St Brendan's School Library

Read it! Loved it!

2012-02-14T09:57:00.022+13:00

Read it! Loved it! is a site set up to help girls aged 9-19 find great fiction books to read. The site is run by teacher librarian Mr Gavin Jones who has read all of these books and can personally recommend them. It's divided into school year levels (including approximate ages) and gives suggestions of books for different fiction genre as well as giving overall favourites at each year level. There are some purple buttons (Mr Jones likes purple!) on the bottom of the home page where you can find out other stuff about reading and books, about Mr Jones and where you can also make suggestions or comments. Even better for todays tech world - the site has been designed to be used on mobile phones too.

St Brendan's library has many of the books recommended at Read it! Loved it! for Year 5 to Year 8 and I can personally recommended many of these books myself too.

An equivalent site for boys is also planned.

Instant Replay

2012-02-12T12:01:00.020+13:00

"Books had instant replay long before televised sports"
~ Bern Williams

see more Gifs

Quote found at The Quote Garden!

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

2012-02-08T09:12:00.012+13:00

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

The Story of Doctor Dolittle was written by Hugh Lofting, it was published in 1920 and was the first in a series of books about Doctor Dolittle and his adventures. In The Story of Doctor Dolittle we first meet the doctor with a soft spot for animals, who gives up treating people after his patients are scared away by his increasing number of strange pets. His wise old parrot, Polynesia, teaches him animal languages and he starts treating sick animals instead. Doctor Dolittle's fame in the animal kingdom spreads throughout the world and soon he sets off to cure a monkey epidemic in Africa, having all sorts of exciting adventures on the way. Hugh Lofting wrote and published ten books about Doctor Dolittle before his death in 1947, and a further two books containing both previously published and previously unpublished stories were released after his death.

A number of movie adaptions and a television series have been produced based on Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books.

In our fiction section we have a copy of Doctor Dolittle Stories (which contains stories from all 12 of the Doctor Dolittle books) and a copy of Doctor Dolittle's First Adventure which has been adapted for beginning readers. We also have a copy of the picture book Hugh Lofting's Travels of Doctor Dolittle.

Upper Hutt Public Library has 5 copies of Hugh Lofting's books about the adventures of Doctor Dolittle in the Children's section and 3 DVD's.

Most of the above information is from or adapted from: here, here and here.

You can read The Story of Doctor Dolittle online here or here.

News Flash!

2012-02-04T08:53:00.001+13:00

St Brendan's School and our Library blog have been mentioned on the GIRLS ♥ BOOKS blog site! I blogged about their site HERE last year and they have been in our "Book Sites Worth a Look" list of links ever since. Why don't you head over and take a look, check out what they are all about & don't forget to leave a comment so they know you've been to visit!

The Lorax Movie trailer

2012-02-03T09:15:00.000+13:00

Another Dr Seuss favourite coming soon to a movie theatre near you...

Welcome Back for 2012

2012-02-02T16:52:00.001+13:00

I found this picture here

Welcome back to school everyone, hope you enjoyed your first day back at school and had fun over the holidays - and read some great books too of course. The library is still closed for now as improvements have not yet been finished. We hope you don't mind having to wait a week or so to use the library and look forward to seeing you back there again soon when things are all done. In the meantime you can peep through the library windows and see whats happening inside (not much just yet!) and of course you can keep checking out the library blog for updates and interesting book sites, videos, book and author posts and anything else I come across that I think you might find interesting or fun.

Stunning Silhouette

2012-01-26T09:23:00.000+13:00

An invader from outer space? A monster from a horror movie?

No, its a real Stag Beetle from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

You can find out more about this photograph here

The Joy of Books

2012-01-17T13:49:00.004+13:00

Have you ever wondered what goes on in a bookshop after closing time?

I found this video clip here.

One of My Favourite Holiday Activities ....

2012-01-06T17:28:00.009+13:00

I found this illustration here

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

2011-12-20T08:15:00.002+13:00

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

2011-12-12T22:40:00.019+13:00

(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

2011-12-05T09:01:00.001+13:00

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

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Getting Ready for End of Year 2011

2011-11-28T09:42:00.000+13:00

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.

Book Wishlist 2012

2011-11-25T09:00:00.000+13:00

What books do you wish we had in our library?
Add a sticky note to the Book Wishlist 2012 Notice Board below to let us know what books you would like us to get next year - please check that we don't already have them in the library first. I'm looking forward to seeing your suggestions.

Movies - Coming Soon

2011-11-23T08:57:00.004+13:00

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

2011-11-21T16:12:00.000+13:00

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

2011-11-14T14:33:00.044+13:00

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....

2011-11-09T09:20:00.223+13:00

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

2011-11-07T14:16:00.011+13:00

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

2011-11-04T17:06:00.005+13:00

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

2011-11-02T09:50:00.093+13:00

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

2011-10-31T15:16:00.050+13:00

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

2011-10-27T08:45:00.041+13:00

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

2011-10-25T16:19:00.006+13:00

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

2011-10-25T08:47:00.000+13:00

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

2011-10-13T10:23:00.002+13:00

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 ...

2011-10-05T08:54:00.010+13:00

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)

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

On the New Books Display this week

2011-10-03T15:48:00.008+13:00

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

2011-09-29T16:28:00.002+13:00

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

2011-09-27T14:57:00.005+13:00

Picture Book:

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

Fiction:

"Cat Magic" 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

2011-09-19T15:39:00.004+12:00

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

2011-09-14T09:41:00.041+12:00

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

2011-09-12T16:22:00.004+12:00

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

2011-09-09T09:00:00.001+12:00

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

2011-09-07T09:30:00.113+12:00

Picture source

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

2011-09-05T15:06:00.006+12:00

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:

2011-08-31T16:53:00.005+12:00

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

2011-08-29T15:58:00.002+12:00

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

2011-08-24T17:37:00.001+12:00

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

2011-08-24T15:46:00.000+12:00

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

2011-08-22T17:23:00.001+12:00

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.

Snow, snow and more snow

2011-08-17T11:18:00.000+12:00

Another day at home today thanks to the extreme cold weather we and the rest of the country have been experiencing over the last few days. Yesterday we experienced the third afternoon in a row of snow here in Upper Hutt - a place where we usually only see snow dusting the higher surrounding hilltops. Here are a few snapshots of the snowfall yesterday afternoon at my home, not far from school.
The photographs really don't do it justice - so silent - it was like magic!

A few more days like this and I can see how the novelty of snow would wear thin, it is just so cold! Thank goodness for a good book (or two), a good fire and hot food to keep you warm.

Paddington Bear

2011-08-17T09:30:00.178+12:00

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

Paddington Bear is a polite immigrant bear from Darkest Peru, with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffle coat and love of marmalade sandwiches he has become a classic character from English children's literature.

