Desert Island Reads

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday October 14th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Desert Island Reads.

We asked our members to share their favorite Desert Island Reads. Contributed titles are split into Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Adult Fiction.

Many thanks to Deb at The Younger Sun  who is an invaluable resource, providing many recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable, and would be happy to help you with any book-buying needs!

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Picture Books

Animalia – Graeme Base

Middle Grade Books

The Midwatch – Judith Rossell

Landovel series – Emily Rodda

The 113th Assistant Librarian – Stuart Wilson

When we were very young –  A A Milne 

Young Adult Books

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy – Laini Taylor

Any book by Terri Terry

Adult Books

Juice – Tim Winton

The Season – Helen Garner

The Burrow – Melanie Cheng

Spark of the Everflame – Penn Cole

The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey

I Am Scrooge : A Zombie Story for Christmas – Adam Roberts

Playground – Richard Powers

The Red Tent – Anita Diamant

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The Dune series – Frank Herbet

The Lord of the Rings Series – J R R Tolkien

Remembrance of things past – Marcel Proust

Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Books by Edward Rutherfurd

Non-Fiction Books

The Australia Survival Guide – George Ivanoff

Strife – Mia Freeman (previously published a Work Strife Balance)

Australian Gospel – Lech Blaine

Car Crash – Lech Blaine

A Place For Everything : The Curious History of Alphabetic Order – Judith Flanders

An Atlas

The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J Jacobs

The Dreaming Path: Indigenous Thinking to Change Your Life – Paul Callaghan

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday August 7th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Bookshops and Libraries. This is a topic close to every reader’s heart, so we were eager to dive into everyone’s recommendations.

We asked our members to share their favorite Fiction and Non-Fiction titles to do with bookstores and libraries. Contributed titles are split into Adult, Books for Students (covering Middle Grade and Young Adult, with additional info provided) and Picture Books.

Many thanks to Deb at The Younger Sun  who is an invaluable resource, providing many recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable, and would be happy to help you with any book-buying needs!

Penguin Books supported this session! They sent three new books (in this meeting’s theme) to one lucky school who participated in the event. A massive thanks to everyone at Penguin Books for helping us encourage reading!

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

New Titles shared by Deb from the Younger Sun 

Adult

The Yield – Tara June Winch

Possession – A S Byatt.

The Little Paris Bookshop – Nina George

The Library Book – Susan Orleans

The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians – James Patterson

Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doer

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop – Bo-reum Hwang

The Secret, Book and Scone Society – Ellery Adams

The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell

Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams

The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

The Cracked Spine – Paige Shelton

The Librarianist – Patrick deWitt

The Diary of a Bookseller – Shaun Bythell

The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki

The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

Dewey – Vicki Myron

That Librarian – Amanda Jones

The Library Book – Susan Orlean

The Librarian: a Memoir – Allie Morgan.

Books for Students

What You are Looking For is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama (Year 9 up)

113th Assistant Librarian – Stuart Wilson (Coming out in November!)

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Young Adult)

The Lost Book of Magic – Amelia Mellor (Coming out in October!)

Land of L – Emily Rodda

The Book that Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence  (Year 10 upwards)

The Book that No One Wanted to Read – Richard O (Middle Fiction)

The Library Fish – Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Junior)

The Evil Librarian – Michelle Knudsen

Lirael – Garth Nix (Young Adult)

The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster

The Littlest Library – Poppy Alexander

Hooray, Hooray it’s Library Day – Julie Grasso

The Little Street Library – Amy Adeny

I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf – Grant Snider (Graphic Novel)

Left Handed Booksellers of London – Garth Nix (Young Adult)

Mr Lemoncello’s Library series – Chris Grabenstein

Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian – Jessica Spanyol

Library Mouse – Daniel Kirk

Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians – Brandon Sanderson

Rondo – Emily Rodda

Pages and Co – Anna James

The Lost Library – Rebecca Stead

The Secret Library of Hummingbird House – Julianne Negri

The Medoran Chronicles – Lynette Noni

Words in Deep Blue – Cath Crowley

A Library of Lemons – Jo Cotterill

The Bookshop Girl – Sylvia Bishop

The Moonlight Dreamers – Siobhan Curham (Young Adult)

Strange the dreamer by Lani Taylor (Young Adult)

Luna Loves Library Day – Joseph Coelho

Ink and Bone – Roxanne Conrad (Young Adult)

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Young Adult)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Librarian of Auschwitz – Antoni Hurbe (Young Adult)

Suggested Reading – Dave Connis (Young Adult)

The Travelling Bookshop – Katrina Nannestad

Fairy Tale Fan Club – Richard Ayoade (New)

Whisperwicks – Jordan Lee (New)

Picture Books

The Dictionary Story – Oliver Jeffers (New!)

