Southsea schoolchildren have fun choosing new books for library

CLASSIC novels, picture books, action stories and non-fiction reads were among the books selected by schoolchildren for their library.
From the left are Hugo Aistrope, eight,, Juliet Malbon, 11,, and Aayan Alom, 10

Picture Ian Hargreaves  (181110-1)From the left are Hugo Aistrope, eight,, Juliet Malbon, 11,, and Aayan Alom, 10

Picture Ian Hargreaves  (181110-1)
From the left are Hugo Aistrope, eight,, Juliet Malbon, 11,, and Aayan Alom, 10 Picture Ian Hargreaves (181110-1)

Pupils from St Jude’s Church of England Primary School, in Portsmouth, spent the morning selecting books from Waterstones.

The Southsea school held a number of fundraisers from auctions to discos to raise around £750 to spend in the bookshop to give their library more variety.

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A handful of youngsters from all year groups wandered the shelves picking out different types of books to suit all ages and reading abilities.

Izzy Lewis, deputy headteacher, said: ‘Lots of schools have reading initiatives and there are hundreds of schemes to help get children into reading.

‘What’s really important to us is that the pupils are in charge of choosing what they want to read as well as the texts they are required to learn.

‘We have done some fundraising and used some of our literacy budget to come to Waterstones and pick a selection of books for our library.

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‘For us, we want to get our children excited about reading real books and we think getting them to pick it is a great way to do that.’

The pupils were excited to look at the different types and pick ones their friends and classmates had suggested.

They chose classics like Jane Eyre, romance novels, horror books like Goosebumps, picture books and books full of facts from different subjects like science and geography.

Year 5 pupil Maddie Mai, nine, said: ‘We have been picking lots of different books for the library. It has been good reading the blurbs to see what they are about and then seeing if we want them.’

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Eleven-year-old Lily Eldrid, in Year 6, agreed. She added: ‘We asked our classmates what sort we should get and the librarian told use what we needed to help us choose. It has been exciting to see all the new wonderful books we will have.’

For Charlie Cater, a Year 4 pupil aged nine, and seven-year-old Reggie Isaj, a Year 3 pupil, selecting different genres was the best part and Charlie said they made sure they had a good range.

Reggie said: ‘It was good picking horror and action but also romance and non-fiction.’

Year 5 pupil, 10-year-old Charis Hargreaves said they worked as a team, adding: ‘I am really happy with what we have picked.’

Miss Lewis thanked Waterstones in Commercial Road for their help and said it would not have happened without their support.