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Category: isn’t that cool? Page 1 of 3

Y’all Just Love Desserts! Looking Back on the Year’s Sweetest Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s beginning to look a lot like our favourite December holiday! And the bells were ringing through the land, bringing peace to all the world and good will to man. What a bright time, it’s the right time to join in any reindeer games.

Yeah, you better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout! I’m telling you why!  Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie. I gave you my tart, and the very next day, you gave it away, which is wild because pumpkin pie is really nice. All I want for this day is sweets! I mean if you manage a pumpkin pie, that’d be great, but it’s not as big of a thing in New Zealand.

Próspero año y día de la tarta de calabaza!

It’s December 25th, and you know what that means…

Merry Pumpkin Pie Day!


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But Pumpkin Pie, while delicious, doesn’t have the cultural impact here compared to the US of A. So why not celebrate other sweet-themed holidays. It’s the end of the year after all, so why not take a look back on all the various dessert and candy themed holidays!

Now you might not realise this, but there are so many of these sweet holidays, even the mainstream “actually celebrated” holidays. I mean, think of the major holidays: Halloween is about getting free candy, Easter is about getting chocolate eggs, and Valentines Day (plus it’s evil twin White Day) is about giving people heart themed chocolates. Down to our roots we want excuses to eat more sugar.


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Say, if you wanted to have a day for cake, that’s not your birthday, try November 26: Cake Day. There are also subcake days, like pancake day, cheesecake day, cupcake day, sponge cake day, and ice cream cake day. But then you can go hyper specific, like National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day (April 20th). But it’s not just cake, there are so many random desserts that people apparently care enough to make a whole day about. Like who is that excited over Oatmeal Nut Waffles?

For you, dear reader, I have compiled all of 2023’s various mouthwatering holidays into one convenient place. Have I potentially missed some? Maybe. But am I going to check? No. Am I going to insert random other days to teach you a lesson about blindly trusting internet sources without engaging critical thinking and because I think it’s funny? Perhaps.

Enjoy your journey!


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Read More

Retro Gaming Consoles at Karori Youth Night

Young people aged 14— 18 are invited to join us at Karori Library’s last youth night of 2023 on Saturday, 18 November from 5 – 8pm.

Television displays the video game Sonic the Hedgehog

Testing our retro gaming consoles!

These after-hours events are for teens who are into books, gaming, making music, watching movies, crafts, eating pizza, and generally just hanging out!

This month we explore the fourth & fifth generation of gaming consoles from the 16 bit and early era of 3D graphics capabilities! Yes, that does mean the original Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991 will be making an appearance!

The retro consoles we will get a chance to use include the Dreamcast (1999), Sega Megadrive II (1993) and the Nintendo 64 (1996).

Our Youth Nights are totally free (pizza included!) but you do need to be 14+ in order to come, so please come prepared to show your student ID. Once you’re in, our space is yours! Check out the event calendar for more details.

Youth Nights will be back in February, so send any ideas for activities to karori.youthnight@wcc.govt.nz.

Pukapuka about gaming history!  

The greatest stories ever played : video games and the evolution of storytelling / Hansen, Dustin
“A lifelong gamer with over 20-years experience in the gaming industry examines the storytelling skills in some of the most beloved and moving games of the past thirty years in this fun and informative YA non-fiction title”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
Gamer girls : 25 women who built the video game industry / Kenney, Mary
“Discover the women behind the video games we love–from the iconic games they created, the genres they invented, the studios and companies they built–and how they changed the industry forever. From classic games like Centipede and Solitaire to popular modern games like Final Fantasy, Uncharted, and Halo, this book explores the work and history of 25 influential women in the video game industry and how their contributions ultimately built and transformed the medium that we know today…” (Abridged from catalogue)

Video game creators / Arbona, Alejandro
“Did you know that Nintendo started in the mid-19th century as a playing card company and that the Japanese giant also sold rice and operated taxi cabs? And did you know that the very first video game was called Tennis for Two and was created by a US government scientist named William Higinbotham? Today, video games play a gigantic role in our culture and none of this would have been possible without people like Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative mastermind that turned a failed business venture into the game that eventually inspired him to build Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., or Donna Bailey, who created the arcade sensation video game Centipede…” (Abridged from catalogue)