The Paddington Bear stories were written by Michael Bond and based on a lone toy bear he saw sitting in a London store. This from an article in The Independent newspaper celebrating Paddington Bears 50th anniversary in 2008: Mr Bond describes how a pang of sympathy for a neglected toy bear in a London shop inspired him to write the children's stories which have since been translated into 30 languages, and sold more than 30 million copies around the world: "I bought a small toy bear on Christmas Eve 1956. I saw it left on a shelf in a London store and felt sorry for it. I took it home as a present for my wife Brenda and named it Paddington as we were living near Paddington Station at the time. I wrote some stories about the bear, more for fun than with the idea of having them published. After ten days I found that I had a book on my hands. It wasn’t written specifically for children, but I think I put into it the kind of things I liked reading about when I was young."

The first Paddington book A Bear Called Paddington was published in 1958 and is still in print today. Eleven other Paddington books have since been published, the most recent Paddington : Here and Now was published in 2008 exactly 50 years after the first book. In 1972 the first picture book editions of the Paddington books were published, the most recent picture book editions, illustrated by R.W. Alley, were published in the 1990's. R.W. Alley's version of Paddington worked so well that he was then asked to re-illustrate many of the earlier picture books as well as covers for the novels including the latest novel Paddington Here and Now.

The Paddington Bear stories were adapted for television series in the 1970's and late 1980's and it has been suggested that there could soon be a movie adaption too. There are also numerous soft toy versions of Paddington Bear, however the first manufactured Paddington Bear was created in 1972 by Gabrielle Designs who dressed Paddington in Wellington boots to help him stand upright.

We have Paddington Takes the Air in the fiction section of our library. We also have copies of the picture book versions of Paddington Bear; Paddington at the Carnival; Paddington at the Zoo and Paddington the Artist in the picture book boxes.

Upper Hutt Public Library has copies of 12 Paddington Bear books in the Childrens section as well as an audio book and a copy of the 50th Anniversary Paddington Bear DVD.

Most of the above information is from or adapted from: here, here and here.

Trivia: Gabrielle Designs, was a small business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson and the prototype Paddington Bear was made as a Christmas present for their children Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson - yes that is Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear.

Book Fair 2011

2011-08-03T10:00:00.082+12:00

St Brendan's Book Fair will be open before and after school, for viewing and sales, most days from Mon 8th - Fri 12th August 2011. The Book Fair will also be open late during Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon/evening.

Opening Hours:
Mon 8th August   2.40pm-3.15pm
Tues 9th August   8.40am-9.15am and
                                 2.40pm-8.00pm
Wed 10th August 8.40am-9.15am and
   2.40pm-5.30pm
Thur 11th August 8.40am-9.15am and
                           2.40pm-3.15pm
Fri 12th August 8.40am-9.15am only

Hope to see you there.

Remember all purchases from the Book Fair help to earn free books for our school library.

Welcome Back for Term 3

2011-08-01T14:46:00.057+12:00

In Week two (next week) our Book Fair will be running. This means that the library will be closed for two weeks from this Wednesday, 3rd August, until Wednesday 17th August for the Book Fair, including set-up and pack-up.

So if you would like to return books or borrow from the library this week please try and visit on Monday & Tuesday this week.

More information about the Book Fair will be on the blog later this week and soon also on posters on display around school.

More Holiday Boredom Busters

2011-07-18T10:10:00.007+12:00

If you are feeling bored these holidays why not take a look at the book related websites linked below.

You might also like to visit the websites in the Holiday Boredom Busters post from last school holidays.

Dr.Seuss and Seussville: Here you can find out about Dr.Seuss, his books and his book characters. You can play games and lots of other activities and you can also watch short videos for some of the Dr.Seuss books.

EJ12 Girl Hero: Here you can read about the EJ12 books, find out about secret files, codes and gadget charms and vote in the EJ12 polls. If you'd like to play EJ12 online games, Win Stuff, email EJ12 Girl Hero, download or buy stuff please make sure it is O.K. with your parents or other caregiver first.

Zac Power: Here you can look at Zac's bookshelf and read the first chapter of his books. You can find out about spy stuff and Zac's Gadgets and about his next mission. If you'd like to try the Spy Log-in, the Restricted Area Log-in or to download something please make sure it is O.K. with your parents or other caregiver first.

Edgar & Ellen: I'm not sure how up-to-date the Edgar & Ellen website is but you can find out about the books, play some fun games and find out about other free stuff. BUT remember before you download, register or sign up for anything please make sure it is O.K. with your parents or other caregiver first.

Septimus Heap: Here you can find out about the author, Angie Sage and take a trip to the Manuscriptorium to find out about the books, including the new book "Darke". You can explore the world of Septimus Heap through an interactive map, and play games BUT before you download, register or sign up for anything please remember to make sure it is O.K. with your parents or other caregiver first.

End of Term & Book Fair 2011

2011-07-11T16:13:00.000+12:00

It's almost the holidays so don't forget to return your library books before the end of the week. Hope you have a great holiday & see you next term.

Coming soon.... St Brendan's Book Fair will be open before and after school most days during Week 2 next term (Mon 8th - Fri 12th Aug). Remember to check the Library Blog again at the beginning of next term for more information about Book Fair opening hours. All purchases from the Book Fair help to earn free books for our school library.

Hope to see you there.

The Jungle Book

2011-07-06T09:59:00.277+12:00

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

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories published in 1895 by British author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by the authors father.

Set in the jungles of India The Jungle Book tells of a wolf-pack which lives and hunts in the forest. Led by the lone wolf Akela and the wisdom of the venerable bear Balloo, the pack stumbles across a baby human, a man-cub, they call him Mowgli. Raised by the pack and by the Law of the Jungle, Mowgli learns to live and fight using guile and determination instead of tooth and claw. With his friends Balloo and Bagheera, the black panther, Mowgli must confront the tiger Sher Khan, the tyrannical lord of the jungle, for the safety of the pack and to uphold the Law. Although the stories of Mowgli are what most people think of when they hear of the Jungle Book, Mowgli's story is interspersed with other tales of the jungle, such as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a mongoose against the deadly Cobra, a tale of Kotick the White Seal on a search for a safe haven for his kind and the overheard conversation of camp animals by a British soldier who understands 'beast-talk'.

Rudyard Kipling was born in India and spent the first six years of his childhood there. After about ten years in England, he went back to India and worked there for about six-and-half years. The Jungle Book was based on the author's view of India as well as his interpretation of the various folk-tales told to him by the Indian nurses of his childhood. To the general public, India was a land of exotic mystery, full of spice, magic and adventure. Kipling’s stories gave a glimpse of the magic land and served as an entertaining read for adults as well as moral parables for children.

Because of it's moral tone The Jungle Book came to be used as a motivational book by the Cub Scouts, a junior element of the Scouting movement. This use of the book was approved by Kipling after a direct petition by Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement. Akela, the head wolf in The Jungle Book, has become a senior figure in the movement, the name being traditionally adopted by the leader of each Cub Scout pack.

A number of movie adaptions of The Jungle Book, or parts of it, have been produced including live-action and animated versions.

We have Tales of Mowgli from The Jungle Book and an abridged version of The Jungle Book in the fiction section of our library. We also have a large picture book of the Disney version in the Big Browsing Box.

Upper Hutt Public Library has 4 copies of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling in the Childrens section and 2 books of the Disney film adaption, as well as a copy of the DVD featuring the Disney movies The Jungle Book & The Jungle Book 2.

