Posts Tagged ‘Quick Reads’
All New Quick Reads
Posted on: January 30, 2015
They are here! Six new titles from Quick Reads for 2015:
- Out of the Dark by Adele Geres.
- Red for Revenge by Fanny Blake.
- Paris for One by Jojo Moyes.
- Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle.
- Street Cat Bob by James Bowen.
- Pictures or it Didn’t Happen by Sophie Hannah.
Our Future Proof students are going to read ‘Street Cat Bob’ in class on the Kindles. We invited the lively group into the LRC to have a look at the full range of books today. Many people are participating in the Six Book Challenge and have borrowed a Quick Read or two (or more!).
Each new book has a different genre and will suit most tastes. The settings are all in Europe though I think. It is a shame not to include other parts of the world. There is a memoir, romance, thriller and an historical one. I am not sure how to classify ‘Dead Man Talking’ as it sounds a bit off the wall (in a good way!).The author Roddy Doyle won the Booker Prize in 1993 so no doubt his Quick Read will be a page-turner. We are keen to hear back about what people think of them and fill out a book review slip.
Let’s Face It…
Posted on: January 14, 2015
We know from research that our students are big fans of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook has announced his 2015 New Year’s resolution is to read. Zuckerberg’s resolution is based on crowdsourcing ideas he gathered one of which suggested he read a new book every month. As he is always one to push the boundaries on his resolutions – having previously learnt Mandarin he decided to read one every other week. You can keep pace and find out how he’s doing on his A Year of Books page.
If you’d like to rise to a similar challenge take a look at the Costa Book Award 2014 category winners for inspiration. Or if you’d like to make your reading challenge easier why not try using Quick Reads to make the going easier? Here’s the 2014 list and what’s coming up in the 2015 February launch.
Padlet on What We Like Reading
Posted on: April 25, 2014
We’ve created a Padlet wall about what and why we like reading during our World Book Night event on 23 April. Take a look at our Padlet wall and let us know what you think about reading and what you like to read.
Our students who are keen readers of Quick Reads were asking what books they should move onto next when they’ve moved up from graded readers and Quick Reads. The Reading Agency’s Six Book Challenge website’s Find A Read helps you find books you might like to try by genre and according to your reading confidence levels. Which Book allows you to find books according to your interests and mood levels.
Our students enjoyed doing word searches and quizzes and talking about what they like reading. We sent a link to our Padlet wall on Twitter and tweeted to #worldbooknight. We’re busy compiling a list of recommended reads to share with students and staff.
World Book Night 2014
Posted on: March 14, 2014
On Wednesday 23 April our Learning Resources Centre (LRC) will be a giver for the first time in World Book Night 2014.
World Book Night celebrates books and reading and takes place annually on 23 April which is the date of William Shakespeare’s birth and the death of the Spanish novelist Cervantes. Due to the importance of the date the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) named it the International Day of the Book.
As a book giver our LRC team selected books from the 2014 booklist. We’ve picked books that will appeal to our students; two Quick Reads
The Perfect Murder by Peter James
Hello Mum by Bernadine Evaristo
and Armistead Maupin’s novel Tales of the City.
We’ll be giving copies of the books away to our learners and having an evening event to celebrate. In preparation we’ve ordered the DVD of Tales of the City for our students to borrow.
This year anyone can be a World Book Night Giver. You can give anyone a book you own or bought. If you’d like to do this you can register on the World Book Night website and get the chance to enter a prize draw.
You can take part by attending a World Book Night event up and down the United Kingdom.
Quick Reads 2014
Posted on: March 10, 2014
Last week our 2014 batch of Quick Reads hit the shelves for borrowing.
Quick Reads come out annually on 14 February and this year’s bunch include:
Four Warned by Jeffrey Archer
Blackout by Emily Barr
A Cruel Fate by Lindsey Davis
Rules for Dating a Romantic Hero by Harriet Evans
The Escape Lynda La Plante
Hidden Barbara Taylor Bradford
As our students are residential they’ve told us Quick Reads are great for having something to read before bedtime. And they’re manageable if you want to read something in a weekend.
Read all about it
Posted on: February 15, 2013
Quick Reads launched on 14 February. What are Quick Reads? There short books which are written by famous to get you to realise that reading is easy. We’ve already had these two arriving on our shelves from those being launched in 2013:
The Silurian gift by Mike Tucker
Wrong time, wrong place by Simon Kernick
A dreadful murder by Minette Walters
The Silurian Gift is one from the BBC Doctor Who series. We’ve also just bought a set of audio Dr Who stories for Dr fans.
You can view all of Quick Reads material through our Online Public Access Catalogue onsite or offsite.
Six Book Challenge
Posted on: November 28, 2012
Again this year we’re running the Six Book Challenge at Hillcroft College. The Six Book Challenge is a Reading Agency initiative that encourages adults to get reading. The idea is you read 6 items which you must complete by 28 June 2013. You log the material you read in a diary and rate the items you read. The 6 items need not be books! You can read:
- poems
- newspaper articles
- recipes
- book reviews
- letters in magazines
- information leaflets
to name but a few!
Once you’ve read your six items we put you in a national prize draw to win a trip to London with a friend which includes hotel accommodation, expenses and theatre tickets. There are also ebook reader prizes too.
If you’ve recently joined our Get Confident in English and English as Second or Other Language (ESOL) Preparation for Life courses you may have already signed up for the Challenge. If you’d like to borrow books from us we’ve got a number of Quick Reads and graded readers.
When you’re on course at Hillcroft if we don’t catch up with you while you’re on your course, do drop into the Learning Resources Centre (LRC) so we can update your diary. If you have any questions about what counts to the six just ask us or drop us an email lrc@hillcroft.ac.uk .
If you’re stuck trying to find a book to read for the Challenge take a look at the Find a Read website for ideas.
