Welcome to the IRC
Monday 8am to 5pm
Tuesday 8am to 5pm
Wednesday 8am to 5pm
Thursday 8am to 5pm
Friday 8am to 5pm
Tuesday and Thursday in the IRC will now be know as 'Tranquil Tuesday' and 'Tranquil Thursday' The main area of the IRC will be available for quiet reading, study and reflection.
Check out Sora—The new student reading app, by OverDrive
Sora provides the quickest and easiest way to get started with digital titles from our school. Students can simply log in using school credentials and instantly access hundreds of eBooks and audiobooks on virtually any device.
Get started today,
For more help with Sora, go to help.soraapp.com
The trials of Morrigan Crow by 
The Dragonet Prophecy by
Born in 1973 in Perth, Australia, Jay Kristoff , has since moved to the southwest of Melbourne where he lives with his wife and his Russel Terrier he dubbed Samwise. He grew with up with an enthusiastic personality from his childhood that he spent playing lots of tabletops games. Dungeons and Dragons is one example that took the best of his younger years. He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from college. His literary career never quite manifested until eleven years later with a zealous entry hallmarked by steampunk writing. After college, he chose to go the career way as a creative advertisement personnel in television, a job that he held in the period before deciding to ignite his new career in writing.
The Bora-Bora Dress by 
Each Peach Pear Plum by 
The Quiltmaker's Journey by 
Coming of age : growing up Muslim in Australia
Muslim people in Australia come from over seventy countries and represent a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences. Yet we are constantly bombarded by media stories feeding one negative stereotype. What is it really like to grow up Muslim in Australia? In this book, famous and not-so-famous Muslim-Australians tell their stories in their own voices.
by 
Bite of the mango
The astounding story of one girl's journey from war victim to UNICEF Special Representative.
Almost French : a new life in Paris
Number 1 on the Bestseller list (Australia) with over 20,000 copies sold in the UK alone and over 250,000 world-wide! Almost French has been a huge success and now with the new-look, mass market B Format it is ready to go stellar! Publication timed for major trade promotions including summer reading and airport holiday exodus. In the bestselling tradition of Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun, Chris Stewart's A Parrot in the Pepper Tree or Peter Mayle - but without the pile of stones! Funny, perceptive and poignant Almost French is an often hilarious mixture of a young woman's personal memoir and armchair travel. A spectacular example of culture clash - and a happy ending.
by 
Why do we love our favorite stories? Do they need a beginning, middle and end, and a character who changes by the conclusion? Masters of storytelling explore new answers to age-old questions of the craft.
Inside a Dog is a place for teen readers and the home of Inky, the reading wonder-dog. Here you can:
Youngzine is a one-of-a-kind Web site where children can learn about current news and events shaping their world -- in a simple, engaging and interactive manner.
Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) is every bit a seventeen-year-old: she’s attached to her laptop and loves her best friends. But unlike most teenagers, she spends much of her time living in a hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control -- all of which is put to the test when she meets an impossibly charming fellow CF patient named Will Newman (Cole Sprouse). There’s an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction. Further complicating matters is Will’s potentially dangerous rebellion against his ongoing medical treatment. Stella gradually inspires Will to live life to the fullest, but can she ultimately save the person she loves when even a single touch is off limits?
In the tradition of Amblin classics where fantastical events occur in the most unexpected places, Jack Black and two-time Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett star in The House with a Clock in Its Walls, from Amblin Entertainment. The magical adventure tells the spine-tingling tale of 10-year-old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live with his uncle in a creaky old house with a mysterious tick-tocking heart. But his new town’s sleepy façade jolts to life with a secret world of warlocks and witches when Lewis accidentally awakens the dead.
Hundreds of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, a mysterious young woman, Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar), emerges as the only one who can stop London — now a giant, predator city on wheels — from devouring everything in its path. Feral, and fiercely driven by the memory of her mother, Hester joins forces with Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan), an outcast from London, along with Anna Fang (Jihae), a dangerous outlaw with a bounty on her head.
What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once? Lara Jean Song Covey’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control when the love letters for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all– are mysteriously mailed out.
Congratulations to our Year 7 student Sania Kulkarni whose short story 'In the Middle of Nowhere' was published in the June-July issue of SpineOut magazine. Well done Sania!
Hornsby Library membership required. Please see IRC staff for more details.
Congratulations to our year 9 student Ariella Azzopardi who has featured in the December issue of Spineout Magazine. Ariella and her classmates had the opportunity to meet and listen to the creators of the Zarkora series Nicholas and Alison Lochel. You can read Ariella's review of the visit above.
