Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

I found this picture Here

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that you find a good book or two to read over the holidays and perhaps even in your Christmas Stocking! I look forward to seeing everyone back in the library in the New Year when things should look a bit different. You may have noticed that the library is looking a bit different already! That's because all the books have been packed away ready for some upgrading work to be done over the holidays.

P.S. Don't forget to have your say about what new books you would like to see in our library next year  Book Wishlist 2012.

End of Year 2011 - Update #2

(Updated every day or so till 20 Dec 2011)

I have been reliably informed that this year Mrs Mist's class was the first class with all student library books returned with only the weekend separating them from Mrs Buckland's class who were second. Well done.

The library stocktake is now all but complete. Unfortunately this year there have been a significant number of books that have gone wandering out of the library - they are not in the library and they are not on issue. We would love to have these books back in the library again, so if you see any please tell them we miss them and look forward to them coming back home before the holidays.

End of Year 2011 - Update

A Friendly Reminder that If .......

This picture is from HERE

Getting Ready for End of Year 2011

The Christmas School Holidays are almost here, but before they arrive there are some important tasks to get done. In the library we are preparing for our annual end of year stocktake. All library books are due back before this Friday, 2nd December. You can help out by returning all your library books to the library A.S.A.P. (As Soon As Possible) and before the end of this week please. Lets see if your class can be the first to return all their library books this term.

Picture Source

If you find any other school books

such as journals, junior reading books

and class books lying around at home

 please return these to school too.

Movies - Coming Soon

Some trailers for movies based on books for older readers and coming soon to a movie theatre near you:

Hugo based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (opening in January 2012).

The Adventures of Tintin : The Secret of the Unicorn based on the Tintin books The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure by Herge (opening in December 2011).

War Horse based on the book War Horse written by Michael Morpurgo (opening in January 2012).

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "A Walk in New York" by Salvatore RUBBINO
• "Phoebe and the Night Creatures" by Jenny HESSELL

Fiction:

• "Lily has a Secret" by Elizabeth PULFORD (Littlest Angel series)
• "The Golden Door" by Emily RODDA (Three Doors trilogy)
• "Stego-Snottysaurus" by Kyle MEWBURN (Dinosaur Rescue series)

Senior Fiction:

• "Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse" by Rick RIORDAN ("Percy Jackson" series)

Non-Fiction:

• "Nuclear Power" by Richard & Louise Spilsbury
• "The Children's Hospital" by Sue BARRACLOUGH

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" by Don GARDNER
• "The Elves and the Cloakmaker" by Chris GURNEY

Fiction:

• "Battle of the Worlds : Terradon" by Mac PARK (Boy vs Beast series)
• "The Familiars : Animal Wizardry" by Adam EPSTEIN & Andrew JACOBSON
• "Friends Forever and other Stories" by Emma THOMPSON (Felicity Wishes series)

Senior Fiction:

• "Cleopatra : An Egyptian Princess" by Kristiana GREGORY ("My Royal Story" series)

Non-Fiction:

• "Modern Weapons and Warfare" by Will FOWLER
• "Saint Brendan and the Voyage Before Columbus" by Mike McGREW

Mrs Keane recommends....

Fiction books:

Measle and the Wrathmonk by Ian Ogilvy

(Fantasy) Measle touches his uncle's precious miniature train set, his uncle's so angry he shrinks him into the train set. There he meets all sorts of people sent there before him, and they all want to find a way out.

Lionboy by Zizou Corder

(Adventure) What do you do when you discover that your parents have been kidnapped? Well if you're brave you go looking for them of course, and if you can speak cat you have help from all your feline friends too.

Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage

(Fantasy) Septimus Heap is stolen at birth and the very same night his father rescues a baby girl from a path in the woods. The Heaps decide to bring her up as their own. But who is she, and where is Septimus?

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A Spratt

(Humorous) Nanny Piggins, the world’s most glamorous flying pig, runs away from the circus and goes to live with the Greens as their nanny.

The Key to Rondo  series by Emily Rodda

(Fantasy/Adventure) The old music box, with its strict rules, has been carefully handed down through Leo’s family for hundreds of years, but it's black lid hides an amazing secret as Leo is about to find out.

How to Train your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell

(Humorous/Fantasy) Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III wasn't always a truly extraordinary Viking Hero. In the beginning, he was the least Viking-like Viking you've ever seen. This is the story of his rise to fame.

