Out of the Box

Library News 

From the day we opened the doors to welcome the 2023 school year, the library has been a hub of activity.  Anyone standing to view this space in the morning at recess or at lunch would think we had just been issued exclusive tickets to a highly sought after concert and it is just so lovely that the Library at Box Hill High School is a place where students want to be.  Whether it is to collaborate with their peers; to take part in the ‘Puzzle Gauntlet Challenge’; to immerse themselves in the books and search for their next adventure; to share their favourite stories and recommend those that we need to add to the collection; to play chess; to knit; to assist as a Library Leader or just to find a spot to work, study and just be.  Our library is really, a thriving, bustling, welcoming and positive space for the whole school community and we are so very proud of this.  

 

A HUGE WELCOME TO OUR NEW TEACHER LIBRARIAN, EMILY COLLINS 

Hello, I am so excited to be here! This is an amazing school and an astounding library!  Ms McQueen left some very big shoes to fill, and I am going to try really hard to be a great teacher librarian here at BHHS.  I have been teaching in government schools for 17 years as an Art/Visual Communication teacher and a Teacher Librarian and I really love my job. Libraries are a place where you can come and ask questions, find out all sorts of things about the world and read stories about people’s lives and stories from people’s imaginations.   I was so impressed to see books grouped by Genre here at BHHS as I can see all of the books that I might be interested in at once. Some of my favourite genres are Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Romance and True Stories.  I have been put in charge of the daily puzzles and have created ‘The Puzzle Gauntlet’; a series of challenges and I have been amazed at the numbers of students who come to the library on a daily basis to work with their friends to take part.  In my spare time I go swimming, paint and I actually taught myself to knit in the summer holidays just so I could be ready for Knitting Club that runs here every Thursday lunchtime. I cannot believe that we are already at the end of Term 1 – they say that time flies where you are having fun and I have loved my first term here at Box Hill High School.  

 

WHAT’S BEEN ON IN THE LIBRARY TERM 1 

‘The Puzzle Gauntlet’ has students bustling into the library first thing in the morning with a positive buzzing vibe of energy eager to discuss clues and solve each of the puzzles in order to earn house points and stickers.  What’s the gauntlet?  Just the daily challenge where students can work with friends or independently to solve the word/picture puzzle, guess the 9-letter word, a Boggle challenge and match the world flags to the correct country.    

 

Clubs have also seen a welcome return with Chess Club, Knitting Club, School Magazine Club and Book Club running in the library space.  

 

CHESS CLUB 

Chess Club has exploded in the library with daily games of between 15 and 30 being played every recess and lunch.  A chess tournament for students in Year 7-10 will be running in the last week of term and we had 90 students sign up in the first two days that it was advertised.  

 

KNITTING CLUB 

Knitting club has also flourished this year and we had to source another 30 knitting needles and wool. Students from all year levels and abilities have been welcomed into the library space every Thursday lunchtime, guided, and mentored by our talented and creative Library Assistant Ying Yu.  

 

BOOK CLUB 

Book Club has started again and we are meeting every Thursday to chat about books, books and more books.  This month the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) announced the top 21 young adult books and will shortlist this to their top 6 on 28th March 2023.  For the third year running we have signed up to take part in the Shadow Judging program. This is where students who sign up to read the top 6 books, write reviews and meet to discuss and decide on which book they believe should win the book of the year.  

 

PARENT STUDENT BOOK CLUB  

At the start of this year, we asked parents to join our new parent student book club. We had a really positive response with 40 parents sign up and they were sent a list of recommended books, all with a common theme, aimed to promote a shared reading experience.  Parents and students were then invited into our library space at the end of the term.  If you are interested in joining Term 2 or would just like some book recommendations for your child, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the library at  boxhillhslibrary@boxhillhs.vic.edu.au 

 

Term 1’s theme was refugees and the list of books recommended are listed below.  

