I've suspected for a while but now am sure that this website, hosted through Yola, has a mind of its own in terms of what it does with content I've uploaded. A few people have emailed to ask what happened to the zombie plan - I can confirm it was uploaded in August, was there for a bit, then appeared to disappear. Yet when I log on to the site manager to upload it again it's magically reappeared, as have several blog posts and other content.
This raises the question of whether I should contin...
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As a last hoorah in the College library, my lovely students compiled a list of books that the "differently insane" should read nbefore they die. There was considerable discussion about whether we were nerds or geeks but the label "differently insane" proved a winner!
So here it is:

1.    The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

2.    Fullmetal Alchemist (series) by Hiromu Arakawa

3.    Foundation (series) by Isaac Asimov

4.    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

5.  ...

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Barking by Tom Holt, a very amusing tale of vampires, werewolves, zombies, unicorns and ... oh, lawyers. Duncan is poached from his boring law firm by a rival firm owned by his old school friend Luke Ferris, who just happens to be a werewolf, and wants Duncan to be one of his pack. Meanwhile Duncan's ex-wife, who is far more successful in the legal profession than he is, is turned into a vampire by her bosses and seems dead set on killing him. Oh, and then there's the shapeshifting unicorn wi...
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Student: "Have you got a northerner yet?"
Me: "Pardon?"
Student "A northerner. That writes books."
Student gestures towards my fundraising poster for an author visit...
Me:"Oh, an author!"
Student: "Yes, that's what I meant. An orphan."
Bless 'em.

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The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Gollancz, 2009, ISBN 9780575090866)
Now I have to admit that I don't do zombies, they terrify me! This despite having well-advanced plans in place should there ever be a zombie apocalypse at my college... But this novel gripped me from start to finish. It's set in a small community surrounded by fences that keep the "Unconsecrated" from murdering the inhabitants. Mary's only ever known the village with its strict rules, but starts to question the m...
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Candor by Pam Bachorz (Egmont, 2009, 9781405250276)
A deceptively simple yet chilling tale about a new town in America, where all the teens are brainwashed by subliminal messages, hidden in the muzak, into behaving perfectly. The architect of this society is Oscar's dad, who believes that he has the perfect son - but Oscar knows about the messages and how to subvert them, and has a profitable line in counter-brainwashing, helping teens escape from Candor. When Nia arrives, he is attracted to h...
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Oranges are not known for their ability to tessellate.
- Max
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I've added a large selection of tried and tested best booktalking titles to this site, with some tips on how to prepare and deliver sessions. I really wish more people would try this - it really does work, it gets teens reading, and it's very rewarding to do. I've been doing it for ten years and it's the highlight of my year, to be honest! This year I've combined it with a Cephalonian induction method for Year 10 students, and it's gone down really well. I hope to add book covers to the page ...
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Have you got a pair of scissors so I can undo the leather thongs?
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Following the insanity of November's NaNoWriMo, a few of us gluttons for punishment are preparing for Script Frenzy throughout April. The challenge is to write 100 pages of script in one month! It's intense but as we achieved NaNoWriMo, how could we not join this international writing adventure?
For more details see the website at www.scriptfrenzy.org.
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The Guardian reported this week on the “battle of Britain’s libraries”, contrasting the visionary renovations of Cardiff, Newcastle and Birmingham with the traditional image of fusty old libraries. That some Councils see the value of investing in libraries is visionary indeed in a time of swingeing cuts and negative attitudes, yet it sits at odds with the words of Margaret Hodge, the Government minister charged with their care. In the interview with the Guardian’s Stuart Jeffries, she...

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Today the SecEd ran an article on the Campaign for the Book which included comments by Hilary Moriarty, national director of the Boarding Schools Association, which have enraged librarians. Her comments included "you really don't need the books... and a severe librarian in residence... if ever there was a time to say something has become redundant, surely now is the time for school libraries?". I've emailed a response to the editor of the SecEd about this appalling piece, below:

Dear Mr Hens...

