Beginning my journey to become a school librarian . . .
So it's been a while since my last 'life' post. In my 'What now' post I wrote about feeling as though I was in a state of flux, and to be honest I really was. I felt like I was heading into a bit of a crisis, I had no idea what was coming next.
Teaching was the career path that seemed to be appealing to me at that moment in time. If I'm honest I think teaching was something I was considering because a lot of people expected that of me and it seemed like an obvious choice. I decided, however, that teaching wasn't something I was passionate enough about to spend another year studying; taking up a place on a course that could have gone to someone who truly wanted it.
Librarianship, specifically school librarianship, on the other hand, was a constant in the back of my mind. I had been set on following the path into librarianship for sometime but in my near crisis I panicked and thought it would be too difficult.
I can happily announce that I changed my mind and am currently three weeks into a graduate traineeship at a really good school. Having only been there for three weeks I am still finding my feet but I already know that working in a school library is the path I want/need to take.
I am pulled towards work as a school librarian because I want to instill a love of reading in young people. I think there is nothing more rewarding than seeing students excited about reading. The correlation between the development of literacy skills and reading for pleasure is something I am keenly interested in and I believe that working in a school library will allow me to turn that interest into a vocation.
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
"My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek." Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. But she doesn't know why nobody at school seems to like her. So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her best friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of impossibly handsome model Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves. Veering from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, Harriet begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did. As her old life starts to fall apart, will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything? The award-winning debut by bestselling author Holly Smale.
(waterstones.com synopsis)
After hearing that Holly Smale has written a Geek Girl story especially for World Book Day 2015 I decided that it would be a good idea to pick up the first book in the Geek Girl series. I'm about to start a new job in a Secondary School library and with Geek Girl being in the YA category for World Book Day, it is a likely that I will be involved in promoting the event and the two YA books involved.
As I spend a lot of my time on the internet, immersing myself in the online book community, I had heard a lot about the Geek Girl series before I picked it up. The reviews I had seen were all raving about how good the series was, how refreshing it was to have a character like Harriet Manners for young girls to read about.
And after having finished Geek Girl last week, I have to say that I agree.
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish held every Tuesday. Each week revolves round a different theme and people from the book blogsphere pitch in with their lists.
This weeks theme is the Top Ten books that were hard for me to read. All but one of them are books that I had to read for university, as you can imagine studying an English Literature degree means that I came into contact with some pretty difficult/challenging books!
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish held every Tuesday. Each week revolves round a different theme and people from the book blogsphere pitch in with their lists.
This weeks theme is the Top Ten Books on my Fall to-be-read list. There's only one new release on my list, all the other books are ones that I have been meaning to get around to reading for a long time.
Revenge of the Zeds by Stewart Ross
The Soterion has been opened, but does it mean salvation or devastation? A horrific mutation in human DNA has resulted in a world where no one lives beyond nineteen. Cyrus and the noble Constants have opened the Soterion vault containing the Long Dead’s secrets of science, art and possibly even the cure to the mutation. First, Cyrus must teach the Constants to read. But those he calls friends are falling prey to the greed and power knowledge can bring. Meanwhile, the barbaric Zeds are massing against them, determined to take the Soterion for themselves and destroy everything the Constants have built.
(Synopsis from curious-fox.com)
When I learnt that there was going to be a sequel to Stewart Ross's The Soterion Mission I knew right away that I needed to get my hands on a copy. Curious Fox kindly sent me a copy to review and I am so glad they did!
In my review for The Soterion Mission I spoke about the importance of the dystopian genre in Young Adult literature. I am a strong advocate for books that challenge and that present readers with situations that stimulate debate.
Revenge of the Zeds does just that. And then some.
The Soterion Mission by Stewart Ross
I am almost finished with the second book in the series, which is titled 'Revenge of the Zeds' and my review will be up by the end of the week. Whilst you're waiting why not check out my review of the first book: 'The Soterion Mission' . . .
In a post-apocalyptic world where no-one lives beyond their teenage years, the mysterious Roxanne arrives in Cyrus’s village, fleeing the barbaric Zeds. She claims to be on a mission that can save them all, but can she be trusted? Cyrus joins her in her quest for the legendary Soterion, but the Zeds are determined to get there first.