Books Make Good Friends – Jane Mount

Parsely Rabbit – Frances Watts and David Legge

The Little Street Library – Amy Adeney

Dewey – Vicki Myron

The Librarian of Basra – Antonio Iturbe

Librarian – Busy People series – Ando Twin and Lucy M George

The Librarian’s Stories – Lucy Falcone and Anna Wilson

It’s A Book – Lane Smith

Help Wanted Must Love Books – Janet Sumner Johnson and Courtney Dawson

The Lost Library – Jess McGeachin

Midnight at the Library – Ursula Dubosarsky and Ron Brooks

Our Library – Donna Rawlins

Thanks again to everybody who joined and gave us so many great recommendations.

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday June 20th, 2024, to discuss the topic: STEM. We often view STEM and reading as separate disciplines, but how, where and why do they cross over?

We asked our members to share their favorite Fiction and Non-Fiction titles that relate to STEM topics. As always, you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us and we had a great deal of fun! We anticipated a bit of a struggle for people to find interesting STEM-related books, but fortunately we were completely mistaken and we ended up with a very long list! We also had quite a few recommendations that involved quite complex language or explored difficult concepts, so we have split the Young Adult section into two: VCE and above, and 12+, for more clarity around suiting titles to the appropriate students!

Many thanks to Deb at The Younger Sun  who is an invaluable resource, providing many recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable, and would be happy to help you with any book-buying needs!

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

New Titles shared by Deb from the Younger Sun 

VCE and above

White Holes – Carlo Rovelli

The Housekeeper and the Professor – Yoko Ogawa

Parable of the Sower – Octavia Butler

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin

Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel

Galileo’s Daughter; Longitude – Dava Sobel

Radium Girls – Kate Moore

Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi

12+

The Wild Robot – Peter Brown

Inside out and Outside In – Maria Snyder

Lifel1k3 – Jay Kristoff

Footprints on the Moon – Lorraine Marwood

Lance Balchin – Botanica and Aquatica

Catch a Falling Star – Meg McKinlay

Two Can Play That Game – Leanne Yong

The Lab – Jack Heath

Moondust – Gemma Fowler

Money run – Jack Heath

Middle Grade

George’s Secret Key to the Universe – Lucy and Steven Hawking

Mysterious Benedict Society – Trenton Lee Stewart

Dragon Pearl – Yoon Ha Lee

Wednesday Weeks – Cristy Burne

Axel and Beast – Adrian Bott

Mortal Engines – Philip Reeve

The Achemist War – John Seven

The Balloon girls – Darrell Pitt

Counting by Sevens – Holly Goldberg Stone

How to Bee – Bren MacDibble

Hi From Outer Space – Fiona Katauskas

The Raven’s Song – Bren McDibble and Zana Fraillon

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World – Rachel Ignotofsky

Junior 

The Rosie Revere series

The Wonder of Winsome – Kat Murdoch

Life On Us – Emma & Tim Flannery

Professor Branestawm – Norman Hunter

Picture Books

How to Measure the Ocean – Inda Ahmad Zahri

Tree – Claire Saxby

The Beehive – Megan Daley

Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree – Pamela Freeman

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday May 15th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Pets and Animals. There are so many iconic books featuring animals that we were absolutely inundated with book recommendations from many attendees, which is always a good sign! We had everything from pet dogs, to horses and wolves, to dingoes and whales, and pirate’s parrots. We even had some pets join our session; two cats and four dogs.

Our lovely members really brought their all with a flood of recommendations, with many new texts suggested alongside some classics and little-known titles. It was so lovely to hear the experiences shared between members who’d read the same books.

We absolutely encourage you to reach out to the wonderful Deb at The Younger Sun as an invaluable resource, for further information and recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable!

