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Wild About Reading! Summer Reading Challenge

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Yes it’s nearly time to Slip, Slop, Slap and read, relax and rummage through some fantabulous books! Summer Reading Challenge is just around the corner and have we got some great reads lined up for you this Summer!!!

So for those of you new to this and a reminder to the rest of us who feel like last summer was ages and ages ago, here’s what it’s all about…

Down at Wellington City Libraries we have chosen some of our favourite books, and hopefully some of yours, to see how many of them you can get through between the 1st of December to the 31st of January 2018. There are 60+ books on our list so plenty of variety. The idea is to read a book from the list then go to the Kid’s Page on our website, click on the Kids Club and start writing reviews. Even better you get prizes as well! Also each review puts you in the draw for an amazing book bag full of exciting books and things. Don’t belong to the Kids Club yet? It’s easy to join online check out the Kids Page to find out how.

So here’s a little preview of what’s in store for you this summer!

Ever thought of having a raven as a pet? Well that’s what happened to Arabel when her Dad (a London Taxi driver) finds a raven in the middle of the road one night and brings it. From there the crazy wild adventures begin, who knew a raven could reek so much havoc. Read about Arabel and Mortimer ‘s hilarious antics in one of the 4 books in the Arabel and Mortimer series with fantastic illustrations by Quentin Blake.

 

The Doomspell by Cliff McNish is an amazing fantasy trilogy which are a must for all Harry Potter and Northern Lights fans! “Rachel has been having disturbing dreams that start to feel too real. Then one day, she and her brother are ripped through a wall in her house and transported to a dangerous world ruled by a manipulative witch and her ancient underlings.” – Publisher

 

 

Moa by James Davidson. I don’t know about you, but I love reading comics and summer for me is the perfect time to hang out in a hammock with a great big stack of them! Moa is a laugh out loud series and the perfect thing for those hot summer days. “Ride along with Kiwi and Possum on their side-splitting adventures battling mythical creatures and dangerous hunters in colonial New Zealand! This treasury collection contains all five issues of James Davidson’s acclaimed comic series Moa, sure to delight readers of all ages.” – Publisher.

That was just a sneak peak of what’s in store for you over the holiday season and guess what there are another 57+ books to choose from! So keep an eye out at your local library and on our website for the Wild About Reading: Summer Reading Challenge booklet.

What: Wild About Reading: Summer Reading Challenge booklet

When: Available at your local Library from 18th November 2017

Top 10 Children’s comics December 2016

Dusty

Summer is here! So it’s time to take a pile of comics, find a big shady tree and spend some time letting the gentle breezes turn the pages for you. What would you take with you? Pages of Pokémon? Will you giggle at Garfeild and Titter at Tintin? Some more serious adventuring with Amulet?

There are other really cool titles with great illustrations, we have new titles coming in all the time so come in for a browse or have a look with ComicPlus online.

If you use a tablet or other device you can download so you can read them when you’re you’re out of wifi range or stream them while you’re connected.

1. Pokemon, by Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto

2. Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz

3. Garfield, by Mark Evanier and Jim Davis, Cedric Michiels

4. Big Nate, by Lincoln Peirce

5. Adventure time, by Ryan North and Chris Hastings

6. Tintin, by Herge

7. The Smurfs, by Peyo

8. Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi

9. Asterix, by Goscinni and Udzero

10. Chi’s sweet home, by Kanata Konami

Top 10 Children’s fiction December 2016

Dusty

Alan MacDonald is in the Top 10 again with his Dirty Bertie series. Stuck for things to do in the holidays? Then this page was made for you (Dirty Bertie fans only!).

The Dirtie Bertie author honed his skills writing and performing for children in a travelling theatre troupe that visited schools.  Having an audience that threw paper at you when they were bored quickly showed him what kids like and dislike! Alan MacDonald has a page on his site dedicated to the drawings that children send him.  Do you have access to a scanner? We have one at the library if you don’t. You could send him a picture yourself !