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Well, I've actually done it! 50,000 words of my novel written in just one month. Okay, it's very rough, but it's a start. A skeleton to flesh out. There are characters and scenes to insert, some plot holes to fill, some very dodgy dialogue to sort out. But I've enjoyed every minute; even the odd moments when characters pop up that you weren't expecting, and your heroine starts doing things that she shouldn't. It's a great experience - the freedom to write without your inner critic demolishing...
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During a debate about the merits of recycling.... "You can't recycle your head into a Norwegian."
During a creative writing group.... "The ostrich attacked the crocodile. I tickled the farmer."
What can I say, it's been a random day!
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If you haven't come across NaNoWriMo yet, you're missing a great thing. NaNoWriMo - or National Novel Writing Month - is an American event rapidly going global. It's a creative writing challenge - to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Yes, one month! The trick is it doesn't have to be any good. It just has to hit the word count.
The aim is to get people writing without worrying. There isn't time for the tyranny of the self-critic. You have to type and go. Every day. For an average of 1670...
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Two boys leaving the library today - "It's like Blockbusters for books, innit?"
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I'm currently excited over the potential of the Project Qualification to embed critical information literacy skills into the minds of students. It focuses on students as independent learners, and requires them to extend their "planning, research, critical thinking, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and presentation skills". The process of "showing your workings out" is given more weight in assessment than the final outcome, meaning that "copy and paste" just won't cut it anymore. It was devised...
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Charlie enters the library, comes to my desk and breaks into a chorus of "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" which he then produces from his rucksack...
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Today I've discovered a fantastic social cataloguing site - www.gurulib.com. Like the more well-known LibraryThing, you can catalogue your favourite books; but GuruLib allows you to also catalogue DVDs, CDs, software... and organise them on "virtual shelves". We're using it as an SDI service for our staff and students by cataloguing our latest acquisitions by faculty. Each "shelf" shows you the book cover, plus review and rating, and links to other resources that may be of interest. It looks ...
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Overheard in the library today from a student: "Aha, there's the ceiling!" in a triumphant voice with accompanying pointing upwards...
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Phil Bradley's sharp riposte to Bob McKee's blogpost on Twittering has made my Monday; Phil said everything so many librarians have been feeling as regards to CILIP's lack of communication with its members and non-members alike. Bob's point - that microblogging is not officially "sanctioned" space and his doubt that anyone will read his blog entry is borne out by the fact that I, like many others I suspect, found his comments because we read Phil's response first. Phil, in contrast to CILIP, ...
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Censorship is a subject that frequently rears its ugly head in school libraries. I take a firm anti-censorship stance and fortunately have the backing of my SLT; but often school librarians find themselves in the difficult position of having to justify stocking a book to outraged parents or teachers. And unfortunately, this leads to a tendency in some librarians to self-censor, in the hope of avoiding such situations. It is my personal view that the ethics of our profession clearly state our ...
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Of the SLA's inspirational quote from Barack Obama poster displayed in the library:
-Who's that guy?
-Isn't he Martin Luther King?
-Thought he was dead?
Priceless!
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Did the girly thing and went to see the film of Twilight at the weekend! The novel has been phenomenal in school - even boys have been reading it! I've read the first two books and enjoyed them, with a caveat. Guess it's my age, but the dippy heroine falls for tall dark and handsome boy (who at first is mean to her then declares all-consuming love) is a little tired when you're in your thirties and have a bit of life experience behind you. But I also totally agree with the Guardian reviewer; ...
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Well, over the Christmas hols I did manage to do some writing after all! I've redrafted Chapter One of Henbane Hearth, as something really was off-key with it. I realised that my narrative voice wasn't working, so I've moved to third-person rather than first-person narration, and edited lots of the background fluff, so it's tighter. It has the benefit that I can get more into the heads of other characters rather than seeing everything from Tan's (the heroine's) POV, so hopefully won't get too...
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It's that time of year again - deciding whether or not to take out membership of CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Informational Professionals) and be able to call myself a Chartered Librarian. I'd really like to and I feel it's important for our status, both in schools and within CILIP itself. But it is darned expensive just after Christmas and I've never really felt that I got anything for the money, other than a cosy glow. (My students love that my postnominals used to spell ALABAM...
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Hi
I'm Ruby, and this is my brand new website. Here I'll be blogging about stuff that concerns my profession - librarianship. I'll also be putting my creative writing online and hopefully some writing by my lovely students.
I'm Chairperson of the 2020 Library Vision Group in Leicestershire and we're concerned with promoting school librarianship as a vital and positive career that impacts greatly on school and student achievement - we're all for raising our professional profile.
Stay tuned!
Ruby
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