Themes, Displays, and Library Events – Page 2 – Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library

Trivial Pursuit

Created by Canadians, who first published their game in 1981, Trivial Pursuit would take the world by storm in the early ’80s and go on to dominate the world of quiz-style board games for decades. Trivial Pursuit would eventually spawn more than a hundred different editions and variations and would face challenges from many competitors.

Trivial Pursuit wasn’t the first general knowledge board game, nor is it necessarily the best, at least in the minds of many board game enthusiasts, who have some complaints about the mechanics of the game. However, there is no denying the immense cultural impact of Trivial Pursuit, sometimes referred to as the “Godfather” of trivia games.

The success of Trivial Pursuit may have helped to spark the revival of the quiz show “Jeopardy.” Online quiz game sites like Sporcle and apps like Kahoot owe some of their current popularity to the rise of Trivial Pursuit. In 1993, Games Magazine inducted Trivial Pursuit into their prestigious Hall of Fame.

Find out more:

November is International Games Month @ Your Library

Songs of Peace: Love and War

Canadian legend Neil Young, who has been singing about love and war all his life, gave us this song in 2010.

When I sing about love and war
I don’t really know what I’m saying
I’ve been in love and I’ve seen a lot of war
Seen a lot of people praying
They pray to Allah and they prey to the Lord
And mostly they pray about love and war
Pray about love and war
Pray about love and war

Seen a lot of young men go to war
And leave a lot of young brides waiting
I’ve watched them try to explain it to their kids
And seen a lot of them failing
They tried to tell them and they tried to explain
Why Daddy won’t ever come home again

Daddy won’t ever come home
Daddy won’t ever come home

I said a lot of things that I can’t take back
But I don’t really know if I want to
And songs about love, I sang songs about war
Since the backstreets of Toronto
I sang for justice and I hit a bad chord
But I still try to sing about love and war

The saddest thing in the whole wide world
Is to break the heart of your lover
I made a mistake and I did it again
And we struggled to recover
I sang in anger, hit another bad chord
But I still try to sing about love and war

Sing about love and war
Sing about love and war
Love and war

When I sing about love and war
I don’t really know what I’m saying
I’ve been in love and I’ve seen a lot of war
Seen a lot of people praying
They pray to Allah and they prey to the Lord
And mostly they pray about love and war

When I sing about love and war
I don’t really know what I’m saying
I’ve been in love and I’ve seen a lot of war
Seen a lot of people praying
They pray to Allah and they prey to the Lord
And mostly they pray about love and war

Pray about love and war
Pray about love and war

Seen a lot of young men go to war
And leave a lot of young brides waiting
I’ve watched them try to explain it to their kids
And seen a lot of them failing
They tried to tell them and they tried to explain
Why Daddy won’t ever come home again

Daddy won’t ever come home
Daddy won’t ever come home

I said a lot of things that I can’t take back
But I don’t really know if I want to
And songs about love, I sang songs about war
Since the backstreets of Toronto
I sang for justice and I hit a bad chord
But I still try to sing about love and war

The saddest thing in the whole wide world
Is to break the heart of your lover
I made a mistake and I did it again
And we struggled to recover
I sang in anger, hit another bad chord
But I still try to sing about love and war

Sing about love and war
Sing about love and war
Love and war

When I sing about love and war
I don’t really know what I’m saying
I’ve been in love and I’ve seen a lot of war
Seen a lot of people praying
They pray to Allah and they prey to the Lord
And mostly they pray about love and war

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Catan

In 1995 the world first experienced the wonders of Catan, and board games have never been the same since. At first known as The Settlers of Catan, this board game from Germany became an international sensation, spawning multiple expansions, extension, variations, scenarios and spin-offs.

The gameplay of Catan is a departure from most of the board games that dominated the 20th century. Like most previous game, dice rolls add some element of chance to the game, but much more important are strategic analysis, planning and decision making. Because the board is built from randomly placed interlocking hexagonal pieces, players need to study a new board each game to determine the optimal places for settlement. Resource management for expansion and development is the key to success. Every roll of the dice is meaningful for every player on every turn, right up to the end of the game.

While it isn’t the only game that changed the way we think about board games, nor even the first, few other board games in this century have had the same impact on the world of gaming. If you haven’t yet experienced the world of Catan, do yourself a favour and give it a try.

