Oakland’s School Library

Librarian: Mrs A Berogna

If you wish to learn more about the curriculum, please contact the Librarian by email: A.Berogna@oaklandscatholicschool.org

Librarian: Mrs A Berogna

Oakland’s has the luxury of a beautiful school library accessible to all students every day of the school week. It is open from 8.30am until registration in the mornings and then break and lunchtimes. Students are able to enjoy the library to borrow and return books, read for pleasure, access computers for homework or to revise and study.

The library really is a popular place for many students to enjoy, relax & read and make new friends.

If you wish to learn more about the curriculum, please contact the Librarian by email: A.Berogna@oaklandscatholicschool.org

PLEASE NOTE THAT PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS ALWAYS ADVISED BEFORE YOUR CHILD STARTS READING A NEW BOOK. ADDITIONAL BOOK LISTS AND A PARENTAL LITERACY SUPPORT BOOKLET CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
For great books to read before you start secondary school click here

Library lessons

All year 7, 8 & 9 students enjoy a library lesson within their English lessons once a fortnight, here they are able to borrow books to equip them for their Flying Start at the beginning of P5 each school day. They also have time to peruse the vast selection of library books, which are supplied by the School Library Service, as well as to discuss and receive any suggestions from the School Librarian.

Hampshire Book Award

Each year 12 avid readers are chosen to take part in the Hampshire Book Award. This involves reading six shortlisted books and reviewing them, then participating in a voting day for the winning book and author. In October a day out is organised for the students to meet the winning author at a book signing.

Book Buzz

At the beginning of Year 7 students are asked to pay £3 for a Book Buzz book. The Book Trust select about 15 books, which each student will spend a few lessons choosing the book they would like to buy. They have the opportunity to listen to videos from the book authors and to look at book samples allowing them to make an informed choice. This gives every student a beautiful new reading book to enjoy as they start their English lessons.

The Guardian’s Top 50 books that will …

Help you to understand you
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Outsiders by SE Hinton

Make you cry
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Make you laugh
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Scare you
1984 by George Orwell
Lord Loss by Darren Shan
The Rats by James Herbert
The Shining by Stephen King
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Teach you about love
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Forever by Judy Blume
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Teach you about love:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Forever by Judy Blume
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Thrill you:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Gone by Michael Grant
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Transport you:
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Change the way you think
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Streetcat Named Bob by James Bowen
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Wonder by RJ Palacio
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-timeby Mark Haddon
The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2018-

Overall Winner: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Waterstones writes:
It’s our absolute pleasure to announce Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give as the winner of our Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2018. Voted by our booksellers, our annual prize for children’s writing and illustration is very much an award decided by readers for readers, seeking out the mega-stars of the future.
Written in the turbulent wake of police violence in North America, The Hate U Give revolves around Starr Carter, a teenager whose life is split between the affluent school she attends and the much poorer suburb that is her home. Her best friend’s fatal shooting by a police officer abruptly brings those two worlds together, compelling Starr to defend her friend’s memory and force the media to understand the truth behind the tragedy. Wearing a serious message with wit, life and charm, The Hate U Give is an immediate 21st century classic: a book for all.
“The Hate U Give should have a readership far beyond a core audience of young adults. Ours is a children’s prize, but there is no upper age limit to being stunned by beautiful writing of this visceral power.”
James Daunt, Waterstones Managing Director.
Please click here to see the Older and younger Fiction Shortlists: