The History of Modern Music.
Interested in having a career in the music industry, then this is the book for you! Part of the series: The Music Scene, this book explores the changes in modern music though the post-war decades from rock n roll (Elvis Presley) and folk music (Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel) through to punk (The Sex Pistols), Indie pop (Green Day)and the enormous changes in technology today that have transformed the music world today. Also check out other book in the series: The Music Industry, Music, Fashion and Style and Performing Live.
Also check out
King Arthur.
King Arthur is the ultimate English hero. King of Camelot, Head of the Knights of the Round Table and wielder of the magic sword, Excalibur! Richard Brassey explores the history, the mystery and the legendary figures that populate the myths about King Arthur, including Morgan La Fay, Merlin and the evil Mordred. Richard Brassey’s unique gift for extracting truth from myth in a concise and insightful way makes this book the perfect introduction to King Arthur for young readers – and confused tourists!
Learn to Speak Fashion.
Learn to Speak Fashion is about the ideas, skills and the fun behind thinking creatively about what you and others choose to wear. This book is the perfect guide to find tips on creating fashion from top designers, models and stylists. Also if you think you got what it takes to be a fashion designer? Then have a read of The Young Entrepreneurs Club: Fashion. All the information you need to becoming the next big thing in the fashion industry is in this exciting new read from the series: Young Entrepreneurs’ Club.
Basketball: From tip-off to slam dunk – the essential guide.
A comprehensive guide on how to play basketball. You find in this exciting new read everything you need to know about how to get started, improve your playing style and hints and tips to help you master the sport.
Fairy Things to Stitch and Sew.
Love fairies? Love sewing? Love arts and crafts? Then this is the book for you!, especially if you’re looking for ideas this year for Christmas gifts. This enchanting book from the Usborne series is teeming with delightful projects which includes making fairy collages, bags, cards and pillows.
The winning goal, by Rippin, Sally.
Jack made a new friend in his soccer team. He was goalie but he wanted to kick a goal and he wanted to go against the other team, not just sit in the goal and wait for the ball to be kicked in. But he saves a goal from a big boy on the other team. These books are good for boys who do soccer. I read it with my brother who reads Billie B Brown books with me.
4 stars
Reviewed by Ilaria from Miramar, 7 years old
My name is Marcus Atkinson, and I am nine years old.
Dad wants me to play cricket.
Isn’t a cricket some sort of insect?
I’m stumped why anyone would want to play this stupid game!
Today is the worst day of my life ever.
Poor Marcus – his dad thinks he has a future in sport and wants him to play cricket, but Marcus thinks that playing cricket would be even worse than the day the school bully hid his clothes after swimming and he had to go to class in his speedos.
Oh no what is Marcus going to do? Check out Diary of a Cricket God to find out!
The winning goal, by Rippin, Sally.
Jack wanted to score the winning goal of the match, but he couldn’t because he was goalie. Jack thinks bieng goalie is boring. But then Jack told his team mate, Jem how to score a winning goal. But can Jem really score the winning goal? Is there a chance they could win this match? Read the book to find out.
5 stars
Reviewed by Rana from Central City, 8 years old
Horrid Henry and the football fiend, by Simon, Francesca.
All the Horrid Henry books are supurb but the particular one I am writing about is called Horrid Henry and the football fiend. Now I will tell you a bit about it. It all begain when Henry’s class found out that they would be playing in a football match with half the class verses the other and the man of the match got two tickets to a football match. I would probaly recomend it for people who like comedy and the ages would have too be 6 to 10. Also one last point is that it is simply hilarious .
5 stars
Reviewed by Madeline from Island Bay, 8 years old
Get your skate on at the Roller Disco!
Details:
When: Saturday 22nd September
Children (12 and under) and their parents: 5-7pm
Teens and adults (13 and over): 8-11pm
Where: Kilbirnie Recreation Centre
Cost: $15 if you need to hire skates or $10 if you bring your own skates. Buy your ticket at the door on the night.
There will be DJs, games and competitions, and costumes are a must. Sounds like fun!
There’s a facebook page you could check out for info about this and other events at the Kilbirnie Recreation Centre.