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling can be read online at Project Gutenburg and is available for download free at Project Gutenburg.

Most of the above information was adapted from: here, here and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-07-04T18:15:00.001+12:00

Picture Book:

"Meow said the Cow" by Emma DODD
"The Runaway Hug" by Nick BLAND

Fiction:

"All Because of Jackson" by Dick KING-SMITH
"The Adventures of Nanny Piggins" by R.A.SPRATT
"Sands of the Scorpion" by Bear GRYLLS (Mission Survival series)

Senior Fiction:

"The Gypsy Crown" by Kate FORSYTH

Non-Fiction:

"Speed Machines and other Record-Breaking Vehicles" by Miranda SMITH
"The Life Cycle of the Tuatara" by Betty BROWNLIE

Kyle Mewburn

2011-06-29T09:33:00.154+12:00

Picture Source

Kyle Mewburn was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1963. He studied at the Queensland Institute of Technology completing a Bachelor of Business Degree before traveling overseas. Kyle travelled in Europe and the Middle East and then settled in New Zealand in 1990. He has been writing for children full-time since 1997. Before that he spent time as a journalist, EFL teacher, Environment Centre manager, dishwasher, interviewer, traffic surveyor, apple-picker, machine operator and Kibbutznik (a member of a kibbutz). Kyle lives with his wife in Central Otago in a grass-roofed house he built by himself. (You can see his grass-roofed house in the background of the photo above and on his webpage).

Kyle has written many picture books which have been published in nine countries so far. He has also written numerous school readers and a junior chapter book series Pop Hooper's Perfect Pets. His first junior novel A Crack in the Sky was released in 2010 and his latest Do Not Push was released just last month. A new junior chapter book series Dinosaur Rescue is due for release next month.

Kyle Mewburn won the Joy Cowley Award in 2005 and his books have been finalists in the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards several times, with Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! being the Picture Book & Children's Choice Winner in 2007 and Old Hu-Hu the Picture Book & Book of the Year Winner in 2010.

Books by Kyle Mewburn we have in our library: The Hoppleplop; Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck!; No Room for a Mouse; Duck's Stuck!; Old Hu-Hu; The Eleventh Sheep; Hill & Hole; Daisy's Maze; Three Cheer's for No-Ears! and Hester and Lester in the Picture Books. Also copies of books in the Pop Hooper's Perfect Pets series and A Crack in the Sky in our Fiction section. Books in the Dinosaur Rescue series are coming soon.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of 20 children's books by Kyle Mewburn.

Most of the above information about Kyle Mewburn was adapted from here and here.

For more information about Kyle Mewburn and his books visit Kyle Mewburn's Homepage.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-06-27T15:35:00.002+12:00

Picture Book:

"Three Cheers for No-Ears!" by Kyle MEWBURN
"I'm Me!" by Sara SHERIDAN

Mature Picture Book:

"The Blue Lotus" by HERGE (Tintin series)

Fiction:

"The Quest for Paradise" by Geronimo STILTON (Geronimo Stilton series)
"The Mind-Swap Manace" by Steve COLE (Astrosaurs series)

Senior Fiction:

"Half-Minute Horrors" edited by Susan RICH

Non-Fiction:

"How to Play Chess" by Daniel KING
"Natural Disasters" by Andrew LANGLEY (Kingfisher Knowledge series)

Milly-Molly-Mandy

2011-06-22T10:08:00.160+12:00

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

Milly-Molly-Mandy lives in a “nice white cottage with a thatched roof” along with her father, mother, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. They have a small farm and Milly-Molly-Mandy gets to ride to market with her grandfather in the pony and trap, paddle in the brook, keep a little yellow duckling, and grow a pumpkin in her own vegetable patch. She also has two friends, called Susan and Billy Blunt, and together they sleep outside in tents made from sheets and kitchen chairs, learn to cycle on two old bicycles, and make a little house together in a tree.

Picture Source

The Milly-Molly-Mandy stories were written and illustrated by Joyce Lankester Brisley who was born in Bexhill, England in 1896. Most of the Milly-Molly-Mandy stories were first published in the Christian Science Monitor, and then collected into three volumes: Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories (1928), More of Milly-Molly-Mandy (1929) and Further Doings of Milly-Molly-Mandy (1932). A fourth volume of stories, Milly-Molly-Mandy Again was published in 1948. In 1992, Puffin published the four books together in a single volume titled The Adventures Of Milly-Molly-Mandy.

We have The Adventures Of Milly-Molly-Mandy in the fiction section of our library.

Upper Hutt Public Library has five Milly-Molly-Mandy titles and one audio book in the Children's section.

Most of the above information was obtained or adapted from: here, here and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-06-20T16:27:00.004+12:00

Picture Book:

"The Cat's Pyjamas" by Catherine FOREMAN
"Alpha Monsters" by Chris KENNETT

Fiction:

"Ottoline and the Yellow Cat" by Chris RIDDELL (Ottoline series)
"Amulet : The Cloud Searchers" by Kazu KIBUISHI (Amulet series)

Senior Fiction:

"Secrets" by Jacqueline Wilson
"Conspiracy 365 - December" by Gabrielle LORD (Conspiracy 365 series)

Non-Fiction:

"The Story Of Science" by Anna CLAYBOURNE
"Great Art Attack Stuff" by Neil BUCHANAN

Lauren Child

2011-06-16T09:34:00.004+12:00

Photo Source

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

Lauren Child was born in 1967 and grew up in Wiltshire, the middle child of three sisters and the daughter of teachers. Her first creative act was to change her name from Helen to Lauren when she was a child - "I just didn't like my name very much, I didn't dislike the name itself, I just didn't like me being called it."

Lauren studied Art at Manchester Polytechnic and London Art School, after wards she worked in a variety of jobs. She also started her own company making exotic lampshades. The turning point came after talking to a business manager who suggested she should write a children's book and design a product range around it. The result was Clarice Bean.

Her first book Clarice Bean, That’s Me, was published in 1999, and was the first of many books about this character. It took her five years to get it published, after many rejections, but after publication it was highly praised and shortlisted for the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. Although Clarice Bean started life as a picture-book character, Lauren has now written several novels about her adventures too. Alongside the Clarice Bean series, Lauren Child also began another series of picture books in 2000, about a brother and sister called Charlie and Lola. This series, which began with the award-winning I Will Not Ever, NEVER Eat A Tomato, has proved even more popular than Clarice Bean.

Lauren Child is also an illustrator, her humorous illustrations contain several mediums including magazine cuttings, collage, material, photography and watercolour. As well as illustrating her own books Lauren has also illustrated books by other author's.

Lauren has won a number of prizes and awards for books in the Clarice Bean and the Charlie and Lola series as well as several of her stand alone titles.

Books by Lauren Child we have in our library: Goldilocks and the Three Bears - a Picture Book, and copies of Utterly Me, Clarice Bean; Clarice Bean Spells Trouble and Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now in the Fiction section.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of 40 children's books by Lauren Child and three Children's DVDs.

Most of the above information about Lauren Child was adapted from here, here, and here.