Gamish : a graphic history of gaming / Ross, Edward
“This… illustrated book transports us through the history of video games, from the pioneering prototypes of the 1950s to the modern era of blockbuster hits and ingenious indie gems. Exploring the people and politics behind one of the world’s most exciting art-forms, this is a love letter to something that has always been more than just a game.”–Back cover.” (Catalogue)

An Anthology of Anthologies of Anthologies! Merry Generic Book Celebration Time!

It may come to no surprise that I am interested in silly holiday celebrations. But where do I find all of these preposterous party-purposes?

Well.

To pull back the curtain a bit…


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There’s this funny little website I use to look through all the different days of the year, called (shockingly enough) Days of the Year. It tells me every*I mean, I assume, it’s not like I check*Plus it doesn’t seem to care very much about actual “real” holidays that people actually celebrate but pssh we don’t need people or authority holiday for any day I want to look of. Now, these are all super official holidays™ that absolutely everyone™ knows. Like our beloved and much celebrated National Small Press Month. Whether these days are actually pertinent to us in New Zealand is irrelevant. For example, this lovely month of October is none other than Library Month*

*In Canada…

Look, there’s 365 and a quarter days in a year, and each day is generally celebrating like 9ish different things, not even including special months. Not all of them are winners. In fact, there can often be a lot of overlap, like how August 8 is International Cat Day, which is separate from October 29: National Cat Day, or October 16: Global Cat Day.

I like to look through all these days to find exciting and strange holidays to celebrate fun things, but I end up finding patterns sometimes. There are a whole bunch of days that are just gimmes for a librarian writing about books. Days about books and libraries and whatnot. But if I just wrote for those holidays what would be the point? They’d all be the same. Instead, I decided to knock them all out. In the spirit of Canadian Library Month let’s have a look at all the generic book holidays!

January!

National Word Nerd Day (January 9th) | Days Of The Year

February!

National Library Lover’s Month (February 2024) | Days Of The Year

World Read Aloud Day (February 3rd) | Days Of The Year

National Read In The Bathtub Day (February 9th) | Days Of The Year

International Book Giving Day (February 14th) | Days Of The Year

March!

Return Borrowed Books Week (Mar 3rd to Mar 9th) | Days Of The Year

Read an E-Book Week (Mar 3rd to Mar 9th) | Days Of The Year

World Book Day (March 7th, 2024) | Days Of The Year

International Read To Me Day (March 19th) | Days Of The Year

April!

National Librarian Day (April 16th) | Days Of The Year

World Book Night (April 23rd) | Days Of The Year

English Language Day (April 23rd) | Days Of The Year

National Tell A Story Day (April 27th) | Days Of The Year

May!

National Get Caught Reading Month (May 2023) | Days Of The Year

June!

Audiobook Month (June 2023) | Days Of The Year

July!

Paperback Book Day (July 30th) | Days Of The Year

August!

Blogger Day (August 5th) | Days Of The Year

National Book Lovers Day (August 9th) | Days Of The Year

September!

National Read a Book Day (September 6th) | Days Of The Year

National Buy a Book Day (September 7th) | Days Of The Year

International Literacy Day (September 8th) | Days Of The Year

Read An Ebook Day (September 18th) | Days Of The Year

National Library Card Sign-up Month (September 2023) | Days Of The Year

Read A New Book Month (September 2023) | Days Of The Year

October!

Canadian Library Month (October 2023) | Days Of The Year

the Lost Souls

✨Nothing✨

Nothing!


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The gall! I bet they’re just mad because despite being named the 9th and 10th month (novem means 9 and decem means 10 in Latin) they’re the 11th and 12th months. Do they think they’re better than us? BAH!  We don’t need them!

ahem

Anyway.

