Tuesday 29 March 2016

Challenge Yourself

Hello lovely readers,
Reading is an important part of your education but it can also be a relaxing hobby. So this week we thought it might be interesting to share with you a creative and fun way to motivate yourselves to read more. Whether it's a book you need to read for school or a book you read for pleasure, these bookmarks will help you stay on track and enable you to set goals to read more. There's a template attached for you to be able to print out this bookmark, but you can also design your own personal one if want to. There are two different types, one is for those readers who have set a long-term goal and would like to set a goal of books to read in a certain amount of time. The other is for those who would like to use this bookmark for only book and thereby set a goal for chapters.  Every time you read a book simply cross it off the bookmark. The templates include blank bookmarks with different colours.
For the templates in PDF format please click this link here, it will open a new tab.
Thank you for reading this weeks post :) Zinnia and Gwendoline





Tuesday 22 March 2016

Quiz: Which faction are you in?

We found this fun quiz on the divergent wikia, and thought that it would be a great way to learn more about our audience.  We also did the quiz and would love to know what your result is.  Zinnia is part of the Erudite Faction and Gwendoline's results show she would be in Amity.  Comment below what faction you would be in in the world of divergent.  We'll see you here next week! -Zinnia and Gwendoline

Divergent Faction Quiz [Image].  Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/90/d5/ad/90d5adf5f4907768b8b86040629154c7.jpg

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Teacher's Interview: Mr Lüthgens


We loved hearing about Mr Gillig’s reading history so much we thought you might want to learn more about another GISS teacher.  Mr Lüthgens shared some things about what he likes reading with us so that we could all learn more about him.

The first book that Mr Lüthgens recalls reading Jim Knopf, by Michael Ende is one he really enjoyed and also something he has subsequently read to his children.  In the series of two books the orphan Jim Knopf leaves the Island where he grew up and goes on a series of adventures.  The story is definitely very creative and would stimulate the imagination of children and adults alike.

Mr Lüthgens finds himself gravitating toward poetry, which is something he finds himself rereading on a regular basis.  In particular the collection of perms titled Venezianisches Credo, which the author Rudolf Hagelstange wrote about the years following the second world war.  This gives an interesting insight into this period which defined the world today. 

When we asked him to pick his all time favourite book, Mr Lüthgens couldn’t decide, but he managed to narrow it down to his top three.  Camus, an existentialist author, wrote one of those picks.  The plague, initially written in French, is often said to be semi- autobiographical, describing the authors’ experience fighting in the second world war.  Another is Two Planets, a science fiction novel by Kurd Lasswizt.  The theme of the novel, Martians being uncovered by a group of explorers who are then takes back to mars, is also one which is of great relevance in one of Mr Lüthgens’ subjects, Physics.  In Narcissus and Goldmund, by renowned author Hermann Hesse, a mismatched pair become friends in medieval Germany. 

The last book Mr Lüthgens read was The narrow road to the deep north, which like many of his picks is a work of historical fiction.  Richard Flanagan wrote the book on a doctor recovering from his personal and professional experiences on the Thai- Burma death Railway.

His love for reading is something that Mr Lüthgens wants to pass on to his children, reading them many of his childhood favourites like Jim Knopf and an originally Swedish children’s book The Wonderful adventures of Nils, which is about a young farm boy who gets up to mischief.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed learning about Mr Lüthgens’ reading history as much as you enjoy taking classes with him.  We’ll see you next week for more exciting news out of the library.
Zinnia and Gwendoline

jimknopf [image]. Retrieved on 16.03.2016 from http://www.krippe-jimknopf.ch/

Tuesday 8 March 2016

Students Opinion: The Paradise Trap by Catherine Jinks


Mr. Staffi (formerly known as Dugong-101), who so kindly came up to us and asked to be interviewed last term has read another book he would love to share with our readers.
“The Paradise Trap” written by Catherine Jinks and published by Allen and Unwin. Focuses on the adventures of the protagonist Markus and his mother, who arrive at the Diamond Beach Caravan Park however are sorely disappointed by it. The Park shares no similarity with the one Markus’ mother remembers. To add to the disappointment Markus can think of a hundred better ways to be spending his Holiday; which exclude spending time in a rusty, crusty smelly old caravan. Soon enough however the caravan reveals its secrets. Markus gets swept into the craziest, scariest Holiday ever.

Mr. Staffi revealed that his two most favourite characters are Markus and Jake, because they show a great deal of bravery and courage. Mr.Staffi admires these traits dearly and strives to achieve them himself.
His favourite part of the story was when one of the characters nearly got pulled down the toilet. He thought this was simply hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing, he added that there are multiple funny scenes in the book.
The characters managed to escape with hope and teamwork, they even got to keep the little white fluffy dog as an added bonus, this is exactly what Mr Staffi expected.
He rated the book an 8.5 out of ten and would recommended it to all ages except Kindy, Year 1 and Year 2, because he thinks that they wouldn’t be able to appreciate the story to its fullest extent yet.

Thank you Mr. Staffi for your thoughts on this book and hopefully our readers will give this book a go. Keep reading everyone and stay tuned for next weeks post –Zinnia and Gwendoline 


Paradise-Trap.png [Image]. Retrieved from: http://catherinejinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Paradise-Trap.png 


Tuesday 1 March 2016

Your Opinion: Survey


Hi Everyone,

We want to find out who it is that is reading our blog and who is borrowing books from the library.  That’s why we have decided to put together a survey to learn more about you all.  It’s really easy to do, swing by the library to get a survey, fill it in with your favourite book, author and language to read in and simply return it to the library when you’ve finished.  You can add your name if you want to, but you definitely don’t have to.  We will then use this information to add your recommendations to the library so more people can enjoy the same books you do!   We would love for you to join in and can’t wait to hear all about what you love to read.  Until next week, Zinnia and Gwendoline

No one understands my pain [Image]. Retrieved from http://funnystack.com/category/funny-2/funny-books/page/4/