For more information about Lauren Child and her books visit the Official Lauren Child website.

Happy Birthday

2011-06-15T10:00:00.102+12:00

Hooray!

St Brendan's Library Blog is One Year Old Today.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-06-13T14:28:00.002+12:00

Picture Book:

"Sparrow Girl" by Sara PENNYPACKER
"Elephant Joe is a Knight!" by David WOJTOWICZ

Fiction:

"The Battle for Rondo" by Emily RODDA (Rondo series)
"Zac Power : Frozen Fear" by H.I. LARRY (Zac Power series)
"I'm not a Supermouse!" by Geronimo STILTON (Geronimo Stilton series)

Senior Fiction:

"The Falconer's Knot" by Mary HOFFMAN

Non-Fiction:

"How Maui defied the Goddess of Death" by Peter GOSSAGE
"How to Improve at Playing Rugby" by Jim DREWETT

Harry Potter Fans

2011-06-08T18:44:00.020+12:00

Just a little over one month to wait till the release of the final Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. If you haven't seen the movie trailer yet you can watch the trailer here.

If you feel the Harry Potter books and movies have been a big part of your life over the last few years, think about what the movies have meant to the actors, especially those young ones just beginning their acting careers.

If you had to describe your Harry Potter experience in one word, what would that word be?

Watch this video to find out the words some of the actors chose.

P.S. Don't forget to vote for your favourite Harry Potter character before 26th August - see my previous post here or follow this link to vote.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-06-07T16:08:00.001+12:00

Picture Book:

"Tom & the Dragon" by Juliette McIver
"The Wonderful Book" by Leonid GORE

Fiction:

"The Seas of Doom" by Steve Cole (Astrosaurs series)
"Two Naughty Angels : Round the Rainbow" by Mary HOOPER (Two Naughty Angels series)
"The Hobbit" by J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Senior Fiction:

"Slave Girl" by Patricia C. McKISSACK (My Story UK series for girls & for boys)

Non-Fiction:

"The Top Ten Inventions that Changed the World" by Chris OXLADE
"Awesome Aotearoa" by Margaret MAHY

FaBo Story

2011-06-01T10:23:00.004+12:00

Last year a group of nine New Zealand writers created The FaBo Story with the help of school children from throughout the country (and some cool illustrators too). Each week children were challenged to write the next chapter in the story with the winning chapter published on the FaBo Story blog. After 20 weeks The FaBo Story was complete - you can read it here.

FaBo Story is back and you can find out all about it here, but don't dawdle because the competition begins on June 13. In the mean time you can visit the new FaBo Story blog to find out more about Planet FaBo2 and this years competition as well as how to take part and pick up tips about writing.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-05-30T16:10:00.005+12:00

Picture Book:

"Art & Max" by David WIESNER
"Dewey : There's a Cat in the Library" by Vicki MYRON

Mature Picture Book:

"Asterix in Spain" by Rene GOSCINNY (Asterix series)

Fiction:

"Hetty Feather" by Jacqueline WILSON
"How to Break a Dragon's Heart" by Cressida COWELL (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III series)

Senior Fiction:

"Maximum Security" by Robert MUCHAMORE (Cherub series)

Non-Fiction:

"Into the Deep" by Dr.David NORMAN
"The United Nations" by Tom CLARK

Dinah Priestley Visit

2011-05-27T10:27:00.004+12:00

Photo by Dinah Priestley

On Tuesday author/illustrator Dinah Priestley visited St Brendan's and spoke to our Juniors and Year 3 & 4 students. She brought along a furry friend "Oscar" to help her out. Dinah read her book Oscar, Star of the Opera a picture book about a dog who becomes a famous opera singer. The idea for Oscar came from her own dog who had once burst into song while she was listening to Pavarotti - a very famous opera singer. She explained that ideas for stories often came from things like this that happen in your everyday life. Dinah shared her other stories too, including some that she is still working on, however it was Oscar who was the star of the show as children from each group were encouraged to put on the mask & costume and become Oscar, Star of the Opera while Pavarotti sang in the background.

Note: Dinah made the Oscar mask herself too - isn't she clever?

Thank you so much for your visit Dinah, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Photo by Mrs Banks

Books we have in our library: Oscar, Star of the Opera and That's Not Cricket.

Dinah's visit was part of the New Zealand Book Council's Writers in Schools programme. You can find out more about Dinah and her books at the New Zealand Book Council website here.

The Adventure Series

2011-05-25T09:46:00.003+12:00

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

The Adventure books are a series of 14 books written by Willard Price between 1948 and 1980. Willard Price was a journalist and naturalist who traveled the world working for National Geographic and other publications. The series tells the Adventures of Hal and Roger Hunt, whose father John Hunt, owns a wildlife park in America. He is a wildlife specialist who specializes in taking animals alive. His two sons are both years ahead of their classes, so he makes them an offer: stay in school, or take a year out to travel the world and learn the family business. Not surprisingly they choose the second option. During their year away, the boys travel to Africa with their Safari team; North & South America and the South Seas with Captain Ike and the Lively Lady; the waters of Australasia with Captain Ted and the Flying Cloud, as well as India, the arctic and other exotic places. Hindered by opponents, ranging from humorous and incompetent to deadly and dangerous, dealing with rare and dangerous animals and learning from the locals, the boys take readers on a thrilling ride across the world.

We have three compendium books, each containing two of the Adventure Series stories, in the fiction section of our library.

Upper Hutt Public Library has the three compendium books as well as three other single titles in the Children's section.

You can find out more about Willard Price and the Adventure Series from: here (most of the above information was adapted from there too).

On the New Books Display this week

2011-05-23T16:05:00.002+12:00

Picture Book:

"The Bicycle Man" by Allen SAY
"Zizzy" by Penny MATTHEWS

Fiction:

"Howls Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne JONES
"Zac Power : Mind Games" by H.I. LARRY (Zac Power series)
"Saffron, I Have Everything Under Control" by Victoria M. AZARO

Senior Fiction:

"Cherry Crush" by Cathy CASSIDY (The Chocolate Box Girls series)

Non-Fiction:

"How Maui Found the Secret of Fire" by Peter GOSSAGE
"How to Improve at Playing the Guitar" by Tom CLARK

Favourite Harry Potter Character

2011-05-18T10:26:00.173+12:00

Something for Harry Potter fans as they wait for the release of the eighth and final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 on the 14th of July.

Do you have a favourite Harry Potter Character?

Picture source

Bloomsbury, the publisher of the Harry Potter books, is asking Harry Potter Fans everywhere to vote for their favourite character and help decide who is the official Favourite Harry Potter Character.

Voting is open HERE and closes on Friday 26th August 2011.

The favourite character will be announced on Tuesday 30th August.

Who do you think the favourite will be?

I can't help but think the favourite character will be Harry Potter .... but, it could be Professor Dumbledore .... or then again it might be Professor Snape .... Oh I don't know, I guess we'll just have to wait till 30th August to find out.

I found out about the Favourite Harry Potter Character poll here too.

Just for Girls

2011-05-17T10:35:00.016+12:00

Are you a girl who loves books? - If that sounds like you this blog by authors who write books for girls from 8 years up to teens could be just right for you.