(Synopsis from Amazon UK)
I am a firm believer that dystopian fiction has an important place amongst the Young Adult genre. Having read all the bench mark dystopian novels such as ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Divergent’ along with their counterparts I think that dystopian fiction allows the reader to evaluate society.
‘The Soterion Mission’ is another one of those thought provoking novels.
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish held every Tuesday. Each week revolves round a different theme and people from the book blogsphere pitch in with their lists.
This weeks theme is the Top 10 characters I would want with me on a deserted island. I could only think of 8 (although number 8 consists of 2 characters) I would really want with me. I've chosen a mixture of useful characters, characters that would provide some entertainment and also one purely for my own personal gain.
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish held every Tuesday. Each week revolves round a different theme and people from the book blogsphere pitch in with their lists.
This week instead of focusing on books the theme is our top ten TV shows and movies. Whilst I do do a lot of vegging out in front of the TV, I don't really concentrate on watching a whole load of TV shows. The TV is normally there as background noise whilst I'm catching up on YouTube videos or browsing social media. That being said I'm going to split the list in half and list five TV shows and five movies that I consider to be my favourites.
The Role of the School Library
Yesterday the All Party’s Parliamentary Group for Libraries
published a report titled ‘The Beating Heart of the School’ which calls for a
good library in every school. With 1 in 6 adults in the UK struggling with
literacy skills, the APPG for Libraries chairman Lord Graham Cope CBE believes
that ‘that school libraries and librarians contribute an enormous amount to
educational attainment’ but he argues that ‘the case must be strengthened.’
The reports goes on to list the following four recommendations:
·
That annual data collected by the Department of
Education include the school library and its staff.
·
That an examination is held into the role school
libraries and librarians play in supporting student’s academic and personal
development.
·
That Ofsted inspections and reports includes an
inspection of school libraries.
·
That the Department of Education has a dedicated
member of staff acting as lead for libraries, who will support both teachers
and librarians.
I think the most striking aspect about this report for me is
the fact that libraries in schools are not a statutory requirement. Whilst I
may have thought this for Primary Schools as they tend to be smaller, I was
surprised that it was not a requirement for Secondary Schools, especially as
some also incorporate Sixth Forms, with students studying for their A Levels. It
was also surprising to learn that only 17% of the libraries surveyed have
enough computers/laptops for an average class. With so much focus being put on
ICT skills I thought that this statistic would be a lot higher. The sad reality
of budget freezes and cuts is also highlighted in the report, hinting at the
possibility that school libraries are undervalued within schools.
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish held every Tuesday. Each week revolves round a different theme and people from the book blogsphere pitch in with their lists.
This week the theme is Top 10 Classic Books.
Now, ashamedly, I haven't actually read that many classics. This is somthing that I want to remedy and have a whole plethora of classics on my ever-expanding TBR list.
That being said I thought I would list 5 Classics that I have read and enjoyed and also 5 Classics that I want to read/plan on reading in the future!
The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks
"Room"
meets "Lord of the Flies"
"The
Bunker Diary" is award-winning, young adult writer Kevin Brooks'
pulse-pounding exploration of what happens when your worst nightmare
comes true - and how will you survive? I can't believe I fell for it.
It was still dark when I woke up this morning. As soon as my eyes
opened I knew where I was. A low-ceilinged rectangular building made
entirely of whitewashed concrete. There are six little rooms along
the main corridor. There are no windows. No doors. The lift is the
only way in or out. What's he going to do to me? What am I going to
do? If I'm right, the lift will come down in five minutes. It did.
Only this time it wasn't empty...'
(Waterstones.com
synopsis)
Earlier
this week, Kevin Brooks’ The Bunker Diary won the Carnegie Medal,
an award held each year by CILIP. The Bunker Diary is told from the perspective of a character named Linus, a teenage boy who finds
himself locked in what appears to be an underground bunker with no
recollection of how he got there. The novels bleak storyline has
sparked a debate, with the question of happy endings in teen fiction
being at its centre.