To lean into this generic bookishness, I have gathered some anthologies together for your reading pleasure. A grand variety of different genres and types of story. So go ahead and read, before the baleful November and December rains its fury.

A tyranny of petticoats : 15 stories of belles, bank robbers & other badass girls
“From pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago, take a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They’re making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.” (Catalogue)


Willful impropriety : 13 tales of society, scandal, and romance
“The Season has finally arrived, filled with the magnificent balls, scandalous gossip, and clandestine romances that every lord and lady in good society has come to expect. But far within the walls of lavish estates and in the dark corners of the city lies a world that the aristocracy dares not touch, with rules and risks that glamour cannot overpower. Yet true love has no boundaries, and heiresses and street thieves alike must use their savvy and strength to create new beginnings and happily-ever-afters. Sometimes luck is enough, but every once in a while, a touch of magic may be needed.” (Catalogue)


That stubborn seed of hope : stories / Falkner, Brian
“A boy helps his sister disguise her birthmark on her first day of school. A seventeen-year-old awakens to find himself trapped in an elderly body. A teenage girl discovers her boyfriend has a life-threatening virus the day after they share their first kiss. A high school student tries to communicate to his hospitalised brother who is in a vegetative state. Brian Falkner serves up bite-sized tales of fear – fear of rejection, fear of dying, fear of disease, fear of the unknown, fear of exclusion, fear of being caught and fear of embarrassment – showing how that stubborn seed of hope hungers our darkest moments.” (Catalogue)


Who done it? : investigation of murder most foul
“When over eighty prominent children’s authors learn they are suspects in the murder of despicable book editor Herman Mildew, they provide less-than-credible alibis.” (Catalogue)


Rags & bones : new twists on timeless tales
“In this collection, award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked.” (Catalogue)


Tales from the inner city / Tan, Shaun
“World-renowned artist Shaun Tan applies his unique imagination to a reflection on the nature of humans and animals, and our urban coexistence. From crocodile to frog, tiger to bee, this is a dark and surreal exploration of the perennial love and destruction we feel and inflict – of how animals can save us, and how our lives are forever entwined, for better or for worse.” (Catalogue)


Athletic Shorts / Crutcher, Chris
“These six powerful short stories chronicle bits of the lives of characters, major and minor, who have walked the rugged terrain of Chris Crutcher’s earlier works. They also introduce some new and unforgettable personalities who may well be heard from again in future books. As with all Crutcher’s work, these are stories about athletes, and yet they are not sport stories. They are tales of love and death, bigotry and heroism, of real people doing their best even when that best isn’t very good. Crutcher’s straightforward style and total honesty have earned him an admiring audience and made readers of many nonreaders.” (Catalogue)


Off the map / Gardner, Scot
“Our home town. Sometimes it feels like the centre of the universe, sometimes it’s the bum-end of nowhere. We are her sons and daughters. These are our triumphs and our heartaches, our fears and hopes for a better life. Getting lost, falling in love, pushing boundaries, exploring the world – powerfully honest stories to make you think and feel, from the award-winning author of The Dead I Know and Changing Gear.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Sixteen / McCafferty, Megan
“Dating! Drama! Driving!Remember what it was like to be sixteen? Whether it was the year your teeth were finally free of braces or the year you were discovered by the opposite sex, that magical, mystical age is something you will never forget. Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday is a compilation of short stories inspired by all the angst, melodrama, and wonderment of being sixteen. Sarah Dessen’s “Infinity” is about a girl confronting two major milestones: getting her driver’s license and losing her virginity. The Dead Girls in Jacqueline Woodson’s “Nebraska 99” have already decided to “do it” and must now cope with being teenage mothers. And Carolyn Mackler’s “Mona Lisa, Jesus, Chad, and Me” explores whether friendship can survive when partying and prayer clash.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


The realm of possibility / Levithan, David
“A variety of students at the same high school describe their ideas, experiences, and relationships in a series of interconnected free verse stories.” (Catalogue)


