Learning Resource Centre

Newsletter October 2015

Top Ten Reads September 2015

Monthly Competition - this is part of a cover from a book. The first 3

students to come to the LRC with the Title and Author’s Name will win a Bookmark and Pencil.

Last month’s book cover was: Goth Girl, Chris Riddell

1. Wonder, R J Palacio

2. Girl Missing, Sophie McKenzie

3. Slated, Teri Terry

4. The Enemy, Charlie Higson

5. Genius Ideas (mostly), Liz Pichon

6. Life on the Refrigerator Door, Alice Kuipers

7. Gangsta Granny, David Walliams

8. Geek Girl, Holly Smale

9. Ravens Gate, Anthony Horowitz

10. Ways to Live Forever, Sally Nicholls

Author Visit

CJ Daugherty will be talking to a selected number of students in the library,

if you are a fan and would like to be included do let us know.

Mrs Langley’s Book of the Month

"**Soon to be a major motion picture** Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Until Greg's mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel. Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia - cue extreme adolescent awkwardness - but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives. And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight."

Skulduggery Books

For the best covers

COMPETITION Year 7 and 8’s

Give it a Title and Author name (something spooky)

Be creative, your book needs to stand out from all the rest on the shelves. It’s got to say,

**“pick me up and read me”**

Get some inspiration from the horror section in

the LRC, there are some great book covers

to be found there. But above all have fun!!

Get your entry form and template

from the LRC. We can supply you

with pens/pencils if you wish to

design your book cover here.

Halloween Book Cover Competition

Entries in by

Wed 21st Oct

BOOK CLUB

Awards pages

AR Awards will be posted in the November Newsletter. Keep quizzing to be in with a chance to win some fantastic prizes.

The community student quizzing board. Can you get 100%?

Competitions AR Prizes

New Additions

After the tragic death of his father, Ben Carrington's mother teams up with a wealthy

entrepreneur to form an elite, top-secret rescue organisation - Gemini Force.

Ben is determined to become part of the team, but can he prove he has what it takes to face

dangerous situations and save lives?

Impossible rescues. Maximum risk. This is Gemini Force 1.

'I will journey to the black heart of a corrupt Empire to root out my foes. But Rome wasn't built in a day and it won't be restored by a lone assassin. I am Ezio Auditore da Firenze. This is my

brotherhood.'

Rome, once mighty, lies in ruins. The city swarms with suffering and degradation, her citizens living in the shadow of the ruthless Borgia family. Only one man can free the people from the

Borgia tyranny - Ezio Auditore, the Master Assassin.

Ezio's quest will test him to his limits. Cesare Borgia, a man more villainous and dangerous than his father the Pope, will not rest until he has conquered Italy. And in such treacherous times, conspiracy is everywhere, even within the ranks of the brotherhood itself...

I'm Genesis Wainwright. I'm a sixth-form student. I come from Somerset. My mum is the best mum in the world. I play the guitar (badly). My best friend is Holly. I'm searching for answers to the Meaning of Life. I believe in True Love. AND I'M IN LOVE WITH NAZ. I want to be a performance poet. And I'm crazy about motorbikes. I can remember everything. Except last night.

For sixth-form student Grace Becker, The 100 Society is more than just a game; it's an obsession. Having convinced her five friends at Clifton Academy to see it through to the end, Grace will stop at nothing to carry out the rules of the game: tagging 100 locations around the city. With each step closer to the 100-mark they get, the higher the stakes become. But when the group catches the attention of a menacing stalker - the Reaper - he seems intent on exposing their illegal game, tormenting Grace with anonymous threats and branding their dormitory doors with his ominous tag. As the once tight-knit group slowly unravels, torn apart by doubt and the death of a student, they no longer know who to trust. With time running out, Grace must unmask the Reaper before he destroys everything she

New Additions

ONE IN FIVE NEVER RETURNED. Every boy dreams of flying, but in war that dream can turn into a nightmare. Harry Friedman is the gunner of the Macey May, an American Flying Fortress stationed in East Anglia. The Second World War is raging and the Nazis have swept over Europe. The crews of every Flying Fortress face terrible odds on their bombing missions. To make it through alive, Harry will need luck on his side and courage . Courage to keep going when he has watched close friends die. Courage to confront a terrible evil. And the courage to make it home from deep behind enemy lines.

