1 Day until...

JYHS Library Comic Con II is nearly upon us. This year Harry Giles is hosting so we asked him what comics he'd recommend.

Harry is a performer, poet, and general doer of things. He grew up in Orkney, Scotland, and now lives in Edinburgh. He make art about protests and protests about art and writes about anything. He is currently Reader in Residence with West Lothian Libraries.


Lumberjanes - Set in Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, a summer camp whose attendees are known as Lumberjane Scouts, five scouts must do battle against a range of supernatural creatures. Friendship to the Max!

Princeless - Princess Adrienne, a strong-minded, brave, and intelligent black princess constantly questions and challenges expectations and stereotypes associated with princesses.

Nimona - Nimona is a young shapeshifter and the sidekick of the supervillain Lord Ballister Blackheart. Blackheart is a knight turned mad scientist who's pursued by his nemesis, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin of the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics.

2 Days to go...

until JYHS Library Comic Con II. Last year we all worked together to create a comic in only 2 hours!

3 Days to go...

until JYHS Library presents Comic Con II.

So with that in mind here are the guests who are joining us for the day and the workshops they'll be offering:

Kelly Kanayama 
Kelly Kanayama is a comics critic and scholar conducting PhD research into American and British comics at the University of Dundee. Originally from Hawaii, she has been living in the UK since 2007.

Fighters and Winners: Creating Games How to get started making games! This workshop takes you through the game creation process to give you the skills to develop your own games. Expect competition, the thrill of victory, and something we like to call....Wizard Battle.

Sha Nazir 
Sha Nazir is Art Director & Publisher at BHP Comics and Festival Director at Glasgow Comic Con. He says, "Drawing comics keeps me sane and a bit crazy all at the same time. I collect odd action figures, read too much, love dodgy bronze age comic covers and watch Star Trek when no one is looking."

Intro to Comics. You will learn how Comic Books and Graphic Novels are created by doing creative writing and drawing exercises to set their imaginations free, test their creativity, and learn basic story structure. You develop and illustrate their own short story.



Clare Forrest 
Clare Forrest is an illustrator and art tutor, and created The Mighty Women of Science Alphabet Book. Clare is also involved with Team Girl Comic, a Glasgow-based group for comic creators. 

Illustration: A workshop in learning to illustrate -- how can art be used beyond comics, and what are different ways of doing illustration? You'll get to try out some new ideas.

Plus joining us a again for the panel is James McCulloch is a film blogger, musician, and comic book writer from central Scotland. He writes horror comics and plays bass in Bat Country Massacre.

Mrs Benson's been reading...

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

It is set in St Malo, France during the occupation by Germany in WW2. It tells the story of a little blind girl whose father has been entrusted with a jewel from the National Museum. This is being sought by one of the Nazi curators. At the same time the story of a brilliant young German boy unfolds. It tells of his experiences at an elite school and eventually of the army and his mission in France. The story is exciting and moving and is beautifully written.

Philip Caveney visits JYHS

JYHS Library was delighted to host Philip Caveney who was recently won the 2016 Scottish Children’s Book Awards for his book 'The Piper' (writing under the pseudonym Danny Weston). Philip spoke to all the S1 pupils about his Tom Afflick trilogy - set in a mixture of the present and moments in Edinburgh's history.

Pupils were grossed out by his descriptions of the plague cure administered in Mary King's Close, fascinated by the most dangerous toilet in the world and intrigued by the real rules a pirate lived by.

Pupils also got an exclusive reading from his latest book 'The Calling' (due for release at the end of the month). The exciting story features the statues in Edinburgh coming to life for twenty-four hours. If the bit we heard was anything to go by we can't wait to read it.

Massive thanks to Philip for such an entertaining visit and to Fledgling Press who made it happen.

David's been reading...


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *****
Great book - highly advise reading.

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian *****
Great book, st during WWII about a scared, frail boy who finds a home with a once bitter old man.

The Vampire Rites Trilogy by Darren Shan *****
Three books in one about how Darren becomes a vampire prince after doing the trials of rites.

Mr. Holt's been reading...

At Christmas, I read 'The Odd Angry Shot' by William Nagle (Australia). A moving and graphic account of Australia's role in the Vietnam War.

Then I read 'Snow Country' by Yasunari Kawabata (Japan). A traditionally written account of a visitor's relationship with a Geisha in the mountains by a Nobel winning writer.

Now I am reading 'The Calligrapher's Secret by Rafiq Schami (Syria) which is about two people from different communities who fall in love in Damascus.

Next I am going to read 'Americana' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

Ticket to Read

As part of our 'Ticket to Read' display for World Book Day we asked some members of staff to recommend books based in other countries.



Mr. Allen recommends;
Smoke by Ivan Turgenev - Germany
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - Germany
Kim by Rudyard Kipling -India
The Plague by Albert Camus - Algeria
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat - Atlantic Ocean

Mr. Lyons recommended Omertà by Mario Puzo for Italy.

Mrs. Keillar (careers adviser) recommended Nocturne by Lisa St Aubin de Terán (Italy).

Ms. Dewar recommends My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (Italy) and The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (Algeria).

Mr. Cruickshank recommends;
The Space Between The Raindrops - Justin Ker (Singapore)
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami (Japan)
No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay (Canada)
It - Stephen King (USA)

Mrs. Hart recommends;
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (USA)
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Jamaica)
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee (India)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez (Columbia)                        
Half of a Yellow Sun / Americanah / Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

Mrs. Wilson recommends;
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Russia)
Death And The Penguin by Andrey Kurkov (Ukraine)
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (South Africa)
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (China)
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (Australia)

The World Map is from the CIA - The World Factbook

JYHS Library Comic Con II

Tickets for Comic Con II are on sale until Friday (4th March).

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