Devon School Library Service Newsletter December 2025

Devon County Council sent this bulletin at 01-12-2025 11:08 AM GMT

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December 2025

School Library Service

Centre news for December

Last month we welcomed librarians to the Secondary school library network meetings. The session focused on preparations for the National Year of Reading 2026. A big 'Thank you' to South Molton CC and Stover School for hosting us all.

View the news & updates from the meeting.

Topic box requests for Spring 2026

There are only a few weeks left to order your topic box requests for the Spring term. Please submit requests by 19 December 2025 to ensure prompt delivery in January.

Reminder
We have been receiving a lot of late topic requests. Topic boxes are ordered at the end of one term for the entire next term.

Any requests made after your scheduled topic delivery date may incur a delay and could have to wait until the next available delivery slot.

Please share this information with your school colleagues so they don't miss out!

Email us

The Children's Booker Prize

On 24 October the Booker Prize Foundation announced they would be introducing an award for Children's books. This will be launched in Spring with the first awards being presented in February 2027.

This award will celebrate children's fiction for ages 8-12 and aims to address the decline in reading engagement among children and to inspire a new generation of readers.

This is the first new prize from the Booker Foundation since 2005 and is supported by AKO Foundation.

The Children's Booker Prize

SLS January event for The National Year of Reading 2026

We're kicking off our year of planned activities for The National Year of Reading by shining a spotlight on the 2025 Laugh Out Loud Book Awards (Lollies) - a celebration of the funniest books in children's literature!

Organised by Scholastic UK, the Lollies shortlist was announced last July and children across the country have been voting for their favourite ever since. The winners will be revealed at the official award ceremony on Thursday 4 December.

This year's awards continue to highlight the power of humour in storytelling and aim to inspire a lifelong love of reading amongst young audiences. So why not fill your library with giggles and laughter?

Click the button below to view the full shortlist, these can be ordered from SLS as part of your exchange or purchased at 25% off rrp.

National Year of Reading 2026

Pre-publications booklist for January

With a long list of new titles scheduled for publication in January, we've carefully curated a selection of standout books that are likely to generate strong interest and high demand within your library.

January pre-pubs booklist

Teen book sets

We have updated our teen book sets list and now have
37 teen titles available with multiple copies for you to use with small groups.

Available to all schools to borrow at no cost. Please contact us for more details.

Teen book sets

Still looking for a Christmas reading activity?

Reading aloud is a magical way to build reading skills—and sharing stories together makes this time of year even more special!
That’s why we’ve selected 16 brilliant Christmas books and created all the resources you need to run this activity and build a festive Countdown to Christmas wall display.

Simply gather your books, download the resources, and you’ll be ready to go!

Downloads for Christmas activity

Buy books the smart way!

We offer 25% off all books purchased through us.

✅ Available to ALL schools
✅ Includes stationery, plastic jackets, and FREE delivery
✅ Subscribing schools can return books purchased as
part of their exchange returns

Make your budget go further!!

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