I open my eyes. The cell is flooded with sunlight; the window is a splice of pale blue. Dust particles dance in the sparkling light, pirouetting in a golden line from the window to the opposite wall of the cell, where they seem to converge into shapes. It is like looking into a kaleidoscope. Dad isn't here. No one is, but me. Robyn Knollys-Green is an A-list celebrity, famous for being the daughter of one of the world's most powerful men. But not even the paparazzi can find her now. Robyn begins to realise that she is trapped in a complicated web of global corruption and deceit - and that the strange, melancholy boy who has been tasked with guarding her might not be an enemy after all . . .

Fiction Fascination The House on the Hill has been abandoned for as long as James can remember. So when he discovers Webster, a drifter, hiding there, he's instantly curious about the story behind the homeless man. What is he running from? Afflicted by a dark curse, Webster is no longer who he used to be. But there is said to be a cure and it might just be that by helping Webster, James will find some solace of his own. Together they embark on a journey, not knowing that what they discover will impact them both in ways they never imagined..

London. Girls are disappearing. They've all got one thing in common; they just don't know it yet \. Sixteen-year-old Lily was meant to be next, but she's saved by a stranger: a half-human boy with gold-flecked eyes. Regan is from an unseen world hidden within our own, where legendary creatures hide in plain sight. But now both worlds are under threat, and Lily and Regan must race to find the girls, and save their divided city.

New Additions

Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in...Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves. Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be…

My name is Hanna. I am 15. I am Latvian. I live with my mother and grandmother. My father is missing, taken by the Russians. I have a boyfriend and I'm training to be a dancer. But none of that is important any more. Because the Nazis have arrived, and I am a Jew. And as far as they are concerned, that is all that matters. This is my story.

Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone? Everything, Everything is about the thrill and heartbreak that happens when we break out of our shell to do crazy, sometimes death-defying things for love.

'He was here again last night, the man with the dead eyes. He was in my room and in my head.'

There are not many things Nick Mallory knows for sure.

He knows there was a car crash. He knows he is in hospital. And he knows he feels furious

with his father. What he doesn't know is why.

As his memories start to return, Nick finds himself caught in a net of secrets and lies - where truth and perception collide and heroes and villains are not easy to tell apart.

New Additions

Bea Hogg is shy but fiery inside. When national dance competition Starwars comes to her school looking for talent, she wants to sign up. It's just a shame her best friend agreed to enter with school super-cow Pearl Harris. Bea will fight back! But when school hottie, Ollie Matthews, who also happens to be Pearl's boyfriend, decides to enter the competition with Bea, she will have more than a fight on her hands.

This warm, nuanced, hilarious story about friendship, fortitude . . . and dancing is impossible not to fall in love with. Jenny's voice is fresh and convincing, and she handles both darker and lighter elements of the story with equal panache.

A Girl on the Run from the Law Alexandra Blakewood has everything any teenager could wish for, apart from the horse she'd love, but she won't stop getting into trouble. Sent to a US boot camp, she dreams of escaping. It seems impossible until she's told about a gruelling 1,200 mile horse race across the American West . . . A Boy on a Mission to Save a Life Will Greyton was the star student at his Tennessee high school until his father was laid off. Now Will works at a burger joint. When his dad falls ill, it seems things can't get any worse. An operation will save him, but there's no way to pay for it. Then Will hears about The Glory, a deadly endurance race with a $250,000 purse, open to any rider daring enough to attempt it . . .

Olly Murs invites you behind the scenes in his official illustrated autobiography filled with hundreds of brand new and exclusive photos. 'My life has been a non-stop roller-coaster of extreme emotions, crazy days, unexpected highs and yet my life hasn't been without its low points too. I've tried to imagine myself sitting down with you explaining what I was thinking and feeling during those times. I hope this book will give you a behind-the-scenes view of my journey into a place where I finally found what had been missing in my life for all those years: music.' Endearingly written with disarming honesty and filled with exclusive new and unseen photographs on and offstage, Happy Days takes you closer to Olly than you've ever been before.

Jack’s Grandpa…

wears his slippers to the supermarket

serves up tinned tongue for dinner

and often doesn’t remember Jack’s name But he can still take to the skies in a speeding Spitfire and save the day…

New Additions

It's the biggest dance of the year and Nikki Maxwell is hoping her crush, Brandon, wants to be her date. But time is running out. What if he doesn't want to go with her? Or worse - what if he ends up going with Mackenzie?!! In the sixth book in the blockbuster Dork Diaries series-now with more than 13 million copies in print-join Nikki, Chloe and Zoey as they tackle the topic of love, Dork Diaries style

Not long after Aliya's family escapes Afghanistan for Britain, her brother is accused of a bomb attack. Aliya is sure of his innocence, but when plumber's son Dan finds a gun in their bathroom, what's she to think? Dan has his own reasons for staying silent: he's worried the gun might have something to do with his dad. Thrown together by chance, they set out to uncover a tangled and twisted truth.

