Kids Blog

Special brothers and sisters : stories and tips for siblings of children with a disability or serious illness / edited by Annette Hames and Monica McCaffrey ; illustrated by Brendan McCaffrey.
Is your brother or sister a bit special? You may be able to relate well to the young people in this book who explain in their own words what it’s like to live with their special siblings. Learn how they feel and cope with love, frustration and sadness. Plenty of tips and good questions for you to talk over with your parents, grandparents or teachers.

No return : Captain Scott’s race to the Pole / Peter Gouldthorpe.

Plenty to learn in this great book retelling the dramas of this most special  explorer and his race to the South Pole. Did you know for example, that Scott’s photographer, Herbert Ponting was attacked by killer whales and almost eaten! Find out when and why Oates said those most famous words, “I am going outside. I may be some time.”
Elephants closeup.

Elephants are just so special! I love them. They are some of the smartest land animals on earth. Lovely photographs help make this a great read for younger readers.

How to write and give a speech / by Cecilia Minden and Kate Roth.

It’s that special time of year again, when you have to prepare and deliver a speech to your class. Instead of groaning just check out this book and deliver the best speech ever.

Children’s book of baking cakes / Abigail Wheatley ; illustrated by Jessie Eckel ; photography by Howard Allman.

Special occasion coming up? Or maybe just a rainy day. This yummy book is ideal for both. So many different types of mouthwatering cakes it is hard to choose just one to bake. My favourite are the butterfly and bug cakes, closely followed by the miniature cheesecakes.

Buried treasures : uncovering secrets of the past / Stéphane Compoint.

What can be more special than buried treasure!  In this beautiful book, chock full of amazing photographs are mysterious colossal statues, a mythic bear covered in blue fur, a whole city wiped out by a volcano. From sweltering deserts to the frigid North Pole to an ancient, underwater city, follow scientists as they uncover the secrets of our past.

But why can’t I? / written by Sue Graves ; illustrated by Desideria Guicciardini.

George thinks rules are silly and refuses to keep them. Find out what happens when his babysitter arrives. Does he change his mind?

Not fair, won’t share / written by Sue Graves ; illustrated by Desideria Guicciardini.

Posy, Ben and Alfie have to share playing with a superdooper space station but Posy doesn’t want to share. Do the others get their turn? Read and see.
Who feels scared? / written by Sue Graves ; illustrated by Desideria Guicciardini.

Jack is having a sleepover at his house but he and his friends all hear noises and get scared. How does his father come to the rescue?
The Masai : tribe of warriors / written and photographed by Jonathan and Angela Scott.

Cattle are the centre of life for the Masai people of Kenya and Tanzania. In the past, young men would raid cattle to prove themselves as warriors and have to kill a lion with only a spear. What do they have to do today? Read this great book to find out and enjoy learning about a totally different culture. Great photos and easy text make this a great read .
Footballers / Adam Sutherland.

Did you know that Wesley Sneijder’s coaches blew a whistle and stopped training every time Sneijder touched the ball with his right foot? This was to help him practise with his weaker left foot. Learn heaps more about today’s greatest footballers from around the world in this new book. We also have other titles in this Celebrities Secrets series; Film Stars and Pop Stars are two of them.

Musical instruments for children : choosing what’s right for your child / Richard Crozier.
This book is really to help your parents understand why you want to learn a particular instrument, the kettle drum for example. It gives them advice on what really is the best instrument for your personality and all the tips on how to keep you motivated till you’re a world class performer!

Anti-terrorism campaigns.

If you’re studying terrorism and are year 8 or older then this book will be a great help. It focuses on USA campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and is written from the American perspective. Crammed full of facts with lots of maps too. The text is best suited to advanced readers.

The AWW cooking school for kids / food Director, Pamela Clark.

Another wonderful book to get you cooking! Mouth watering photos of every recipe and the steps involved make the cooking easy. My favourites are Caramel Banana Tart and Chicken and Mushroom Party Pies. Yum!

Spotlight on South Africa / Bobbie Kalman.

Apartheid is no longer a law in South Africa. Some people have better jobs with more pay but many are still living in shantytowns. This book gives a good overview of the country as it is today, with easy text and lots of great photos. The glossary at the back helps you understand some of the words you may not know.  Good for projects. Look out for this SPOTLIGHT series as there are books on lots of countries you may want to study.

Life cycles / written by Sally Morgan.

If you want to know all about the life cycle of salmon then this is the book! There is a general section on  life cycles covering many insects and animals then the remainder of the book is about the North Atlantic salmon. Wonderful photos and pictures help explain the text.

Big book of big animals / Hazel Maskell ; illustrated by Fabiano Fiorin.

Open the huge fold-out pages to see some of the tallest, longest and heaviest animals in the world. Great little facts about each animal add to the interest of this book. Lammergeiers, for example are huge birds of prey that eat bones. They often drop bigger bones onto rocks to shatter them into smaller bite-sized pieces. Who knew?

Children of the Dust Bowl : the true story of the school at Weedpatch Camp / Jerry Stanley ; illustrated with photographs.
This book is for older readers. It starts by describing the conditions of the  farmers and settlers during the drought of  the 1930s. Lots of photos help us understand the desperate conditions that drove them to travel across the country to California. The remainder of the book focuses on the efforts of Leo Hart, who founded  Weedpatch School.  The children from the dust bowl states, (Okie children)  actually helped build it. Throughout are songs and stories from people who survived. They tell of the filth and heat and dust, of the meals of coffee grounds and apple pips, and of the prejudice and poverty encountered in the California promised land.  “A powerful account of a desperate time” (Book cover)
How to do everything / written by John Woodward ; contributors, Francesca Baines … [et al.] ; illustrated by Tobatron.
How to do, make and explore just about everything! How to Do Everything is a fantastic and unique combination of reference material, fun facts, exciting activities and instructions for life. It covers everything from boiling an egg to making a movie so you’ll never be stuck wondering what to do again! So what are you waiting for? Get Busy!  (Book cover)
How to beat your dad at chess / Murray Chandler.

