Small, flying...librarians!
Ecology
The library of the University of Coimbra is the oldest library in Portugal (1500). In Mafra there is another old library (1700). What do these two Portuguese libraries both have? Very special employees! The true guardians of the ancient, rare and precious volumes of these two libraries are… bats! During the day no one can see them. When the evening comes and there is no one, the bats come out and start flying among the books. They do a very important job: they eat insects that are harmful to the paper of the books–silverfish, woodworms... Every evening the librarians cover chairs and tables with sheets to prevent them from becoming dirty by their little flying colleagues. Their service is free and the library workers don’t have to use dangerous insecticides!
MiniQuiz
1 The bat is a mammal.
[T] [F]
2 A bat can eat up to:
[A] 300 insects a night.
[B] 3000 insects a night.
3 Bats only live in caves.
[T] [F]
The answers are on page 14
friends! Welcome back!
I imagine you are a bit more relaxed in this period... Ready to start practicing English again? In this first issue we start with lots of curious news about books, bookshops and libraries. Don’t make that face...it’s not boring! We will discover many interesting things that perhaps not everyone knows: places not to be missed and events related to reading. We will meet a talented young woman—Tate McRae. I will also tell you about the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival. We’ll visit the New York Public Library and see what it has inside. In the meantime, let’s start with Let’s Start, our favourite magazine! Have a good beginning!
the superlative - there is/there are
Mafra Palace Library
Joanina Library, University of Coimbra
Food and culture
Learn more about this event at:
World Pasta Day
Do you like pasta? Get ready... October 25th is World Pasta Day, the 27th World Pasta Day! Pasta is one of the most famous and loved dishes in the world. When you think of pasta, you think of the Mediterranean diet and Italy. Actually, the whole world eats pasta—a good 14 million tons! Italy is the largest producer of this food and also the largest consumer. Italians eat about 24 kg of pasta a year, followed by Tunisians (17 kg), Venezuelans (15 kg), Greeks (13 kg) and Peruvians (10 kg). Where pasta originates remains a mystery. According to some historians, it arrived from China thanks to Marco Polo. In any case, we know that there are many good reasons to eat pasta: it is healthy, it is a source of energy, it makes you feel good and it is a symbol of being together!
If you love pasta, celebrate it with your friends on this day: organize a “pasta party”, a cooking competition, invent a recipe…
There are more than 300 types of pasta. Do you know any of them? Look at the pictures and match them with the correct name. Check them with your classmates, then go to the solutions on page 14 to find out what the types of pasta you don’t know!
[ ] ravioli welovepasta.it and upload your videos, recipes or tips on the We Love Pasta X channel: @welovepasta_it
G H A B C D
bookshopIn t h e
Classrooms around the world
the Order of the Phoenix
Literary genres
G vocabulary of literary genres – subject pronouns – present indicative – verbs “love” and “like”
1 Now it’s your turn! Answer the questions. What kinds of books do you like to read? What is your favorite book?
Do you have more than one? [YES] [NO] What books are they?
Is there a book that you really didn’t like or that bored you? Why? ;-)
Hi, I’m Kemal and they are Meryem and Lale. What do we have in common? Our love of books and reading. I love science-fiction books! Meryem is a romantic girl... She mainly reads romance novels. Lale loves adventure stories. What do you like to read?
2 Now ask your classmates the same questions!
3 And… make a survey. Based on their answers, what genre do your friends like the most?
Do you agree with their choices? [YES] [NO] Explain why!
Report G
vocabulary of literary genres – present indicative – introduction to the superlative –verb “to be” – there is/there are
Books, bookshops and libraries
Bookshops and libraries
can be places where you can find a lot of curious things!
Vending machines for… books!
Do you want to buy a book, but it’s nighttime and the shops are closed? Don’t have a bookshop or library near your house? The answer is simple... like buying a cup of coffee from a vending machine! In fact, there are book vending machines!
Traveling libraries
There are so many bookshops and libraries in the world on... four legs or on means of transport!
• Biblioburro is a library that travels on two donkeys, Alfa and Beto. Together with their owner, Luis Soriano, the two animals carry books to the most distant villages of Colombia: children’s books, stories, novels, dictionaries...
• In Kenya, you can find camels carrying books to the nomadic populations of the desert.
• There are library buses all over the world. They are called Bookmobiles.
• In Norway, there are bookshop-boats that bring books to the small islands.
• Raúl Lemesoff, an Argentinian artist, transformed a tank into a bookstore that travels around the city of Buenos Aires. It gives away books! It is called Arma de Instrucción Masiva (Weapon of Mass Instruction), because books “fight” ignorance and create peace.
© Acción Visual/Diana Arias
Record-breaking bookshops
In Japan, in the city of Maebashi, there is the smallest bookshop in the world. It is one and a half meters “big” and has 300 books. Only children are allowed in here!