Did you know that New Zealand’s first gold medal was won by a boxer called Ted Morgan in 1928?
Boxing is one of the oldest sports at the Olympics; it’s been around for around 5,000 years and was practiced in China, Greece and Rome. It was first introduced as an Olympic sport in 1902. It’s been in every Olympic Games since then except the 1912 Games, as Sweden, the host country, had a law against boxing.
Boxing was traditionally fought with bare hands until 1867, when the Queensbury rules were introduced. It was these rules that also introduced weight limits to the sport. These rules were extremely influential on boxing, and changed it from bare-knuckle brawls to a real sport.
New Zealand is sending two boxers, Siona Fernandez and Alexis Pritchard to the London; this year is the first time women’s boxing is appearing at the Olympic games.
New Zealand didn’t compete as a nation in its own right until 1920; in the previous Olympics we had competed as a conjoint team with Australia. In 1920 New Zealand’s first Olympic team took 9 weeks to get to Antwerp by ship. Every member of that team made it to the finals, and Violet Walrond, our first female Olympian, was with them. She was only 15 at the time, and only 14 when she qualified. Unfortunately, she stopped swimming at 18.
Our first gold medal was in boxing, and was won by Ted Morgan in 1928. Yvette Williams was the first New Zealand woman to win a gold medal in 1952, in long-jump. The next female Olympian to win Gold was Barbara Kendall, in 1992. Barbara Kendall competed in five Olympic Games…that’s pretty impressive!
Perhaps the most famous historical Olympian is Peter Snell. He first won gold in the 800m race in 1960, and won two more gold medals in 1964. But he’s not New Zealand’s most ‘successful’ Olympian: that’s Ian Ferguson, a canoeist, who has won 4 gold medals and one bronze across five Olympic games.
This is a great book that will tell you about some of out best Olympians.
Judo and Taekwondo are the only two Asian Martial Arts that are accepted as Olympic sports.
Taekwondo became an Olympic sport in 2000. That’s quite late;
early forms of Taekwondo began appearing in Korea almost 2000 years ago. That makes it almost as old as the Olympic games themselves! Today, Taekwondo is practised in about 190 countries. The country that has won the most medals in Taekwondo is South Korea, followed by China and then the United States. The three New Zealanders in Taekwondo are Logan Campbell, Vaughn Scott, and Robin Cheong.
Judo was started in Japan and became an Olympic sport in 1964, although it was demonstrated at the 1932 Olympics . Judo was created by Jigoro Kano, a Japanese educator. Visually impaired martial artists can also compete in Judo at the Paralympics. Japan has won the most medals in Judo, followed by France and then South Korea. Moira de Villiers is the only New Zealand Judoka (someone who practices Judo) at this years Olympics.
Did you know that sword-fighting is an Olympic sport? At the Olympics it is called fencing. Fencers fight one-on-one indoors on what is called the Strip. The Strip is 14 metres long and 2 metres wide. Competitors have to stay within this boundary. A fencing challenge is called a bout. Fencers fight in bouts of 3, which last 3 minutes each.
Competitors fight with three different kinds of swords: foils, epees and sabres. Medals are given for the winners in each competition for each kind of sword. Each sword has its own rules, but generally a competitor scores one point each time they touch the other person with the tip of their sword. To win they must score 15 hits on their opponent, or the highest number of hits in a bout. Fencers dress all in white. So that the competitors do not get hurt for real they wear gloves, padded jackets and pants, and wire masks to protect their faces. Most importantly, the swords have blunt tips!
Sword-fighting is a very old sport. Many soldiers in ancient cultures fought with swords, including the Greeks and Romans. Fencing schools were founded in Medieval England, and the rules of fencing were set up by the end of the 1400s. The foil sword was invented in the 1600s, as well as the mesh face mask.
Fencing was first part of the Olympics in 1896, and has been included in every Olympic Games ever since. France, Italy and Hungary have had a strong tradition of fencing since the 1800s. They frequently win the individual men, women and team events, along with Germany and Russia.
You can learn all about what it is like to be a fencer in Fencing is For Me, and learn all about every single Olympic sport in the Macmillan encyclopedia of Olympic sports.