 

Refugee by Alan Gratz is one of the most moving books that I have read in a long time. The book follows the story of three young refugees, in three different time periods across three different countries.  Josef, a German Jewish boy living in Germany in 1938; Isabel, a girl trying to escape Cuba with her family in 1994 and finally Mahmoud, a 12 year old Syrian boy who must leave when an air strike destroys his family home in 2015.  This book is told through the experience of the three main protagonists and each chapter leaves on a cliffhanger.  This is a skillfully written book that explores the very real and difficult challenges faced by those who go on harrowing journeys full of unimaginable dangers and leave the only place they know, in order to survive. It will promote empathy and understanding of ‘all people’ and will promote passionate and important discussions. This book is aimed at junior secondary.  

 

No Words by Maryam Master is so beautifully written and follows the story of long-term school friends Hero and Jaz who befriend a new boy called Aria at school.  It is told from the perspective of Hero and Aria and follows them as they navigate their first year of high school.  Aria however, is clearly dealing with some trauma. “He has kind eyes. And sometimes a mischievous smile.  But no words. None. It’s literally like someone pointed the remote at his mouth and pressed the mute button”.  Slowly as the story unfolds we learn about Aria, his life in Iran before his family flees for their lives and before they eventually settle in Australia.  This is a beautiful story that would promote conversations about mental health, bullying, grief, loss, friendship and the power of a voice. This book is aimed at junior secondary and has just been longlisted on the CBCA Younger Readers -Book of the Year for 2023. 

 

The third book that I have selected is called DETENTION by Tristan Bancks and may ignite similar conversations about race, multiculturalism and immigration in Australia.  It may also promote some great conversations surrounding Australia’s treatment of refugees and the difference between what is morally right and what is legally right.  This book is aimed more at junior secondary.  It was longlisted for Book of the Year for Older Children by the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), has a contemporary storyline and is set in Queensland.  The story is about a young girl called Sima who escapes with her family from a detention centre after they are informed that they are to be sent home.  In the chaos of the escape, Sima loses her parents, but her dad told her whatever happens, to run and so she does.  Hiding in a school, Sima triggers a lockdown.  A boy, Dan, finds her hiding in the toilet block.  What should he do?  Help her?  Dob her in?  She’s breaking the law but is it right to lock kids up?  Is she really a danger to society?  

 

The final book is titled Between Us, written by Clare Atkins. Please note that while this book is aimed at middle and senior secondary and does include some coarse language and drug references, the overall themes and issues that it explores, I believe, will ignite some passionate and important discussions.  

 

It explores issues surrounding race, multiculturalism, and immigration in Australia.  Set in Darwin, the book is about an Iranian asylum seeker called Ana who is only allowed out of detention to attend school.  At school she meets Jono, who is dealing with his own problems – his mother has walked out, his sister has gone off to uni and he is left alone with his Vietnamese father, Kenny.  Kenny is working out the rules of his new job as a guard at the Wickham Point Detention Centre.  He tells Ana that she should look out for Jono at school but soon regrets that decision: who is she really?  What is her story?  Is she a genuine refugee or a queue jumper?  As Ana and Jono grow closer, Kenny spirals into mistrust and suspicion… 

 

This book has many accolades including: 

  • Winner of Book of the Year for Older Readers in the Children’s Book Council Awards (CBCA) in 2019 
  • Shortlisted, 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Young Adult category 
  • Shortlisted, 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature 
  • Shortlisted, 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Young Adult Literature category 
  • iBBY Australia’s 2020 Honour Book for Writing  

 

TEEN READING RESEARCH PROJECT 

At the end of last year, Box Hill High School was selected to take part in a research project on ‘Teen Reading in the Digital Age’.  

 

The aim of the research is to investigate young Australians’ leisure reading tastes and practices and discover who or what influences their choices.  It is conducted by Associate Professor Leonie Rutherford (Deakin University), Professor Michael Dezuanni (Queensland University of Technology) and Professors Katya Johanson and Andrew Singleton (Deakin University).  Our role was to select two classes from every year level and after obtaining parental permission, provide time for the students to complete the survey. The aim of taking part in the research was to support the research to help improve knowledge in the community and professional organisations about young people’s reading habits and how they make decisions about what they read. Thank you so everyone who took part in this.  

 

By Emily Collins

Librarian