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Picture Books:

Tough Boris – Mem Fox

Junior Fiction/Middle Grade:

Redwall – Brian Jacques

Toby Alone – Timothee de Fombelle

Grimmelings – Rachael King

Wolves of Greycoat Hall – Lucinda Gifford

Tweet – Morris Gleitzman

Tyger – S.F. Said’

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief – A. F. Steadman

Kip of the Mountain – Emma Gourlay

I Am Rebel – Ross Montgomery

Tiny Dogs – Rose Lihou

Love That Dog – Sharon Creech

The Way of Dog – Zana Fraillon

October October – Katya Balen

Silver Brumby – Elyne Mitchell

Call of the Wild – Jack London

White Fang – Jack London

Runt – Craig Silvey

Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White

One and Only Ivan – K.A. Applegate

Grace and Mr Milligan

Marley and Me – John Grogan

A Dog’s Purpose – W. Bruce Cameron

Tale of Despereaux – Kate DiCamillo

Finding Bear – Hannah Gold

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Paws by Kate Foster

Peggy and Molly – Juliette Wells

Pawcasso – Remi Lai

Honey and the Valley of Horses – Wendy Orr

Funny Folktales

Unlikely Friendships – Jennifer S. Holland

Penguin Bloom – Cameron Bloom

Until the Road Ends – Phil Earle

Bad Guys – Aaron Blabey

Real Pigeons – Andrew McDonald and Ben Wood

Deborah Abela – The Kindness Project

Cora Seen and Heard – Zanni Louise

The Apprentice Witnesser – Bren Macdibble

A Small Collection of Happinesses – Zana Fraillon

Blueback – Tim Winton

“Cozy Reading Dogs” by Enokson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday September 7th, 2023, to discuss the topic: New Adult.

We absolutely encourage you to reach out to the wonderful Jenny at The Younger Sun as an invaluable resource in this area, for further information and recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable!

As always, so many of you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us, and it is very appreciated. Join us again in term four where our topics will be:

• Thursday October 12 – Topic: Promotional Tactics
• Thursday November 16 – Topic: Short Books and Short Stories

This was our sixth book club meeting for 2023, and we want to say a very special thank you to all who have attended and contributed to these informal and informative meetings. We cannot wait to see you at our next meeting, your generosity is greatly appreciated.

In term four we will also be asking for feedback and ideas for 2024 – we look forward to your suggestions.

At our September meeting the wonderful Alida shared how her school stores and displays the equivalent of New Adult in their library.  These photos are of their space. Thank you to Alida for sharing.

Download Jenny’s list HERE.

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

New Adult Suggestions from the attendees

Crying – Michelle Zorner
Love and virtue – Diana Reed
Lessons in chemistry- Bonnie Gamus
The Modern – Anna Kate Blair
The House in the Cerulean Sea – TJ Klune
13 Reasons Why – Jay Asher
Stephen King titles
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Convenience Store woman by Sayaka Murata
Chris Hammer titles
Kyle Perry titles
Scarecrow – Matthew Reilly
Ragdoll – Daniel Cole
Beyond the Body Farm – Jon Jefferson
Bridgerton series – Julia Quinn
The Queen is Dead – Stan Grant
Heat and Light – Ellen van Neerven
Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
Stella Prize titles may be appropriate for this category
Tony Birch books,
The Last daughter – Brenda Matthews
The Fell – Sarah Moss
Summer Water – Sarah Moss
It sounded better in my head – Nina Kenwood
Interview with a vampire – Anne Rice
Holden Sheppard – The Brink
The Coast by Eleanor Limprecht
Unnecessary drama – Nina Kenwood
Ninth House’ – Leigh Bardugo

NEW ADULT books we are reading ourselves

The inbetween – Chris Tsolkas
The librarianist – Patrick deWitt
Cuddy – Benjamin Myers
Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here – Heather Rose
Last daughter – Brenda Matthews
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
Yellowface – R F Kuang
Nine Days – Toni Jordan
Different for Boys – Patrick Ness
Lenny Marks gets away with Murder – Kerryn Mayne
The Wager – David Grann
The Lying Life of Adults – Elena Ferrante
Wifedom – Anna Funder
When the coffee gets cold series – Toshikazu Kawaguch
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens – Shnakari Chandran
The Slap – Chris Tsolkas
The Lost Estate by Henri Alain-Fournier
Apples Never Fall – Liane Moriarty
Three Wishes – Liane Moriarty
You Need to Know -Liane Moriarty
The Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa
The Dressmaker – Rosalie Ham

Media release – School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV)

• 2020 Awards
• 60th Year – Collegiality, Partnerships and Showcasing Best Practice

We acknowledge and celebrate the winners for our 2020 Awards.

Penny Geoghegan Award
Lynn Swannell, Librarian, Mount Eliza Secondary College
for her dedication to the local branch and wider networks of the profession and her continued collegiate support of her colleagues.

Innovators Award
Bridget Forster, Teacher-Librarian, Strathcona Baptist Girls’ Grammar School
In recognition of The Independent Learning Project – a skills-based enrichment activity developed for remote learning.

Research Fellowship
Luke Featherston, Learning Leader, Resource Centre Manager, Trinity College Colac
For efforts to improve literacy skills through the development of a homework wide reading program.