Limpet, Steffan and Jared. Three best friends crammed into a clapped-out rust bucket of a car on a whirlwind road trip to forget their troubles and see out the end of the summer. But no matter how far they drive, they can't escape the hidden secrets and slow-burning romance that could upset the balance of their friendship - perhaps forever.

Welcome to a world controlled by a megalomaniac Lolcat. A world where data pirates, zombies and infobots on surfboards roam free. A world at war over cheese ... When teenager Mikey Malone gets sucked through a wormhole into this parallel world, he discovers a power-crazed corporation is planning to use Earth as a dumping ground for an uncontrollable poisonous algae. It's a race against time for Mikey and his rebel friends to stop the ruthless tyrants from getting their way.

New Additions

LIES 'There were a few problems . . . bullying . . . a fire . . .' LIKE 'I think she's verging on psychosis . . . now she's lashing out.' LOVE 'She's got no one else to fight for her.' Sixteen year-old Audrey just wants to be normal. She's trying to fit in. But what happens when the person closest to you suffocates you with their love? What happens then?

As a young child Eponine never knew kindness, except once from her family's kitchen slave, Cosette. When at sixteen the girls' paths cross again and their circumstances are reversed, Eponine must decide what that friendship is worth, even though they've both fallen for the same boy. In the end, Eponine will sacrifice everything to keep true love alive

Bree is a loser, a wannabe author who hides behind words. But when she's told she needs to start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting is born. Six steps on how to be interesting. Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set, fall in love with someone forbidden and make the biggest mistake of her life.

Alice nearly didn't go to the sleepover. Why would Savvy, queen of the school, invite someone

likeher?

Now Alice is lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

Lost in a wonderland of dreams and half-formed memories, she's surrounded by voices - the

doctor, her worried friends and Luke, whose kisses the night of the fall took her by surprise . . .

When the accident happened her world vanished - can Alice ever find her way back?

New Additions

"**Soon to be a major motion picture** Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Until Greg's mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel. Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia - cue extreme adolescent awkwardness - but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives. And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight."

"The first time I was born, I was Emma. I was beautiful. I had everything to live for. But I died. I was twenty-two." Fifteen-year-old Ana has always known that she's lived before, haunted by memories that aren't hers – memories of being Emma. But when her two lives collide in one chance meeting, suddenly she's bombarded with terrifying visions of a little girl who tragically drowned. Was Emma responsible? And should Ana pay the price? Consumed by guilt, Ana will do anything to uncover the truth.

Opal Plumstead might be plain, but she has always been fiercely intelligent. Yet her scholarship and dreams of university are snatched away when her father is sent to prison, and

fourteen-year-old Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory to support her family.

Opal struggles to get along with the other workers, who think her snobby and stuck-up. But Opal idolises Mrs Roberts, the factory’s beautiful, dignified owner, who introduces Opal to the legendary Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow Suffragettes. And when Opal meets Morgan - Mrs Roberts’ handsome son, and the heir to Fairy Glen – she believes she has found her soulmate. But the First World War is about to begin, and will change Opal's life for ever.

Terrorism divides her country. When sixteen-year-old K narrowly survives a bomb attack, she agrees to cross the line: to go under cover, befriending the radical young group held responsible. But it's hard making friends when you're lying. And what K discovers is far from black and white. Even enemies become real people \- and one boy is special. Can she ever tell him who she really is? Can love unite them all?

New Additions

Scotland, 1915. A group of teenagers from two families meet for a picnic, but the war across the Channel is soon to tear them away from such youthful pleasures. All too soon, the horror of what is to become known as The Great War engulfs them, their friends and the whole village. From the horror of the trenches, to the devastating reality seen daily by those nursing the wounded, they struggle to survive - and nothing will ever be the same again.

James Bond hits Hollywood . . . Lights. Camera. Murder. Young Bond is back – in his most action-packed, explosive adventure yet.

Nikki Maxwell, Queen of the Dorks, is back in the seventh book of the blockbuster Dork Diaries series - now with over 13 million copies in print! Nikki and her friends are about to have their five minutes of fame! A reality TV crew is going to follow them for the whole month as they record their hit song together. But will the excitement also cause unexpected problems, now that cameras are everywhere Nikki and her friends go? Is life in the spotlight really going to be all they think it is or will it be a Dork Disaster?

