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SLA UK School Librarian of the Year Award 2016

‘The SLA School Librarian of the Year Award is the School Library Association’s prestigious honour to recognize the excellent work that is carried out in school libraries every day, highlighting the best practice of those whose work is outstanding.

This year Amy McKay at Corby Business Academy (www.corbybusinessacademy.org) has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2016′.

We were delighted to attend the award ceremony at The Judges Court, St. Martins Lane, Covent Garden, London on the 3rd October, 2016.

Award winning author Kim Slater was on hand to present Amy with her prize. The range of library activities, reader support and wider engagement with the library and literacy sector that Amy has achieved in her career so far made her a very deserving winner in 2016.

You can read more about Amy’s work at the Corby Business Academy here.

Books go Walkabout chanted in unison ‘…well done and congratulations Amy!’

Nomination forms for School Librarian of the Year 2017 will be available from the SLA website, at http://www.sla.org.uk/nominations.php

Previous Winners of the SLA School Librarian of the Year Award
2015: Annie Brady – St Paul’s CBS Secondary School, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
2014: Liz Millett – Weatherfield Academy, Dunstable
2013: Hilary Cantwell – St Paul’s Community College, Waterford, Republic of Ireland
2013: John Iona – Oasis Academy, Enfield, Middlesex
2012: Adam Lancaster – Monk’s Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
2011: Carol Webb – Forest Hill School, London
2010: Duncan Wright – Stewart’s Melville College, Edinburgh
2010: Kevin Sheehan – Offerton School, Stockport
2009: Lucy Bakewell – Hill West Primary School, Sutton Coldfield
2008: Nikki Heath – Werneth School, Stockport
2007: Ingrid Hopson – George Abbot School, Guildford
2006: Anne-Marie Tarter – Ripon Grammar School, North Yorkshire
2005: Anne Robinson – Nicholas Chamberlaine Technology College, Bedworth

The SLA School Librarian of the Year 2016 is sponsored by Macmillan Children’s Books
(www.panmacmillan.com) and Softlink (www.softlink.co.uk).

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The Grizzly Bear with the Frizzly Hair

” Yipes!” blinked the itzy bitzy rabbit. ” What are you going to do?”

” Have my lunch, growled the bear. ” And my lunch is…YOU!”

Poor old Grizzly Bear, there was nothing left to eat in the woods. Because he had eaten it all!

From tasty toes to biting in half, this bear means business when he comes across the rabbit. But unlike other animals Rabbit is not scared.

He has intriguing reasons why the bear should not eat him for his lunch and it works!

A great story in a picture book retold in a very appealing way. The drama, the pictures, the way it is presented and the rhyming text make it a joy to read and to share.

It comes from Sean Taylor and illustrated by Hannah Shaw,the team who put together Crocodiles are the best Animals of All- short listed for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009.Newly published by Frances Lincoln, this book is a great one to read and to buy.

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always

The Ice Bear

Ice b Jackie Morris’s latest book The Ice Bear is newly in print this month with Frances Lincoln.

‘ When the great bear wakes in her ice den to find that one of her two cubs has been taken, she holds the second close, but she never forgets her lost child.’

Set in the pristine polar regions of the Arctic, this is a beautiful story with illustrations that are just amazingly powerful.
It brings emotions to the surface, and is a reminder of our responsibility to the world’s animals and wildlife. Polar bears, for instance, can show us the best ways to use natural resources, even in the wildest of places like the Arctic.

hare Jackie also has exhibitions across the country. Imagine Gallery at Long Melford in Suffolk is currently holding an exhibition of illustrations including cheetahs and the contemplative White Hare.

In October Dolphin Booksellers are hosting and sponsoring an event in Cambridge with Jackie at Babraham C.of E. Primary School. Young children learning, creating and using illustrations and books to fire imaginations.

You can see Jackie’s books and illustrations, plus cards to buy on her website. It’s definitely worth a visit.

Sue Martin
Dolphin Booksellers – information and children’s books, always on line

Author event in East London

We are working with a school in East London in February to deliver one our City Stories author and book events.Leyton Stories is the children’s book group based around the school and children’s centre in Leyton.

We are working with the school, the publishers Frances Lincoln and over a hundred children to undertake workshops and author meetings with parents and carers.

The event is part of our City Stories project – designed to deliver books, authors, illustrators and story-tellers to inner city children.

Watch this space in February to see how it went.

You can see the Dolphinbooksellers home page here…