Library News
Library staff have curated a display of books in honour of Remembrance Day which is marked on the 11th November every year. One particular book, World War One a History in 100 Stories, tells the stories of men and women who lost their lives at war and those who returned home damaged forever. Drawn from a unique collection of sources, including repatriation files, these heartbreaking and deeply personal accounts reveal a broken and suffering generation and a fragile kind of courage from the pain and devastation of a conflict that changed the world.
Exams & Study
MGSC staff have been working with students in the library, before and after school and during break times. I have observed first hand, the dedication of our teaching staff and MGSC students who are committed to their studies and the pursuit of knowledge. It is very inspiring to behold.
Exams have commenced at MGSC with a few VCE exams being held in library spaces. Please note, there are closures before and after school and the library printer will be unavailable on the following dates:
Tuesday 15 November 2.30pm – 5pm.
Year 11s and 12s are encouraged to use the library as a quiet study space, with priority given to them over the next few weeks.
Featured books
Graphic Novel Underground by Mirranda Burton
From the back cover :
Led by an unconscientiously objecting wombat registered for military service during Australia’s war in Vietnam, Underground digs tunnels through a chapter of Australian history that many have attempted to bury. Why would a wombat be registered for war?
It’s 1965, and an old Tattersalls barrel starts rolling marbles to randomly conscript young Australian men to fight in the war in Vietnam. Melbourne housewife Jean McLean is outraged, as are her artist friends Clif and Marlene Pugh, who live in the country with their wombat, Hooper.
Determined to wreck the system, Jean forms the Save Our Sons movement’s Victorian branch, and she and her supporters take to the streets to protest. Meanwhile, in the small country town of Katunga, Bill Cantwell joins the Australian Army, and in Saigon, young Mai Ho is writing letters to South Vietnamese soldiers from her school desk. And when Hooper’s call-up papers arrive, he mysteriously goes underground…
As these stories intersect in unexpected ways and destinies entwine, a new world gradually emerges – a world in which bridges of understanding make more sense than war. This stunning graphic novel, full of empathy, courage and resistance, is based on true events.
Fiction - All the Broken Places by John Boyne
From the back cover:
Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same mansion block in London for decades. She leads a comfortable, quiet life, despite her dark and disturbing past. She doesn't talk about her escape from Germany over seventy years before. She doesn't talk about the post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn't talk about her father, the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.Then, a young family moves into the apartment below her. In spite of herself, Gretel can't help but begin a friendship with the little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget. One night, she witnesses a violent argument between Henry's mother and his domineering father, one that threatens Gretel's hard-won, self-contained existence.Gretel is faced with a chance to expiate her guilt, grief and remorse and act to save a young boy - for the second time in her life. But to do so, she will be forced to reveal her true identity to the world. Will she make a different choice this time, whatever the cost to herself?
Term 4 Book Club
Term 4 book club will be held during week 8 on Thursday 24 November at lunchtime. This will be the final book club for 2023. Book club members have chosen to read a selection of books from a variety of genres: One of us is Next, Sadie Starr’s Guide to Starting Over and They Both Die at the End. Copies will be available at the library desk shortly and members will be notified when these items arrive.
Mythology Club
Come along to the Mythology Club lunchtimes on Tuesday in the Library Seminar room. We have an exciting array of activities, books and resources for you to discover. Sessions are run by the Education Support staff who welcome new members.
Maker Space
The Education Support staff have created a Maker Space in the library. There is a new Lego Station, with a colour coded collection of Lego items for students to play and create with and a Colouring Station. Students are invited to use this creative space during recess and lunchtimes.
Megan Tulloch-Nasir
and the Library team