environment

7 New Non Fiction to read during August.

Katie

Spring into reading with this new selection of junior non fiction about great explorers, animals and the world during the month of August.

Enjoy!

 

Explorers: Amazing Tales Of The World’s Greatest Adventures.

Meet famous explorers and adventurers in this exciting non-fiction storybook for children. Venture into steaming jungles in search of lost temples, fight off frostbite in the Arctic, and blast off into space!

There Are Bugs Everywhere.

There are bugs everywhere! Some of them live in jungles, some of them underwater, and some certainly live in your house. There are Bugs Everywhere is the second in a series of non-fiction books from Britta Teckentrup.

Wild In The Streets: 20 Poems Of City Animals.

A beautifully illustrated book which pairs poetry with non-fiction, telling the fascinating stories of the animals that have found their homes in urban landscapes all over the world.

Save The Gorilla (Animal SOS!).

Gorillas are magnificent creatures of the forest and are loved by many people. So why are they under threat of extinction? Find out all about gorillas, the threats that they face, what is being done to try and save them and how you can help to answer their SOS call.

Weird and Wonderful Animals.

Follow the adventures of an intrepid explorer, and meet some of the world’s most bizarre animals! Did you know there’s a wasp that looks like a panda, a basilisk snake that runs over water, a butterfly with a large skull on its body, and a fish that seems to be wearing lipstick?

image courtesy of syndeticsRebel Dogs! Heroic Tales of Trusty Hounds.

Tail wagging tales of real life Rebel Dogs! Get your paws on the stories and secrets of some of history’s most heroic hounds! An engaging collection packed with over 30 real life dogs, including film stars with fur, hounds that love to help, superstars of science and war heroes; these rebel dogs are the stars of their own stories.

How Trains Work.

How Trains Work takes kids on a fun behind-the-scenes adventure to discover the secrets of train travel. From the earliest steam locomotives to modern super-speedy bullet trains, we peek inside trains, carriages, routes and stations to reveal how they operate and transport people.

A mixture of new and current non fiction.

Katie

Hey kids!

Check out what’s new… and current in the junior non fiction collection at your local library. This post features books that will enhance your knowledge of history, games, the universe and so much more!

Enjoy!

image courtesy of syndeticsSee inside the Second World War.

With vivid illustrations and flaps to lift, this book takes you into the action of the Second World War.

image courtesy of syndeticsEngineering.

Showcases engineering feats throughout history from the pyramids of Ancient Egypt to the building of the Golden Gate Bridge. The book also features famous engineers, including the Wright brothers to Gustave Eiffel. Steam engines, rocket technology, bridges, and buildings are all covered here in this exciting book.

image courtesy of syndeticsForgotten beasts : amazing creatures that once roamed the Earth.

Matt Sewell’s follow-up to the mega-hit Dinosaurs is a beautifully-illustrated large format look at the amazing beasts that time forgot – from the relatively well known, such as the sabre-toothed tiger and woolly mammoth, to the obscure monsters that walked the earth millions of years ago – many now forgotten. New findings are being made every year, and research is showing us exactly how these beasts looked and how they lived.

image courtesy of syndeticsHistory of the world in 100 pictures.

This history of the world covers 100 fascinating historical subjects, including Ancient Egypt, Alexander the Great, the start of Islam, the Aztecs, the French Revolution, the first computer, Albert Einstein and the Space Race. Each topic is brought to life by photographs, easy-to-read text and colourful, modern illustrations.

image courtesy of syndeticsThe world of Vikings.

Set sail in your longboat and explore the mysterious lands of runes, raids and sagas. The Vikings combines breathtakingly vivid images with fascinating facts to unlock the world of these legendary warriors, traders and explorers.

image courtesy of sydneticsI am here, where are you?

In I Am Here, Where Are You? Ollie tells the reader where he is. This book provides a springboard for discussion of the reader’s location and explores concepts of cultural diversity, extended family, time zones and conservation of the planet we all share. Finally, it invites the reader to practise writing their own address, finishing at The Universe.

image courtesy of syndeticsHow to play chess.

Follow the easy steps to grandmaster greatness with How To Play Chess. From the opening move to checkmate, How To Play Chess will help your child play chess like a champion. With plenty of master tips and cool 3D images, How To Play Chess is the perfect introduction to chess for beginners as well as kids.

image courtesy of syndeticsThe Great big book of life.

“Aren’t humans amazing? It’s incredible to think that all of us started out life as a tiny dot. Find out how we change as we grow from babies to children to teenagers to adults, and what happens when people get old.”–From page 4 of cover.

image courtesy of syndeticsRainforest.

