SSO'.
2. This will bring you to your account which will show you all the books on loan to you!
3. Type in your research term into the 'Search' bar at the top of the screen. This is the topic that you are trying to learn more about - e.g. 'Mary, Queen of Scots', 'Chess' or 'Japanese Mythology'.
4. When you search this term, the Library App will then show you all the books we have in the library on this topic. 
5. To find the Britannica resources relating to your search you must select 'One Search' from the bar on the left side of the screen. You should then see 'Britannica' as one of the top options underneath this.
6. To login to Britannica, follow the instructions that appear on screen: open the 'Connect with Provider' page, close this new tab and then select the second button which should say 'Search'.
7. This will show you all the Britannica resources on your chosen topic. From here you can browse articles, images, videos and explore the 'More' tab which will show you a list of 'Web's Best Sources'. This is full of accurate, fact-checked information written by credible sources.

As always, please ask for help at the Library if you are struggling to use any of our resources!