Unnatural creatures
“Unnatural Creatures is a collection of short stories about the fantastical things that exist only in our minds–collected and introduced by beloved New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. The sixteen stories gathered by Gaiman, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, range from the whimsical to the terrifying. Magical creatures from the werewolf, to the sunbird, to beings never before classified will thrill, delight, and quite possibly unnerve you in tales by E. Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Gahan Wilson, and other literary luminaries. Sales of Unnatural Creatures benefit 826DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students in their creative and expository writing, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.” (Catalogue)

Teenagers Can Like Dinosaurs Too: Youth Night, US State Dinosaurs, And Other Associated Ramblings

The monthly Youth Night at Johnsonville Library is coming up on Saturday the 2nd of September. Youth Nights are a lot of fun! The library is open from 5pm-8pm only for youth aged 14-18, we feed you (arrive before 6pm to be added to the pizza order!), Keith-Spry Pool next door is also open just for teen use from 6pm-8pm, and we also have a different theme each month and exciting activities based on that theme! For example! The last Youth Night at Karori Library was all about crochet – they even had a proper tutor in to teach stuff about how you can take a hook and some yarn and turn it into something miraculous.

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of blog, the September Youth Night theme is dinosaurs! This was a theme requested by one of our Youth Night regulars, so we know it’s going to make at least one person very happy. As well as the librarians of course. We also think dinosaurs are pretty neat.

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We’ve got a whole lotta fun things planned. Dinosaur jigsaw puzzles (we’ve got a big one to put together, and little ones you can paint and take home!), a dinosaur themed scavenger hunt throughout the library, and a short dinosaur-themed quiz to start off the night.

Now, as a result of my preparations for Youth Night I have learned that as well as having state birds, state capitals, and state marine animals, some US states also have state dinosaurs. Like, officially recognised state dinosaurs! Admittedly, some of these deliberately dedicated dinosaurs do come under the rather less exciting title of state fossil, but they still get a dinosaur/dinosaur fossil of their very own!

For example, picking a state at random*, the official dinosaur of the state of Delaware is the Dryptosauridae. Look! There’s even an official Bill from the Delaware General Assembly about the decision!

This gangly genus belongs to the superfamily Tyrannosauroidea and seems to have had slightly longer arms that the famed T-Rex, and one of the reasons put forward in the nomination for this dinosaur is that Dryptosauridae are bird-like, the Delaware state bird is the blue hen chicken, so it would be meaningful to have a bird-like state dinosaur. Go figure.

Black silhouette of a T-Rex like dinosaur

A Dryptosauridae.
Photo by Tasman Dixon, Licensed under CC0 1.0.
*Ok, maybe not picking a state at random. Dear Delaware is still going on. If you haven’t signed up for a pen pal from Delaware yet, you still can! Sign-ups are ongoing so you can register anytime and you’ll be notified when there’s Delawarean pal ready for you!

Hamish Campbell, the geologist and palaeontologist I keep on speed-dial (well not quite speed-dial, but I did text him), has suggested Titahia, an unusual tube fossil, for a Wellington Fossil.

Titahia has been found in, and named after, Titahi Bay. These wee worms would have been making their little tube-dwellings all the way back in the Triassic Period. That’s 252-201 million years ago – the specimen below is around 215 million years old! And it was during this period that dinosaurs started appearing.

A rock on a black background with pale lines of titahia fossils throughout it

Titahia corrugata Webby. Fossil tube worms AU1316
Image attribution: Brian Donovan (Photographer), Geological Collections, The University of Auckland.
All rights reserved.

A tube worm is perhaps not as illustrious as a dinosaur, but hey, you can’t have it all. We don’t have any local dinosaur fossils in Wellington, but we certainly have, um, wind? And tube worms!

Other parts of the country are lucky enough to have evidence that dinosaurs once roamed these lands. If you’re after dinosaurs in New Zealand you really have to go over to the Hawkes Bay and Joan Wiffen’s incredible discoveries. But other than that link, I won’t go into more detail about that particular matter since there is an important discover-versary coming up in 2025 and I believe our illustrious leader in the blogging department has strong feelings and plans on this topic and I wouldn’t want to step on his blog-writing toes two years in advance.

