YEAR 7 LIBRARY ORIENTATION

As part of Lalor Secondary College’s commitment to improving student literacy outcomes, all Year 7 classes are timetabled to have one Library period per fortnight. During this first session, we introduced our new students to their school library so they become familiar with the resources and facilities available to them as well as understanding how the library operates. Students were informed about our fiction and non-fiction collections, computers, magazines as well as receiving general information about printing and photocopying. Throughout the year, we will be covering a range of different topics including learning about new book releases, book genres, learning how to use various databases and how to conduct effective Internet searches, as well as many more. Students will also be receiving their Premiers’ Reading Challenge login details in coming weeks, so stay tuned to this space.

We have also seen many Year 8 to 11 English classes coming in to work on their Oral Presentations and research various media issues. It has been great to see students using the Echo Education website at www.echoeducation.com.au to source news articles and visuals and learn how various individuals and groups have responded to these in the media. Students can access the Echo Education username and password from Library staff or their English teachers. They are also encouraged to keep reading online newspapers such as the opinion and editorial sections of The Guardian Australia, The Age and Herald Sun newspapers. They should continue to think critically about how these media outlets are positioning them to view or think.

As always, the Library has been a hive of activity at lunchtime. Students have enjoyed playing chess and checkers, studying and reading during this time.

FEBRUARY IS LIBRARY LOVERS’ MONTH

Library Lovers’ Month is celebrated in libraries worldwide. Here is Year 8 student and book lover Sin in front of another one of Ms Cecchini’s gorgeous book displays

Georgia Flaskas

Library Resource Centre Manager

NEW BOOKS

The Library has been stocking up on new books. Here are just some of the many new titles that have arrived in the last fortnight. More new books can be seen on our Instagram account at lalorsc_library. Students are reminded that they can make suggestions for new books in the Suggestions Book at the circulation desk.

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists By Mikki Kendall, Anna D'Amico

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists is a fun, fascinating, and full-color exploration of this important herstory, tracing its roots from antiquity to show how 21st-century feminism developed. Along the way, you’ll meet a wide range of important historical figures and learn about many political movements, including suffrage, abolition, labor, LGBT liberation, the waves of feminism, and more.

Our Planet : the one place we call home By Matt Whyman

The official children’s book to the Netflix original documentary series, Our Planet, with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. This glorious visual celebration of the natural world combines extraordinary photography from the series with stunning illustrations from acclaimed artist, Richard Jones. Lose yourself in icy landscapes, dense jungles and endless oceans. Learn how our fascinating habitats, and the plants and creatures living there, interconnect to create the one place we all call home - Our Planet.

19 Love Songs by David Levithan

David Levithan, delivers all of these stories and more. Born from Levithan’s tradition of writing a story for his friends each Valentine’s Day, this collection brings all of them to his readers for the first time. With fiction, nonfiction, and a story in verse, there’s something for every reader here.

This Book will Help Cool The Climate by Isabel Thomas

Our planet is in peril and it needs your help! But the good news is that there are loads of easy ways that you can make a difference. From lift-sharing to switching body sprays, there are so many things you can do to help fight climate change. Complete with myth-busting boxes and counter arguments to put climate-deniers in their place, this is a one-stop guide to transform eco-worried kids into eco-activists.

The Crossover By Kwame Alexander

With a bolt of lightning on my kicks … The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. 'Cuz tonight I’m delivering,’ raps twelve-year-old Josh Bell. Thanks to their dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood - he’s got mad beats, too, which help him find his rhythm when it’s all on the line. See the Bell family in a whole new light through Dawud Anyabwile’s dynamic illustrations as the brothers' winning season unfolds, and the world as they know it begins to change.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they’ve never met…until one day when they’re made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.

HEARTSTOPPER is about love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness. It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie’s lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

Click by Kayla Miller

When a school variety show leaves Olive stranded without an act to join, she begins to panic, wondering why all her friends have already formed their own groups - without her. With the performance drawing closer by the minute, will Olive be able to find her own place in the show before the curtain comes up?

Author-illustrator Kayla Miller has woven together a heartfelt and insightful story about navigating friendships, leaning on family, and learning to take the stage in the most important role of all.

The Imaginaries : Little Scraps of Larger Stories by Emily Winfield Martin

From mermaids and giant flowers to magical robes and mysterious characters, this full-colour collection of old and new art from Emily Winfield Martin will inspire the artist and writer in you! Each glorious image is given a mysterious or magical one-line caption–the beginning of a story, or maybe the middle–you imagine the rest.

The captions are hand-written on vintage scraps of paper, envelopes, postcards and more.

Big Ideas for Young Thinkers by Jamia Wilson

Jamia Wilson expertly explores the difficult questions kids may ask by introducing a diverse range of thinkers and luminaries. Each question is introduced in lively prose before a timeline lays out how different thinkers of the world have approached each question. With vibrant art from Andrea Pippins to illustrate each visionary.

Chapters are organised into five sections: Identity, Life, Truth, Culture, and Creativity. Questions include: Who are you? Who are we? Why do I think? What is gender? Why do we exist? What happens when we die? What is right and wrong? What is bias? Do I have it? What is freedom? What is an imagination? What is memory?

Stylish and accessible, it brings philosophy to the next generation in a warm and inclusive way.

We Refugees by Emma Larking

They are our neighbours, ancestors, friends; not a tide or a crisis but a test of our imagination. The stories, essays and poetry in this beautiful anthology bridge cultural divides to offer hope and healing. A fundraiser for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, We Refugees celebrates the courage of exiles.

The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Asiya’s hijab is like the ocean and the sky, no line between them, saying hello with a loud wave.

It’s Faizah’s first day of school, and her older sister Asiya’s first day of hijab - made of a beautiful blue fabric. But not everyone sees hijab as beautiful. In the face of hurtful, confusing words, will Faizah find new ways to be strong?

This is an uplifting, universal story of new experiences, the unbreakable bond shared by siblings and of being proud of who you are, from Olympic medallist Ibtihaj Muhammad.

Boy Crazy Stacey by Gale Galligan

Stacey and Mary Anne are baby-sitting for the Pike family for two weeks at the New Jersey shore. There’s a gorgeous house right on the beach, a boardwalk, plenty of sun and sand… and the cutest boy Stacey has ever seen!

Mary Anne thinks that Stacey should leave Scott alone and focus on the Pike kids, but Stacey’s in love. Mary Anne doesn’t like it one bit! How can she tell Stacey that Scott just isn’t interested without ruining their friendship and breaking Stacey’s heart?

Guantanamo Kid by Jerome Tubiana

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