Prepare to take a chronological journey, from the first roots grown by newly evolved plants and trees, through blazing fires and climatic changes, to an explosion of flora and fauna as the rainforest blossoms with life. Travel right up to the modern-day, as humans arrive in the lush habitat, changing the rainforest and its inhabitants forever.

image courtesy of syndeticsFantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders.

Kate Pankhurst, descendent of Emmeline Pankhurst, is back with a brand new wildly brilliant and accessible book about incredible women in the world of work. Discover eye- opening facts about a collection of go-getting women who have pioneered careers in a kaleidoscope of different industries.

Green Storytime at Karori Library

admin

Help the library celebrate around Earth Day by coming along to this special storytime all about the environment – and how we fit in it!

Come along for magical eco-stories including The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and many beautiful new tales of sustainability and our relationship with nature.

We’ll also be making incredible zines about the environment!

Time: Saturday 27th April from 11am to 12pm

Place: Karori Library Children’s area

No registration required!

Here are some of our favourite books about the environment for you to check out!

Here we are : notes for living on planet Earth / Jeffers, Oliver
Well, hello.And welcome to this Planet.We call it Earth. Our world can be a bewildering place, especially if you’ve only just got here. Your head will be filled with questions, so let’s explore what makes our planet and how we live on it. From land and sky, to people and time, these notes can be your guide and start you on your journey. And you’ll figure lots of things out for yourself. Just remember to leave notes for everyone else… Some things about our planet are pretty complicated, but things can be simple, too: you’ve just got to be kind. (Catalogue)

If sharks disappeared / Williams, Lily
A nonfiction picture book tracing the repercussions of what would happen if sharks disappeared from our planet (Provided by publisher)

 

 

 

Where’s the elephant? / Barroux
“Where’s the elephant? Where’s the parrot? Where’s the snake?…And where are the trees? What starts as a game of jungle hide-and-seek quickly turns into something more significant in this charming, unique book by award-winning illustrator, Barroux. (Catalogue)

 

 

Think green and we hope to see you soon!

Bee Aware Month!

debbie

September is Bee Awareness month and this year Apiculture New Zealand are focusing on bee health by educating us on how we can feed the bees and help protect our precious bee population.

Did you know that bees support New Zealand’s agri-industry exports by over $5 billion annually – that is heaps! Plus they help grow one third of all the food we eat as well as helping our gardens flourish and look beautiful.

There is heaps that we can do to help out our little buzzing friends and one of the easiest way is by planting bee friendly plants and flowers. Bees need food so that they can help pollinate the food we eat. Bees will feed on pollen and nectar and this helps them to grow and Bee strong which helps them to fight off disease and parasites.

Bees also need clean water so why not make a shallow container for them to drink from. Just make sure you put pebbles and twigs in the water so the bees have something to rest on while they are drinking.

Another way we can help the bees is to stop spraying our gardens with harmful pesticides which kill the bees.

Palmers Garden Centre who are supporting Bee Awareness Month have information and competitions on their website plus check out their 5 top tips for a bee friendly backyard.

The library also has heaps of books on bees so take a look and… Lets save our bees!

LOVE your leftovers…nom nom nom

admin

November is ‘Love your Leftovers‘ month, a special event created by the folks at Love Food Hate Waste to encourage kiwi families to eat their leftover food. Every year in New Zealand a whopping $870 million worth of uneaten food goes to waste when people throw it away.  That’s enough to buy over 60 private islands in the Carribean! Meanwhile, we also have many families who struggle to buy groceries each week.

 

 

There are a few things that YOU can do to help, and one of the big ones is making sure that good, edible food is not going into the rubbish bin. It might not be very exciting to eat the same food two days in a row, but there are lots of easy ways to jazz up your leftovers to create a tasty new meal, and it might even save you some money.

 

 

Couldn’t finish those vegetables? Try reusing them in an omelette or putting them on top of a pizza. Cooked too much meat to feed the crew? Try creating a new flavour of pie. You can even chuck those potato peels in the oven for a delicious crispy snack. For more inspiration, check out these leftover recipes. And don’t forget, freezing food is a great way to store it for later!

 

 

Wellington City Libraries are supporting this wonderful event by creating book displays that encourage using leftovers. Keep an eye out for one in your local library, or head over to the catalogue to start searching (and reserving for free!).

Conservation Week 1st – 8th November

debbie

Conservation week is coming up and this year the theme is Healthy Nature, Healthy People. Check out all the great ideas for things to do and competitions to enter on the Department of Conservation website.

