Lari Don opens Forthview’s ‘magical’ new library

‘There is nothing like a library to make you smile’: Forthview’s Patron of Reading opens school library

‘I love being an author. The best bit is writing stories and adventures, but I love lots of the other bits of being an author too. I enjoy redrafting and I really love working with editors. I love meeting readers and talking about my books too. But the one bit of being an author that I really don’t enjoy is … getting my photo taken!’

Edinburgh-based author Lari Don called in to Forthview Primary School this morning to officially open the school’s new library. Award-winning writer Lari, who became the West Pilton school’s Patron of Reading in May last year, said the new library offers ‘endless possibilities’.

Before welcoming the Lari and guests, Forthview Head Teacher Eileen Littlewood explained: “One of the first things I wanted to do when I came to Forthview was to re-open the school library, which was being used for other purposes.

“We were able to do this thanks to funding from the Scottish Government’s Raising Attainment for All initiative along with a grant from the Foyle Foundation. Our parents have been so much help in planning and putting the library together, so we have a lot to celebrate today.”

Cutting a ribbon to mark the event, Lari told the children: “I always feel happy when I walk into Forthview, because I always meet kids with amazing imaginations so I’m always smiling.

“But today, I came into the library and I just couldn’t stop grinning. Because there’s nothing like a library to make you smile, to make you feel endless possibilities – and you have got the most beautiful, the most spacious, the most cheerful, the most colourful, the most magical library and I really hope you all enjoy it! And now, I’m so happy to declare the Forthview Library open!”

Official duty performed, Lari went on to host a workshop for Forthview’s young writers. And yes, she had her photo taken too!

“When a child connects to a book – even if it’s a book that we as adults might not care for – it can really change the course of that child’s life.” – Dan Pilkey, author

Stories with taste: Green Pencil writing competition launched

Tasty treats were on the menu at the launch of this year’s popular Green Pencil Award writing competition yesterday, when Carrick Knowe Primary School pupils were joined by leading children’s author Vivian French for a food-themed story workshop.

This year’s Green Pencil theme is ‘Food for thought: Scotland’s food and drink’. Entrants can write a poem or story about a favourite meal, or a memorable Scottish picnic, a drink they love or hate, or perhaps even invent a new Scottish food!

Or they could think about the journey of a vegetable from being planted as a seed to ending up as part of a delicious, nutritious meal.

Budding writers can get inspiration by visiting local libraries, which have lots of ideas and books to help, and also by asking in schools, which have resources available to support this award.

All entries can be made by following this link and should be no longer than one side of A4 – entries longer than that cannot be considered.

The closing date is Friday 9 October, with an awards ceremony at the Central Library in late November.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener, said: “The Council has been running this competition for eight years and it grows in popularity each time. We have so many budding writers with fabulous imaginations in our schools, and reading the entries is always a joy for our library staff.

“Reading skills are such vital aspects to learning, but also a really fun way of doing so. Thanks so much to Vivian for bringing it to life so vividly for these lucky pupils. Good luck to everyone who enters.”

Ms French said: “I love the Green Pencil Award, because it encourages children to look at the world around them, and to think about things they might otherwise take for granted.

“It inspires curiosity, consideration, and critical judgement … essential ingredients for everyone – especially writers!”

City authors dominate Children’s Book Awards shortlist

Edinburgh-based authors have dominated the shortlist for the 2016 Scottish Children’s Book Awards, with four out of the nine shortlisted authors hailing from the city.

Emily MacKenzie, Elizabeth Laird, Danny Weston and Joan Lingard are all up for the prestigious awards, which celebrate the most popular children’s and young adult books by Scottish authors or illustrators.

Run by Scottish Book Trust with support from Creative Scotland, they are Scotland’s largest book awards with a total prize fund of £12,000 – the nine shortlisted authors and illustrators receive £500 per book, and the three winning books receive £3,000 each.

Emily MacKenzie, who lives in the New Town and studied Graphic Design at Edinburgh College of Art, has been shortlisted in the Bookbug Readers (3-7 yrs) category for her debut picture book Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit Book Burglar, published by Bloomsbury.

She was recently shortlisted for The Independent Bookshop Week Children’s Picture Book Award and her second book, Stanley The Amazing Knitting Cat will be published by Bloomsbury in January 2016.

Commenting on her nomination, Emily said: “I was absolutely over the moon when I found out that Ralfy had been shortlisted for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards!

“The book has had such a warm response from teachers, librarians and the children I’ve read it to so far which has been really lovely, but the idea that a further 64,000 P1 children starting school in Scotland this year will receive a copy of it to enjoy and hopefully help them on to a path of loving reading and books as much as I do, blows my mind. It’s a dream come true and Ralfy and I want to say a big thank you to Scottish Book Trust for all their support!”