Wednesday we welcomed writer Claire Zorn to the College, winner of the 2015 CBCA Book of the Year (older readers) who ran a number of creative writing workshops with our year 9 students. 4 of our students were also selected from a creative writing competition run leading up to Book Week where they needed to write a 500 word piece based on a set character and location set by Claire herself. The winners of this competition Arabella Young, Aoife Twamley,Nicole Sandow and Claire Ward won the prize of having lunch with Claire and a signed copy of her winning book 'The Protected'.
At lunchtime on Tuesday we had a group of students involved in our Refugee and Asylum Seeker Week events participating in writing activities in the IRC Collaborative Space, where they were able to write short stories in response to pictures of children in detention center's or write letters to children in detention.
This week the College has been celebrating Children's Book Week. The theme for 2015 was 'Books Light up our World' and students were encouraged via displays in the IRC to light up their world through reading. We had plenty of tea, fairy and flashing lights on display to light up the IRC with even a still functioning 'overhead projector' projecting this year's logo onto the wall and ceiling. Throughout the week students were invited to participate in guessing competitions displayed in the IRC such as 'guess the silhouette', 'name to book cover' and a 20 question competition based on locations around the world.
Congratulations to our Year 10 Future Problem Solvers who competed at the International Future Problem Championships in Iowa, USA where they placed first in the Community Problem Solving - Middle Division. They are featured in the July issue of Spineout Magazine. Well done girls!
A Makerspace is a place where people can come together to create, invent, experiment and learn using a variety of tools. A makerspace can provide users with lots of different items such as craft, electronics, software and hardware supplies. So come on into the IRC on Mondays and see what new and exciting things we have on offer!
Colouring in is an easy way to calm the mind and occupy the hands Mark Robert Waldman explaines that active meditation focuses attention on simple tasks that require repetitive motion. Concentrating this way replaces negative thoughts and creates a state of peace, and many people who have a difficult time with concentrative meditation can find this easier. This gentle activity where you choose the colours to create your picture and the repetitive action of colouring it in focuses the brain on the present, blocking out any intrusive thoughts.
Congratulations to our Year 9 student Emily J whose review of the new release 'Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean' by Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar and Anita Roy was selected to feature in the May edition of 'SpineOut' magazine. Well done Emily!
Mount St Benedict College currently have a successful team of girls who have qualified for the International Future Problem Solving Championships to be held in the USA in June. They are part of the Community Problem Solving Team and the focus of their project 'Mind Your Language' has been to educate the College and wider community about the language used by politicians and the media to describe, and often demonise, asylum seekers. The painting below is on display in the IRC and represents what the girls want to change in the language people use towards asylum seekers and refugees in Australia. Along with the painting the girls have provided a pledge you may wish to sign. The Community Problem Solving Team can be followed on their Twitter handle @Mindur_Language and on Facebook at communityproblemsolving
Looking for something new to read? Not too sure where to begin? Then come and check out the new Wide Reading suggestion boards in the Reading Area!
The girls were delighted to host acclaimed Australian writer Claire Zorn to Bennies last term where she spoke to them about her life as a writer and where she get he writing inspiration from. Claire recently wrote about her visit to Bennies on her blog All The Kings Horses where she also attached 3 of our year 8 girls' book trailers for her book 'The sky so heavy'
Sydney Writer's Festival 2014
Ella with Will Kostakis and YiaYia
Year 8 Wide Reading Blogs
Ella meets Will Kostakis and his YiaYia
Click on the Book Suggestion Link to request books for the IRC- Please make sure to fill in the title of the book and the author. When the book is ordered and arrives you will be sent an email.
Nutty Books
Slug and Jiggers Apothecary
Mindfulness
LibGuides are a helpful online aid that students can use to support their research especially for assessments. They offer the ability for the IRC Staff to integrate a diverse range of information sources and instructional support materials in an organised manner that students are finding easy to navigate.
Libguides are a great place for students to start their assessments providing them with a ‘springboard’ for their academic research. The guides contain listings of recommended resources for finding information such as books, eBooks, databases, or recommended websites and can be embedded with relevant documents, images, widgets and media files. LibGuides can be created for a specific subject, subtopic or even specific class assignments. LibGuides provide an effective and attractive support for learning which is interactive, engaging, Web 2.0 friendly and available 24/7.
Margaret Windeyer - 1866-1939 Australian Librarian, feminist and women's suffragist
Head to the 998 section to check out our books about The Antarctic
Arctic & Antarctic by 
A History of Antarctica by 
Douglas Mawson's Antarctic expedition by 
Unearthed
When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution humanity has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and their message leads to the planet Gaia, a treasure trove waiting to be explored.
No normal by 
Normal People by 
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by 
It Sounded Better in My Head by 
Into the wild by 
Find your next book here at SpineOut
Read the latest fiction reviews or ask the Library staff how to submit a review yourself