Even the “big ones”—adults—have the smallest bookstore in the world. It is located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is the Livraria do Simao: 3,000 books in 4 m2!
The identikit of books
You can find or look for all of the books in all of the bookshops in the world! How? Every book has a unique and inimitable code, like our fingerprints. Find the word in the snake and write it!
This code is made up of 13 numbers and is called... The answers are on page 14
This month
Virginia Beach Neptune Festival...
celebrating beach life!
Every year at the end of September there is a great festival in the town of Virginia Beach, in Virginia! It is called the Neptune Festival... and this year is its 51st festival!
Virginia Beach is a city on the ocean in Virginia. It has many beautiful beaches. In 1973, a man who sold cars named Richard Kline wanted to honor it. He had the idea for the Neptune Festival. The first festival was in 1974. About 50,000 people went to the first one. Since then, it has become very popular. Now over 100,000 people go to the festival every year.
This year, the festival will be on the last weekend of September. There are many things to see and do! There is the International Sandsculpting Championship—one of the most popular events. Fifteen countries from around the world send artists to this contest. They build amazing sculptures out of sand. Last year’s winner was from the United States, but second place was from Russia and third place from Latvia!
There are performances, an arts & craft show, a parade, a surfing contest, a volleyball tournament
and music. There is also a large selection of food to eat... and, of course, fish and seafood! It is a fantastic way to say goodbye to summer!
Neptune... God of the Seas!
Neptune is the Roman God of freshwater and the sea. He was Jupiter and Pluto’s brother. People believed he could make storms and earthquakes. He carried a trident—a long spear with a fork on its end. This was to show his power over the seas!
Secret code
Neptune was also considered the god of this beautiful animal. Do the secret code and find out which animal!
What book are you? TEST
The best time to read a book is:
3 1
a [ ] before going to sleep.
b [ ] always!
c [ ] when you are traveling/ on vacation.
In a book you like to find:
2
a [ ] a wonderful love story.
b [ ] an unusual story.
c [ ] a story with a lot of plot twists.
You are the protagonist of a novel:
a [ ] you encounter strange talking creatures.
b [ ] you write screenplays for the cinema.
c [ ] you explore an abandoned castle.
4 5
It’s World Book Day, you go to a party dressed as:
a [ ] Harry Potter/Hermione Granger.
b [ ] Spiderman/Wonder Woman.
c [ ] Scooby-Doo/Velma Dinkley.
You room is a place where:
a [ ] you can be “in your own world”.
b [ ] you can draw or listen to music.
c [ ] you can be with your friends.
Mostly Cs – You are an adventure novel or a detective story! You are a very intelligent person. You are always looking for emotions… When you don’t find them in everyday life, you look for them in books.
6
In your perfect book:
a [ ] there is a happy ending.
b [ ] there are beautiful illustrations.
c [ ] the bad guy goes to prison.
Profiles
Mostly Bs – You are a comic! You have a lot of creativity. You are good at drawing, writing and making up stories. You have a great sense of irony. You are always doing something. You like colors and modern art... In short, you have personality!
Mostly As – You are a fairy tale or a fantasy novel! You really like to dream and imagine. The glass for you is always half full—you are an optimist! Sometimes you have your head in the clouds but… you always know who is the “big bad wolf” or “the witch”!
Manga, what a passion
The CrossManga
Hi, I’m Mathias and I love drawing manga. When I grow up, I want to do the best job in the world for me—a mangaka!
A mangaka is the person who writes a comic book story and draws it. But he doesn’t do it all by himself. There are a lot of other people who help draw and color some parts of the comic... I always draw—at night before going to sleep, at the weekend and in every free moment! At the moment, I am following an online course for mangaka... I like it more and more. Do you like drawing, too? What?
Solve the crossword. In the colored boxes find out what the word
1 When you move your arm, leg, you make
2 A picture of something.
3 A manga is one.
4 A preposition that means “inside”.
The New York Public Library
Let’s Visit...
Friends, do you love reading? Is the perfect place for you anywhere with lots of books? Then you must visit the New York Public Library!
Right in the center of the city
Where is this book lover’s paradise? The New York Public Library is in midtown Manhattan—that is, the center of the city. The main library is on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Street. There are also locations in the Bronx and Staten Island.
The library opened on May 23, 1911. It has more than 54 million things including books, e-books, DVDs and research collections. In fact, it is a research center and has historical collections of books. It is the second-largest
library in the United States (the first is the Library of Congress).
The Rose Main Reading Room is a large area where all visitors can read quietly or take a look at some of the books—a true place of peace and quiet.
Not just books!
Books aren’t the only things you will find here. At the library, there is a fascinating collection of...maps! In this collection there are about 500,000 maps and 20,000 books and atlases— which are books with maps in them. The earliest map is from 1525 and is a map of the world. There are also maps that were used during the Civil War. However, most visitors to this collection go to see and use the maps of New York City.
