Get creative this summer!

Hey guys, its time to get those art juices flowing for summer. Discover that great masterpiece that you have hidden inside and get creating.

Check out some of these books for lots of ideas and inspiration to get you started. My Art Book shows you how to make fantastic faces based on paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (c.1527-93). He was an Italian artist who could paint ordinary pictures but is best know for his weird faces made up of plants and animals.

Maybe you would like to have a go at making a mosaic like Diego Rivera (1886-1957). He was a Mexican artist famous for his mosaic wall art.

Even something simple like rock painting, frottage, or t-shirt printing, there is heaps to keep you busy.

Top 20 free summer activities: Part two

So even though summer is almost here, spring still has its hold on Wellington and the rainy days still happen (unfortunately). But (fortunately!) we have come up with some creative and exciting things to do when you can’t get outside to enjoy the sunshine. So…

Drive away the doldrums with our rainy day activities!

1. Create a new language: who doesn’t love a secret code language that only you and your friends can decipher?

 

2. Create your own comic book: You can even star as your own superhero, or maybe you’re stuck in an alternative universe, or perhaps you’re a top secret spy? You get to choose the adventure – and make it as fantastical as you like!

 

3. Make an instrument out of cans and put on a concert: you can make a drum, or a guitar, or I bet you can even make a wind instrument like a flute out of cans and other bits and pieces of recycled goods. This book or this book are good for ideas and inspiration!

 

4. Visit Te Papa: our national museum is amazing, and should definitely be explored AT LEAST twice – you never know what nook or cranny you might have missed the first time!

 

5. Bake a cake for the family: and of course you get to eat some too afterwards! These recipes look brilliant! Yum! Or how about a recipe from this book?

 

6. Make some recycled art: Junk Art is such a brilliant way of creating something new and amazing from something you might otherwise have thrown out. Why not check out this book for some inspiration?

 

7. Build a fort and watch movies inside it: A really easy way of doing this is pushing the couches together and then building up your fort with cushions, sheets and blankets. And why not check out some of our Children’s DVDs from your local branch – they’re only 80c each for a week!!!

 

8. Learn a magic or card trick to show off to your family: you can put on a show and amaze your friends and family – and there is no need to tell them the tricks behind the magic if you want to keep them guessing! Try this book, or this one for some cool ideas. Or, while I’m at it, how about….magic tricks… with underpants!?

 

9. Make a papier-mâché mask: All you need is some balloons, glue, torn up pieces of paper and a bit of bright paint… A good project for a rainy week! But why just stop at making a mask? This This book has heaps of awesome ideas! (Actually, so this this one!!)

 

10. Have a games afternoon/night: There are so many good board games, why not ask your friends to bring one along each? And don’t forget the awesome games that you don’t need anything but a pen and paper for… Charades, Hang-Man, Noughts and crosses!

Top 20 free summer activities for kids: Part one

With those summer days getting longer and school holidays fast approaching (yay!), we thought we’d compile some of the most fun (and free!!) activities to do over the summer. Make a check list, grab your friends and family, and see how many of our top twenty activities you can get through! We would love to see your photos and hear which ones you enjoyed the most. And don’t forget – pop down and say hello to us librarians at your local branches! We’ve also got plenty of good books for summer reading, but for now…

Slip, slop and slap with our stupendous sunny day activities!

First Ten:

1. Invent a new ball game: a combination of tennis and soccer? What about petanque crossed with rugby? The options are endless!

2. Take a walk up to Mount Victoria Lookout with your family and friends: the view is amazing and there are plenty of spots for a picnic lunch.

3. Go for an exploration of the Botanical Gardens: the Gardens are so gorgeous at this time of the year – you could even take a sketch book with you and do some drawings (a good Christmas gift for parents too!).

4. Go for a walk around the bays: we have so many amazing beaches in Wellington – why not pick one you’ve never been to before and explore? Just grab a map of Wellington and pick the first unfamiliar Beach name you see!