1. Diary of a wimpy kid, by Jeff Kinney

2. Tom Gates series, by Liz Pichon

3. Storey Treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths

4. Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford

5. Dirty Bertie series, by Alan MacDonald

6. The Secret Seven series, by Enid Blyton

7. The BFG, by Roald Dahl

8. The enormous crocodile, by Roald Dahl

9. The world’s worst children, by David Walliams

10. Matilda, by Roald Dahl

Top 10 Children’s fiction November 2016

Dusty

Puzzle geniuses have been getting lots of inspiration at the Library.  As well as fiction you can find some great seek and find adventures that will delight your eyes and tease your brain.

There are awesome illustrations in some of the puzzle books.  Several of your favourite fiction books have cool pictures in them too.  Dirty Bertie, Dork Diaries and Diary of a Wimpy Kid are brought to life with the characters
sketched in the pages.

Do you want to know more about the author of the Diary of a Wimpy kid series? His biography is now available!

Here’s your Top 10 for last month:

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney

2. Storey Treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths

3. Puzzle book series, by Susannah Leigh

4. Dork Diary series, by Rachel Renee Russell

5. Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling

6. The BFG, by Roald Dahl

7. The Secret Seven series, by Enid Blyton

8. Dirty Bertie series, by Alan MacDonald

9. Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford

10. The Twits, by Roald Dahl

Top 10 children’s comics for November 2016

Dusty

The Pokemon phenomenon continues…

The animation, comic and app have captured the hearts and minds of many, so if you’re coming to the library for comics, reserve your copies to make sure you won’t be disappointed.

Did you know that Lord Evil has written an Adventure Time Encyclopaedia?!  Anything you want to know from about the land of Ooo (from the perspective of Lord Evil) can be found in it’s pages.  Luckily Finn, Jake and Marceline have put notes in the book when Lord Evil gets a bit over the top!

 

Here’s your November Top 10:

1. Pokemon, by Hidenori Kusaka and Yamamoto Satoshi

2. Big Nate, by Lincoln Peirce

3. Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz

4. Garfield, by Mark Evanier

5. Asterix, by Goscinny and Udzero

6. Tintin, by  Herge

7. Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi

8. Adventure time, by Ryan North

9. Chi’s Sweet Home, by Kanata Konami

10. My Little Pony, by Ted Anderson

 

 

Dreamworks movies and… countdown to the release of Trolls!

Katie

As the year almost draws to a close, as well as concluding my blog posts on Walt Disney movies – for now at least, I have put together a list of must see Children’s DVDs produced by the animation company, DreamWorks, who released movies such as Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, which will be featured in future blog posts.

This is to celebrate the impending release and countdown to the release of the latest DreamWorks Animation picture: Trolls – featured previously in the upcoming movie release blog post. So why not check out this post and see what movies tickle your fancy and that you want to watch during the drizzly spring weather and upcoming Christmas/Summer break! Stay tuned for more movies still come in future posts!

 

bee movie5_Bee Movie.

Having just graduated from college, Barry B. Benson finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice – honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa. He is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bee’s honey for centuries. He ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race. That is until the ensuing chaos upsets the very balance of nature. It is up to Barry to prove that even a little bee can spell big changes in the world.

 

croodsjpgThe Croods.

The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure that follows the world’s first family aka Cave People as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them from danger is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures, and their outlook is changed forever. Probably one of the funniest films I have ver seen! Love the inventions that The Croods come up which ranges from a hug, a pet, a joke and shoes. I especially love the reaction from Eep, the teenage daughter she tries on a pair of shoes. Check out the clip here.

FACT: The cave people lived on a diet of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit and excluding dairy or cereal products and processed food, which is commonly known today as the paleo diet.

 

flushed awayFlushed Away.

Pampered pet mouse, Roddy thinks he’s got it made– until he’s literally flushed away, (down the toilet!) to a bustling underground world of ninja frogs, hench-rats and singing slugs. Funniest film I have ever seen! The slugs are definitely my favourite of this movie, especially when they shriek and sing. Check out the trailer for this movie here. Also I have added some preview clips that will hopefully entice you to watch this movie. Featured are scenes where the slugs sing Mr Lonely, and the chase scene where rats are using 1980 style kitchen mixers as speedboats, not to mention a malfunction with a toaster and go-go purple custard with Bohemian like you by The Dandy Warhols playing the background.

