The 2024 ‘Read for Empathy Collection’ reading lists are out now.
Newhaven School Library Blog/News, Reviews and Giveaways
Carole Oldfield librarian@newhavenschool.co.uk
This blog explores things we can do together. I hope it gives you some great ideas for summer reading and provides plenty of food for thought.
Please send news, reviews and information for the next blog. Find out more by visiting me in the library.
Empathy Day – June each year
We can identify with characters’ feelings when we read stories. The stories can be true life, based on facts, or fiction, conjured from the author’s imagination. So books can help us become more understanding, build empathy skills and explore what it means to ‘walk a mile in their shoes’.
Try books from the 2024 Empathy Collection. You’ll find picture books, novels, poetry, non-fiction, graphic and verse novels. Look out for the ‘Exclusive Author Read Alouds’ where writers read their own books.
Sharing personal stories
Diaries and biographies are great to read if you enjoy true-life stories.
I’ve just read a book by Yeva Skalietska. She was twelve when war began in her home town in Ukraine. It is her diary of the journey she and her granny took to find a safer home. Not ready to read it all? Look at photos and read school WhatsApp messages shared by Yeva and her friends as they become separated and dispersed.
The cover of Yeva’s book, a photo taken in Yeva’s new home town.
In this video Yeva asks people to imagine what life is like for an ordinary twelve year old girl who faces immediate and scary changes in her life.
Refugees – Sharing information
These books contain real-life stories told by refugees and information about why people need to find new homes. Click on the cover images to find out more about each book. You can borrow these books from the library.
In brief:
‘Asylum Speakers’ is based on a popular podcast which shares the voices of people behind the statistics and headlines.
‘Far from Home’ looks at this complex topic by examining the root causes of mass migrations, past and present.
‘Who are Refugees and Migrants?’ This book takes an international perspective to explore the effects of never-ending war and conflict and how we build diverse and intercultural societies.
Challenge 2 is about these books. Scroll to the end of the blog to find out more.
Sharing food
These cookery books are not new but they still make excellent reading, and you don’t have to cook to enjoy cookery books.
I found the first book shown here in a giveaway box at a train station recently. It is in Norwegian so I can’t read the words but it is full of beautiful photographs. Flicking through the pages is like travelling through a new world. Emmy, the new student librarian at Kings Park, translated the title. ‘Med Smak Av Japan’ or 日本の味 is ‘A taste of Japan’ by Joakim Lundblad.
Browse the cookery books on our non-fiction shelves. Dewey number 641 is ‘food and drink’.
“Together: our Community Cookbook’ contains recipes shared by women who came together in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire. With their homes destroyed, they gathered in the communal kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in West London. You can find out more about the way the book brought about change here.
‘Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen’ is by Zoe Adjonyoh. She is an author, entrepreneur and social activist. She worked in the hospitality industry focusing on food justice and female empowerment. Through her activism Zoe led a powerful conversation on decolonising the food industry.
Watch these 2 YouTube videos to find out how food and sharing recipes can be a force for good and positive social change.
Challenge 1 is about these books. Scroll to the end of the blog to find out more.
Classes – Reading together
Research shows that reading not only makes a big difference to our educational achievement across the curriculum, but also to personal, social and emotional development.
In Newhaven School, we find opportunities to read together and share stories. This can be in tutor time, library lessons, class time, subject lessons and enrichment or quiet reading on your own.
If you like crime, mysteries and detective stories, here are four books to borrow. Could these be on your 2024 summer reading list?
Foundation Year at Kings Park recently read ‘The London Eye Mystery’ by Siobhan O’Dowd. The class followed this up with a visit to the London Eye. The story is a riveting mystery in which Ted turns detective to find his cousin Salim, who goes up in the London Eye but doesn’t come down again.
Read more about this book, including reviews by other children, here.
Puzzled together
Come into the library to play games during break and lunch. Our libraries are great space to chat, play games, browse and borrow books. At Kings Park new students being shown around always stop off at the library. New ideas are always welcome.
The library is open at break and lunch times when I am at your site.
- Gardens Library, Room 33, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays
- Kings Park Library, Room 25, on Wednesdays and Thursdays
Games to choose from in Gardens Library. Games in action at Kings Park.
Spring/Summer Challenges
The challenges refer to items in the blog. Pick up a paper copy of this form from the library.
Or
Email the answers from your school email account to librarian@newhavenschool.co.uk
CHALLENGE 1: Sharing Food
Follow the link, find the quote and fill in the missing words.
This __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ of women became known as the Hubb Community Kitchen. Hubb means ‘love’ in __ __ __ __ __ __. The women of the Hubb Community Kitchen describe it as a place of __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __, love, __ __ __ __ __ __ and friendship.
CHALLENGE 2: Refugees – Sharing Information
Match this information to the correct book. Find the answers by clicking on the picture of each book cover. This will lead you to the website where you can find the text. Write the titles after the quote.
- “From Syria to Venezuela, Eritrea to Afghanistan, Asylum Speakers will transcend borders, nationalities, religions and languages, connecting you to the people with whom we share this world.”
Book Title……………………………………………………………………….. - “Part of the ground-breaking and important ‘And Other Big Questions’ series, which offers balanced and considered vielws on the big issues we face in the world we live in today.”
Book Title……………………………………………………………………….. - “What if you had to leave your home and you could never go back? What do you think that would be like?”
Book Title………………………………………………………………………..
If your answers are correct, you can choose a gift book, a notebook, or pen and pencil.
Maximum one gift per person per blog. Deadline: Friday 27th September 2024.
Open to students from all Newhaven sites, learning at home and at school.