Laurence Library

Homework Club

As we get closer to Year 12 examinations, the pace is starting to pick up in the Library. Homework Club is busy and really well attended. Our senior students are also availing themselves of the Library before school, at recess and lunchtime, with some even arranging to meet their subject teachers for one-on-one. Furthermore, our readers are growing in numbers, with a lot of lower school students also availing themselves of the beautiful space in our Library for reading.

This week Lego was a popular activity with Hogwarts being worked on over the lunch break on Monday and the Millenium Falcon the focus for Wednesday. Book Club also ran, although, sadly, some students were unable to attend. Hopefully in coming weeks all our readers will be able to come to share their passion for reading. 

With Book Week next week things are very exciting in the Library as we plan activities. We also have a lot of wonderful new books about to go on display. Over the past weeks I have been busy reading in my spare time. I read the YA novel, My Spare Heart by Jared Thomas. Displayed for NAIDOC Week, the cover of the novel caught my eye. A young woman with a ball, in a time when most of us are avidly focussed on the World Cup, seemed promising. The novel was thoroughly enjoyable. While it works through the usual conflicts we are familiar with in YA novels, it also gives insight into what it might be to be a young Indigenous woman struggling with these issues. The Islands, by Emily Brugman, is a very different novel. It is set in an unfamiliar location, an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia. The plot follows a small group of Finnish migrants who struggled to make new lives for themselves in a very hostile environment. In the aftermath of the second world war, many Europeans found new lives in Australia. This novel gives insight into what often was a difficult search for a home. On an entirely different note, I read Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld. This is a novel that works on the premise that Hillary said “no” to Bill when he proposed. Initially I was underwhelmed, then, as I read on, I was captivated. Over the weekend I also watched the documentary, RBG on SBS. The narratives of these parallel lives made me really think about, on one hand the struggle, for some, to reach one’s potential, and on the other, the infrequently realised transformative power of the law.

This is the gift of books. Taking us to other times, place and lives.

Dr Annette Pedersen

Library Coordinator