The Mysterious Howling by Mary Rose Wood

(Historical) Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope is hired as governess to three young children who have been raised by wolves. She must teach them to behave in a civilized manner, and quickly, before the Christmas ball.

Ice Lolly by Jean Ure

(Real Life)When her mum dies Laurel is sent to stay with relatives, they don't seem to care about anything she loves, so she decides she won't feel anything and becomes Ice Lolly, the girl with the frozen heart.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell

(Adventure/Mystery) A string of daring burglaries have taken place all over town. Something must be done. Can Miss Ottoline Brown and her friend Mr Munroe come up with a clever plan?

Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi

(Fantasy/Graphic Novel format)  Emily and Navin move to a new home, but the strange house is dangerous. Soon a creature lures their mum through a door in the basement, they follow her into an under-ground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "The Great Expedition" by Peter CARNAVAS
• "Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig" by Diana NEILD

Fiction:

• "The Day Our Teacher Went Mad" by Christopher MILNE (Naughty Stories for Good Boys and Girls series)
• "Diary of a Pukeko" by Sally SUTTON
• "Earwig and the Witch" by Diana Wynne JONES

Senior Fiction:

• "Arrow" by R.J. ANDERSON (sequel to "Knife" and "Rebel")

Non-Fiction:

• "How to Improve at Cricket" by Jim KERR
• "Changes In Climate" by Steve PARKER

Kids' Zone - Online Literacy Resources

There's a new link to Kids' Zone in the list of Useful Websites which you can find in the top right corner of our blog homepage.

At Kids' Zone you can find lots and lots of online fun reading activities, online stories and digital books divided up into four age groups: 0-5yrs; 5-8yrs; 8-10yrs and 10-13yrs.  Kids' Zone has possibly hundreds of links to online resources - including Storyline Online as pictured.  In fact it could be a great place to visit next time you need a boredom buster, it will keep you out of mum and dad's hair for a bit - and whats more they will be happy because it's educational too!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Another in a series of posts about children's classic books available for borrowing from our school library. 

 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865, was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who we know by the pseudonym (or pen-name) Lewis Carroll. The book is commonly referred to by the title Alice in Wonderland and it has become one of the most famous children's books of all time.  The story tells the tale of what happens to a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy world which is populated by imaginary creatures and peculiar objects such as, talking playing cards, a grinning cat and a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat who frequently checks his pocket watch and exclaims "I'm late, I'm late...".

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was not originally written for the general public but for a single child: Alice Pleasance Liddell. Apparently Dodgson made the story up to entertain two young girls in 1862 while they were on a boat trip to a picnic site along the river bank. Alice Liddell pleaded with Dodgson to write the story down for her, which he eventually did, it was a revised version that was later published in 1865. Dodgson was encouraged by the success of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and he wrote a sequel, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There which was published in 1872.

The 1951 Disney animated movie version of Alice In Wonderland was based on both books and re-popularized Alice and the rest of Dodson's marvelous creatures. The recent 2010 movie portrays Alice as a 19 year old as she returns to Wonderland.

We have a copy of Alice in Wonderland and a copy of The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland in our fiction section. We also have an abridged copy of Through the Looking-Glass.

Upper Hutt Public Library has 6 copies of Lewis Carroll's books about the adventures of Alice in the Children's section and also 2 audio books.

 Most above information has been adapted from here, here and here, where you can also find out more information about Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and his books.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is also available online through Project Gutenberg:  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "Hester & Lester" by Kyle MEWBURN
• "The Pout-Pout Fish" by Deborah DIESEN

Fiction:

• "Dirty Bertie - Mud!" by David ROBERTS (Dirty Bertie series)
• "The Pup's Tale" by Sally & Darell ODGERS (Pet Vet series)
• "Northwood" by Brian FALKNER

Senior Fiction:

• "Z.Rex" by Steve COLE (The Hunting series)

Non-Fiction:

• "The Klutz Book of Inventions" by John CASSIDY & Brendan BOYLE
• "The Taniwha of Wellington Harbour" by Moira WAIRAMA

Paul Jennings

Another in a series of posts about popular children's authors and their books.

