Mystery is our new reading theme until February. So our December end of year party started off with a Mystery game in the Library. Solving clues to find pieces of a jigsaw puzzle hidden amongst the books and people.
We then sat around ate treats and did our reviews from last month. Here are some recommended, five out of five star books you can check out.
Our Theme for our February meeting is Non-fiction .Looking forward to seeing all the new graduated Book busters to Seekers! See you in 2012!!! Wow futuristic.
HAVE A LOVELY CHISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We started our meeting with a fun game called draw and fold. We came up with lots of weird and wacky drawing.
Ruth Paul joined us and talked about her great picture books. We had a special insight to an author’s life. She showed us one of her original painting from The King’s Bubbles. We all felt very inspired and went on to our own book reviews.
Emily read Hetty Feather Volume one by Jacqueline Wilson a story based in England about the circus and a foster home. Emily gave it *****5 stars
Isabella read the Summer Gang by Cornelia Funke ****4 and a half stars
Olivia read Lily Alone by Jacqueline Wilson ***** 5 stars
Megan read Crystal Doors by Rebecca Moesta
Emma this month reviewed Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson.
Rachel read Hetty Feather number two called Sapphire Battersea by Jacqueline Wilson. Rachel gave it *****5 stars
Next month’s topic will be Mystery.
Aunt Effie’s Ark – Jack Lasenby
It’s about Aunt Effie who goes into hibernation and her 26 neices and nephews have to look after the house and there’s a flood but luckily they have painted the house and barn so they float and they save people.
My favourite bit was when they save Jack Lasenby and Harry Wakatipu.
Rating: 11/10
Reviewed by Eva
A Rose for the ANZAC Boys – Jackie French
This is an historical novel about World War 1. Midge and her friends are in boarding school in England while the war takes lives in France. Desperate to do their part they set up a food station. This is the story of the rest of their lives.
Rating: 8/10
Reviewed by Caitlin
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian – Rick Riordan
It is about the Greek Gods and goddesses and half bloods, and a famous half blood called Percy Jackson and the Titan Lord Kronos.
My favourite bit was when it turns out the hero wasn’t the hero.
Rating: 10/10
Reviewed by Lilly
Esio Trot – Roald Dahl
There’s a girl who has a pet tortoise that won’t grow big so she sends a note that says Eisotrot x 2
Teg reggib x 2
Wolb pu ffup pu os teg reggib esio trot.
My favourite part was when she gets her tortoise bigger.
Rating: 9.5/10
Reviewed by Stella
Our new topic for the month is countries of the world! We started with a game of ‘Who can guess the national costume?’ The team did great with guessing costumes from countries such as China, Ethiopia, Wales and Holland! We then had reviews from last month…
Mao’s last dancer by Li Cunxin
LINA read Mao’s last dancer / Li Cunxin. About a boy’s life dancing in China and America. Lina gave the book 4 STARS.
Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy.
QUINCY read the last book of the series, Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy called Death Bringer. Quincy gives it 5 STARS and was sad to see the series finish.
Science smart: cool projects for exploring the marvels of the planet Earth by Gwen Diehn.
VISHANTH this month read a book of science where it had amazing interesting facts and instructions similar to this book. It even teaches you how to make a solar oven! He gives it 4 AND A HALF STAR.
Flush by Carl Hiaasen
JOSHUA read Flush by Carl Hiaasen he gives it 5 STARS!
Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson.
REBEKAH read a great science fiction fable about an 11yr girl who gets a clock for her birthday, the girl discovers it is no ordinary clock, it can control time. She travels to the future and the past. Rebekah gave this book 4 STARS. Raewyn recommends Tanglewreck which has a similar plot.
Adventure beneath the sea : living in an underwater science station by Kenneth Mallory
RAEWYN read Adventure beneath the sea: living in an underwater science station by Kenneth Mallory which has a great insight into the life of a scientist living under the sea and the kind of thing they do. It even showed where they sleep and there was even a toilet underwater! Raewyn gives it 4 STARS.