Besides finding out about events you can also find heaps of other information about our native plants and animals and how to save them. There is lots of little things we can do to help protect and save our environment.

I really like the section on attracting lizards into your garden. Did you know that we have more than 99 species of lizard in New Zealand. We also have many geckos and skinks and 33 of our skinks are found no where else in the world so it is really important that we learn how to protect them.

You can check out all the things you can do to attract them into your garden from the plants they like right through to building them a lizard house.

The library has heaps of great books on conservation as well – so slip, slop, slap and get out into the great outdoors and start saving.

Have you voted for the ‘Bird of the Year’ yet?

admin

Each year Forest and Bird gives the nation the chance to vote for their favourite New Zealand Bird. The winning bird becomes the ‘Bird of the Year’

Bird of the YearThe 5 previous winners have been the Fairy Tern (Tara Iti), Mohua, Karearea, Pukeko, and Karariki. Who will win the 2015 title?

New Zealand’s native birds are unique. Did you know that more than half the birds in New Zealand are not found in any other countries? Unfortunately due to predators and habitat loss, many of our birds are endangered and threatened with extinction.

At the Bird of the Year website you can find out about a wide variety of our birds, and vote for your favourite.

Will the 2015 bird be the Hihi? Kākā? Bar-Tailed Godwit? Kererū? Kōkako?

Voting closes on October 25th.

4 new children’s non fiction to curb those winter blues

Katie

The Oxford Treasury of Fairy Tales.

Relive your favourite fairy tales time and time again by reading this amazing book. Escape into a world of knights and princesses, wicked witches and talking frogs. A must have book!

 

 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles: a visual history of modern transportation featuring 100 iconic designs.

Depicts one hundred iconic vehicles and innovative examples from transportation history presented in a timeline that can be read back to front, top to bottom, and right to left. Illustrated in stunning detail by the talented Mike Lemanski, this book beautifully captures the evolution of transportation design in a single shot. Overall this book is fantastic!

 

 

Motiti Blue and the oil spill.

This book tells the story  of a little blue penguin named Motiti Blue, who was covered in oil as a result of the oil spill from the Rena shipwreck. Also goes into detail about his rescue, the treatment he had at the Te Maunga Oiled Wildlife Response Unit and his release back into the wild. Overall a very fantastic book jam packed with amazing photos, especially of cute little blue penguins.

 

 

Rachel Carson and her book that changed the world.

Retells the story of Rachel Carson, a pioneering environmentalist who wrote and published “Silent Spring,” the revolutionary book pointing out the dangerous effects of chemicals on the living world. A great book to read if you are interested in conservation, biology and marine life

6 new New Zealand and fairy tale non fiction just in time for winter.

Katie

Operation Nest Egg Chick.

“Deep down in a dark burrow, a father kiwi snorts and snuffles in his sleep. Underneath him , a large creamy egg lies snug and safe from pilfering predators.” Read more in Operation Nest Egg Chick, a creative non-fiction story about a BNZ Operation Nest Egg chick. Each page features beautiful illustrations, photographs and text boxes about how kiwis are being saved. A must have read!

 

Snow White : 4 beloved tales.

Retells the classic German version of Snow White, together with three similar tales–Marigo of the Forty Dragons from Albania, The unnatural mother and the girl with a star on her forehead from Mozambique, and The magic needle from Turkey

 

 

Rapunzel : 3 beloved tales.

Retells the classic German tale of Rapunzel in the tower, along with the similar tales of Clotilde from the Philippines, and Petrosinella from Italy.

 

 

 

Little Red Riding Hood Stories Around the World: 3 Beloved Tales.

Retells the classic German version of the fairy tale of a girl and a wolf, along with similar tales from Italy and Taiwan.

 

 

 

Alice‘s food A-Z : edible adventures.

Written by Alice Zaslavsky – one-time Masterchef contestant and the host of TV quiz show Kitchen Whizz, this book contains information about all the things you ever wanted to know about food… and some things you probably didn’t. Packed to the brim with funny food facts, clever cooking tips and kidfriendly recipes, this is a book for the fact-hungry, food-obsessed or those who like to mess about in the kitchen. A great book to have on hand, especially with winter around the corner.

 

 

New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame : 25 Kiwi champions.

This book features information about 25 famous New Zealand sportspeople across a wide range of different sporting disciplines. Includes a caricature, an action photograph, a profile of the person, timeline, inspirational quote, description of the sport, training regime and trophy board. One book you must read!