GIRLS ♥ BOOKS has snippets about the authors - when they were young and now; behind the books information; new book news; competitions and lots more...

GIRLS ♥ BOOKS includes authors and books you may already know and that we have in our school library as well as others you might also like to read ... take a look girls and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

I found out about the GIRLS ♥ BOOKS blog here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-05-16T15:21:00.003+12:00

Picture Book:

"The Very Itchy Bear" by Nick BLAND
"Sam's Bush Journey" by Sally MORGAN & Ezekiel KWAYMULLINA

Fiction:

"Pick'n'Mix" by Various New Zealand authors
"Ships Cat Doris" by Jane SIMMONS
"The Great Space Race" by Joshua MOWLL

Senior Fiction:

"Contact" by Chris MORPHEW (Phoenix Files series)

Non-Fiction:

"Legends of the Cook Islands" by Shona HOPKINS
"Art Attack" by Neil BUCHANAN

Skulduggery Pleasant

2011-05-11T09:47:00.096+12:00

Have you been tempted to read the Skulduggery Pleasant series of books or wondered what they are all about?

Take a look at this book trailer which was released late in 2010, about the same time as the latest book in the series - Mortal Coil. It gives you a quick peek into the world of Skulduggery Pleasant.

The next book in the series Death Bringer is due to be released on Thursday 1st September 2011, and three more books are planned to complete the series. You can find out news and more at the Skulduggery Pleasant Homepage, and watch an interview with author Derek Landy here. You can even listen to an interview with Skulduggery Pleasant - below the Read a Sample links.

The Skulduggery Pleasant books are for older readers and can be found in our Senior Fiction section.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-05-09T15:38:00.002+12:00

Picture Book:

"Flight of the Dodo" by Peter BROWN

Fiction:

"Cock-a Doodle-Do" by Michael MORPURGO
"Two Naughty Angels : The Ghoul at School" by Mary HOOPER (Two Naughty Angels series)
"Into the Gauntlet" by Margaret Peterson HADDIX (39 Clues series)

Senior Fiction:

"My Sister Jodie" by Jacqueline WILSON

Browsing Book:

"Dinosaurs" by Dougal DIXON

Mature Picture Book:

"The Black Island" by HERGE (Tintin series)

Non-Fiction:

"Saving Tigers" by Dr.Carla LITCHFIELD

Michael Morpurgo

2011-05-04T10:12:00.172+12:00

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

Michael Morpurgo is, in his own words, “oldish, married with three children, and a grandfather six times over.” Born in 1943, he attended schools in London, Sussex and Canterbury - at least one of these was horrible enough to inspire him to describe it obliquely in The Butterfly Lion. He went on to London University to study English and French, followed by a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army. He then took up teaching and a job in a primary school in Kent. It was there that he discovered what he wanted to do - write children's books. Michael Morpurgo has a gift for magical storytelling, and his books also often tackle social issues. Out of the Ashes, for example, is about the foot and mouth crisis in the United Kingdom in 2001. He is probably one of the best-known writers for children around today and has published over 100 books, many of which have received awards and/or been translated into other languages.

While teaching he realized that many of his students had very little experience of animals other than what they see on television, this gave Michael and his wife the idea of setting up Farms for City Children. They moved to Devon over thirty years ago to develop this idea and now run three farms where over 2000 children a year stay for a week as 'farmers'.

In our library we have a Picture Book Wombat Goes Walkabout by Michael Morpurgo and a number of Fiction & Senior Fiction books, including Cock-a-doodle-doo, The Nine Lives of Montezuma, The Butterfly Lion, The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, Shadow, Out of the Ashes and Private Peaceful.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of more than 50 children's books by Michael Morpurgo and two audio books.

The above information about Michael Morpurgo was adapted from here, here, and here.

You can follow this link find out more about Michael Morpurgo and his books

On the New Books Display this week

2011-05-02T15:47:00.005+12:00

Picture Book:

"Pukeko Power" by Jahri JAH JAH
"Interupting Chicken" by David Ezra STEIN

Fiction:

"Stranger Madness" by Melanie DREWERY
"Zac Power : Deep Waters" by H.I. LARRY (Zac Power series)
"Wolven" by Di TOFT

Senior Fiction:

"Mill Girl" by Sue REID (My Story UK series for girls & for boys)

Non-Fiction:

"The Fairy Tales" translated by David Walser & illustrated by Jan PIENKOWSKI

Reference:

"The Official New Zealand Code for Cyclists" by NZTA

Pippi Longstocking

2011-04-14T09:47:00.000+12:00

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

Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking, or Pippi for short, is a character created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. She first became known to the world in 1945 with the publication of Pippi Longstocking, and this was soon followed by more books about Pippi and her adventures.

With her mother in heaven and her father lost at sea, Pippi is left to her own devices in a ramshackle house on the edges of a little Swedish village called Villa Villekulla. For company, Pippi has a monkey named Mr. Nilsson, a horse on the porch, and two friends, Tommy and Annika, from the house next door. Pippi has two main possessions, a suitcase full of gold coins (which she used to buy her horse) and a large chest of drawers containing various small treasures. Pippi makes her own rules and nags herself about going to bed at night, her friends Tommy and Annika live a more normal life. Although having little schooling Pippi is very intelligent, in a common-sense sort of way, with most of her opponents not realizing just how clever and crafty she is until she's made fools of them. Pippi has an amazing talent for spinning tall tales, though she usually doesn't lie, she just tells the truth in the form of humorously strange stories.

Pippi Longstocking has a number of television and movie adaptions.

We have a copy of The Best of Pippi Longstocking which contains three books (Pippi Longstocking , Pippi Goes Aboard , and Pippi in the South Seas) in one volume. Upper Hutt Public Library has Pippi Longstocking books available in the Children's section.

The above information has been adapted from here, here and here.

You can find more information about Astrid Lindgren and her books here.

End of Term & Holiday Boredom Busters

2011-04-12T10:24:00.017+12:00

It's almost the holidays so don't forget to return your library books before the end of the week.

If you get bored over the holidays below are some links to book related web pages & games for you to have a look at. Make sure it's OK with your parents, grandparents or who ever you are visiting, before you visit any of these webpages.

The NEW Geronimo Stilton World - lots to see and do here.

Visit the World Book Day Games Webpage for links to lots of book related games and activities including: The Gruffalo, Jane Blonde, Astrosaurs, Rainbow Magic, Beast Quest, How to Train Your Dragon and Diary of a Wimpy Kid plus many more...

And don't forget about the links to the magazine webpages listed down the right-hand side of the library blog. Or you can follow these links: Upstart magazine, KidzMag and Wacky...But True!. These websites are likely to have games and competitions you can enter.

Hope you have a great holiday & see you again next term.

Inheritance Cycle - Book 4

2011-04-07T09:22:00.009+12:00

tComing soon - but perhaps not soon enough for many....

Publication of the fourth and final book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle has been announced by Random House NZ. Inheritance will be published simultaneously in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, USA and Canada on Wednesday 9th November 2011.

The first three books, Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr have all been international bestsellers selling over 25 million copies worldwide, with over 120,000 being sold in New Zealand.