November is International Games Month @ Your Library

Songs of Peace: Holy War

Alicia Keys brings us this powerful song that looks at the irony of a society that seems to be more scared of sex than it is of war. “Holy War” was first released in 2016 by the acclaimed American singer/songwriter.

If war is holy and sex is obscene
We’ve got it twisted in this lucid dream
Baptized in boundaries, schooled in sin
Divided by difference, sexuality, and skin

Oh, so we can hate each other and fear each other
We can build these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked in
Yeah, we can hate each other and fear each other
We can build these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked

Oh, maybe we should love somebody
Oh, maybe we could care a little more
So maybe we should love somebody
Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if sex was holy and war was obscene
And it wasn’t twisted, what a wonderful dream
Living for love, unafraid of the end
Forgiveness is the only real revenge

Oh, so we can heal each other and fill each other
We can break these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself open, yourself open
Yeah, we can heal each other and fill each other
We can break these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself open, you’re open

So maybe we should love somebody
Maybe we could care a little more
So maybe we should love somebody
Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if love is holy and hate obscene
We should give life to this beautiful dream
‘Cause peace and love ain’t so far
If we nurse our wounds before they scar
Nurse our wounds before they scar

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Games

Is your class signed up to come down for International Games Month @ Your Library? Ask your teacher.

Peace

November is Peace Month at your School Library. Come down to check out some of these selections on peace, the horrors of war, and alternatives, including non-violence, civil disobedience, anti-war movements, peace activism, and more.

International Games Month @ Your Library

For the 14th consecutive year we are celebrating IGM@YL here in the School Library in November. Join with us for an amazing month of board games, table games, card games, and other live, in person games. Learn more about the amazing educational power of games. Most importantly, experience the joy of playing games here in the school library!

November is Peace Month

November is Peace Month at your School Library. All month long we will explore issues related to movements for peace in the world, including non-violence, antiwar movements, civil disobedience, peace activism, and more. We will celebrate organizations and individuals who have been champions of peace. We will feature songs of peace. And of course we will share our collection of books and other resources related to peace. Visit us in person, and online, to find out more.

Samhain

The Gaelic Festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Samhain begins at sundown on October 31 and goes until sundown on November 1.

The roots of Samhain stretch back deep into the prehistoric development of Celtic pagan beliefs. With the arrival of Christianity in what we now know as Ireland and Scotland, the practices of Samhain and All-Saints Day merged over time. Halloween traces many of its roots back to both Samhain and “All-Hallows Eve,” — the night before All Saints Day.

There has been a modern revival in celebrations of Samhain, in part due to the practices of Wiccans and other neo-pagans, as well other people who see it as a as a way to incorporate Celtic rituals into their belief systems. Many others see it as a way to celebrate Irish culture and history. Samhain is often celebrated with feasting and giant bonfires.

Find out more:

Books for Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, but it is never too late to pick up a scary book. Come down to the School Library to browse our collection of horror and all things spooky. Here are some of our most recent additions:

October is Horror Month at your School Library

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. As we celebrate CLM and ISLM each year, we highlight notable librarians who have made significant contributions to libraries and librarianship. We also celebrate librarians who have raised the profile of libraries and librarianship with their fame in other fields. Here are the 2025 inductees into our Library Hall of Fame:

Shiela Egoff

Sheila Egoff (1918-2005) was one of Canada’s most outstanding librarians. Egoff worked in both public and academic libraries. Egoff was also a writer, a historian, a professor, a literary critic. Among her many accomplishments, Sheila Egoff was Canada’s first tenured Professor of Children’s Literature (at the University of British Columbia.) Egoff was named to the Order of Canada. The Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize for excellence in children’s and young adult literature, has been awarded in her name since 1987.

Find out more:

Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) spent many of her early years as a teacher librarian in New York Public Schools, before garnering greater fame, and many honours, as a poet, academic, novelist, activist, philosopher, feminist, and more. Much of her work spoke to fight for the freedom and equality of the oppressed and marginalized, including the intersections of race, gender and sexual orientation.

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S.R. Ranganathan

S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1972) is known as the “Father of Library Science”in India. Best known for “The Five Laws of Library Science,” Ranganathan also developed the Colon Classification system. His work not only revolutionized the practices of libraries and librarians in India, but grew in influence throughout the world.

Find out more:

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees: