“Queen Victoria was Empress of half the world. She owned palaces and huge armies. Mighty sultans gave her precious jewels. But she didn’t have any underpants.”
Queen Victoria’s Underpants by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley is a cheeky new picture book all about the making of the Queen’s bloomers! It’s filled with funny illustrations and the story kept me smiling right through till the end. I especially loved the author’s note which explains how women at the beginning of the 1800s hardly even wore underpants until Queen Vic made them popular – so that women could do fun stuff like bike riding and horse riding without accidentaly showing something rude! I thought this story had a neat and interesting way of teaching a bit about Victorian history.
If you are a fan of Terry Deary and the Horrible History series then you might like to take a look at this new book Egypt A High-Speed History. This is a really cool book set out in comic-strip form with ten stories full of dreadful deeds, foul pharaohs and plenty of mummies. But be prepared – you go through these stories at hair-raising speed! You will have to move fast to see them all.
Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson
It is interesting, exciting, historical, emotional, long and you keep wanting to read it.
5 stars
Review by Mary
Rick Riordan author of the amazing Percy Jackson series is now writing about Ancient Egyptian mythology.
The first of The Kane Chronicles is The Red Pyramid. In which Carter and Sadie Kane discover who their parents really were, get slightly possessed by Isis and Horus (two Egyptian Gods) and have to save the world from being turned into burning chaos. Along the way they get to travel to London, Paris and New York, perform magic, indulge in some kick butt fight scenes, and hang out with a groovy knife wielding cat goddess. What is there not to love about a book like that?
Fancy travelling back through time? Then Time Train to the Blitz by Sophie McKenzie might be the book for you. It won the Red House Children’s book awards so it is truly a good read. To really make the journey interesting the main characters find themselves in the middle of World War II in London complete with bombs falling down everywhere. So hop on aboard the time travelling train now and check out the book in the children’s fiction area.
Our big bro and sis on the Teen Blog do a monthly round up of the most wanted teen books. We thought that was pretty cool, so we’re going to do it too. You know what little brothers and sisters are like – always nicking your stuff.
So here are the most wanted kid’s books. They are too hot to sit on the shelf, but if you follow the title links you can reserve your copy through the top left button where it says click to order.
It’s free to reserve kid’s books if you have a Children’s or Young Adult’s library card.
2 ) The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan
3 )Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw Jeff Kinney
4 )The Karate Mouse Geronimo Stilton
5 )Christmas Catastrophe Geronimo Stilton
6 )Little Darlings Jacqueline Wilson
7 )Field Trip to Niagara Falls Geronimo Stilton
8 )Warriors : Ravenpaw’s path. 2, A Clan in Need Erin Hunter.
9 )Now Morris Glietzman.
10=) Singing Sensation Geronimo Stilton
10=)A Fabumouse School Adventure Geronimo Stilton
10=)The Race Across America Geronimo Stilton
What is the secret of Stonehenge?
Who put up the circle of stone near Salisbury in England?
Why did people 4,500 years ago drag 35-ton rocks mile after mile and then place them to align with the sun on two special days of the year?
For centuries people have puzzled over Stonehenge – seeing it as the work of Merlin, or Druids, or even aliens from outer space. Most recently, archaeologists have come up with a completely new idea: Stonehenge was one-half of a pair of circles that marked the lands of the living and of the dead. What If Stones could Speak. They would certainly have an amazing story to tell.
From 12th of March the Wellington Central Library will be hosting an amazing exhibition about the incredible buildings of ancient Greece. The exhibition is called Masks of Time and has big models of the Acropolis (a high hill in Athens) and the Parthenon which stands on top of the Acropolis. The Parthenon was built in 438BC – that’s almost 2500 years ago. It’s an amazing building that has survived many wars and was almost blown up by an explosion in 1687!
The Parthenon model is interactive, so you can take it apart and find out how the building goes together. You’ll be able to get your hands on the models at special times – check back here to see when. Come along anytime between 15th – 28th of March to check out the exhibition.
Measly Medicine by Nick Arnold
Karori BookBusters think that Horrible Science books are awesome and gruesome. We really enjoyed Measly Medicine because it’s funny and really gross! 5 stars.
Review by Karori Bookbusters in Karori
Are you going to visit the latest big new exhibition ” A Day in Pompeii “at Te Papa these holidays? It opened 19 December and runs until 25 April. You can see what Pompeii was like before the big eruption. There are lots of objects to see and a 3D experience. Have a look at the Te Papa website for more information.
We have some great books too about Pompeii to check out either before or after you go. Try these – Escape from Vesuvius, Avoid being a slave in Pompeii! and Pompeii.