A free copy of Emily’s book will be gifted to every Primary 1 child during Book Week Scotland, in the Bookbug P1 Family Bag, along with copies of the two other shortlisted books in the Bookbug category.

This bag was produced by Scottish Book Trust in conjunction with Education Scotland and the Scottish Government as part of Read, Write, Count – a new literacy and numeracy campaign aimed at children in Primary 1 to 3.

Elizabeth Laird, based in the Old Town, has been shortlisted in the Younger Readers (8-11 yrs) category for her book The Fastest Boy in the World, published by Macmillan.

Elizabeth, who has previously appeared on the 2008 and 2010 Scottish Children’s Book Awards shortlists, is an award-winning author of children’s fiction and travel. She has written over 30 books for children and has been shortlisted five times for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, including for The Fastest Boy in the World this year. She has been nominated by UK IBBY for the international Hans Christian Anderson Award, and her new novel, Dindy and the Elephant, was published in June. Elizabeth now lives with her husband, splitting their time between London and Edinburgh.

Elizabeth said: “It’s a thrill and an honour to be shortlisted for the Scottish Children’s Book Award. ‘The Fastest Boy in the World’ is an Ethiopian lad called Solomon, who dreams of joining the ranks of the great African running champions. Now, thanks to this lovely award, he’ll be running all the way round Scotland. Go Solomon!”

Danny Weston, who lives in Tollcross, has been shortlisted in the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category for his book The Piper, published by Andersen.

He has published three novels (under the name Philip Caveney) with Edinburgh-based publisher Fledgling Press. These are time travel adventures, all set in Edinburgh at different points in its history. The first book Crow Boy is set in Mary Kings Close, Seventeen Coffins is all about the tiny coffins found on Arthur’s Seat in 1836 and the most recent book,One For Sorrow, is all about Robert Louis Stevenson.

In the New Year, Fledgling will be bringing out The Calling – a novel featuring all the statues in Edinburgh. The Piper was also recently shortlisted for the North East Book Award.

Commenting on his nomination, Danny said: “I was surprised and delighted to hear that I had been shortlisted for this prestigious prize. At a time when the importance of literacy seems to be increasingly challenged, prizes like this mean more than ever to authors like me.”

Joan Lingard, who lives in Edinburgh’s New Town, has been shortlisted in the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category for her novel Trouble on Cable Street, published by Catnip.

Joan has been a published writer for young people and adults for over 40 years and is best known for the Kevin and Sadie books, set in Northern Ireland at the time of the troubles there.

Her popular Elfie and Joe trilogy began when she discovered that her grandfather had run a pub in Stoke Newington in London and she started to research that area around the turn of the 19th Century when he and his wife lived there.

Following a conversation with a friend about the period between the first and second world wars, Joan began to research the impact of the Fascist movement in London in the 1930s, and the parallel conflict in Spain.

Joan said: “I’m delighted that Trouble on Cable Street has been shortlisted for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards. I have been writing for young people for over 40 years and I am always pleased to know that readers are enjoying my books.

“I enjoyed writing this book very much. It is set in a fascinating, unsettled time in Britain’s history – and European history – and the more I read about what happened in the 1930s the more I found parallels with some of the problems we’re facing today, eight decades later.

“In 1936 the communities of the East End of London rallied to stop a march by Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists. They clashed with the police in Cable Street and the march was eventually stopped, but many people were injured in the fighting.

“I always enjoy writing strong characters, and once I’d settled on Isabella and her two brothers their story fell into place against the backdrop of London in those difficult times.”

THE FULL SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS 2016 SHORTLIST:

Bookbug Readers (3-7 years)

Never Tickle a Tiger by Pamela Butchart and Marc Boutavant (Bloomsbury)
Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie (Bloomsbury)
Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School by Simon Puttock and Ali Pye (Nosy Crow).

Younger Readers (8-11 years)

The Nowhere Emporium by Ross Mackenzie (Floris)
The Mysteries of Ravenstorm Island: The Lost Children by Gillian Philip (Orchard)
The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan)

Older Readers (12-16 years)

Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein (Egmont)
The Piper by Danny Weston (the pseudonym of Philip Caveney) (Andersen)
Trouble on Cable Street by Joan Lingard (Catnip)

Over the next five months, children the length and breadth of Scotland will be reading the three shortlisted books in their age category and voting for their favourite.

The voting deadline is 5 February 2016. The three winning books will be announced at a special award ceremony on 4 March 2016.

Jasmine Fassl, Head of Schools at Scottish Book Trust, said: “The Scottish Children’s Book Awards are a perfect way to celebrate Scotland’s talented authors and illustrators, while also helping participating children to develop an independent love of books and reading.

“Hundreds of schools and libraries from literally every corner of Scotland involve tens of thousands of children in reading and reviewing the shortlisted books every year, proof of both the eagerness of Scottish young people to make their voice heard and of the quality of the shortlisted books.”