Paul Jennings is one of Australia's bestselling children's authors. He was born near London in wartime England, April 1943, that's around the middle of World War II.  He emigrated to Australia with his parents and little sister Ruth when he was six and he grew up in Melbourne. When he finished school Paul trained to be a teacher, after teaching for a few years he retrained to become a Speech Therapist. Later he also worked as a Lecturer in Special Education and a Lecturer in Language and Literature.  In 1985 Paul's first collection of short stories Unreal!, was published. For the next four years he worked as a lecturer part-time and wrote part-time, then in 1989 he started writing full-time.  In 1992, he became the first author to sell a million books in Australia. In addition to his collections of short stories, Paul has also written children's novels and picture books.  In 1998, Paul teamed up with Australia's other bestselling writer for children, Morris Gleitzman, to create Wicked! - a gripping serial, composed of six short novels.  Paul's books have been translated into 18 languages and have sold more than 8.9 million copies around the world. Paul and his books have received many awards, including the Young Australians' Best Book Award more than a dozen times.

Books by Paul Jennings we have in our library:  We have more than 20 books written or co-written by Paul Jennings including The Cabbage Patch War; The Cabbage Patch Fib; The Gizmo; The Gizmo Again; Sink The Gizmo; Come Back Gizmo; Tongue-Tied! ; Wicked - all six books in one  in the Fiction section. Also  Paul Jennings' Trickiest Stories, Paul Jennings' Spookiest Stories and Paul Jennings' Weirdest Stories in the Senior Fiction section.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of about 45 children's books and 1 teen book by Paul Jennings and 7 Audio Books.

The above information about Paul Jennings was adapted from here and here.

For more information about Paul Jennings and his books you could visit the Paul Jennings website.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "A Day with the Animal Doctors" by Sharon RENTTA
• "Curious George Rides a Bike" by H.A.REY

Fiction:

• "Lily Gets Her Wings" by Elizabeth PULFORD (Littlest Angel series)
• "T-Wreck-Asaurus" by Kyle MEWBURN (Dinosaur Rescue series)
• "One Dog and His Boy" by Eva IBBOTSON

Senior Fiction:

• "Leviathan" by Scott WESTERFELD (Leviathan series)

Non-Fiction:

• "First Thousand Words in Chinese" by Heather AMERY
• "Summer" by Sian SMITH

Welcome Back

A new term and a new look for the library blog. What do you think of the new look? 

Some great new books are lined up this term so make sure you check out the new books display each week, in the library or here on the blog. This term is a short term, due to changes made earlier in the year for the Rugby World Cup (yay the All Blacks won!).  So be sure to get in and make use of the library over the next six weeks or so before we ask for the books to be returned before the end of the year and the summer holidays.  

Quentin Blake & Roald Dahl - Holiday Boredom Busters

The holidays are almost half over already, if you've been a bit bored lately below is a great video of illustrator Quentin Blake who was involved recently in an interactive live webcast. Quentin Blake had a long association with Roald Dahl, illustrating his books, and as you can see in the video he had a lot of fun while he was working on them.

For more Roald Dahl fun you can visit the Official Roald Dahl website here and go to the Treats page to find some fun activities.

For more Holiday Boredom Busters click on the Boredom Busters label at the bottom of this post.

Mrs Keane recommends ...

Senior Fiction:

  
Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy (Fantasy/Horror/Humour)
In the Shadow of the Palace by Judith Simpson (Historical-India)
The 13 Treasures and sequels by Michelle Harrison (Fantasy)
The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan (Adventure/Fantasy)
Malice and Havoc by Chris Wooding (Horror)
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (Fantasy/Adventure)
The Gypsy Crown by Kate Forsyth (Historical-England/Adventure)
At the Sign of the Sugared Plum & Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper (Historical-England)

The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R.Tolkien (Fantasy/Classic)
Send Simon Savage by Stephen Measday (Time-travel/Adventure)
The Merlin Conspiracy by Dianna Wynne Jones (Fantasy)
The Phoenix Files series by Chris Morphew (Mystery/Thriller)
Oracle by Jackie French (Historical-Ancient Greece)
The Crowfield Curse and sequel by Pat Walsh (Fantasy/Horror)
Knife and sequels by R.J.Anderson (Fantasy)
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (Fantasy)

You can follow the links on the book or series titles above to a review or homepage for that book or series.

Have you read any of these books? 
What books would you recommend?

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "Grandma McGarvey Surfs the Net" by Jenny HESSELL
• "The Listening Walk" by Paul SHOWERS

Fiction:

• "Too Small to Fail" by Morris GLEITZMAN
• "Whispering Wishes and other stories" by Emma THOMPSON (Felicity Wishes series)
• "Battle of the Worlds : Aquatan" by Ali SPARKES (Boy vs Beast series)

Senior Fiction:

• "Victoria : An English Princess's Diary 1829" by Anna KIRWAN ( My Royal Story series)

Non-Fiction:

• "Changes in Population" by Steve PARKER
• "Eco-Rangers Save the Planet" by Maria GILL

The Alphabet

Here is a great short video of  The Alphabet.

