Book Award Library trip

On Wednesday 16th January 2019, eight Year 7 pupils from a variety of different houses had a day trip to St Columba’s College. The St Alban’s Book Awards started last year, promoting reading and general enthusiasm for debating about books.

Beforehand, we had to read 3 books: Kick by Mitch Johnson; The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson; and The Liar’s Handbook by Keren David. Keren David is in fact an old Bishop’s girl. Kick is about a 12-year-old Indonesian boy named Budi who works in a sweatshop and dreams of becoming a footballer. It’s about hopes and heroes, friendship and football, inequality and injustice. However ultimately, Kick is a story about a boy who dreams of a better life. The Goldfish Boy is about a boy Matthew Corbin. He passes much of his time observing the goings-on of the local neighbourhood from his bedroom window. He even makes little notes about neighbours’ movements. Until, that is, a toddler goes missing, and Matthew realises he may be one of the few people who can help shed some light on the disappearance. However, Matthew has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and everyday life has become increasingly challenging. In The Liar’s Handbook, River’s life is blown apart when his mum invites her new boyfriend into their home and their lives. River is instantly suspicious of Jason – he seems fake, too good to be true. At school, River’s routine fibs are escalating into something more serious, and his teacher gives him a notebook in the hope he can channel his fantasies into creative writing instead. So, River begins The Liar’s Handbook, and an investigation into Jason.

We also had a chance to enter a few competitions before the event (bookmarks and movie posters).

The official day of the event started off with excitement as no one could wait a moment longer. We were all aware of the fun activities that awaited us. At 10:20, all of us met at the library. Both Mrs Roth and Mrs Allcock attended the event with us. Altogether it took us 15-20 minutes approximately to reach our destination. 7 schools and 62 pupils attended. For 45 minutes, we were split into 9 groups mixed with many other schools. We had a chance to discuss the three books. It was convivial and interesting as listening to other people’s opinions on the books helped shape an idea of what book I was going to vote for. Later on, the winners were announced for the bookmark and movie poster competitions. Aliyeen in Austen won the bookmark challenge for the book Kick while Ayaat in Seacole won the movie poster for the book The Goldfish Boy. Then we had a lunch break during which there was a competition where there were cropped book covers and you had to find out the missing title. It definitely needed a lot of problem solving. After lunch, we went to the main chapel of the school to listen to Jonathan Stroud, a local award winning fantasy author. His talk was very inspiring and motivating as he described the small steps to achieve his dream of writing. Next, we had an opportunity to talk to Jonathan personally and ask him questions related to his successful career. Also, we bought his books which he signed and wrote messages in. Altogether, it was a very enjoyable, entertaining and fun day. Thank you to Mrs Roth and Mrs Allcock for organising for us an opportunity to attend.

By Aliyeen Awan