Leonie Bell, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, added: “The Scottish Children’s Book Awards is a hugely successfully programme that celebrates children’s and young adult literature while also encouraging reading in children across Scotland.

“The fact that the winners are selected exclusively by children makes this an extra special award to win. By taking an active role in choosing the vote they are taking steps in their journeys as independent readers.

“This is a fantastic shortlist and we encourage young people across Scotland to get involved. We look forward to finding out who they choose as this year’s winners.”

The Scottish Children’s Book Awards also encourage budding authors or journalists to put pen to paper: the popular Book Review Competition offers pupils the chance to win book tokens, sponsored by Waterstones, and an author visit for their school.

Aspiring film makers can enter the book trailer competition to showcase their digital talents and win book tokens for their school. Scottish Book Trust provides extensive learning resources for teachers on how to create book trailers.

CALL Scotland has again worked with Scottish Book Trust and the publishers to create accessible digital versions of the nine shortlisted books for children and young people with physical, visual and reading or dyslexic difficulties, who can’t read the paper books. The accessible digital versions of the shortlisted books are available free of charge from CALL Scotland.

You can request books by going to http://www.callscotland.org.uk/Home/.

Pictures: Rob McDougall

Benji’s coming back!

Play Talk Read bus is heading to West Pilton

Wednesday 24 June

Happy birthday, city libraries!

Edinburgh’s library service began 125 years ago today

Edinburgh’s library service is celebrating its 125th birthday by serving up a feast of special events to mark the landmark anniversary.

A big birthday bash, readings by children’s authors, a rare glimpse of Japanese art and a debate on the future of libraries are all examples of the packed programme of events taking place this month.

The Central Library was the first to open in the Capital to the public on June 9th, 1890, and now a total of 28 across the city welcome 3.4 million visitors each year.

Lord Roseberry officially opened it after previous attempts to set up a free public service failed as it would “put an unnecessary burden on the ratepayers”!

Andrew Carnegie offered £50,000 to establish the iconic library on George IV Bridge and less than a year later he laid the foundation stone.

In the space of 15 years, Edinburgh opened a substantial number of branches in the north, south, east and west districts, as well as a library in Portobello Town Hall.

The Council has continued to invest in new buildings in the 21st century, with a new library for Muirhouse in 2000 and the most recent community hubs opened in Drumbrae and Craigmillar in 2012.

Recent upgrades have been carried out at Stockbridge, Leith, McDonald Road, Morningside and Central.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener, said: “Libraries have been serving the people of Edinburgh for well over a century and I’m delighted to be part of the birthday celebrations.

“Our library team can keep a large group of toddlers entertained at Bookbug sessions, support the ever-changing population of Edinburgh through community language collections, help people to get connected digitally, and also open up a world of heritage, history and information. I’d like to thank staff for all of their hard and imaginative work.

“There’s a wealth of information and services mainly for free at our fingertips through libraries – support your local branch by keeping them going for at least another 125 years by paying a visit today.”

Edinburgh’s libraries – something to shout about!

Stepping Stones mums: made of the write stuff!

Four local mums have written and produced a delightful wee book of short stories to read with their children.

Chloe Wilson, Heather Thorburn, Michelle Lawler and Georgie Cassidy, members of Stepping Stones creative writing group, worked with tutor Lucy Ribchester over eight weekly sessions at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to produce ‘Toy Stories’ – and they’ve produced a mini-masterpiece!

The book is beautifully illustrated by North Edinburgh Time Bank member Evren Dogan, who volunteered her talents for free to support the group project.

The Creative Writing group saw their finished work at Royston Wardieburn yesterday, where they were also presented with achievement certificates by Royston Wardieburn Community Learning & Development worker Karen Riddell.

Karen said: “This has been a really interesting collaborative project and we’ve all been looking forward to seeing the finished result. Toy Tales looks really good and the women should feel very proud of their achievement. I’m sure they will enjoy reading stories they have written themselves with their children. We’d like to thank Lucy and Evren for their efforts, too – the book looks so good!”

Lucy’s own first book ‘The Hourglass Factory’ is published in January – good luck with that, Lucy!

Craigroyston bookworms pick up their prizes

A new chapter at Craigroyston!

Craigroyston Primary School really entered into the spirit of Scottish Book Week recently. One of the activities was a quiz for parents, and there was a great response – over forty entries were received.

Six winners were selected, and earlier this week Head Teacher Lorna Stewart presented the bookworms with their prizes.

Take a bow, Mrs Kirk, Ms Malcolm, Ms Thomson, Mr Fitzharris, Ms Mackay and Ms Robertson!

Craigroyston’s Helen Cameron said: “The whole school took part in activities during Scottish Book Week and that included the parents. The week is all about encouraging both adults and children to read and it was great success. It really was good to see so many parents and carers taking an interest and we know that quite a number of them worked with their children on the quiz answers. Congratulations to all the winners.”