This is a chess book for everyone, from eight to eighty, beginner to master. It explains the best ways to beat a stronger opponent by forcing checkmate. So if you want to do the Double Rook Sacrifice or the See-Saw or the Arabian Mate check out this book.

Most of us are either left or right handed but did you know that you are also left or right eyed? Well believe it or not most humans also have a dominant eye.

If you want to find out which is your dominant eye then this is what you need to do.

Hold your arm up and place your thumb and fingers together to create a hole or circle. (Hold your arm away from your body).

Now look through this hole with both eyes at a small distant object - such as a light switch on the other side of the room. Position your hand so the object is right in the middle of the hole and keep still.

Now close one eye. Did the distant object appear to move? If so, the eye you closed is your dominant eye. If not, your open eye is the dominant eye.

Open both eyes again and realign the hole and this time close the other eye. What happened this time?

You don’t normally notice this preference because your brain usually has no problem combining the separate images from each eye into one useful picture. Sometimes it might pay more attention to one eye, then the other, depending on which is more interesting or important.

Are all right-handed people right eyed?

No, but more people are right handed than left and more people have a dominant right eye too, so most right handed people are right eyed. But there are also lots of people with cross dominance (left eye, right hand and vice versa) but most of the time it makes very little difference.

You can find out lots of stuff about your body in The Surfing Scientist 40 Super Human Body Tricks. All you need is your body, some household items and an appetite for fun.

What can happen in a minute? I can’t think of an answer for that question until I came across this book, Every Minute on Earth. It is truly an astounding book with funny illustrations and even activities for you to do. Bet you didn’t notice that an average person blinks 15 times in a minute. Hard to be a zookeeper when ten adult elephants can produce 500 grams of poo! Yikes!  Don’t hold that sneeze because it travels 2.7 kilometres per minute. Bless you! So read this book and be amazed at how much you can squeeze in a minute.

If you are interested in science, nature and the environment we have a free and fun event for you!

On Saturday the 19th February between 10am–12noon you can come along and meet marine scientists from NIWA and have a peer through their microscopes at all the weird and wonderful things they have found in and near the sea during the Mana 2011 BioBlitz

Learn about identifying and classifying species and find out how you and your family can be involved in the BioBlitz – you might even help discover a new species!

Are you ready for the latest 2011 special edition of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

It is full of the weird, wonderful and crazy stuff that you would expect,plus plenty of new stuff.  Here are some interesting things that I discovered.

Russian surgeons thought that Artyom Sidorkin had a tumor in his lung, but instead they discovered a tiny fir tree. They assume that he had inhaled a seed, which germinated inside his lung.

In 1978 a teenager Doug Pritchard went to the doctor with a sore foot. Perhaps he should have gone to the dentist instead. The cause of his pain was a tooth growing in his instep.

The purple dye used for royal robes was made by soaking shellfish in urine until they rotted. Yuk!

And lets not forget ninety-one year old Louise Brown from Scotland who has borrowed more that 25,000 books from her local library, without a single fine for late returns. Mrs Brown has been visiting the library for 60 years and has read almost every book on their shelves.

Are you one of those people who can’t get by without asking a question? Well I’ve found a book for you!  Why don’t you have a look at Ask Me Anything and have all the answers you need! It is a ginormous book full of every fact you ever wanted to know. It even dares you to ask any question, anything you like because it will surely have the answers.  Why are most gases invisible? Why is blood red?Why does the wind blow? Want to know the answers? Then head on down the library and check out this book. Have fun!

What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio is a fascinating book.

The authors visited 25 families in 21 countries and recorded everything they ate in one week.  That was 525 meals. Some of the countries visited were India, Mexico, Greenland, Poland, Mali, United States, China and Australia.

There are large photos of a week’s food spread out so you can really have a good nosey at what they ate. You may be surprised at how many brands you recognise. Some have lots of meat while others have many vegetables. Some are mainly packaged . They also calculated the cost per week which of course varied significantly depending on the wealth of the nation. There are lots of great photos of the families cooking and shopping plus features and facts on life expectancy, literacy and fast foods.

Alligators and crocodiles – they are the world’s largest reptiles and the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs but if you would like to learn what the difference is between them then this book is for you.

I discovered that the word “crocodile” comes from the word krokodeilos (kro-KO-day-los), which means “lizard” in Greek and the word “alligator” comes from the word el lagarto (L la-GAR-toe), which means lizard in Spanish.

I also learnt something new. I discovered that there are two different kinds of alligators and fourteen different kinds of crocodile and the only place in the world were you will find them both together is the southern tip of Florida and the Florida Keys. They can swim up to 6 miles an hour and can stay underwater for as long as two hours.

So if you want to learn more take a look at Alligators and Crocodiles. They are amazing creatures but don’t get too close!

Do you get one of those days when you are just about brimming with questions about stuff? Normal everyday stuff like why is there fizz in our soda? Or why do you cry when you cut an onion? Or animal stuff like why is a giraffe’s tongue purple? Why are flies attracted to manure? Does this sound like the questions that are popping in your head? Question no more! Check out the book You Asked For It by Marg Meikle and find the answers.