Themes, Displays, and Library Events – Page 12 – Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library

Sci-Fi Favourites

What are your favourite Science Fiction titles? Here are some of ours.

Use the comments to share some of your favourite sci-fi titles.

What is science fiction? There are many different books, films, games and other media that can fall into the genre of sci-fi. There are many different definitions, many different sub-genres, and many different elements that can make something “sci-fi.” It wouldn’t be possible to come up with one definition that all Science Fiction writers and creators would agree upon. Having said that, we can examine some common themes and elements.

Science Fiction is a genre which can fit under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction, alongside, and often overlapping with, Fantasy and Horror. Science Fiction tends to be futuristic, imagining advances in technology and scientific achievement beyond our current levels. Robots, cyborgs and technologically modified humans are common in SF. Sci-fi often includes elements such as space travel, aliens, life on other planets or in other galaxies. However, sci-fi can also stay here on earth, exploring such things as utopia, dystopia, alternative histories, and post-apocalyptic scenarios. There can be an emphasis on science, with stories set in very realistic situations based on real scientific research, but can also extend into levels of conjecture that may try to extrapolate or predict where we are headed with science. In fact, SF can stray from hard science, abandoning realism altogether as it explores the paranormal and the fantastic.

Hugo and Nebula Winners

In the world of science fiction, the Hugo and the Nebula are the most prestigious awards that can be won by the author of a Sci-Fi novel. Here are those titles that achieved both distinctions and rank among the very best Sci-Fi works of all time.

All of these novels can be found in your School Library. Come down to check them out.

Science Fiction

Come down to your School Library this month to check out our theme for January: Science Fiction. We have a huge selection of Sci-Fi novels for your enjoyment. On top of that we have Sci-Fi graphic novels, Sci-Fi themed magazines and Sci-Fi Short Story collections. We even have a large selection of non-fiction books that examine Science Fiction in all its forms, including novels, television, games, and movies. Be sure to come down and see what we have to offer.

Games World of Puzzles

November is International Games Month @ Your Library but you can celebrate all year long in so many ways, including enjoying our subscription to “Games World of Puzzles” magazine. Come down and check it out.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji Gurpurab

The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469 in the north-west of India, (what is now Pakistan.) He would go on to become the first of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism. In 2023 the celebration of the birth of Guru Nanak is November 27. The day is also referred to as Guru Nanak’s Prakash Utsav and Guru Nanak Jayanti.

Most Canadians of Indian heritage who live in Canada are Sikhs, including many students at Lord Tweedsmuir, and in communities throughout Surrey and Greater Vancouver. If you are not Sikh, learn more about Guru Nanak, Sikhism, and the Sikh community. What a great way to better understand your friends, neighbours and fellow Canadians.

Find out more:

Sikh Wiki

Sikh Museum

Canadian Sikh Heritage

Sikh Net

BBC

The Guibord Center

Songs of Peace: Alice’s Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends, family and neighbours! Along with Turkey and football games, another staple of American Thanksgiving for many is listening to the 18 minute classic, “Alice’s Restaurant.”

November has been Peace month in the School Library, with an emphasis on understanding peace education, the antiwar movements, civil disobedience and other non-violent means of social change. Such themes overlap with American Thanksgiving in “Alice’s Restaurant.”

Originally released in 1967, Arlo Guthrie’s 18 minute long recording of “Alice’s Restaurant” has become on of the most famous protest songs against the Vietnam War. The events described in the song, beginning with a Thanksgiving celebration amongst friends during the sixties, were the inspiration for a film which was released in 1969.

More than 50 years later Guthrie’s signature song is a staple of classic rock radio stations on and around American Thanksgiving.

Find out more:

source: Arlo Guthrie / You Tube via Warner Records

November is Peace Month at your School Library. Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Teachers Play Games

We asked LTSS Teachers and Staff about some of their favourite games to play. Here are some of the replies:

Mr. Ferrier played Axis & Allies when he was a kid. Now he loves Yahtzee, and the My Little Pony game, although his daughter beats him every time.

Ms. Truss loves Arkham Horror. She also mentioned Love Letter, Jaipur and Taco Cat.

Mr. Donaldson’s favourites include Settlers of Catan, Sequence, Cribbage, D&D, Magic: The Gathering, and Chess

Other teacher favourites:

Mr. Birnbaum is a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons, Scum & Villainy, Dungeon World, and Blades in the Dark.
Ms. Calla plays Pandemic with family and friends, along with other favourites such as Catan, Ticket to Ride, Munchkin, Cards Against Humanity, and Cribbage.
Dr. Robinson says that Sorry taught her how to lose, and that Scrabble taught her how to lose to her Mother every time they played. She prefers lawn games like Bocce and Cornhole.
Ms. Newton likes to play Cribbage, Monopoly Deal, Dutch Blitz, Speed, Uzzle, Jenga, Mahjong and her ultimate favourite, Mancala!
Ms. Stroh likes to play Exploding Kittens with her kids. She also likes Sequence, Settlers of Catan, Monopoly Deal and Ticket to Ride.

November is International Games Month @ Your Library

Songs of Peace: “Bulls on Parade”

Rage Against the Machine have many titles that could be picked for lists of the greatest protest songs. One of the most overtly antiwar tracks is “Bulls on Parade.” (1996).

Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes
Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal
I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a library
Line up to the mind cemetery now
What we don’t know keeps the contracts alive and movin’
They don’t gotta burn the books they just remove ’em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells
Rally ’round the family, pockets full of shells