Usually when preparing blogs we do try to justify our subject choice with a list of thematically-linked books. However, this time I don’t have to do that! If you’re after books about dinosaurs, I can simply direct you over to It’s Dino Time, Literally: Discover Dinosaurs During Dinosaur Day!, written by fellow blogger J’Shuall to celebrate, you guessed it, Dinosaur Day.

Books with that Barbie Vibe

Barbie is everywhere right now.  I’ve never seen as much pink as I have over the past few months and the new film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is the hottest thing in cinema.

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There is a real vibe shift happening thanks to the Barbie movie, probably because we’re all looking for some froth and fun to give us a break from the stress and anxiety of reality.  Colour palettes have gone bubblegum, from candy pink to bright neons, retro prints like baby pink gingham and nautical stripes, and lots of glitzy silver sparkle.  We’re almost playing dress ups like we did when we were little.  And let’s not forget the girl power that comes from the Barbie universe.

Whether you’ve seen the film yet or not, it’s easy to get that Barbie vibe going, or continuing, with just the right books, and I’ve selected some to get you started.  Try these on for size:

Be dazzled / La Sala, Ryan
“Raffy has a passion for bedazzling– and sewing, stitching, draping, pattern making. He is determined to make his mark at this year’s biggest cosplay competition. If he can wow there, it could lead to sponsorship, then art school, and finally earning real respect for his work. One small problem: Raffy’s ex-boyfriend, Luca, is his main competition. Luca’s insecurities and Raffy’s insistence on crafting perfection caused their relationship to crash and burn. When Raffy is forced to partner with Luca on his most ambitious build yet, he will have to juggle unresolved feelings for the boy who broke his heart, and his own intense self-doubt, to get everything he has ever wanted: choosing his art, his way.” (Catalogue)

The cute thesaurus / Jenkins, Ethan
“Have you hit ‘cute’ overload? has your addiction to using the C-word reached a point where you literally can’t even? If you need help to kick your adorable habit, this hilarious book will tickle you pink with so many winsome, precious, and … cute … alternatives!” (Catalogue)

Happily ever afters / Bryant, Elise
“Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing–in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader. When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just…gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

A phở love story / Le, Loan
“Bảo would describe himself as steady and strong: his grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ phở restaurant – as his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Linh Mai would describe herself as a firecracker: stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She dreams of pursuing a career in art, while working practically full-time at her family’s phở restaurant. Bao and Linh have never even had a class together – but after a chance encounter, sparks fly. Can this relationship survive their families’ feud?” (Catalogue)

I’ll be the one / Lee, Lyla
“Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her. She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else. But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition, without losing herself.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Miss Meteor / Mejia, Tehlor Kay
“Everyone knows Meteor, New Mexico got its name from the space rock that crashed into the desert nearby. Nobody knows that Lita Perez came with it– or that she’s starting to turn back into stardust. Her life might depend on winning the Miss Meteor beauty pageant. Chick Quintanilla knows Lita has no chance of winning– pageant queens are always skinny, poised, and white. To pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, the two will have to imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough– they are everything.” (Catalogue)

Shoetopia : contemporary footwear / Huey, Sue
“Shoetopia is the ultimate book on designer shoes, exploring the ever-evolving world of footwear and the creative designers in it. Footwear design continues to be one of the most important and interesting areas of the fashion industry. This stunning book showcases the most exciting and innovative contemporary footwear designers from across the globe, from established, world-recognized brands like Jimmy Choo and Prada to the stars of the future. From traditional skills to extraordinary new developments in the industry, the book features original design sketches and beautiful photography, bringing together a rich array of desirable footwear.” (Catalogue)

Dumplin’ / Murphy, Julie
“Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin'” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked… until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant — along with several other unlikely candidates — to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City — and maybe herself most of all.” (Catalogue)

You wish / Hubbard, Amanda
“Kayla McHenry’s sweet sixteen sucks Her dad left, her grades dropped, and her BFF is dating the boy Kayla’s secretly loved for years. Blowing out her candles, Kayla thinks: I wish my birthday wishes actually came true. Because they never freakin? do. Kayla wakes the next day to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window. Then a year’s supply of gumballs arrives. A boy named Ken with a disturbing resemblance to the doll of the same name stalks her. As the ghosts of Kayla’s wishes-past appear, they take her on a wild ride . . . but they MUST STOP. Because when she was fifteen? She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her. And Ben is her best friend’s boyfriend.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Have you read anything that gives off definite Barbie vibes lately?  Let us know in the comments so we can add them to our list!