5. Build a sandcastle fort while you’re there: who doesn’t like making a huuuuge sandcastle with a moat, steeples, and a shell garden?!

6. Grow a vegetable plant: it’s amazing how cheap seeds (or free if you harvest them from a plant in the garden!) are and all you need to do is plant them somewhere sunny, give them a little water and time, and boom! You can grow your own food.

7. Create a super secret club hut and build a club house: build the club with wooden pallets, tarpaulins, and anything lying around the backyard! Then all you need is a secret password… and a mission.

8. Make a treasure hunt for your friends: create cryptic clues and lead your friends around your garden to uncover a secret treasure trove or perhaps… a dud!

9. Write and stage a play for your parents: the world is your oyster! Create your own script, set, and costumes, and get your friends or siblings to help you put on a masterpiece.

10. Have a picnic lunch in your backyard: who doesn’t like a picnic in the sun? Easy options to fill up the picnic basket: vegetable sticks and hummus, fresh summer fruit, cheese and marmite and crackers… and of course some chocolate! You can even make homemade lemonade to drink.

 Need some more inspiration? Check out this cool craft book, one of our delicious recipe books, or an exciting game ideas book! This book also looks fantastic – how to do everything!!

And how about—no, wait, I better stop now… Keep your eyes peeled for our next top ten activities – this time for rainy days.

Summer Fun

Summer is just around the corner and hopefully that means lots of warm, sunny weather is on its way!  The library is chock-a-block full of awesome activity ideas to make sure you and your friends have some serious fun this summer!  Here are a few suggestions to inspire you:

Fort Building – an oldie but a goodie!!  What better way to start the holidays than to create your own secret clubhouse for you and your buddies?  D.I.Y forts can be built indoors or outdoors using materials you find around home – planks of wood, sheets, blankets, boxes etc.  You might need to call on mum or dad to use some tools if things get technical; but remember – the most important part of fort building is letting your imagination run wild!

Camping  – there’s nothing more fun or special than a family camping trip.  Check out some of the libraries’ books about camping to make sure that you have all the essential equipment and supplies before you go – then you can focus on the fun stuff like outdoor activities and awesome nature adventures!

Rocky Shore– with the weather warming up, it’s the perfect time to head to the beach with friends and whanau.  Explore the rocky shore and check out the fascinating creatures that live there.  Don’t forget to take sunblock and a decent pair of footwear for climbing over the rocks; and remember your togs for a beach swim too!

New Fiction Books!

Roof Toppers by Katherine Rundell

My mother is still alive, and she is going to come for me one day. Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck which left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive, but that means still possible. You should never ignore a possible. So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has – the address of the cello maker. Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers – urchins who live in the sky. Together they scour the city for Sophie’s mother before she is caught and sent back to London, and most importantly before she loses hope

 

Dunger by Joy Cowley

“William and Melissa have been roped into helping their old hippie grandparents fix up their holiday home in the middle of the Sounds. They’ll have no electricity, no cellphone reception and only each other for company. As far as they are concerned this is not a holiday.”–Back cover.

 

 

 

Sammy Keyes and the Killer Cruise by Wendelin Van Draanen

“Teen sleuth Sammy Keyes solves a classic locked-room mystery aboard a cruise ship”–Provided by publisher.

 

 

 

 

 

I Funny: a Middle School Story by James Patterson

Hi, I’m Jamie Grimm – and I want to make you laugh! Do zombies eat doughnuts with their fingers? What do you get when you cross a parrot and a shark? What do mallards wear at a wedding? To find out the punchlines to these jokes and TONS of others, listen on! You’ll hear the story of my insanely un-funny stepfamily, my mostly funny friends, an amazing person called Cool Girl, and the school bully, who happens to live in the same house as me – plus a secret I’m not exactly ready to tell you yet. But I will tell you that I’m on an unforgettable mission to win the Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic Contest.