School Leaders Award
Peter Houlihan, Principal, De La Salle College
In recognition of his outstanding and ongoing support of the reinvigoration of school library services at De La Salle College.

John Ward Award
Julie Pagliaro, Head of Libraries, St Kevin’s College
In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the profession of teacher librarianship.

The awards were presented online by the SLAV President, Di Ruffles, at our virtual conference on Friday November 27. This conference was the culmination of a year of change and new learning as the association moved to support members effectively and safely, exploring possibilities that supported and inspired our learning communities.

• Collegiality, Partnerships and Showcasing Best Practice

During 2020, the associations 60th year, the School Library Association of Victoria has sought to remain connected, use technology effectively and strengthen partnerships.

In response to the restricted environment SLAV aimed to be agile and creative. The association Modified and changed much of our professional learning program. This included:

Creating an Online Book Club for the sharing of ideas around student reading during the first pivot to remote learning. The lists created by this large and active group were then shared more widely on SLAVConnects. This relaxed online offering was collegiate and timely.

Expanding our Masterclass series online to include a series on Library Design with consultant Kevin Hennah, a masterclass on LibGuides – a curation tool for the dissemination of online resources, and a Masterclass on Media Literacy featuring Misha Ketchell, Managing Director of The Conversation.

Creating a Picture Book Showcase online exploring the work of Graeme Base, Anna Walker and Jess McGeachin and featuring the Wilderness Society’s Environment prize for Children’s Literature.

In partnership with Association colleagues in NSW (SLANSW), offering a webinar entitled Practical Preparedness: Dealing with Compounding Disasters to assist regional school libraries to prepare for the possibility of fire and flood.

In partnership with the Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC) offering an online masterclass entitled: Powering Learning: Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives featuring keynote Professor Marcia Langton.

In partnership with LMERC, Stella Schools, and the teaching association VicTESOL, presenting online the: Culturally Diverse Literature Professional Learning Series

To end our 60th year we held our November Conference: The Power of Reading online and in partnership with the National Education Summit offered a day showcasing best practice in school libraries with featured speakers Ursula Dubosarsky, Australian Children’s Laureate, the Deakin University Teen Reading Research Project and guest creators Saroo and Sue Brierley. This day experimented with a virtual trade exhibition and interactive gamification.

Our sixtieth year has been a year of challenge, of experimentation and learning. We wish to celebrate our award winners and also the achievements of our innovative and proactive professional community in a time of change and opportunity.

For further information please contact:
Dianne Ruffles
President
School Library Association of Victoria
dmruffles@mgs.vic.edu.au

Dr Susan La Marca
Executive Officer
School Library Association of Victoria
0477 439 593
slav@slav.org.au

Our biggest thanks to those of you able to join us for our October bookclub meeting. As you can see the list is quite lengthy, which is a wonderful result! Some titles may have an indicated suitable age range next to each title, however this is merely a guide and as always we encourage you to use your own judgement, as you know your students best.

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and students needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Happy reading, we hope to see you in November!

Maybe Tomorrow by Boori Monty Pryor and Meme Macdonald
The Top End Girl by Miranda Tapsell
Billy Connelly Autobigraphy
Becoming by Michelle Obama
I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai

Lion and A Long Walk Home by Saroo Brierley
Ugly by Robert Hoge (good comparison with Wonder)
The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do
Her Fathers Daughter by Alice Pung
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Football and Soccer player biograhies
Biographica series (scientists, artists and pop stars) infographic format
Leather Soul by Bob Murphy
Steven Curry biography
Elon Musk biography

Diary of a Young Naturalist Dara McAnulty
Jacinda Adern biography
Able by Dylan Alcott
More Than a Kick by Tayla Harris
Little People Big Dreams Series
Fourteen by Shannon Molloy
Tim and Tigon by Tim Cope
A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen
Queer Heroes (53 LGBTQ heroes)
The Girl from the Tar Paper School by Teri Kanefield

A Promised Land by Barak Obama (due November 2020)
Dreams From My Father by Barak Obama
Unmasked by Turia Pitt
Astronauts Guide to Life On Earth by Chris Hadfield
Notes From a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddi Jaku
Not All Superheroes Wear Capes by Quentin Kenihan
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

ADULT Reading

The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein

Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies
Electric Blue by Paul Verhoeven
To Cook a Bear by Mikael Niemi
Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain
Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohleben
Gilgamesh by Joan London
Untwisted by Paul Jennings
The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper
Museum of Words by Georgia Blain
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
1000 Ships by Natalie Haynes
A Man Called Possum by David Harris

A big thanks to Lynda Santolin, who shared the below with us after the meeting. 

