Monday, February 21, 2011

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:
Fiction:
Senior Fiction:
Non Fiction:

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Knife & Packer

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.

Monday, February 14, 2011

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:
  Fiction:
    Senior Fiction:
Non-Fiction:
  • "Why Should I Walk More Often" by  M.J.KNIGHT

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Little Women



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.


Monday, February 7, 2011

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:
Mature Picture Book:
  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

Thursday, February 3, 2011





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.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Merry Christmas

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!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

End of Year 2010 - Update

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)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Eva Ibbotson

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.



Monday, November 29, 2010

Getting Ready for End of Year 2010

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.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Indian in the Cupboard

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.

Monday, November 22, 2010

On the New Books Display this week

Browsing Book:
  • "Can You See What I See? - The Night Before Christmas" by Walter WICK
Picture Book: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

Monday, November 15, 2010

On the New Books Display this week

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:Non-Fiction:
  • "World Cup Soccer Stars" Edited by Joe FUNK
  • "Ripley's Believe it or Not" 2010 Special Edition