It's along the lines of "A is for Apple, B is for Box ...." but it uses some considerably more complex words - and is very clever indeed.



I found out about this video here.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "George's Dragon" by Claire FREEDMAN
• "Gypsy Day on the Farm" by Jennifer BECK

 Fiction:

• "Catmagic" by Holly WEBB (Animal Magic series)
• "Dirty Bertie : Germs!" created by David ROBERTS (Dirty Bertie series)
• "Pick'n'Mix Volume 2" by Various N.Z. Authors

Senior Fiction:

• "The 13 Secrets" by Michelle HARRISON (sequel to "The 13 Treasures" & "The 13 Curses")

Non-Fiction:

• "Spring" by Sian SMITH
• "The Dentist's Surgery" by Sue BARRACLOUGH

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "My Friend Fred" by Hiawyn ORAM
• "A Nice Walk in the Jungle" by Nan BODSWORTH

 Fiction:

• "Spacemite" by Ali SPARKES (Monster Makers series)
• "Out of this World" by Suzannah McFARLANE (EJ12 series)

Senior Fiction:

• "My Name is Mina" by David ALMOND

Junior Browsing:

• "Club Penguin : A Search-and-Find Book" 

Non-Fiction:

• "Changes in Animal Habitats" by            Steve PARKER
  
• "Flags of the World" by Julie Ellis

Inheritance Cycle - Interviews

Recently I discovered these short videos of Fan Question sessions with Christopher Paolini, author of the Inheritance Cycle series.  Less than two months too go now till the release of the final book in the series, Inheritance, due out in November.

I first found out about these interviews here.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School"  by David MACKINTOSH
• "Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig and the Camping Holiday" by Diana NEILD

 Fiction:

• "Magic Pony : Snow Bandits" by Elizabeth LINDSAY (Magic Pony series)
• "Tantrums and Tiaras" by Sarah HORNE (Molly & Mimi series)
• "Muncle Trogg" by Janet FOXLEY

Senior Fiction:

• "Taking the Chequered Flag" by Michael PANCKRIDGE & Pam HARVEY

Non-Fiction:

• "How to Improve at Playing the Piano"       by Lisa HARROD
  
• "Knights & Castles" by Phillip STEELE

The Cat's Pyjamas

Recently Clonard House students spent time during a reward fun afternoon helping to create the cat and his pyjamas from the picture book  The Cat's Pyjamas by Catherine Foreman.
In the book The Cat wears a different set of pyjamas to bed each night of the week and his dreams each night relate to the pyjamas he's wearing. When he wears his space pyjamas he dreams about space, when he wears his jungle pyjamas he dreams about the jungle and and so on until he wears his monster pyjamas.....
You can see all of the great collage versions of the cat and his pyjama's created by Clonard House on display in the Library now.

Here's a sneek peek at some of them:

A big thank you to Clonard House for all your wonderful work on these and thank you also to Mr Keegan who climbed the ladder to staple them all up on the library wall.

Cornelia Funke

Image via The Seattle Times

Another in a series of posts about popular children's authors and their books.

Cornelia Caroline Funke (pronounced: FOON-ka) was born  in Dorsten, Germany, on 10th December 1958, she has a sister and two brothers. As a child Cornelia wanted to be an astronaut but instead she studied education theory at Hamburg University and then went on to study book illustration at design college. She began a career as a book illustrator but soon realized that she wanted to write and illustrate her own stories.  During the 1980s and early 1990s, she became well-known as an author of children's books in her native Germany, with the Ghosthunters (Gespensterjäger) and Wild Chicks (Wild Hühner) series of books. But her international breakthrough came in 1997 when Dragonrider and later The Thief Lord (2000), both huge successes in  Germany,  were  published  in  English and  brought  her  writing  to  an international audience.

Cornelia is best known for the Inkheart trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath) the first book of the series has been adapted into a movie.  Cornelia has been writing for about 25 years and has written more than 40 books.  Some 18 of her books have so far been translated into English, and this number is set to increase.

Books by Cornelia Funke we have in our library:  Princess Pigsty - a Picture Book; and copies of  Igraine the Brave; When Santa Fell to Earth; Dragonrider;  Saving Mississippi and the four books in the Ghosthunters series in the Fiction section. Also Inkheart and The Thief Lord in the  Senior Fiction section.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of 14 children's books and 4 teen books by Cornelia Funke and  one Teen DVD.