Connecting the Strings between the Scraps and Fragments: Epistolary Novels


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A Letter written in a handwriting style font: J'Shuall of Jackanapery Waitohi Library Wellington J'shuall, you will not believe what I have found within the dark recesses of the library storage. It was a late Tuesday afternoon, pretty groggy weather, when I found it. Most stories are told to you by some narrator, maybe the main character writing it down, maybe by some imaginary storyteller. But not these books, not epistolary novels. These are stories you have to discover, find out on your own, told through fragments of in-world material. I found some files related to them, but they're redacted, hopefully you can figure something out. Strange things have been happening recently, ever since I found those tomes. So like, heads up. Your Loyal Friend, Susan Dorian Nymm

A scanned copy of a classified document that has been liberally redacted. Reading: Item Category: Epistolary Novel Description: Epistolary derives from the Greek ἐπιστολή (epistolē), translated into English as letter. Epistolary novels are composed of a series of documents to tell a story. These include but are not limited to: letters, diaries, REDACTED, newspaper clippings, REDACTED, legal documents, recordings, emails, REDACTED, text messages, internet posts, etc. They lack a traditional narrator. Reference: Testing concluded that REDACTED Knowledge ungiven is taken while reading these novels.REDACTED security leakage REDACTED large mysterious objects. REDACTED hostage REDACTED pineapple REDACTED Sport REDACTED shorts. REDACTED door REDACTED Metastability REDACTED timber REDACTED Further testing could not be performed as new test subjects were unavailable REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED

A phone conversation to "Susan - Work": Susie, dude, you have my phone number I mean thanks, but still Interesting stuff

Transcript of recovered security footage taken from Librarian Head Quarters

[Timecode 23:49 13-10-2023]

[00:00] The camera is high up in the corner of a room. The room is a small office, walled by shelves stuffed to the brim with books. In the centre of the room is a librarian, hunched over a desk. The desk is covered with tomes of various ages, with various notes scattered all over. The room is lit with a single candle. The librarian, an aged and wretched thing, is frantically writing.

Librarian: I am close, I just know it

[00:20] The shadows surrounding the librarian lengthen, but the librarian does not notice, continuing to write.

[01:43] From the shadows a figure emerges, the camera is unable to capture its appearance. The figure can be seen through a person shaped blotch of static and glitches. Loud hum begins to fill the room.

Librarian: So, you finally came for me.

[02:05] The librarian stops writing, turning to look at the figure, before wincing and looking away.

Mysterious Figure: *distorted screeching*

Librarian: You're too late [inaudible] will know.

[02: 30] The figure moves closer to the librarian. The shadows move like liquid, and begin to cover the librarian. The librarian smiles, then grabs something unseen from the desk.
[03:05] Static begins to fill the frame as a loud buzzing can be heard. The entire screen is covered, before vanishing. The mysterious figure and the librarian are gone.