Among other Scottish Book Week activities Craigroyston staff started to write a story. Each participant was only supposed to write a sentence or two – but the story’s still doing the rounds and it’s growing and growing!

We’ll let you know when Craigroyston’s very own ‘War and Peace’ is complete!

Circle celebrates launch of The Sandpit Volcano

‘No-one really knew what it was. People walking past stopped and stared …’

Local familes celebrated the launch of their latest book ‘The Sandpit Volcano’ at North Edinburgh Arts Centre yesterday. The group from Circle’s Haven project wrote the story during Haven’s Storytelling Week project in August, and this was the first opportunity to see the end product.

The Sandpit Volcano tells the tale of brave kangaroos, crabbit crustaceans and creepy castles with flags made from used underpants – delightful! Children who were involved in the creation of the story read and performed it at North Edinburgh Arts and it really is a fantastically fun tale!

The Haven Project was again supported by Edinburgh-based author Mike Nicholson, who worked with the group on a similar project last year – a swashbuckling tale of pirates on the seven seas.

The Sandpit Volcano was created during an intensive week for all involved – from a day of ideas and discussions following a trip to Cramond, working with Mike to develop story ideas and then producing artwork and storyboards – but it was both interesting and fun for all involved and everyone is delighted with the finished product.

Angela Austin worked on the artwork with the group. “This was a great group to work with – everyone was really enthusiastic and there was lots of energy and ideas”, she said. “People can be creative and really good at art without realizing the talent they have, and I think this project has shown that”.

One proud mum said: “The project was interesting and it was a good laugh too. We’re all really pleased to see the way the book has turned out – my bairns will be reading it as a bedtime story tonight!”

Free books for P1s to mark Book Week Scotland

Today marks the start of Book Week Scotland 2014, the national celebration of reading, and to mark the occasion Scottish Book Trust is to gift three free picture books to every Primary 1 child in Scotland.

The books, all by Scottish authors or illustrators, will be gifted in the Bookbug Primary 1 Family Pack and comprise the Bookbug shortlist for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2015.

The titles include: Robot Rumpus by Sean Taylor and Ross Collins, Princess Penelope and the Runaway Kitten by Alison Murray and Lost for Words by Natalie Russell.

Also included in the Bookbug bag will be a Scottish Children’s Book Awards pack full of games and activities, along with a voting slip to enable children to declare which of the three picture books is their favourite. The pack will also contain Ziggy and Maggie Start School, a children’s book about road safety created in partnership with Road Safety Scotland.

Marc Lambert, Director of Scottish Book Trust, said: “The beginning of school is the point at which books start to become associated with learning in a child’s mind. This pack has been designed to help teachers, librarians and parents show children how pleasurable books can be, at a crucial point in their learning journey.

“This association of books with enjoyment will in turn lead to a more positive educational experience for the child, helping them to get more out of school and hopefully inspiring them to seek out and devour more and more books.”

For more information about Book Week Scotland 2014 visit

www.bookweekscotland.com

where you can find information about all the events taking place in your local area, vote for your favourite character from a Scottish book, make a Reading Pledge and discover a whole host of resources and ideas to help you celebrate and share whatever it is you love to read.

Follow @Bookweekscot on Twitter, check out#bookweekscot or like the Book Week Scotland Facebook page.

Initiated by the Scottish Government and supported, along with a Readers in Residence programme in libraries, by £250,000 from Creative Scotland, Book Week Scotland will be delivered by Scottish Book Trust, the lead agency for the promotion of literature, reading and writing in Scotland. For more information on Scottish Book Trust go to www.scottishbooktrust.com.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. For further information about Creative Scotland visit

www.creativescotland.com

Follow @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland

Book Week Scotland in libraries is funded by The Scottish Library and Information Council.

Ten minutes to change a life …

Save The Children has launched a video that puts viewers in the position of someone who is unable to read as part of their Read On. Get On literacy campaign.

The campaign has been launched by a coalition of charities, businesses and authors to encourage professionals and parents to help children improve their reading, and Save the Children‘s film that shows the impact that not being able to read well can have on someone’s life.

Called Ten Minutes a Day Could Change Everything, the film illustrates the importance of reading and the positive difference adults can make to young children’s lives.

The charity has also launched an online petition that calls on politicians to ensure by 2025 that every child in the UK is a confident reader at age 11. It has also been promoting the campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #ReadonGeton, and several popular YouTube bloggers have made videos to show their support.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said: “Read On. Get On is not just about teachers, charities and politicians – it’s about galvanising the nation so that parents, grandparents and volunteers play their part in teaching children to read. We want every child to be given a fair and equal chance to learn to read well, regardless of their background.”

Read the report here: ReadOnGetOn