Interesting facts!
Patience and Fortitude
The first thing you see at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the library are two marble lions. Their names are Patience—the ability to wait—and Fortitude—courage in pain and diversity. These lovely felines have been there since the building opened. The lions are there to “protect” the library.
Read the sentences and choose the right option.
1 Which movie was NOT filmed at the New York Public Library? a [ ] Spiderman b [ ] Home Alone
2 The Rose Main Reading Room is: a [ ] only for students b [ ] open to the public
3 President Theodore Roosevelt wanted ___________ instead of lions at the library entrance. a [ ] buffaloes b [ ] cows
4 There are over _______________________ digital historic photographs to see. a [ ] 80,000 b [ ] 800,000
5 It is home to the original Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animal (from A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories). a [ ] true b [ ] false
The answers are on page 14
Have
you read Let’s Start? Then play with us!
Curious news
Read the news and choose the correct option.
1 In 2015 in Göteborg, Sweden, a bus made its last stop inside a bookshop.
2 The first travelling library was pulled by donkeys, in England, in 1858.
3 According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest book in the world is The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
4 The world’s largest printed book is a sacred book of Hinduism. When open, it measures 4 m, is 2.8 m high and weighs almost 400 kg!
5 In Lisbon, Portugal, there is one of the most famous bookshops in the world. This bookshop is inside an old machine that printed magazines.
6 The smallest book in the world is in Italy. You can’t read it without a magnifying glass!
7 The most mysterious book in the world is written in a language that no one has yet been able to read.
8 The largest library in the world is the one in Alexandria, Egypt.
9 The French writer Georges Perec (1936-1982) wrote a more than 300-page novel without ever using the letter “e.”
10 Edgar Allan Poe is the inventor of the detective fiction genre.
11 A bookshop is a place where you go to read or study.
12 A library is a place where you go to buy books.
Long live pasta!
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GAMES GALORE
Spaghetti is the world’s favorite type of pasta! Alone or in pairs, write a word or words on the theme of “pasta.” The word/words must start with each letter that makes up the word SPAGHETTI. ex: sauce
8 F. It is the British Library in London, which has about 170 million volumes. The one in Alexandria, Egypt, was the largest in the ancient world, and was destroyed between the 1st and 7th centuries AD. 9 T. These texts are called “lipograms”. Here the author chooses to use all the letters of the alphabet except one of his own choosing... 10 T. He created the character C. Auguste Dupin, who was an amateur detective, in 1841. People say he invented detective fiction. 11 F. It is the place where you go to buy a book. 12 F. It is the place where you go to study, read or borrow a book. 2 free answers. Examples: S: sauce, salt, spinach… P: pepper, potato, parsley, Parmesan, pear, papaya, pineapple… A: apple, asparagus, almond, apricot, avocado… H: hummus, hamburger… E: eggplant, egg, Emmental… T: tofu,
This travelling library was called Warrington Perambulating Library and was pulled by horses (1858). 3 F. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest novel in the world is In Search of Lost ,Time the 7-volume novel by the French writer Marcel Proust! 4 T. It is called The Bhagavad Gita. It took them 8 months to print it! 5 T. The bookshop is called Ler Devagar, which in Portuguese means “to read slowly”. It is located inside a former printing house: Lx Factory. Inside, in addition to books, you can also find moving sculptures, made with various objects and waste materials. 6 F. You can read it perfectly without a magnifying glass! It is located at the Malatestiana Library in Cesena. It is a letter from Galileo Galilei to Cristina di Lorena. It was printed in 1897 and is 15X9 millimetres “large”. 7 T. It is the Voynich .Manuscript It is an illustrated and handwritten volume from the 15th century. It has 204 pages and is written in a language that is unlike any other known language.
trout, taco,
tomato,
Let’s Meet...
Tate McRae
Tate McRae is a young Canadian woman with... many talents! She was born in Calgary in 2003. Her mother, Tanja Rosner, is a dance instructor. That is where Tate’s love of dance was born! When she was only six, she started dancing. At 8 years old, she began performing in dance competitions. In 2011, she created her own YouTube channel. There are a lot of her dance videos on this channel. In 2016, she was on the American dance talent show So You Think You Can Dance. Tate finished in third place. In 2017, she started putting videos of her singing original songs she wrote on her YouTube channel. Soon after, RCA Records gave
her a contract. Her song, “All the Things I Never Said” came out in 2020. After that, she performed on a concert tour of the same name. She hasn’t stopped since then! Elle magazine has called her “Canada’s answer to Billie Eilish”. Her YouTube channel now has 6.15 million subscribers and 590 videos. There is a lot of talent to see here. Not bad for this 22-year-old from Canada!
Word Scramble
Put the letters in order to make five words from the article about Tate McRae.