We then closed our BookSeeker’s day with another game! This was an empty map of the world. We had to guess with pins where the ten largest countries were. Well done BookSeekers KARORI! See you in November when we have a special guest Wellington’s author and illustrator Ruth Paul.
Zoë @ Karori Book Seekers.
They reviewed the books they had been reading over the holidays, which included The Famous Five and The Hardy Boys, and then they were introduced to the Bookseeker theme for October: books about Animals.
Then the Bookseekers did a quiz where they had to match the baby animals to the adult animals, and Debbie read a poem aloud from Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes.
There was more fun when the Tawa Bookseekers were given animal puppets and had to create a story. The puppet stories had to include random words like “train,” and “biscuit.” There was loads of laughter from everyone when the Bookseekers presented their stories to the group.
Finally, the Bookseekers did another quiz where they had to match-up the country with its national animal. Did you know that the Chihuahua is the national dog of Mexico? Join the Tawa Bookseekers in November, on Wednesday 9th, 4 -5pm, for Stories From Other Countries. Bookseekers is free to join for children aged 9 – 12.
With our topic this month of Science we played a game about statistics. Different coloured discs were handed around and for each colour we had to name a favourite place, or game, or hobby, or book, or “if you could change your name, what would you choose”. Then we looked at the number of people who voted for those things. London was the fav place to go, Monopoly the fav game, fav hobbies were Reading, Drawing, Scouts and Sports, other names we would like to have were Amanda, Alex, Hazel and James, and the fav books were “most things” by Jacqueline Wilson and Skullduggery Pleasant.
Our new members, Emma and Isabella wrote these reviews:
“All my life I’ll think of you, I promise I will. I won’t ever forget you.” Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veldt. Bertie and the lion cub were best friends till Bertie is sent to boarding school. Bertie never forgets the lion. Bertie grows up and goes to war. Then when he is older he finds the lion again. This is a great book and I recommend it for 7 yrs and up. (My dad liked it too)
When Arthur and Lucy are sent to stay with their uncle at the seaside, Tumtum and Nutmeg decide to go along and keep an eye on them. But then the mice stumble upon an abandoned dolls house and a mysterious treasure map and all sorts of adventures unfold. It’s a good book because it has lots of bits where you just want to read more. It’s a very exciting book and I would recommend it to anyone.
Some of the Non Fiction books we read this last month are linked below.
Johnsonville Library was filled with all sorts of creatures this month as we looked at our theme of ANIMALS.
Our BookSeekers were given a selection of different words along with an animal puppet. They had to create a short play using these two props. We enjoyed watching some very unusual and funny stories performed 
by our wonderful puppet actors.
We also had a match up competition on who knew the most names for baby animals. For instance did you know that a baby fox is called a kit and a baby eel is called an elver? We all learnt something new.
Our BookSeekers have also been reading some awesome books and shared some great reviews.
Keep it up guys – we are looking forward to hearing what you have been reading next month.
Howdy Booklovers!
Club meetings are happening in a library near you over the next two weeks:
Thursday 8th September @ 4pm: Kilbirnie and Johnsonville Libraries
Tuesday 13th September @4pm: Karori and Brooklyn Libraries
Wednesday 14th September @ 4pm: Tawa Library
Head along to your local club meeting to find out what’s hot in books, and tell us all about your recent favs.
Here’s a joke to get you ready…
What do you call a girl with a frog on her head?
LILY!
Jasper Ludlow has been left behind! First his parents left him in the charge of his uncle Trump and now his uncle has gone too. Luckily the Travelling Restaurant is tied up at the wharf and Jasper is able to go onboard to hide from the Provisional Monarch’s troops. And so begins his quest to find his parents and little sister Sibilla. He is helped by Dr Rocket and Polly who run the restaurant and along the way he meets pirates, learns to cook, rescues Beatrix from Lady Gall (the Provisional Monarch trying to make herself queen) and learns a lot about the royal family and his own destiny. Good NZ fiction
As we were looking at Non Fiction, our quiz was about the weirdest animals in the world. There are some really ugly things out there in our jungles and seas! My personal fave was the Blob Fish.
