Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

I found this picture Here

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

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

End of Year 2011 - Update #2

(Updated every day or so till 20 Dec 2011)

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

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

End of Year 2011 - Update

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

This picture is from HERE

Getting Ready for End of Year 2011

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

Picture Source

If you find any other school books

such as journals, junior reading books

and class books lying around at home

 please return these to school too.

Movies - Coming Soon

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

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

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

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

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

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

Fiction:

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

Senior Fiction:

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

Non-Fiction:

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

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

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

Fiction:

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

Senior Fiction:

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

Non-Fiction:

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

Mrs Keane recommends....

Fiction books:

Measle and the Wrathmonk by Ian Ogilvy

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

Lionboy by Zizou Corder

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

Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage

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

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A Spratt

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

The Key to Rondo  series by Emily Rodda

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

How to Train your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell

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

The Mysterious Howling by Mary Rose Wood

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

Ice Lolly by Jean Ure

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

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell

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

Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi

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

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

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

Fiction:

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

Senior Fiction:

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

Non-Fiction:

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

Kids' Zone - Online Literacy Resources

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

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

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:

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

Fiction:

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

Senior Fiction:

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

Non-Fiction:

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

Paul Jennings

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

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

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

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

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

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