The above information adapted from here.

Anthony Horowitz

2011-04-05T10:09:00.022+12:00

Photo source

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

Anthony Horowitz is an English author and screenwriter born in North London in 1956 - in fact it's his birthday today! Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. His father was a wealthy businessman so Anthony was born into a family of wealth and status, he was raised by nannies and surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. Facing bankruptcy, Anthony's father removed his wealth from his bank accounts and hid it under a pseudonym. He then died and the family was never able to track down the missing money despite years of trying.

At the age of eight Anthony was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself was a horror, with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.

Anthony Horowitz's first book was published in 1979, The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower, was a humorous adventure for children. Anthony worked on a number of television productions and wrote many books for children & young adults over the next 20 years. Then in 2000 he began his most famous and successful series to date with the Alex Rider novels. The Alex Rider series has sold over ten million copies worldwide and won numerous awards. Stormbreaker, the first Alex Rider mission, was recently made into a movie. Anthony's most recent series, The Power of Five, begins with Raven's Gate published in 2005. Look out for the latest and final mission for Alex Rider in Scorpia Rising published

In our library we have the Alex Rider series in the Senior Fiction section and Raven's Gate - The Graphic Novel is on the New Books Display this week.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of about 20 children's and teen books written by Anthony Horowitz, also copies of graphic novels, audio books and a copy of the Stormbreaker DVD in the Teen DVD section.

The above information about Anthony Horowitz was adapted from here, here, and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-04-04T14:28:00.085+12:00

Picture Book:

"Spoon" by Amy Krouse ROSENTHAL

"The Wheels on the Bus" by Donovan BIXLEY

Fiction:

"Battle of the Worlds : Infernix" by Mac PARK (Boy vs Beast series)
"Shadow" by Michael Morpurgo
"Two Naughty Angels : Down to Earth" by Mary HOOPER (Two Naughty Angels series)

Senior Fiction:

"Raven's Gate - The Graphic Novel" by Anthony HOROWITZ (Power of Five series)

Non-Fiction:

"Fantastic Football" by Clive GIFFORD
"How to Make a Universe with 92 Ingredients" by Adrian Dingle

2011-03-29T15:15:00.004+13:00

The 2011 New Zealand Post Children's Book Award Finalists were announced last month. To see many of the finalist books have a look at the display in the library, or for more information you can visit the NZ Booksellers webpage here.

As in previous years children can vote for their favourite book in the Children's Choice Award and go into a draw to win $500.00 in book vouchers. You can vote either online here or by filling out an entry form - these are available in the school library as well as other libraries and many bookshops. Voting closes at 5pm on 29th April 2011.

If you do vote please remember to put St.Brendan's as your school so we can go into the draw for prizes too.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-03-28T16:49:00.001+13:00

Picture Book:

"Hello Beaky" by Jez ALBOROUGH
"Willbee the Bumblebee" by Craig SMITH

Mature Picture Book:

"Asterix at the Olympic Games" by Rene GOSCINNY

Fiction:

"Dustbin Cat" by Ingrid LEE
"Water Fight Frenzy" by Felice ARENA

Senior Fiction:

"The Merlin Conspiracy" by Diana Wynne JONES

Non-Fiction:

"Special Forces" by Jim BRUSH (Action Force series)
"The Top Ten Leaders that Changed the World" by Anita GANERI

Diana Wynne Jones

2011-03-23T08:10:00.003+13:00

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

Diana Wynne Jones was born in London in August 1934. Her family moved around a lot, finally settling in rural England. Neglected by their parents, she and her sisters, Isobel and Ursula, lived in a shack away from the main house. They ran wild, washed seldom and grew very close. Diana and her sisters were deprived of a good, steady supply of books by their father, 'who could beat Scrooge in a meanness contest'. So, armed with a vivid imagination and an insatiable quest for good books to read, she decided that she would have to write them herself. Her first book was published in 1970 and her first children's book Wilkin's Tooth was published in 1973. Since then she has written some 40 science fiction and fantasy books, and is one of Britain's most respected fantasy writers. Diana's most popular books are the Chrestomanci series: Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Conrad's Fate, Mixed Magics and Stealer of Souls, which take place in a magical chain of different worlds. Her book Howl's Moving Castle was released as an animated movie in 2004.

Books by Diana Wynne Jones we have in our library: Wilkin's Tooth, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, The Power of Three, Stealer of Souls, Conrad's Fate, The Magicians of Caprona, The Game, The Merlin Conspiracy.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of about 20 books written by Diana Wynne Jones, also a copy of the animated DVD of Howl's Moving Castle.

The above information about Diana Wynne Jones was adapted from here and here, you can also find more information about Diana and her books here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-03-21T16:08:00.005+13:00

Picture Book:

"Atchoo! The Complete Guide to Good Manners" by Mij KELLY
"Quaky Cat" by Diana NOONAN (Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated towards the Christchurch Earthquake recovery - see here for more information)

Mature Picture Book:

"Lest We Forget" by Feana TU'AKOI

Fiction:

"The Hatchling" by Kathryn LASKY (Guardians of Ga'Hoole series)
"The Peculiar Pumpkin Thief" by Geronimo Stilton (Geronimo Stilton series)

Senior Fiction:

"Conspiracy 365 - November" by Gabrielle LORD (Conspiracy 365 series)

Non-Fiction:

"Inside Sport : Rugby" by Clive GIFFORD
"Leprechaun Ice Cream - Magical Tales by Kiwi Kids"

Happy St.Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T15:08:00.002+13:00

ST PATRICK´S DAY on PhotoPeach

I found a link to this video at a blog by Ian McLean - here.

Asterix

2011-03-16T10:31:00.164+13:00

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

The Asterix books are a popular series of comic books which follow the exploits of a village of ancient Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. Asterix, along with his friend Obelix have many adventures, some in and around their village but other stories see them traveling to various countries around the world.

Asterix, written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo, began as a comic strip in the first issue of the french magazine Pilote in 1959. The first Asterix book Asterix the Gaul was published in 1961, followed by one or two books each year until 1976. In 1977 Rene Goscinny died suddenly and from then on Albert Uderzo continued the adventures of Asterix alone. Currently there are 34 Asterix books (you can see them all here) the last was published in 2009 to celebrate Asterix and Obelix's 50th Birthday.

We have a number of Asterix titles available for borrowing in the Mature Picture books, also a compendium with three stories in the Fiction section. Upper Hutt Public Library has many Asterix books available in the Comics section, and a movie in the Children's DVD section.

You can find out more about Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo here.

The above information has been adapted from here and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-03-14T17:50:00.006+13:00

Picture Book:

"Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam" by Juliette MacIVER
"It's a Book" by Lane SMITH

Fiction:

"Dear Hound" by Jill MURPHY
"Zac Power : Poison Island" by H. I. LARRY (Zac Power series)

Senior Fiction:

"Angel Cake" by Cathy CASSIDY
"Artemis Fowl" by Eion COLFER (Artemis Fowl series)

Non Fiction:

"How Maui Slowed the Sun" by Peter GOSSAGE
"Scholastic Book of World Records 2010" by Jenifer MORSE

New Zealand Book Month 2011

2011-03-09T16:58:00.000+13:00

From the 1st to the 31st of March New Zealand Book Month celebrates books and reading and encourages all Kiwis, young and old, to get involved. This year as part of Book Month, four million $5.00 book vouchers are being distributed all over New Zealand - you should have received one each to take home from school last week.
The vouchers are only valid until the end of March 2011 so remember to use yours before then.

