Hello readers, welcome to the September edition of the Brompton Blog.
We have had great success over the summer with the children’s Reading Challenge and the ongoing craft and story-time sessions that have proved so popular with local families (almost double the amount of kids signed up compared to last year!).
This month the wonderful people at the Lancashire Family History Society had a free open day where members of the public were invited to learn about the organisation and get advice in tracing their own family history. The event proved to be successful with people returning to the library with their newly acquired knowledge and using our computers to log into the Ancestry website and start to delve into their own genealogies.
Resident literary connoisseur Katie Collis gives an insight into the monthly reading group book:
This month we read and discussed The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson. Set during the witch trials in 1612 (the most famous or infamous in English history) in Pendle, Northumbria – it is about a group of 13 folk who are set upon by the local magistrates and his posse, bent on accusations of witchcraft and sorcery. Riding to the defence of this ‘Sabbat’ is one Alice Nutter, beautiful and independent, who is determined to defend this group of unhappy folk.
This book really separated the group into severe likes and dislikes. I thought that it was a brave piece of writing and that Winterson had stepped out of her own comfort zone and tackled something which although has been written about many times, does not have much first-hand evidence of the accused. We do know that the central characters existed, but it feels like Winterson has really breathed life back into them and given the story her own slant, which some in our group thought maybe was a little OTT. Many felt that there was no flim-flam to the writing; it was pared down which in turn made it easy to read. However some could not get past the second chapter because they felt the beginning was slow and that some of the content was very graphic and gruesome in places!
New additions to our stock
We have some great new graphic novels in this month with titles including X-Men (Simon Spurrier), Locke and Key (Joe Hill) and the Invincible Iron Man (Matt Fraction) as well as new popular DVD titles Star Trek: Into Darkness and Olympus Has Fallen. Also we will be running taster sessions on the history of design; check in the library for more details.
by Christian Stevens
Man Booker Prize 2013 – The reading challenge!
It’s that time of the year again where I stretch the little grey cells and read all six short-listed books – the deadline this year is 15 October when the winner will be announced.
The shortlist has crept up on me and by gosh it is a truly international spread of countries: Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and for the first time, an author from Zimbabwe. They are:
We Need New Names (NoViolet Bulawayo)
- The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton)
- Harvest (Jim Crace)
- The Lowland (Jhumpa Lahiri)
- A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki)
- The Testament of Mary (Colm Toibin)
Hailed as ‘the most diverse in recent memory’ (Robert McFarlane, Chair of Booker Prize panel this year), it’s exciting that there are only 2 names that I have come across before and 6 new authors to read!
Will keep you posted!
by Katie Collis
CelebrateMyLibrary event Part 2
Last month I wrote about the first part of CelebrateMyLibrary’s Creepy House story-writing workshop when a group of children created a story collaboratively, each wrote their own endings and made wonderful craft models to illustrate their story. We were then kept on tenterhooks all summer before seeing the story in all its glory in book form. On 7 September the waiting was over and we all met up again at Brompton for “the great reveal”.
Parents were told to go away for an hour while Hilary and Victoria showed the book to the children first and read the book back to them. At the previous workshop the story had been drafted but this was the first time the children could read it through from beginning to end. They then got to work on making costumes so they could act out the story to their parents whilst one of them would read it out.
Finally the parents were allowed back into the room and the play began! We were treated to a scary bat, Fluffy the cat, a monstrous whale and even a creepy house.
The parents were bowled over by what their children had achieved, not just that afternoon creating the costumes and remembering their parts in the play but with the book as well. All the children’s names were included as authors and all their separate endings were printed.
Here is a sample of the book. The wonderful graphic designer had photographed their models and incorporated them into the illustrations of the story.
At Brompton we have a display copy which is well worth a look. The production values are high, the colours grab your attention and the overall design and content is just fantastic. As a workshop for kids I totally recommend CelebrateMyLibrary as they tap into so many creative outlets and the kids just love it!
rbkc libraries blog 
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