March/April Spotlights

Vic High Reads 2025

Language Arts classes shortlisted seven titles from the long list of twelve that was presented at the mid-February grade-wide assembly.   

As in past years, a generous Times Colonist Literacy grant fund will support the purchase of book club sets and audio books for classes.

Classes will be reading these titles then preparing a 2 1/2 -3 minute creative presentation for the school-wide "Battle of the Books" assembly in late May -- date TBA.

Reading Themes

Monthly:

March:   Armchair Travel -- books with a  road trip or other form of physical journey as part of the 

                                            plot,  and stories with an element of time travel 

April:     Poetry:  It's National Poetry Month in Canada!

M  March

3-7:       French literature -- Canadian Francophone authors and authors around the world

3-17:    "Going Green" -- books with green covers representing various genres (given that spring                 is on the horizon!)

April:

1-4:      Classic literature - 19th century and earlier

7-11:    Twentieth Century Classic literature

14-18:  Classic literature adapted  as graphic novels

21-30:  Everything Shakespeare (Shakespeare's Birthday is April 23)

There will be activities organized around the reading themes throughout April -- stay tuned!

Spring Break Reading Options

The library purchased the following titles from the Canada Reads 2025 long list. 

Don't forget to check out many new Adult reads newly acquired by our library and feel free to sign out anything you like for the break!

Additionally, here are a few recommendations from Vic High staff (first two titles are not in our library collection currently):

•       From Holly Iversen:  Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer -- a short but fantastic read!  Excellent for students as well.

•       From Sara Reside: James by Percival Everett -- a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the slave who travels with Huck.  It's creative, really well-written and quite literary but easy to read and pulls the reader in as well as being a horrific look at life as a slave in the early days of the Civil War in the South.

•       From Wendy Burleson:  The Reformatory by Tananarive Due -- a mix of realistic fiction, horror fiction and historical fiction set in the Jim Crow south.  It's a novel about a young boy who is sent to a reformatory school after challenging a white boy who threatens his sister.  At the Reformatory, he sees ghosts of past boys from the school.  A riveting, well-written story.