Of
course, as with any piece of literature, opinions are divided. There
have been articles praising the challenging subject matter, such as this one featured in The Guardian. This article from The Telegraph,
however, questions whether such a book should win the Carnegie Medal.
There have also been questions asked about the nature of the Carnegie Medal, with many people protesting against Brooks’ award because it is not a book for children. This question is briefly answered on the Carnegie Award website, the response being: ‘It is possible to recognise that a book is intended for children and young people in a number of ways i.e. through the publishers list they appear on, by the way they are marketed etc.’
Post University Book Haul
Books
The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer
Gone Girl
– Gillian Flynn
We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton
Allegiant
– Veronica Roth
City of Heavenly Fire – Cassandra Clare
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
Click the title of each book and it will take you to the Waterstones website where you will find a full synopsis.
The end of
my degree marked the end of a period in my life where my reading
choices were dictated to me 90% of the time. Whilst I relished the
chance to be introduced to new genres and authors that I would never
have come across outside of university, I did feel the strain of
having no time to fit my own reading choices in around my set
texts. As a voracious reader I had been counting down the weeks until
I would have the freedom to choose what I wanted to read and have no
hindrances at reading them straight away.
So, as any
newly free bookworm would do, I went a little mad. Most of the books
I bought had been on my wish-list for a while and I had plans firmly
set in place to go on a book buying spree once I was done with uni,
as a little well done present to myself.
What now?
Three weeks ago today I
submitted the last two pieces of coursework for my degree. In a heady
rush of adrenaline I handed in my 10,000 word dissertation and then
spent almost six hours in the library completing my final assignment.
I had expected to feel some kind of climatic closure to my time as an
academic but, alas, as yet it has not come. This may be, in part, due
to the fact that I have to wait until the end of June to find out
whether or not all my hard work has paid off. I have managed to push
my pending grades to the back of my mind for the most part, however,
there are moments where I am almost consumed with the thought of
them.
To be completely honest
I feel as though I am in a state of flux. I have finished my degree
but I do not have the confirmation of what the last three and a half
years have amounted too.
Of course there is also
the fact that for the last seventeen years of my life I have had the
status of being a student in some capacity. Now I find myself faced
with the fact that in September life will simply just carry on as it
has been. No longer will my year be punctuated with the start of a
new semester, preceded by the gloriously geeky adventure of buying
new stationary and an investigation into the modules I will be
studying. I have bathed in the pools of academia and now I find
myself cast out of those waters.
In short, I may be
having a slight identity crisis.
English Literature has
been the basis of my identity since I can remember, books have laid
the foundation for the way I live, think and behave since an
extremely tender age. The decision to study English Literature came
about purely because I was not ready to let my life as a student go.
I did not go to university with dreams of a leaving with a first and
a high flying career already secured. No, I went to university
because learning is something that I love to do. Whilst I have done
my fair share of moaning about the work load and the essays assigned
to me over the last three and a half years, in hindsight, I have
thoroughly enjoyed every single moment. It is always hard to
appreciate something whilst you are in the moment. It is not until
you can sit back and evaluate moments or periods of your life that
you realise how much you have grown as a person. During the more
difficult lectures and whilst writing the more arduous assignments I
sometimes questioned whether I was clever enough to be on the course.
It is only when taking part in conversations and whilst trying to
explain complicated theories to family and friends that I realise I
have learnt quite a lot and that as well as learning, I have actually
understood a large chunk of it (not Derrida though, never Derrida.)
So. I now find myself
looking back at the last three and a half years of my life and asking
myself the same question.
What now?
You see I do have plans
for my life. I want a nice house, a lovely wedding, two children.
Those have always been on my lists of future plans. Something that
has not featured so heavily is the career that is going to allow me
the house, the wedding and the children. The reason for this is
because I don't really know what I want to do. I have flitted between
teaching, librarianship, marketing, recruitment; a whole plethora of
career paths. To be honest, a part of me doesn't feel old enough or
experienced enough to be contemplating a career. The word sounds so
grown up and I do not feel like a grown up.
Luckily I have a part
time job at the moment and I know that I am under no pressure to jump
straight into a career straight away. At the moment teaching is the
path that has the most pull. I am thinking of gaining a qualification
as a teaching assistant in the next few years which could possibly
lead to me applying for a PGCE qualification.