Popular non-fiction authors:

Amazing Athletes series (eg Kobe Bryant) – individual authors: Savage, Jeff; etc
Abdullah, Ian (Indigenous)
Adamson, Thomas K. eg Apollo 11 Moon Landing: An Interactive Space Exploration Adventure (You Choose: Space)
Deary, Terry – Horrible Histories
Eldridge, Jim
Ellis, Deborah (true-to-life, fiction)
French, Jackie
Grylls, Bear
Kettle, Phil (I Can Be.. Cricket series)
Nicholson, John (History)
Oldfield, Tom and Matt (sports biographies)
Perrett, Brian
Thomas, Ron & Herran, Joe (Macmillan Extreme Sports; Olympics; etc)
Tucker, Alan
Welcome to the Museum series including Botanicum (Welcome to the Museum) – by Katie Scott (Illustrator), Katie Haworth
Wilkinson, Carol (Ned Kelly books)
‘Yinti’ series – Pat Pike & Jimmy Lowe

Some amazing NF:

Becoming – Michelle Obama
Charles Darwin & Evolution – Ian Graham
Conversations with J.K. Rowling -Lindsey Fraser, J.K. Rowling
I Am Malala –
Maybe Tomorrow – Monty Boori Pryor
On Two Feet and Winds and The Boy With Two Lives – Abbas Kazerooni
Red Dog -Louis de Bernières
Rise: The Sam Thaiday Story: Young Readers’ Edition -Sam Thaiday
Selfie: The Changing Face of Self Portraits -Susie Brooks
Stephen Hawking – Nikki Sheehan
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – William Kamkwamba
The Happiest Refugee – Anh Do
The Woman I was born to be – Susan Boyle
The Word Spy -Ursula Dubosarsky, Tohby Riddle
Young Dark Emu – Bruce Pascoe
Fictionalized true-to-life accounts, including

47 Degrees – Justin D’Ath – 2009 Bushfires
Refugee – Alan Gratz
My Story, My Australian story
Guantanamo Boy – Anna Perera
Freedom Ride – Sue Lawson
Cloud and Wallfish – Anne Nesbet

The Department of Education has circulated an operations guide for schools for term four. There are three seperate references to the school library or library materials (please do let us know if you see others).

The three references are:

Space out staff workstations as much as possible and limit the number of staff in offices. This might mean re-locating staff to other spaces (such as the library or unused classrooms). (page 18)

Schools should consider the necessity of using shared equipment at this time. Such items may include shared computers, class sets of teaching and learning materials, and musical instruments. If used, strict hand hygiene should be followed before and after use. Risk can be further minimised by users wiping down items where appropriate, for example using a disinfectant/detergent wipe or cloth.

There is no requirement for books to be placed aside for a given period after use or if loaned to students. (page 20)

Appendix 3: Quick reference of permitted school activities

You can learn more HERE

SLAV has also curated a page of resources for you to refer to, regarding library safety resources which you can access HERE. 

We are thrilled to be able to advise upcoming dates for our SLAV Book Club. All members are welcome to join us online from 4.30 to 5.30 on the dates below.

At each meeting we will have a featured topic, focusing on books for young people. Towards the end of the session, in the last ten minutes, we will consider participants recent adult reading.

Lists will be made of all recommendations and posted on the SLAV Blog and linked to the Readings Bookshop website.

2020

Term Two

Thursday June 18

Australian titles

We have so many wonderful Australian writers for young people of all ages. Let’s celebrate our favourites.

Towards the end of the session, in the last ten minutes, we will consider participants recent adult reading.

Term Three

Wednesday July 29

Books for Reluctant Readers

What book always works for you with the reluctant readers?

Towards the end of the session, in the last ten minutes, we will consider participants recent adult reading.

Thursday August 27

Good Covers / Bad Covers

We all judge books by their covers. But what makes a good cover is very subjective. Bring along the covers you, or your readers, love or hate.

Towards the end of the session, in the last ten minutes, we will consider participants recent adult reading.

Term Four

Wednesday October 14

Biographies

Real stories about actual people often strike a chord with young readers. Share your favourites.

Towards the end of the session, in the last ten minutes, we will consider participants recent adult reading.

Thursday November 19

Classics or Hidden Gems

What classics deserve to be remembered? Or, what wonderful books do you think are hidden in your collection – special books that for various reasons were not celebrated by others but you know they are wonderful stories young people would appreciate if they found them.

Towards the end of the session, in the last ten minutes, we will consider participants recent adult reading.  Or, what are you looking forward to reading on the Summer break!