The above information about Cornelia Funke was adapted from here, here, here and here.

For more information about Cornelia Funke and her books you could visit the Cornelia Funke Fansite.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "Don't Panic Annika!" by Juliet Clare BELL
• "Walking Through the Jungle" by Debbie HARTER

 Fiction:

• "Candyfloss" by Jacqueline WILSON
• "Dancing Dreams and other stories" by Emma THOMPSON & Helen BAILEY (Felicity Wishes series)
• "Rockataur" by Ali SPARKES (Monster Makers series)

Senior Fiction:

• "The Crowfield Demon" by Pat WALSH (sequel to "The Crowfield Curse")

Non-Fiction:

• "First Thousand Words in Polish" by Heather AMERY
  
• "New Zealand Hall of Fame : 50 Remarkable Kiwis" by Maria GILL

Favourite Harry Potter Character - And the Winners Are:

 According to the Harry Potter UK Book page and The Guardian the results are:

Professor Severus Snape         Photo source

Professor Severus Snape has been voted the number one character from the Harry Potter novels. Some 70,000 people voted in the Bloomsbury poll, and 20% of these agreed that

the Potions Master & Head of Slytherin is No.1!   

Hermione Granger came 2nd

and Sirius Black 3rd

Hermione Granger               Photo source



Sirius Black                          Photo source

 

 The Top Ten Characters were:

1. Severus Snape
2. Hermione Granger
3. Sirius Black
4. Harry Potter
5. Ron Weasley
6. Luna Lovegood
7. Ginny Weasley
8. Albus Dumbledore
9. Dobby
10. Draco Malfoy 

For a full list of all 40 characters and where they finished you can follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "Milly Maloo and the Miracle Glue" by Melanie KOSTER
• "Say Hello to Zorro!" by Carter GOODRICH

 Fiction:

• "Battle of the Borders : Volcan" by Mac PARK (Boy vs Beast series)
• "Just One More" by Joy COWLEY
• "Ottoline goes to School" by Chris RIDDELL (Ottoline series)

Senior Fiction:

• "The Travelling Restaurant" by Barbara ELSE

Non-Fiction:

• "Art Attack - Even more Cool Stuff!" by Neil BUCHANAN
  
• "Yates Young Gardener : Get your hands dirty" by Janice MARRIOT

Favourite Harry Potter Character - Update

Less than two days to vote for your favourite Harry Potter character, so if you haven't already, VOTE NOW!

The Poll closes on 26th August  (which here in N.Z. might mean about midday on 27th August) and the results will be announced by Bloomsbury Publishers on Tuesday 30th August.  Results will be available here on our library blog as soon as I know they are available.

Two people have commented about who they voted for on my first blog post  about the favourite Harry Potter character, and they both voted for different characters, Hermione and Harry.  I can tell you I voted for someone else too, Professor Snape (I know, I know.... he is a bad guy most of the time but really he is one of the good guys, you just don't find that out till almost the end).

So.... if the official poll is as close as our comments indicate it could be very close indeed.

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

• "Finklehopper Frog" by Irene LIVINGSTON
• "You Are What You Eat and Other Mealtime Hazards " by Serge BLOCH

 Fiction:

• "Deep Fear" by Debi GLIORI (Pure Dead series)
• "Star Surprise and other stories" by Emma THOMSON (Felicity Wishes series)
•  "Zac Power : Blockbuster" by H.I. LARRY (Zac Power series)

Senior Fiction:

• "Coraline : The Graphic Novel" written by Neil GAIMAN; adapted and illustrated by P. Craig RUSSELL

Non-Fiction:

• "Wonders of the World" by Philip STEELE
  
• "Changes in Food and Farming" by Steve PARKER

Book Fair 2011 Update and the Library will be open again SOON

St Brendan's Book Fair is over again for another year. A BIG Thank you to everyone who came along and supported our major library "fundraiser". The value of sales this year earned us almost 20 free new books for our library collection. A BIG Thank you also to the families who purchased "Red Dot" books for donation to the library - keep a look out for them in the library later this term, they will all have special Book Fair Donation book plates inside!

With all the snow here last week, and else where, the Book Fair cases and boxes were not able to be collected as expected last week. However they are due to be collected on Wednesday this week so the library should be back to normal again from about mid-morning on Wednesday.