 

 

The Only Child Club by Anne Fine

Ryan has no brothers or sisters so he invites Tasha and Oliver to join his special new club.  Now he can find out what it’s like not to be an only child.  Will it be better? Or worse? -Back cover

 

 

 

New Non Fiction: Ideas for the Holiday Festive Season and Summer.

10 Minute Crafts for Summer.

Summer’s around the corner. This new addition to Wellington City Libraries will give you craft ideas for summer you can complete in ten minutes. Use this book to make a fluttery butterfly peg, create a kite and race you very own raft.

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Make Faces.

Feeling bored around home? Why not rummage through your household items  and use this book to get ideas on how to  make faces in unexpected places using everyday objects.

 

 

 

 

 

Noah’s Ark.

Lucy Cousins, the creator of the Maisy has adapted from the Bible story: Noah’s Ark  into a picture book  that young children will enjoy. Cousins stays true to her creative style  with using simple language and vibrant colors that is sure to fascinate and entertain children. This serves as a good introduction to Bible literature. Also great for children that are a fan of the Maisy books.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Jokes.

Christmas is around the corner. How about some Christmas jokes to share with the family? You will laugh yourself silly (or youle laugh yours-elf silly!) with this collection of christmas jokes that is bound to tickle your funny bone. This is one Christmas joke book that you would have to be Christmas crackers not to issue this book out during the holiday period.

Also check out The funniest Christmas joke book ever if you are in the mood for more Christmas jokes.

 

 

Party Cakes to Bake and Decorate.

If you are looking some baking or make tasty treats fro Christmas, check out Usbourne’s new book on how to bake and decorate party cakes. You might even find an idea for an alternative gingerbread house,  (See Gingerbread Cake recipe) over Christmas and house and star decorations that fit perfectly with the Christmas theme. The recipes for multicolored meringues look fantastic and girls, you will be tickled pink with the pink layer cake recipe.  Overall this book is jammed packed with simple and scrumptious party cake recipes that anyone can bake.

For more cooking and baking ideas over the festive season, also check out this year’s previous blog post on Ready. Steady, Cook.

Fresh New Fiction

Atticus Claw Settles a Score by Jennifer Gray (sequel to Atticus Claw, Breaks the Law)

Atticus Grammatticus Cattypus Claw, the world’s greatest REFORMED cat burglar is back. This time, the tabby with talent is on the right side of the law. And when Jimmy Magpie and his gang are busted out of jail by a mysterious villain and an evil cat called Ginger Biscuit, Atticus knows from bitter experience he’s going to need all his skill and courage to catch them.

 

 

 

A Very Peculiar Plague by Catherine Jinks 

The thrilling second book in this 3-part series, set in a time when science clashes with superstition and monsters lurk in chimneys. Jem takes on the role of bogler’s apprentice and gets the fright of his life.

 

 

 

 

Osbert The Avenger by Christopher William Hill

Meet Osbert Brinkhoff, the unlikeliest of avengers.  His is a tale of dark delights and ghastly goings-on, of injustice and revenge.  The Villains are VICIOUS.  The settings are SINISTER.  And good does NOT always prevail…  If you prefer CLEAVERS to kittens and FIENDS to fairies…. then welcome to the GRUESOMELY FUNNY tales from Schwartzgarten.; (taken from book cover)

 

 

 

 

Project Huia by Des Hunt

“Logan’s grandfather grew up near Palmerston North in the 1940s. One day, he and his sister Mavis spotted a beautiful and unusual bird in the kowhai tree outside their house: it was a huia bird, which was believed to be extinct. The bird flew away, and in an attempt to photograph it they managed to track it deep into the Manawatu Gorge. It was a dangerous journey through two train tunnels, made even more so when the horrible Carson boys got wind of their mission and decided to try and find the huia first so they could shoot it and sell its highly valuable feathers. More than 60 years later, 11-year-old Logan has returned to the Manawatu with Grandpop and a scientist to try and solve the mystery of what happened to the huia that he and Mavis found all those years ago. Grandpop must remember all the details of the events of many years ago. Can the group rely on his version of the events, and find the huia’s final resting place? Will the huia still be there, and will its DNA still be valuable for scientific research into NZ’s native fauna? And whoever would have thought that those Carsons are still living in the area and on the loose, and still up to their nasty tricks?”–Publisher information.

