It's that time of year, and Peak School Library is in the holiday spirit!

The tree is lit, the Christmas books are out and the festive music is up and running during Lunchtime Library. There is something very special about sitting next to the Christmas tree curled up with a good book!

At this time of year we encourage the students to use the Library Lesson to sit and relax quietly with the book they have chosen, taking advantage of that uninterrupted 45 minutes to just enjoy some time to read.

Students can take out books over the holidays and we won't be looking at the overdues ...

Also please remember that our E-book Library is open 24 hours, every day of the year! Students can log on and choose from over 500 Peak School Library chapter books no matter where in the world they are.

The great thing is that E-books will never be lost on the ski hill or damaged on the beach!

Every year, students across Hong Kong demonstrate their writing and artistic talents in the Hong Kong Young Writer's Award (http://www.hkywa.com). We are looking for entries from Peak School because we know that we have talent amongst us! The piece of writing needs to be no more than 1000 words (that's 1.5 pages of a Word doc single spaced) and based on the classic Chinese tale, Journey To The West.

Stories must be based on Journey To The West, the classic Chinese piece of literature about a young monk's pilgrimage across China towards India, which has been adapted into many forms of entertainment. The TV series Monkey Magic was based on the novel, as was the movie Monkey King (pictured left).

The piece of writing must not be a retelling, rather a new story, using Journey to the West as inspiration.

Students will use their imaginations to create their own fiction story that relates to the classic tale of a journey or quest with a band of interesting, magical hero/ines.

Maybe it's a pilgrimage to the West side of town, or the West bank of the river... maybe the Western mountain range in the Alps.

Maybe there is a monkey lord, or talking pigs involved, maybe just a band of four travellers. What thwarts them? Who do they run into? What are they trying to do?

The possibilities are actually endless!

Entries could also be in the form of a poem, or a piece of art.

Art entries must be on A3 paper portrait layout and in full colour, using any type of medium or any mixed media.

Read all about those Nasty Normans, take the quiz on how to fight disease in the Middle Ages, take a peek at King Edward VI's letter to Santa or decide who is worse - Emperor Elagabalus or Kylo Ren... all in the latest issue of our Horrible Histories magazine!

Students loved Rob Buyea's first book Because Of Mr Terupt (highly recommended by this Librarian) for it's theme of acceptance and friendship. The school setting allows us to relate to all the characters - teacher and students alike - and the multiple points of view show us how perspective is so important. His sequel does not disappoint either.

"A surprising and totally satisfying sequel. The voices ring true," says the great writer, John Irving.

You know those kids who just ask 'why' all the time? They might end up being the ones with all the answers... especially after this book! Experts, academics, writers, personalities and leaders answer over 100 questions that, quite frankly, we would all like to know the answer to. Like Why do elephants have trunks? or Why do people have different coloured skin? This is the best stocking stuffer we have come up with yet!

This book was kindly donated to us by Jayden Yuen in 4M. Thank you Jayden!

Find out what a year is like for little people all over the world. From Australia to New York, these gorgeous little non-fiction picture books take a look at every month and what children do in different countries. These are great books to sit down and read with your kids and talk about traditions from your own native land and relive some childhood memories! We're just waiting for the non-English speaking countries to be published...

On the last Thursday at school before the holidays, we held a little Christmas Pizza Lunch in the Library to say 'thank you' to our Student Librarians who help us out throughout the year. And although we appreciate ALL the kids who come in and help us and are enthusiastic readers, we wanted to give these guys a bit of recognition and get them thinking about ideas for the rest of the year. We now have a long list of suggestions from our team, and we'll be asking them to help facilitate their suggested changes!

Do we call that a working lunch?

Do you have a need for a moment of peace and quiet?

Do you have a little bit of extra time on your hands?

Do you want to switch off away from it all?

You might consider volunteering in the Library! Join our group of volunteers, make new friends, engage in a mindful activity, and see first hand all the wonderful titles that are in our collection. Email us: library@peakschool.net