[END RECORDING]

A pink diary page splattered in something black, reading: Dear Diary, I fear my days are numbered. This knowledge was not supposed to leave the vault, but here it is. I've found them, these epistolary novels, novels I know the blog will love. All I need to do now is release them to th Dear Diary, I fear my days are numbered. This knowledge was not supposed to leave the vault, but here it is. I've found them, these epistolary novels, novels I know the blog will love. All I need to do now is releases them into th

 

Dracula / Raven, Nicky
“A modern, illustrated retelling of the Bram Stoker classic, in which young Jonathan Harker first meets and then must destroy the vampire, Count Dracula, in order to save those closest to him. Bram Stoker’s masterpiece is adapted for a younger audience with all the sinister intrigue of the original novel.” (Catalogue)


Illuminae / Kaufman, Amie
“The planet Kerenza is attacked, and Kady and Ezra find themselves on a space fleet fleeing the enemy, while their ship’s artificial intelligence system and a deadly plague may be the end of them all”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)


Flowers for Algernon / Keyes, Daniel
“When brain surgery makes a mouse into a genius, dull-witted Charlie Gordon wonders if it might also work for him.  In poignant diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie’s intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie?” (Catalogue)


The perks of being a wallflower / Chbosky, Stephen
“Tells, through Charlie’s letters, what it is like to grow up in high school. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Suggested level: secondary.” (Catalogue)


Book of a thousand days / Hale, Shannon
“Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren’s years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.” (Catalogue)


I hate everyone but you / Dunn, Gaby
“Ava and Gen, best friends, are heading off to their first semesters of college on opposite sides of the country. They stay in touch with texts and emails, documenting their weird roommates, self-discovery, coming out, and mental health. As each changes and grows into her new life, will their friendship survive the distance?” (Catalogue)


Gabi, a girl in pieces / Quintero, Isabel
“Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy’s pregnancy, friend Sebastian’s coming out, her father’s meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.” (Catalogue)


The princess diaries / Cabot, Meg
“‘You’re not Mia Thermopolis any more, honey, ‘ Dad said. ‘You’re Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo. Princess of Genovia.’ A PRINCESS?? ME??? Yeah. Right. One minute Mia’s a totally normal Manhattan fourteen-year-old. Next minute she’s heir to the throne of Genovia, being trailed by a bodyguard, taking princess lessons with her uncontrollable old grandmere, and having a makeover with someone called Paolo. Well, her dad can lecture her till he’s royal blue in the face, but no way is Mia going to turn herself into a style-queen. And they think she’s moving to Genovia? Er, hello?. Ages 13+” (Catalogue)


Pretenders / Harrison, Lisi
“Five high school freshmen–the Phoenix Five–reveal their friendships, crushes, school and family dramas, and big secrets, as told in their unique voices through journal entries”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)


The Cecelia and Kate novels / Wrede, Patricia C.
“In Sorcery & Cecelia, the two cousins have been inseparable since girlhood. But in 1817, Kate goes to London to make her debut into English society, leaving Cecelia behind to fight boredom in her small country town. While visiting the Royal College of Wizards, Kate stumbles on a plot to destroy a beloved sorcerer—and only Cecelia can help her save him.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Rules for vanishing / Marshall, Kate Alice
“Do you want to play the game? Once a year, a road appears in the woods at midnight and the ghost of Lucy Gallows beckons, inviting those who are brave enough to play her game. If you win, you escape with your life. But if you lose… It’s almost a year since Becca went missing. Everyone else has given up searching for her, but her sister, Sara, knows she disappeared while looking for Lucy Gallows. Determined to find her, Sara and her closest friends enter the woods. But something more sinister than ghosts lurks on the road, and not everyone will survive.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Monster / Myers, Walter Dean
“While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.” (Catalogue)

Slithering, Scaley Serpents! Support World Snake Day! Subsume Snake Storiessssss!


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Snakes! Sourcing serotonin, sanguine, straightforwardly selfward. So supremely sweet, simply stunning, sensationally spectacular. Snakes secrete superiority so surely; society simply shall celebrate. (Sadly, ‘s’ sounding substitutions shall suffice, so suspend some scrutiny.) Souls stay sore seeing serpents stay solo, separated so soundly. Serendipitously, solving such struggles, some stories surround serpents; sacred sagas, sagely shared, so souls shall strengthen!  Sorry, sibilance shall stop suddenly because it’s kinda hard to make any sense with.

But yeah, World Snake Day! I love snakes, they’re so cute, despite being not allowed in New Zealand. Ironic considering NZ is one of the only places without snakes-

WRONG!

