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Reading at Home
Thank you to all the students who have entered our competitions during lockdown and congratulations again to all our winners. You have provided an inspiring window into your thoughts and activities during this unique time. See winners from previous weeks.
Wondering what to read over the summer? Download Ms Mead's top picks for horror, sci fi, World War II, humour, fantasy and more besides, in our new 'top picks' lists, downloadable from the bottom of this page.
Southwark Book Award 2020
If you’re looking for a challenge over the summer holidays, take part in the Southwark Book Award 2020.
Students from HBAED Book Club and from schools across Southwark have been reading the six shortlisted books this year, but due to the COVID-19 school shutdown we have not yet completed our task. The vote for the winner will now take place in the Autumn Term when we are all back at school, so you have plenty of time to get involved. Click here to see all the shortlisted books. You can also leave your own reviews, read what other students think and look at all the past shortlists and winners.
Read of the Day - Silent Striker by Pete Kalu
Pete Kalu writes about race and disability in his books and is determined to destroy the harmful stereotypes that often surround black, male youth. In The Silent Striker, Marcus lives and breathes football; he might even have the makings of a professional player. In amongst the turmoil of school, girlfriend, home life, he finds himself going deaf. Racism rears its head on the football pitch and stigma follows him as he tries out hearing aids. This is a powerful and moving story about overcoming.
Read Pete Kalu’s thoughts on the problems of stereotypes and speaking of behalf of different groups here.
“With The Silent Striker, I tried to tell a story. I did not aspire to represent the whole of the deaf or black experience. Just me. One voice. With the hope that others add their voices to this by writing their books and that cumulatively, collectively, we not only reflect but stimulate progressive change.”
Education and literacy are key areas of Nelson Mandela’s legacy which will be celebrated this week on Nelson Mandela Day on 18 July. The Nelson Mandela School Library Project raises money to open libraries in South African schools. Ninety percent of South African schools do not have a library. Read the story of the Mpumalanga School Library opening here.
Read of the Day - Eight Pieces of Silva, by Patrice Lawrence
Patrice Lawrence tackles issues of race and diversity head on in all of her books. The latest one, Eight Pieces of Silva, an addictive mystery and story of loss and self-discovery, is published in August. She still remembers the day when she turned on the TV adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Pig Heart Boy and saw a believable black family portrayed on the screen. That was the day she found her voice as a writer.
Click here for a fascinating interview with Patrice talking about several of her other books, Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Diver’s Daughter, which is based around the story of the Tudor Jack Francis, the first recorded man of African descent to give evidence in an English court. She also gives lots more recommendations of great diverse authors to be reading now. Find out more about over 100 writers and illustrators of colour here.
Continuing our build up to Nelson Mandela Day on 18 July, read here how Nelson Mandela fought especially for the rights of children and was awarded the World’s Children’s Prize in 2005.
Read of the Day - Muhammad Khan
One of Ms Mead's lockdown reading discoveries has been Muhammad Khan, author of I Am Thunder and Kick The Moon. His thirst to be a writer grew from his early days as a small boy in Balham Library unable to find any characters that looked like him in the books there. The closest he came was Paddington Bear – because at least he was brown.
Muhammad is now a teacher in South London and makes sure that he reflects the diversity of his students in his books. He says: “today’s young people are the heroes who will spread empathy as long as they see themselves represented”. Click here to read more.
All this week in the run up to Nelson Mandela Day we will be celebrating diversity in writing. Nelson Mandela Day was established by the United Nations in 2009 and is held annually on 18 July, Nelson Mandela’s birthday, to celebrate his lifelong fight to change the world for the better. The key aims are to inspire action against poverty and to fight for human rights and an end to racism. For a quick introduction to Nelson Mandela’s life click here. Find a more detailed account here.
Read of the Day - Books to movies
Today is the closing day for entries to our film review competition (see above). So many great books have made their way on to our cinema and TV screens over the last year with more coming very soon. Click here for lots more on great filmed versions of some of our library's most popular books.
Read of the Day - Drones
A couple of new books appeared last year inspired by the subject of drones and how they can give you a whole new perspective on things as well as an incredible sense of freedom. Both books feel very fresh tackling a new world of technology and story ideas.
Read how Danny Rurlander has cleverly entwined the solving of a tense mystery with the story of a boy whose own freedom is very limited in his book Spylark. Find out more.
Drone Racer by Andy Briggs is set in the world of science fiction, where machines can talk, but along with high-tech and super-speed adventure, this is also a story of friendship and growing up. Find out more.
See previous 'Reads of the Day' in our Reads of the Day archive.
Southwark Library online
Southwark Libraries have a great e-library, accessed through BorrowBox, where you can download books and audiobooks for free. If you do not have a Southwark Library membership, you can join now for 90 days without a signed application form (you do not need to be a Southwark resident). Join Southwark Library.
London Libraries Consortium
Many London borough libraries are also a member of the London Libraries Consortium. If you are a member of one of these libraries you can access the e-catalogues of all of the others, giving you even more to choose from. Click here for a list of participating boroughs.
Other sources of books
- Project Gutenberg is completely free and good for classic fiction, books in other languages and older non-fiction.
- If you have Amazon Prime you get access to Prime Reading which has over a thousand books (fiction, non-fiction, children's books), comics and magazines free to download.
- Currently the free 30 day trial for Kindle Unlimited on Amazon is easy to double up to 60 days through PC magazine and other sites. You just need to remember to cancel before the end of the trial to avoid payment starting.
- There is a free 30 day trial for Audible's audiobooks.
- The World Book Day website has several complete audio books for all ages which are completely free to listen to.
Wondering what to read?
Download Ms Mead's top picks for horror, sci fi, World War II, humour, fantasy and more besides, in our new 'top picks' lists below. Happy reading!
