The Red Pyramid

I've been reading (again!) and have discovered another fantastic book for adventure lovers in the secondary/prep section.

The name of the book? The Red Pyramid.

This book is great for those of you who like Egyptian things/history/fantasy and Rick Riordan. Written by the author who bought you the Percy Jackson series, this is an exciting, action packed story. I had a lot of trouble putting it down, and finished it in only two days!

The story focuses on a brother and sister who have spent most of their lives living apart. They are reunited after their father (a world reknown Egyptologist) takes them to the British museum where he asks to see the Rosetta Stone. Things only get weirder, with the children's father unleashing several ancient Egyptian gods (some of whom have their mind set on world domination). After their father is imprisioned, it is up to the children to deal with the gods and save the world...

The Mysterious Benedict Society

I don't usually write blog posts about books that I'm reading, but I've just stumbled across a really good one in the Prep and Secondary library collection.

Have you heard of a book called The Mysterious Benedict Society? I started reading it the other day and I have been finding it really hard to stop reading and do other things I know I should be doing. It's an exciting adventure story with some fantasy elements - worth a read if you like spies and unexpected events.

The book follows the adventures of four children who are drawn together after answering a mysterious newspaper advertisment looking for brilliant and gifted children. All of the children have different talents which are essential for the dangerous mission they are asked to complete.

If you like CHERUB and H.I.V.E books then why not give it a try? If you like Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket and Spiderwick there are lots of similar elements (but I won't tell you what they are - it will spoil the story!) If you're looking for adventure give this book a try!

Need some help? Why not ask us?

We've added an ask a librarian link.
If you need some help to find books, information or have another library related query you can click the link to email us and we will reply to you the next school day. If you would like to contact the Head Librarian (Mr Piggot) or the Primary Librarian (Miss Goodall) directly you can find our email addresses in the Library contact section on the right hand side.

Welcome back to term 1B

It's hard to believe that there are only two and a bit months until Christmas!

We have some really exciting activites and events planned here at the library - one of which is the book fair. The book fair will be held next week, and Harrow kids and families will be able to browse through a wonderful selection of books from local booksellers. It's going to be a lot of fun - don't miss it!

This week for making stuff day we will be making crayon etching pictures. To do this we'll colour in really hard with crayons then colour firmly over the top with a black crayon. Once this bit is completed it's easy to use a sharp pencil to draw on the top. You then get multi-coloured crayon pictures on a black background.

Our storyteller Mrs Brownlow will be back with us on Friday too.

Welcome back everyone! See you in the library soon.

Guinness Book of Records competition

Today we held the Guinness Book of Records competition at Primary lunchtime.
Congratulations to all our winners!
We had a fantastic time eating as fast as possible with chopsticks (milo balls and prunes = de-licious!), holding heavy books longer than anyone else, bouncing balls without dropping them and writing super fast.

Tomorrow is craft day. What are we making? We'll be using crayons to create leaf rubbings.
Ever wondered how crayons are made?


Tomorrow is also maths day! There are all sorts of exciting activities happening in Primary tomorrow - it should be a lot of fun.

Follow us on Twitter

It's official, we've got Twitter :) Our Twitter account will have what's going on from day to day, plus we'll post the link to the new books there each month!

Primary lunch times update!

Hi everyone,

So much has been going on at Primary lunchtime! We have been having a lot of fun doing all kinds of things - on our Wednesday making stuff day we made pop up cards and on Friday we heard some more stories from our wonderful storyteller, Mrs Brownlow.

Something else we've been doing is the good boy and girl award. We give this out every Thursday lunchtime to two students who have been especially well behaved in the library at lunchtime. The winning students get to choose a prize from our goody bags.

Our winners so far have been:
Nina 2B
Jeff 5S
Bua 2M
Chawin 4R
Derya 4R
Boss 3m

Storyteller - Friday Primary lunchtimes

Every Friday for the rest of this term we will have the wonderful Mrs Brownlow reading stories during Primary lunchtime.

The first session was heaps of fun, with Mrs Brownlow reading stories from The Wind and the Willows as well as picture book twists on fairytales.

Come along this week for more stories. The stories will start around five past twelve!

Making stuff day!

This Wednesday at Primary lunchtime we had our first library craft session (or as we like to call it, making stuff day).
Our first craft was bookplates. What will it be next Wednesday? Come in and see!

If you didn't get to come along this week, you can print some bookplates and make your own at home.

More website links - Myths and legends

Looking for myths and legends websites? You can find a list on the right hand side of this page. Scroll down to have a look.

Finding good websites for school

How's your term going? By now you're probably super busy!

But don't forget the library has lots of things that might help you with your school work, including Oliver (and for you younger students, Olly).

Oliver is the school library catalogue and you can use it from anywhere you can access the internet - just go to the library page on the Harrow Thailand website and click the link.

One thing that's really useful about Oliver, is that we subscribe to a service which lets students and teachers find websites which have been specifically chosen to fit with areas they are studying. You can also do a Google or other kind of search (and I recommend that you do this too if you have time :)) but this is a great way of finding useful sites easily.

So... how do I do it? hmmm?
From Oliver:
1. Open the library catalogue click the OPAC search button (along the left hand side).
2. When this opens up click on the third tab (advanced).
3. Type your topic into the anywords box (eg myths, dogs, Oscar Wilde) and click on the online content button.
4. Press enter or click search.
5. You'll get a list of specially chosen web addresses just for your topic!
6. Click on the links to access the sites.

You'll need to click the back button to get back to your search as the links don't open in a separate window.

Better than Google, cos they're all chosen especially for school students!

New website links - The Victorians

As many of you are studying The Victorians this term, we have posted a list of (hopefully!)
useful weblinks on the library blog.

Scroll down the page to see them. They're on the right hand side at the very bottom.
We're here to help you with your research. So, if you haven't found what you need, please call in and see us.

Welcome back to Harrow!

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to all our new and returning pupils.
The library is here for all of the school community. If you'd like to come in and browse or ask for help finding books or information we'd love to see you. Teachers, parents and other family members can also borrow from the school library.

We have started class visits to the library, and you can also come by at lunch time and before and after school. We are open from 7.30 - 4pm.

The library staff are looking forward to seeing you all in the library soon!

New Library System

The Library has a new computer system called Oliver. Oliver is web based, meaning that it is easier for students, staff and teachers to access. All library users also have a username and password which allows them to renew books, reserve books, and check their library account. To learn your username and password, please contact library staff.



Netlibrary audio books and a set of curriculum linked websites are also loaded into Oliver and can be accessed by users.

Illustrator Visit

UK based children’s book illustrator Paul Geraghty visited Harrow this term. Students from Year 1 to Year 7 were entertained by Paul’s stories and his descriptions about how he comes up with the ideas for his books.

Being of South African origin, much of the inspiration for Paul’s books has been drawn from the animals and people of the African continent. He spoke wonderfully of the creatures he saw on moonlit nights around the waterhole, and how the animals outside his bedroom window inspired creativity within him.

Paul also discussed the creative process, and identified techniques that students could apply to their own creative work.

Some of these creatures came to life during the day, as the school was left with three startling illustrations: a frog, a dinosaur and an elephant. These illustrations will be hung around the school for viewing shortly.