Those ideas are not set
in stone. It is just something I am thinking about. The first thing I
need to do is gain a grade C in Maths and I shall be applying for a
college course that starts in September. I am setting myself small
targets in hope that those small steps will help me carve out a
larger plan.
The problem I have is
in the not knowing. I am the type of person who likes to have a plan.
Whilst I have a job that will keep me tiding over for a while, the
uncertainty of what I will be doing in a few years leaves me feeling
a little nervous.
So I guess the answer
to the what now question is that I need to relax for a while. I have
just completed a degree, a stressful endeavour and I possibly deserve
a bit of a break. Until I receive my classification in June I shall
have to reside in this state of flux and carry on planning for a
future that is still a little way off.
When it comes down to
it so long as I am happy, I guess that all that matters.
A letter to Harry Potter and J.K Rowling.
The Emperor of All Things by Paul Witcover
"Tempus Rerum Imperator: Time, Emperor of All Things" 1758. England is embroiled in a globe-spanning conflict that stretches from her North American colonies to Europe and beyond. Across the Channel, the French prepare for an invasion - an invasion rumored to be led by none other than Bonnie Prince Charlie. It seems the map of Europe is about to be redrawn. Yet behind these dramatic scenes, another war is raging - a war that will determine not just the fate of nations but of humanity itself...Daniel Quare is a journeyman in an ancient guild, The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. He is also a Regulator, part of an elite network within the guild devoted to searching out and claiming for England's exclusive use any horological innovation that could give them an upperhand, whether in business or in war. Just such a mission has brought Quare to the London townhouse of eccentric collector, Lord Wichcote. He seeks a pocket watch rumoured to possess seemingly impossible properties that are more to do with magic than with any science familiar to Quare or to his superiors. And the strange timepiece has attracted the attention of others as well: the mysterious masked thief known only as Grimalkin, and a deadly French spy who stop at nothing to bring the prize back to his masters. Soon Quare finds himself on a dangerous trail of intrigue and murder that leads far from the world he knows into an otherwhere of dragons and demigods, in which nothing is as it seems...time least of all.
(Waterstones.co.uk synopsis)
Daniel Quare is a journeyman for the ancient guild called the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. He wants nothing more than to rise the ranks of this prestigious guild but he cannot do that without first gaining some experience. The story starts with Quare attempting to steal a clock from the eccentric clock collector Lord Wichote, whilst on his mission he runs into the infamous clock thief Grimalkin and their encounter sets in motion events that will see Quare fighting for his life and coming into contact with things he would never have imagined.
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
1961: On a sweltering summer’s day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy called Billy, a move to London, and the bright future she can’t wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything. 2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds - Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy - who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatefully entwined. Shifting between the 1930s, the 1960s and the present, The Secret Keeper is a spellbinding story of mysteries and secrets, murder and enduring love.
(Waterstones.com Synopsis)
Having been wrapped up in a world of high fantasy for the last month and a half I decided to give myself a break from the horrific events of ‘A Storm of Swords’ by G.R.R Martin and pick up a book that would offer me something different. As I perused my local Waterstones my eyes were drawn to the dazzling green cover of the ‘Secret Keeper’, the promise of escape entwined within it’s depiction of a young lady hiding herself from view in a picturesque garden and the title, giving the novel an air of mystery that I just couldn't resist.
Three days later here I am, having merely hours ago finished what I believe to be one of Morton’s best works. I have previously read ‘The Forgotten Garden’ and ‘The House at Riverton’ whilst ‘The Distant Hours’ lies languidly on one of my many shelves waiting to be picked up. After reading ‘The Forgotten Garden’ it was immediately added to my favourites shelf and so to shall ‘The Secret Keeper’ (once my Mother has finished reading it to my insistence, of course.)
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I'm Callie, welcome to my blog!
I'm a lover of many things but mostly
Books, Harry Potter, Libraries,
Rabbits, Tea & Lists.
Any enquiries please email
callie@oflifeandliterature.co.uk
I hope you enjoy your visit!
I Am Reading