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She's one of the privileged - she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever. So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat's world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

New Additions

Violet Ink by Rebecca Westcott, author of Dandelion Clocks, is a beautiful and brilliant story of two sisters, which fans of Cathy Cassidy and Jacqueline Wilson will love. Quiet, contemplative Izzy has always adored her charismatic, confident older sister, Alex. But when Alex starts going out with a new boyfriend, everything changes. Izzy isn't sure she can still trust her sister - but she will never stop loving her. Letters from Alex, written in her distinctive purple pen, keep their relationship alive . . .

Pearl's baby sister is The Rat. She's the reason Pearl's mum died, the reason everything changed forever, and Pearl can't forgive her for that. Because losing her mum is the hardest thing that has happened to Pearl and no one, not her dad, her interfering granny, her best friend - and especially not her new little sister - can break down the barriers she's putting up. But what if Pearl's mum isn't completely gone? What if, somehow, she's still here? The world may tip at any moment, Pearl knows that now. The trick is finding something to hold on to...

Claws of the Crocodile

Sands of the Scorpion

Gold of the Gods

Way of the Wolf

Strike of the Shark

Tracks of the Tiger

Lair of the Leopard

Rage of the Rhino A great set for budding adventurers

Danny is a fun-loving 16-year-old looking for a father figure and falling in love with a different girl every day. He certainly doesn't want to follow in his mum's witchy footsteps. Just as his community is being threatened by gangs intent on finding a lucrative power source to sell to the world, Danny discovers he is stunningly powerful. And when he falls for Saba, a gorgeous but capricious girl sorceress, he thinks maybe the witch thing might not be such a bad idea... But what cost will Danny pay as, with his community on the brink of war, he finds that love and sorcery are more dangerous than he ever imagined? Wickedness and passion combine in this coming-of-age adventure.

New Additions — Staff Library

All Change

Casting Off

The Light Years

Confusion Marking Time Beginning in 1937, the Cazalets Chronicles explores the affairs, passions and ambitions with magnificent period detail and poignant observation. From pre-war 1937 through to the Fifties, the three generations of the family experience love, loss, and, ultimately, life-altering change.

It was always going to end in tears, but how did it end in murder? Single mum Jane has just moved to town. She's got her little boy in tow - plus the secret she's been carrying for five years. On the first day of the school run she meets Madeline - a force to be reckoned with, who remembers everything and forgives no one - and Celeste, the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare, but is inexplicably ill at ease. They both take Jane under their wing - while careful to keep their own secrets under wraps. But a minor incident involving the children of all three women rapidly escalates: playground whispers become spiteful rumours until no one can tell the truth from the lies. Which is when the secrets come out - and now someone is going to pay with their life . . .

Why would a man escape from prison the day before he's due to be released? Audie Palmer has spent a decade in prison for an armed robbery in which four people died, including two of the gang. Seven million dollars has never been recovered and everybody believes that Audie knows where the money is. For ten years he has been beaten, stabbed, throttled and threatened almost daily by prison guards, inmates and criminal gangs, who all want to answer this same question, but suddenly Audie vanishes, the day before he's due to be released. Everybody wants to find Audie, but he's not running. Instead he's trying to save a life . . . and not just his own.

My name is Nicky Frank. I'm in hospital, afraid. All I can think about is Vero. I have to save her but I can't find her. She's just a little girl. The man by my bed tells me we're married and there is no Vero. He says that six months ago I suffered a brain injury, that I have dramatic mood swings and large gaps in my memory. I get angry and I drink. All of which explains the car crash that put me here. Now a Sergeant Wyatt Foster has questions about the accident. He has concerns about my husband. And he's worried about a missing girl. He would like to know what happened to me. So would I. This is my life. Watch me crash and burn

New Additions — Staff Library

Called to a woman's refuge to take a routine witness statement, DI Marnie Rome instead walks in on an attempted murder. Trying to uncover the truth from layers of secrets, Marnie finds herself confronting her own demons. Because she, of all people, knows that it can be those closest to us we should fear the most . . .

You think you have the perfect life. You're successful. Attractive. Well liked. And you've just got married for the third time. But that’s OK because everyone’s happy. Your children are happy. You're happy. And so is your new wife... London, 3am: a tragic accident, and Adrian’s life starts to fall apart. Because everyone has secrets and secrets have consequences. Some of which can be devastating.