virtual

Storytimes in Our Languages

Joseph Robinson

We hope you have been enjoying the virtual storytime videos that our staff have been sharing recently through our YouTube channel ✨

Today, we would to highlight a couple of these awesome storytimes in languages from our communities, and share some of our favourite books in Spanish & Mandarin!

Firstly, the wonderful Blanca and Isabel from Karori Library share a sweet story called  ¡Me Rompí la Trompa! by Mo Willems:

Up next, Qiyu and Joseph at Arapaki Manners Library share a bilingual telling of the fantastic Ruru’s Hangī written by Chris Gurney and translated by Juechen Shao:

To keep up to date with Our Languages For Kids you can ‘save’ this playlist of our videos on YouTube.

Language Collections at Our Branches

Almost all of our branches have children’s books available in Chinese, Spanish, German, French, and Samoan (along with English and Te Reo Māori). Many more languages are available at branches across our system! Here is a picture of the recently updated languages section at Karori Library, ātaahua!

Karori Language collections

Karori Library has books in Arabic, Chinese, French, Filipino, German, Greek, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and languages of the Pacific for you to enjoy!


Chinese language book picks from Khadro

Our wonderful librarian Khadro at Newtown Library has chosen some of her favourite books in Chinese to share with us today. We also love the beautiful decorations on the wall at Newtown Library, celebrating Chinese language and culture.

The War of Colours / Heller, Eva

This book explores the complexity of colours and all of the ways they enrich our everyday lives, from the yellow of the stars to the splashes of indigo in the sky!


How Animals Sleep / Bartíková, Petra 

Take a short flick through the jungle, the swamp and the outback to explore all of the different ways wildlife catch the Z’s. from the seagulls squawking at the beach to the Giraffes that lounge the safari.


Go Home Already / Jory, John

Bear and Duck have one mission: get back home safely. But what happens when they take a few bad turns?


Spanish language book picks from Rogelio

Our librarian Rogelio at Arapaki Manners Library has also chosen some of his favourite Spanish-language books for kids to share. Find more recommendations for wonderful children’s books in Spanish on our blog: ¡Nuevos libros en español! | New Books in Spanish!

Gustavo : el fantasmita timido / Drago, Flavia Z
“Conoce a Gustavo. Él es un fantasma y como a cualquier ser paranormal le encanta hacer lo que le es normal: atravesar paredes, hacer volar objetos y brillar en la oscuridad. También le encanta tocar el violín. Pero Gustavo tiene un problema. Él es muy, muy tímido, y aunque su deseo más grande es tener amigos, nunca se ha atrevido a hablarle a ninguno de los monstruos en su pueblito. Con el Día de Muertos cerca, ¿se atreverá Gustavo a dejar que lo vean?” (Catalogue).

¡Hermanos! / Bonilla, Rocio
“Un libro fantástico para hablar del amorodio entre hermanos. Un relato muy original y divertido que se lee en ambos sentidos. ¡Tener un hermano es muy molesto! Parece un mono, siempre haciendo payasadas. ¡Tener una hermana también es un rollo! Todo le parece mal y no me deja jugar a lo que quiero. Pero, a veces, los hermanos son una gran ayuda y juntos viven momentos muy divertidos. Quizás, tener un hermano o una hermana no está tan mal. Pero, ¿ser tres hermanos? ¡Eso sí que no!” (Catalogue)

The boy who touched the stars = El niño que alcanzó las estrellas / Hernández, José M.
“Juan Marcos is eager to continue his studies in the United States and rents a room from family friends living in El Barrio, or Spanish Harlem. Soon, he has a job wrapping packages at a department store that pays as much as he made teaching high school at home. As he interacts with the Puerto Rican community in New York, he witnesses the problems his compatriots encounter, including discrimination, inadequate housing, jobs and wages. Despite these problems, friendships and romances bloom and rivalries surface, leading to betrayal and even attempted murder!” (Catalogue)

Using your library – from home!

Merritt

With our libraries closed while Wellington is at Alert Level 4 we thought it would be a good idea remind you about all the ways you can still use your library from the comfort and safety of your own home – we’ve got you covered!

We have so many really cool resources available in our eLibrary! If you want to have a browse yourself you can check our our Kids’ Guide or have a look through what’s available on our Kids’ Home Page, or just read on…

Stories and Storytimes

If you’re after a book to read, look no further than Borrowbox or Libby. These apps are both free to download – just log in with your library card number and PIN and you’re away! These two have plenty of eBooks and eAudiobooks to keep you occupied on a rainy day at home.

If you’d rather listen to someone read you a story we’ve got more options for you! You can listen to great stories being read aloud by Australian and New Zealand storytellers through the Story Box Library, or you can try out something interactive with the TumbleBook Library. It’s the same deal with these – just log on with your library card!

We also have a whole lot of virtual storytimes from our own librarians available through our Facebook page. Check out the Virtual Storytime and Bedtime Storytime playlists for some great stories we recorded last year.

Things to do

If you’re after a challenge, read through our collection of Family Lockdown Challenges! These are full of exciting activities and ideas for you to do while at home. If you do any of the challenges (particularly the Book Domino Challenge!) be sure to tag us in any photos or videos you take on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Our Kids’ Club Book Reviews are still up and running, so you can start earning prizes by writing book reviews! We’ve got a great post here with some tips about how to write a fantastic review. When our libraries are open again you can come on in and collect a plethora of prizes – how cool is that?!

If you’re missing Baby Rock ‘n’ Rhyme or CRAFTerschool go check out the Johnsonville and Tawa Library Facebook pages! If you go through the Videos tab on each page you can easily find the recorded Baby Rock ‘n’ Rhyme sessions from last year, as well as some wonderful craft tutorials.

How adorable are these hedgehogs – and you could make one yourself!

Movies and TV

If there’s someone in your household with an adult library card they’ll be able to access our online streaming services – we have two! Beamafilm and Kanopy are both free to use.

Kia kaha, stay safe, and we look forward to seeing you again in person on the other side.

Virtual Storytime: Straight from the Librarian’s Living Room

Stephen Clothier 1 Comment

With our libraries currently closed, are you missing your regular storytime fix? Don’t worry, we have you covered in more ways than one: check the options below!

Virtual Storytimes
During the lockdown, your favourite librarians will be bringing you livestreamed storytimes directly from their living rooms on the Wellington City Libraries Facebook page. Storytime will be streamed live Monday-Friday at 10:30am, and on Saturdays at 2:00pm, to match the times when Preschool Storytime would normally be happening at your local library. You can join us live as we stream, or watch the video afterwards.

Story Box Library
Tired of waiting for your next storytime livestream? Did you know that you can enjoy a read-aloud storytime ANYtime?! All you need is your Wellington City Libraries card and a device to watch on — PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Log in with your library card number and PIN, and enjoy stories being read aloud by fantastic, predominantly Australian and New Zealand, storytellers.

Stories Online
If those options aren’t enough, over on the Kids’ Downloads page we have a whole raft of digital storytime content that we have been curating over the years. This page is stuffed full of videos of New Zealand books being read by their authors at the library, links to awesome resources such as Kanopy Kids, and plenty of other bits and pieces to keep your mind busy!

While you check out all these awesome resources, why not watch our first livestreamed Virtual Storytime below? Straight from my living room (with Velvet Elvis looking down from above!) I bring you I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, published by Walker Books.