Take a look at the display of books by New Zealand authors in the library.

You can find a list of favourite children's books on the New Zealand Book Month website here, you can also find more information about New Zealand Book Month here.

Upper Hutt Public Library has special New Zealand Book Month events planned - see the details here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-03-08T10:26:00.002+13:00

Picture Book:

"Zog" by Julia DONALDSON
"Daisy's Maze" by Kyle MEWBURN

Fiction:

"Shine" by Kate MARYON
"The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose WOOD (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series)
"Singing Sensation" by Geronimo STILTON (Geronimo Stilton series)

Senior Fiction:

"In the Shadow of the Palace" by Judith SIMPSON (Princess of Pushkar series)

Non Fiction:

"Armed Services" by Jim BRUSH (Action Force series)
"101 Spooky Halloween Jokes" by Melvin BERGER

Most Popular in 2010

2011-03-04T13:08:00.006+13:00

The most popular books in St Brendan's School Library in 2010 were:

1st Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney

2nd Geronimo Stilton series by Geronimo Stilton

3rd The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

4th= Sleep-overs by Jacqueline Wilson and
Thea Stilton series by Thea Stilton

5th The Blind Fairy by Brigitte Schar

6th= Freak Street series by Knife & Packer and
Guinness World Records 2006

7th= Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! by Kyle Mewburn and

The Little Mermaid adapted by Michael
Teitlebaum and Upstart magazine

8th=   Aladdin adapted by Karen Kreider;
   Alice the Fairy by David Shannon;
         Captain Crabclaw’s Crew by Frances Watts; Cookie by Jacqueline Wilson;

Creep Street by John Marsden; Dear Miss by Amy Husband;

       Litterbug Doug by Ellie Bethel; Little Pip and the Rainbow Wish
         by Elizabeth Baguley; Milo and the Mysterious Island by Marcus Pfister;
       Pearlie and Sapphire by Wendy Harmer; The Maze Of Bones by Rick Riordan
      (39 Clues series); The Woeful Second World War (Horrible Histories series);
      The Worlds Funniest School Jokes; Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson;

Zac Power series by H I Larry

If you have any questions about these books, leave me a comment (see below) or come and visit me in the library - usually open at lunchtimes Monday-Thursday.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-03-02T10:15:00.007+13:00

Picture Book:

"Little Red and the Cunning Kuri" by Chris GURNEY
"Reach for the Stars" by Serge BLOCH

Fiction:

"Wizard of Rondo" by Emily RHODDA (Rondo series)
"On the Ball" by Suzannah McFARLANE (EJ12 series)
"A Crack in the Sky" by Kyle MEWBURN

Senior Fiction:

"Phoenix Files - Arrival" by Chris MORPHEW (Phoenix Files series)

Non Fiction:

"Top 10 Scientific Discoveries that Changed the World" by Chris OXLADE
"Blast! Pat Hanly the Painter and his Protests" by Trish GRIBBEN

On the New Books Display this week

2011-02-21T15:29:00.014+13:00

Picture Book:

"Monsters Not Allowed" by Tracey HAMMETT
"The Rain Train" by Elena de ROO

Fiction:

"Daisy Star and the Pink Guitar" by Cathy CASSIDY
"Tracks of the Tiger" by Bear GRYLLS (Mission Survival series)
"The Kittens Tale" by Darrel & Sally ODGERS (Pet Vet series)

Senior Fiction:

"Skulduggery Pleasant - Mortal Coil" by Derek LANDY (Skulduggery Pleasant series)

Non Fiction:

"How Maui Found his Father & The Magic Jawbone" by Peter GOSSAGE
"Skateboarding" by Andy HORSLEY

Knife & Packer

2011-02-16T09:36:00.010+13:00

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

Knife & Packer are a writing and illustrating team whose names are really Duncan McCoshan (Knife) and Jem Packer. Knife and Packer spent most of their childhood in London, where they still live today. As a child Knife loved to draw and Packer loved to read - enjoying everything from Dr Brainstorm to Willard Price and Asterix to Tintin. They first met in 1993 and to begin with they did cartoons and cartoon strips for newspapers and magazines (in fact they still do!). But Knife and Packer loved developing crazy characters, and children’s books were the perfect place to put them. Their first book was published in 2001 and was all about teachers, Teachers The Naked Truth. Since then they have written and illustrated more than 20 books, including books about Fleabag Monkeyface, Zac Zoltan's Mad Monster Agency, Captain Fact and Freak Street.

Working as a team is quite unusual, as unless the author also illustrates their own books, authors and illustrators mostly work separately, with the illustrator brought in to provide pictures after the book has already been written. Knife and Packer develop all the characters, stories and designs together. They meet up every couple of days, but mostly email ideas and sketches backwards and forwards. They love meeting their readers and have done hundreds of events in schools, libraries, bookshops and festivals. They also enjoy seeing their books translated into lots of languages including Thai, Chinese, Portuguese and Korean.

We have copies of Teachers The Naked Truth and the Freak Street series. Other books by Knife & Packer, including series about Fleabag Monkeyface, Zac Zoltan's Mad Monster Agency and Captain Fact are available at Upper Hutt Public Library.

The above information and more information about Knife & Packer and their books can be found here and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-02-14T15:54:00.002+13:00

Picture Book:

"Hunting For Dragons" by Bruce WHATLEY
"Twinkle" by Nick BLAND

Fiction:

"Freak Street : Aliensons' Time Machine" by KNIFE & PACKER (Freak Street series)
"Glory" by Fifi COLSTON
"Magic Spirit" by Pippa FUNNELL (Tilly's Pony Tails series)

Senior Fiction:

"Conspiracy 365 - October" by Gabrielle LORD (Conspiracy 365 series)
"Rebel" by R.J. ANDERSON

Non-Fiction:

"Why Should I Walk More Often" by M.J.KNIGHT

Little Women

2011-02-09T09:33:00.140+13:00

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

Little Women, a novel written by Louisa May Alcott, is the heartwarming story of the March family that has thrilled generations of readers. It was originally published in two volumes in 1868 (Little Women) and 1869 (Good Wives), and was first published as a single volume in 1880. It is the story of four sisters - Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth - and of the courage, humor and ingenuity they display to survive poverty and the absence of their father during the American Civil War. The novel is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences growing up with her three sisters and was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. Two sequels featuring the March sisters were also published, Little Men in 1871 and Jo's Boys in 1886.

A number of Movie and Television adaptions have been filmed, the most recent in 1994.

We have a copy of Little Women in the Senior Fiction. Other books by Louisa May Alcott are available from Upper Hutt Public Library.

For more information about Louisa May Alcott try this biography.

