Kids Blog

This week is Maori Language Week. Check out some of the Maori Language Week events happening around the branches, from poi to Kapa Haka to special storytimes… See you there!

Stories@7 people:

The next Stories@7 is on Friday 1 August: children v adults! Who would win? Well, come in to the Central Library and fill in a questionnaire which might help to reveal the answer… otherwise, we’ll see you on August the first!

I know I’ve got you thinking so I’ll prolong the suspense a bit. Well, if you like getting struck, flashed and sparked at then you might be interested in this job. A fulminologist is a scientist who studies… LIGHTNING! Fancy that! It is a fact that about 100 flashes of lightning hit the Earth EVERY SINGLE SECOND! Yikes!

If you’d like to know more weird weather facts about tornados,floods and heatwaves, check out the Wicked Weather a Horrible Geography Handbook in the children’s non fiction area.

Before Green Gables (2008) is the prequel to Anne of Green Gables (1908). A prequel means that the story is set earlier in time than Anne of Green Gables, even though it was written later. This new book is all about Anne Shirley from her birth up until age 11, when she was taken from the ophanage in Nova Scotia to Avonlea Farm on Prince Edward Island by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.

When Anne is only a baby, her parents die in an epidemic. For the next 10 years she is without love or a place she can call home. But through it all Anne is feisty and determined – a true red-haired heroine.

Before Green Gables is written by Budge Wilson. She has also written The leaving, and other stories.

A new Jacqueline Wilson book is coming out in October. It is called Cookie.

Beauty Cookson is no beauty – she’s a plain girl, surrounded by super-confident, snooty girls at school. But worse than the teasing in the playground is her father’s temper. Eventually, after an unbearable birthday party and a very real fear that Dad’s temper is out of control, Mum and Beauty run away.

If it sounds like something you want to read, follow this link and place a reserve so that you can be one of the first people to get your hands on a library copy in October.

Check out the Book of Absolutely Useless Lists written by Philip Ardagh. Philip Ardagh is very tall. He wasn’t allowed a pet until he was an adult. He wears size 16 shoes (on his size 16 feet). His beard is younger than he is and he doesn’t know how to drive a car or a lorry but he has written rather a lot of lists. So take a look at this book jam-packed full of eye-opening absure facts, lies and half-truths.

The pigeon wants a puppy! by Mo Willems. This pigeon is so desperate for a pet puppy…… he really, really, REALLY wants one. He promises to water it every day. Do you think it’s a good idea? Do you think the pigeon should get a puppy?

I swear this is true… in fact I read it off a book. Are you very curious already? Well, a zedonk is actually a light brown animal with very fine stripes which is a result of breeding a zebra and a donkey. Amazing isn’t it? Cheetahs are the the fastest animals on land but boy do they get tired after a chase for food. It takes a cheetah half an hour to catch its breath before it can eat the food it has just caught! Talk about appetite, do you know that a lion need to eat between 5-7 kg of meat a day? That would be enough to feed 25 people!

If you’d like to know more awesome information about animals, get hold of the book Amazing Animal Facts in the children’s non fiction area. It not only has cool facts, it also has great pictures.  

Hey, there’s a 10-year-old going to the Olympics!! His name is Gandalf. Ok, ok I admit it…… he’s a horse (a gelding)…… but he’s a goer. He will be Mark Todd’s horse for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He’s grey, and he arrived in the South Island to train with Mark Todd at the end of January. Mark Todd liked Gandalf immediately. He says he’s a bit of a lazy horse, and he like to eat a lot so they are trying to get him slimmed down and they are teaching him to gallop a bit better. Watch out for Gandalf at the Olympics! He also starred in a video by rapper Scribe last year……

Hello all stories@7 people! The next stories@7 (Friday 1 August at 7.00pm) will be…

CHILDREN V ADULTS

(who do you think would win?)