 

The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

Just when twelve-year-old Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong in a year of bad luck, an emergency takes her parents to Japan, leaving Summer to care for her little brother while helping her grandmother cook and do laundry for harvest workers.

 

 

 

Do you prefer creepy or splashy Fiction?

The two options kind of have nothing to do with each other, but that’s one of the fun things about books! You can jump from one universe to another in just a blink!

Let’s start with the creepy scary books first…

Gustav Gloom and the people taker, by Adam-Troy Castro

Gustav Gloom’s neighbors think he is the unhappiest little boy in the world. But what they don’t know is that the strange, dark house Gustav lives in is filled with more wonders and mysteries than could ever be explained. But explain is exactly what Gustav needs to do when Fernies What moves in across the street. And that’s when the adventure really begins…

Age 9+

 

Class is not dismissed! by Gitty Daneshvari

Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs. Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying. Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces. Garrison Feldman is terrified by deep water.

After discovering that each of her former students has slipped back into their old fears, headmistress Mrs Wellington, brings Madeleine, Theo, Lulu and Garrison back for mandatory summer school at “School of Fear”.

Facing their fears is terrifying enough, but when they are joined by a fifth student (and a mysterious entity lurking in the woods) things get even scarier.

Age 8+

 

And what do we have for watery splashy Fiction?

Below, by Meg McKinlay

The Mayor flipped a lever, and everyone cheered as Old Lower Grange was submerged beneath five thousand swimming pool’s worth of water. But Cassie’s family wasn’t there to see it – they were too busy rushing to the hospital to deliver an eight-weeks-early Cassie.

Now twelve years later, Cassie feels drawn to the mysteries hidden beneath the surface of the manmade lake- and she’s not the only one. Her classmate Liam joins Cassie on the lake’s forbidden side. As the summer heats up, the water drops lower and lower, offering them glimpses of the ghostly town and uncovering secrets. But like a swimmer who ventures too far from shore, Cassie realizes she can’t turn back. Can she bring their suspicions to light before it’s too late?

Age 10+

 

Charlie Joe Jackson’s guide to Summer vacation, by Tommy Greenwald

It’s like permanent opposite day, where the dorks are the cool kids and the cool kids are the losers. But Charlie Joe is determined to convince the entire camp to hate reading and writing-one genius at a time. Can he pull it off? Or will he turn into one of them? It’s finally summer vacation! But instead of hanging out with his friends and playing with his dogs, Charlie Joe Jackson has to face his worst fear : academic summer camp. Camp Rituhbukkee is exactly hoe Charlie Joe pictures it: books and nerds as far as the eye can see.

Age 8+

So just dive into one of these books and you will either get soaked or petrified!

 

Island Bay Festival Storytime Activity!

Come and celebrate the Island Bay Festival at the Island Bay Library Storytime on Thursday 14 February at 10.30am.  Hear amazing stories about summer, the seaside and octopus themed books followed by a fun octopus activity run by the Island Bay Community Centre at the Library.

Then you can borrow some of the wonderful books, CDs and DVDs we have to offer!

Fun!

Back to School!

Well, the holidays are nearly over and its time to think about going back to school.

Perhaps you are starting school for the first time, or maybe you have moved house and have to go to a different school.  Some of you might not even want to go back to school or your feeling a bit worried about what to expect.

No matter how you feel I am sure that once you are back, you will enjoy school,  make lots of new friends, learn heaps and most of all have loads of fun.