The information above was adapted from here and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2011-02-07T15:24:00.056+13:00

Picture Book:

"The Fidgety Itch" by Lucy DAVEY

Mature Picture Book:

"The Black Book of Colours" by Menena COTTIN

Fiction:

"Rocky Road" by Suzannah McFARLANE (EJ12 series)
"Top Secret Pass it on" by Jaqualine CHAPMAN
"Rose"by Holly WEBB

Senior Fiction:

"Conspiracy 365 - September" by Gabrielle LORD (Conspiracy 365 series)

Non-Fiction:

"Learn to Skateboard with Luka" by Lee & Errol PETA
"Martial Arts Made Easy" Peter LEWIS

2011-02-03T16:05:00.007+13:00

Welcome back to school for 2011. I hope you had a good time over the holidays, did some cool stuff and read some great books. ( If you think they would be great books to add to our library then let me know - in the comments below)

In the library this week I am updating the classroom lists and adding new students to the library database so that you are all in your correct classroom for 2011.

There is still some tidying up to do in the library this week, but next week things should be back to normal. There will be new books on display and the library will be open for classroom visits and also at lunchtime.

See you then.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-17T16:43:00.008+13:00

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a great time over the summer holidays. See you back in the library in the New Year when we will have lots of new books including:

More Geronimo Stilton, Freak Street, Zac Power & Astrosaurs books.
More books by Jacqueline Wilson, Cathy Cassidy, Robert Muchamore and Anthony Horowitz.
More Asterix and Tintin books.
New non-fiction books about the Armed Forces, Maori legends, Rugby, Playing the Guitar and lots more...

P.S. Hope you find a good book or two in your Christmas Stocking!

End of Year 2010 - Update

2010-12-07T17:55:00.024+13:00

Library stocktake is underway so keep those books coming in.
I am visiting classrooms every day to collect returns - but sometimes the classes are at swimming when I visit, so if you have a book to return please bring it in to the library and drop it into the returns box. Thanks :)

End of Year Student Overdues:
(Updated every day or so till 17/12/10)

Eva Ibbotson

2010-12-02T10:00:00.013+13:00

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

Eva Ibbotson was born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner in Vienna, Austria in 1925. Growing up in Austria, Eva moved with her family to England after the Nazis took power during the 1940s. She earned a degree at the University of London and had intended to be a physiologist, but was put off by the amount of animal testing that she would have to do. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960s. One of her first written works was a television play produced in 1965 and her first children's book The Great Ghost Rescue, was published in 1975. , Eva's books include tongue-in-cheek ghost stories, ‘old fashioned’ historical adventures and adult historical romances (recently reissued for young-adults). She died at her home in Newcastle, England on 20 October 2010, aged 85.

Eva Ibbotson books we have in our library:
Monster Mission; Journey to the River Sea;
Dial a Ghost; The Star of Kazan.
If you liked any of these books then Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of other books written by Eva Ibbotson. For example:
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle; The Dragonfly Pool; The Secret of Platform 13.
And for teens: The Secret Countess; The Morning Gift & others.

Much of this information about Eva Ibbotson came from Eva Ibbotson Biography & Eva Ibbotson at Wikipedia. If you would like to know more about Eva or her books you can follow these links.

Getting Ready for End of Year 2010

2010-11-29T09:20:00.007+13:00

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 Friday, 3rd 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.
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.

The Indian in the Cupboard

2010-11-24T09:20:00.006+13:00

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

The Indian in the Cupboard was written in 1980 by Lynne Reid Banks, it is the first in a series of books about a boy whose toy Iroquois Indian comes to life. It was made into a movie in 1995.

Omri, a young boy, discovers that when an old cabinet is unlocked with an antique key it has the power to bring small plastic figurines to life. The first toy he puts into the cabinet is a 10cm tall Iroquois Indian figure. Omri is shocked when the toy comes out of the cabinet and tells him that his name is Little Bear, and that he is from the 18th century. But Omri’s troubles really start after he puts a plastic cowboy into the cupboard and then has to deal with “Boone” the cowboy trying to kill Little Bear. Boone wounds Little Bear and Omri must try to bring a plastic WWII medic to life to save him. You will have to read the book to find out what happens next but I can tell you that the book finishes with Omri giving his mother the key so that he won’t be tempted to bring more toys to life. (I guess this idea didn't work so well as The Indian in the Cupboard is the first in a series of five books....)

We have a copy of The Indian in the Cupboard in the Fiction section. The other books in the series, and the The Indian in the Cupboard DVD, are available for borrowing from Upper Hutt Library.

Information adapted from here and here.

On the New Books Display this week

2010-11-22T17:53:00.014+13:00

Browsing Book:

"Can You See What I See? - The Night Before Christmas" by Walter WICK

Picture Book:

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. SEUSS
"Precious Little" by Julie HUNT & Sue MOSS

Fiction:

"The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth GOUDGE (Filmed as "The Secret of Moonacre")
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Ugly Truth" by Jeff KINNEY (Diary of a Wimpy Kid series)
"The Case of the Mummy Mystery" by James Preller (A Jigsaw Jones Mystery)

Senior Fiction:

"Knife" by R.J. ANDERSON

Non-Fiction:

"Maori Tales of Long Ago" by A.W. REED

On the New Books Display this week

2010-11-15T16:27:00.012+13:00

Picture Book:

"The Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. MOORE
"Kapai's Thermal Adventure and other stories" by UNCLE ANZAC

Fiction:

"Freak Street - Wizardsons' Time Machine" by KNIFE & PACKER (Freak Street series)
"The Key to Rondo"by Emily RODDA (Rondo series)
"Buddy"by Ellen MILES (Puppy Place series)

Senior Fiction:

"13 Curses" by Michelle HARRISON (Sequel to "13 Treasures")

Non-Fiction:

"World Cup Soccer Stars" Edited by Joe FUNK
"Ripley's Believe it or Not" 2010 Special Edition

Eoin Colfer

2010-11-10T09:22:00.020+13:00

This is the first in a series of posts about popular children's authors and their books.

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born and raised in Ireland. After leaving school he gained a degree from Dublin University and qualified as a primary school teacher. He currently lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.
His first book, Benny and Omar, was published in 1998 and was based on his experiences in Tunisia where he and his wife spent time working in the 1990's. Eoin is best known for his Artemis Fowl series of books about a 12-year-old criminal mastermind from North Dublin. Artemis lives in a world where the traditional Irish folktale meets the world of modern technology - hardcase leprechauns, elves with attitude and fairies with machine guns! In 2001 when the first Artemis Fowl book was published he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing. Eoin has also written a series of books about Will and Marty for younger readers (The Legend of ...)

Books by Eoin Colfer:
Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl : The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl : The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl : The Opal Deception
Artemis Fowl and the The Lost Colony
Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox
Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex
The Artemis Fowl Files
Airman
Half Moon Investigations
The Supernaturalist
The Wishlist
Benny and Omar
Benny and Babe
The Legend of Captain Crow's Teeth
The Legend of Spud Murphy
The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World

We have copies of most of Eoin's books in the library.

Most of the information above has come from Eoin Colfer's official website. To find out more about him and his books visit his official website here.