 

IMAGE COURTESY OF AMAZON.COMHome.

A lovable misfit from another planet meets a girl named Tip. The two unlikely friends embark on the greatest journey of all time.

Top 10 Children’s DVDs from October 2016

Dusty

Rainy days and road trips mean time to catch up your favourite series on DVD. October’s top pick is the Octonauts! These guys have sooo many games on their web page.  As they are really popular at the moment you can always go online to borrow their eBooks. Overdrive have a great selection of children’s material that you can look up on the Easyfind catalogue or go through the app or webpage.

 

kids dvds11. Octonauts

2. Thomas & friends

3. My Little Pony, Friendship is magic

4. Fireman Sam

5. Bananas in pajamas

cover image16. Peter Rabbit

7. Zootopia

8. Strawberry Shortcake

9. Snoopy and Charlie Brown

10. Inside Out

Top 10 Children’s Fiction October 2016

Dusty

Conundrums, convoluted doodles and confusion abound in this month’s favourite childrens fiction.

Puzzle books are high on the list where people pitch their skills of against skilled doodlers and designers creating cool adventures.  Detection and deceit are captivating our audience of young readers as they read through some of the great series found on our library shelves.  Great series that didn’t quite make the top 10 were Lincoln Peirce Big Nate and Thea Stilton (penned in her very own hand!)

Top 10:

1. Diary of a wimpy kid, by Jeff Kinney

2. Tom Gates Series, by Liz Pichon

3. Treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths

4. Puzzle Book series, by Susannah Leigh

5. Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford

6. Dork Diaries series, by Rachel Renee Russell

7. Dirty Bertie series, by Alan MacDonald

8. The BFG, by Road Dahl

9. The Secret Seven, by Enid Blyton

10. George’s marvellous medicine, by Road Dahl

Top 10 Children’s Comics for October 2016

Dusty

Springing into action –  Pokemon the stand out favourites in the comic section.  Did you know that for the school last school holidays over 7000 comics were issued from Wellington Libraries!  You guys really love comics, huh? The first Monday of the holidays was a massive day for the comic collection when over 500 went out on the one day.

 

Here’s your Top 10 list for October 2016:

1. Pokemon, by Hidenori Kusaka

2. Tintin, by Herge

3. Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz

4. Big Nate series, by Licopln Peirce

5. Garfield, by Mark Evanier

6. Adventure Time, by Ryan North

7. Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi

8. Asterix, by Goscinny and Udzero

9. Chi’s Sweet Home, byKanata Konami

10. The Smurfs Anthology, by Peyo

Cool new children’s books coming soon

admin

There are some awesome new kids fiction titles coming out in the next couple of months. While they haven’t landed on our library shelves yet, they’re already on our catalogue for you to reserve. The ones listed here are all sequels, so you can catch up with the rest of the series while you’re waiting for the new orders to arrive.

 

Double DownDouble Down by Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid #11.

The pressure’s really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mum thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his “creative side.”

As if that’s not scary enough, Halloween’s just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.

When Greg discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can he get his mum off his back by making a movie . . . and will he become rich and famous in the process?

 

 

Frenemies Forever by Rachel Renee Russell – Dork Diaries #11.

Nikki is spending a week at North Hampton Hills as part of the school transfer programme.

The good news is that NHH is super-cool and preppy.

The bad news is that Nikki’s nemesis MacKenzie started there two weeks ago!

But, faced with NHH queen bee Tiffany, who takes meanness to a whole new level, Nikki might need to work WITH Mackenzie if she’s going to survive the week! Can Nikki and MacKenzie overcome their differences and become BFFS … Best Frenemies Forever?!

 

 

Hammer of ThorMagnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan – sequel to The Sword of Summer.

Thor’s hammer is missing again . The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon – the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds.

But this time the hammer isn’t just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can’t retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn.

Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer’s return is the gods’ worst enemy, Loki – and the price he wants is very high.

 

 

Rise of the Robot Army by Robert Venditti Robot Army

Following on from Attack of the Alien Horde comes the second book in the Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape series, about an eighth grader who finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the role of real-life superhero.

His latest mission: to defeat an army of robots designed to destroy him!