Thursday, August 30, 2018

Fifi Colston Visit




Today author & illustrator Fifi Colston visited St Brendan's. She talked about some of the books she has worked on, a different book with each Syndicate. She also held a writing workshop with a small group of children who are very interested in writing.

First Fifi read the picture book Far, Far from Home written by Elizabeth Pulford to the Junior syndicate and spoke about how she illustrated the book.

Before morning tea she spoke to the Upper Middle and Senior syndicate about her research and the process she followed while working on illustrations for the book Torty and the Soldier written by Jennifer Beck Fifi explained how she had visited Torty, who is still alive and spends time with different families in the Little family now that the soldier, Stewart Little, is no longer alive. Fifi also explained how she took extra care to make sure the scenes and soldiers uniforms in the book were true to how they would have been during World War I.


After morning tea Fifi spoke to the Middle syndicate about her book Wearable Wonders. A few lucky students got to dress up and everyone learn't about how to use free stuff and recycled items to create Wearable Wonders!


Before lunch a group of 16 students from the Upper Middles and Seniors spent about an hour with Fifi for a writing workshop. Together they created a story starter, deciding on the traits of the main character, April Muffin, and her background story. It was interesting to see the very different directions the story took even though the students all started with the same initial idea.

Fifi's visit was organised through the New Zealand Book Council "Writer's in Schools" programme with the support of Creative New Zealand.

Monday, August 27, 2018

On the New Books Display this Week




Picture Book:
  • "Puffin the Architect" by Kimberly ANDREWS
      Fiction Book:
      • "Winnie Spells Trouble" by Josh LACEY (Winnie and Wilbur series)
      • "Dragon Rider : The Griffins Feather" by Cornelia FUNKE (Dragon Rider series)
      • "A Funny Thing Happened to Simon Sidebottom" by P. CRUMBLE; illustrated by Dean RANKINE (Simon Sidebottom series)
      • "Johnny Danger : Lie Another Day" by Peter MILLETT (Johnny Danger series)
      Senior Fiction:
      • "Dawn Raid" by Pauline (Vaeluaga) SMITH (My New Zealand Story series)
      Non- Fiction: 
      • "Guinness World Records : Amazing Animals Vol.1" 
      • "Origami" by Paul JACKSON




      Monday, August 20, 2018

      On the New Books Display this Week





      Picture Book:
      • "The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)" retold by Philemon STURGES; illustrated by Amy WALROD
          Fiction Book:
          • "The Dragonsitter" by Josh LACEY (The Dragonsitter series)
          • "Zombie Goes to Camp" by Zac ZOMBIE (Diary of a Minecraft Zombie series)
          • "Zombie Family Reunion" by Zac ZOMBIE (Diary of a Minecraft Zombie series)
          • "Sage Cookson's Singapore" by Sally MURPHY (Sage Cookson series)
          • "Hamish and the Neverpeople" by Danny WALLACE (Hamish and ... series)
          Senior Fiction:
          • "The Warden's Daughter" by Jerry SPINELLI
          Non- Fiction: 
          • "Periodic Table" by Sean CALLERY & Miranda SMITH



          Monday, August 13, 2018

          On the New Books Display this Week



          Picture Book:
          • "My Most Fabulous Book" by Leonie YOUNG; illustrated by Lisa THOMPSON
              Fiction Book:
              • "Mighty Mitch! : Howzat Heroes" by Mitchell STARC (Mighty Mitch series)
              • "Tracy Lacy For Classy Captain" by Tania LACY
              • "WeirDo : Messy Weird!" by Anh DO (WeirDo series)
              Senior Fiction:
              • "Scorpia - Graphic Novel" by Anthony HOROWITZ & Antony JOHNSTON; illustrated by Emma VIECELI
              • "The 1000 Year old Boy" by Ross WELFORD
              Non- Fiction: 
              • "Angry Aztecs"  by Terry DEARY (Horrible Histories series)
              • "Stormin' Normans"  by Terry DEARY (Horrible Histories series)

              Monday, August 6, 2018

              On the New Books Display this Week





              Picture Book:
              • "The ANZAC Violin" by Jennifer BECK; illustrated by Robyn BELTON
                  Fiction Book:
                  • "Poppy's Place - The Homemade Cat Cafe" by Katrina CHARMAN; illustrated by Lucy TRUMAN (Poppy's Place series)
                  • "Middle School : Dog's Best Friend" by James PATERSON; illustrated by Jomike TEJIDO (Middle School series)
                  • "Dinosaur Trouble : The Runaway Coat" by Kyle MEWBURN (Dinosaur Trouble series)
                  • "Dinosaur Trouble : The Secret Hunt" by Kyle MEWBURN (Dinosaur Trouble series)
                  • "Cameo, the Street Pony" by Kelly WILSON (Showtym Adventures series)
                  Senior Fiction:
                  • "Auggie and Me" by R.J. PALACIO
                  Non- Fiction: 
                  • "Game On! 2018"
                  • "The Slime Book"