Dear Students and Staff,

Well done all on a very busy Term 3!

With holidays coming up please feel free to come up to the library any time. If you’d like a book suggestion or to suggest a book for us to get into the library I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

The Readers' Cup Challenge 2022: The Opposite of Disappearing – Short Stories in Uncertain Times

It’s not too late to participate in the annual Readers’ Cup Challenge!

This year the theme and title text will be: The Opposite of Disappearing – Short Stories in Uncertain Times. Everyone is welcome to enter!

We are aiming to hold the event- a fun Kahoot event where you enter as teams to answer questions on selected short stories from the text The Opposite of Disappearing.

You can sign up in teams of up to 5 (individuals are also welcome to enter) and help each other in answering the Kahoot questions.

Please sign up through this Google Form here- only one team member needs to sign up their team:

Sign up Form

We will hold the event in Term 4 Week 1 (Friday 07 October) during lunchtime (13:25 – 14:15) hopefully on the Wood Bridge.

In preparation for this event start gathering your teams together and we will have multiple copies of the short stories text available as print to loan out for you to start reading soon. I am holding the event next term so that you can have the holiday period to read the short stories. You must sign up to enter and you can come up with a device for your team to sign into the Kahoot together.

The short stories are:

The Opposite of Disappearing (p.10 Laura Norris)

Between Spaces (p.39 Sandy Bigna)

Uplifted (p.65 Frances Prentice)

Almost (p.86 Carla Fitzgerald)

The Dark Day (p.96 Peter Clarkson)

Wallpaper (p.129 R.A. Stephens)

Izzy’s Swing (p.136 Kate Gordon)

The stories are slightly shorter than last year so there are a few more 😊

Winners will have their names engraved on the Readers’ Cup Trophy.

Balli Kaur Jaswal - Book Week Author Presentation

We were lucky to have the opportunity for some of our Year 10 students to attend a Book Week presentation by Balli Kaur Jaswal on Friday 26th August.

Balli’s talk addressed her inspiration, writing process, background as a writer as well as past and future projects. Our students were given the opportunity to ask questions which they did and Balli was open and candid about her experiences as a writer.

Balli is a past staff member of JMSS, she completed her PhD on South Asian diaspora writing and has travelled widely to appear in international writers festivals to conduct workshops and lectures on creative writing, pursuing an artistic career, the power of storytelling, global citizenship and social justice advocacy through literature.

Her books include:

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters (2019)

Sugarbread (2016)

Inheritance (2013)

Here are some resources both for your personal reading and studies:

Overdrive eBooks:

Our library subscribes to Overdrive, a service offering a great selection of both eBooks and eAudiobooks. Listening to eAudiobooks in particular is a great way to give your eyes a rest from the screen and have narrators tell a story.

Link to Overdrive

Goodreads:

A good challenge and a fun way to enjoy your personal reading is to start up a GoodReads account! You can start tracking what you’ve read and even challenge yourself with the Goodreads personal annual reading challenge. There is no pressure and it is a fun way to track your personal reading, seeing your online bookshelf is a great wat to see what kind of books you really enjoy and what you read most of. This can lead you to trying new genres and even suggested reads from GoodReads.

Link to GoodReads

The SLV and Public Libraries: Sign up today!

Signing up to the State Library Victoria (SLV) is a really helpful resource and beneficial for your research. Signing up is free, can be done online and you will have access to all their databases and journals online.

Sign up to State Library Victoria (SLV) to become a member: Sign Up

1. free to join

2. access academic journal articles

Video 'Get to know State Library Victoria's online resources'

Please remember that public libraries have fantastic online resources. If you are already a member of your public library it is worth looking into what they can offer online and if you aren’t already a member you can sign up easily online to be a member and have immediate access to their online resources. Their online resources often include: eBooks and eAudiobooks, online magazine publications, subscriptions to services such as Linda.com and video streaming services.

Issues in Society:

We have the online .pdf versions of Issues in Society a very current and Australian focused publication which tackles interesting issues facing society in a graphic and easy to follow format with up to date statistics, illustrations and graphs. We also have the current issues in print at the library!

Here is a direct link to our site and it can also be found on the portal.

These can be accessed digitally from the portal and Issues in Society site and as a print copy through the library.

New Books at the library:

We have some great new books at the library, come up to have a look!

New Scientist Essential Guides:

We now subscribe to the New Scientist Essential Guides as print resources and have received our first editions focusing on:

NO1 THE NATURE OF REALITY

NO2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

NO3 HUMAN HEALTH

NO4 OUR HUMAN STORY

NO5 QUANTUM PHYSICS

NO6 EVOLUTION

NO7 THE HUMAN BRAIN

NO8 CLIMATE CHANGE

NO9 NUTRITION AND DIET

NO10 EINSTEINS UNIVERSE

NO11 LIFE ON EARTH

Library Book Club:

For any students interested we have a Library Book Club. We will start our fortnightly meetings on Wednesdays 10 minutes into lunchtime at the library from Wednesday 24/08/22 (Week 7 Term 3). This is a great way to stay connected and to join in the discussion with other students who love to read, please let me (Ms. Veldsman) know if you would like to join!

September Book Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a beautifully written novel. Reading this novel, the main thing that stuck with me was a main character with so much warmth and depth at 15-17 years old. She is definitely someone you want to succeed on her journey of self discovery and growing up. Recovering from losing her parents, Cameron starts to forge a new life for herself with family who do not always understand the best way to support her.

Set in a small American town during a time when acceptance and understanding often fell away to pressure and appearances, Cameron has hurdles along the way. As Cameron slowly discovers more about herself and finds the strength to set her own path she finds out that it is alright to be who you are even in the face when it’s not easy and when you face resistance.

Have a great and well-earned holiday break!

Take Care All!

Ms. Veldsman

2023 Captains