We do have snakes, technically! To commemorate our favourite slithery serpents, I shall knowledge y’all on Aotearoa’s four species of native snakes!

So, it turns out there’s actually two different types of sea snakes, Laticauda and Hydrophiinae. So, what’s the difference?

Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait

Photo 271419032, (c) craigjhowe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


Laticauda are known as Sea Kraits, which are basically fence sitters who can’t decide whether to be sea snakes or land snakes, so they do a bit of both. Funnily enough, all of New Zealand’s kraits feed on a diet of mainly eels. Because, obviously, kraits have to prove that they are the best aquatic long bois (which of course they are).

Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake


Hydrophiinae meanwhile are also known as “True Sea-Snakes”, because they live mainly in the sea. For example, our Hydrophiinae, the Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake, spends about 87% of its time in water. Unlike most snakes, sea snakes birth live young, rather than laying eggs. The Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake eats mostly fish and cephalopods.

Despite these two subfamilies being similar concepts: snakes that swim, they actually independently evolved from each other. Both species are very poisonous, so if you find one, no touch!

Brown-Lipped Sea Krait

Brown-lipped Sea Krait

Photo 98665882, (c) abujudy, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND)


Now to the technicalities of how they are native to Aotearoa. So, because sea snakes live in the sea, they sometimes end up drifting to New Zealand. Because they managed to get here by themselves, without the machinations of humans, it’s considered that they are native to the area. In fact, there’s only ever been 1 Brown-Lipped Sea Krait and 1 Saint Giron’s Sea Krait to ever be recorded in New Zealand, yet they’re considered native. And if you disagree with that, take it up with the Department of Conservation. Unfortunately, this means that in reality it is unlikely you’ll ever have to meet any snakes in New Zealand, but you’ll know, deep in your heart, that we technically have native snakes.

Saint Giron’s Sea KraitPhoto 278616112, (c) Yoshitaka Tahara, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

To honour our snakey comrades, I have scrounged up some snakey books for all to read… Plus some on eels, and beautiful serpentine Asian dragons. Unfortunately, few of the fiction books with snakes on the cover have anything to do with slithery friends, just metaphors, bleh.

Happy reading!


A snake falls to Earth / Little Badger, Darcie
“Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart”–Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)


Shapeshifters : The Kiesha’ra of the den of shadows / Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia
“Five complete novels. One fascinating world. The NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling author’s tales of forbidden love, bound together in one gorgeous volume. SHAPESHIFTERS tracks the lives of five teenagers who live in a land that has long seen war between the avian and serpiente shapeshifters rage. Although a fragile peace has been established, they face many threats in the following years.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Serpentine / Pon, Cindy
“Although sixteen-year-old Skybright feels lucky to be the handmaid and companion to the daughter of a wealthy family, she is hiding a secret that threatens to destroy her position and her closest relationships.” (Catalogue)


The snakes / Jones, Sadie
“‘I wonder if it hurts them to shed their skins,’ she said. She didn’t feel afraid standing in the darkness, imagining snakes, even with the smell of death in the air. Bea and Dan, recently married, rent out their tiny flat to escape London for a few precious months. Driving through France they visit Bea’s dropout brother Alex at the hotel he runs in Burgundy. Disturbingly, they find him all alone and the ramshackle hotel deserted, apart from the nest of snakes in the attic. When Alex and Bea’s parents make a surprise visit, Dan can’t understand why Bea is so appalled, or why she’s never wanted him to know them; Liv and Griff Adamson are charming, and rich. They are the richest people he has ever met. Maybe Bea’s ashamed of him, or maybe she regrets the secrets she’s been keeping. Tragedy strikes suddenly, brutally, and in its aftermath the family is stripped back to its rotten core, and even Bea with all her strength and goodness can’t escape.” (Catalogue)


Medusa / Burton, Jessie
“Exiled to a far-flung island by the whims of the gods, Medusa has little company except the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. But when a charmed, beautiful boy called Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is disrupted with the force of a supernova, unleashing desire, love, betrayal … and destiny itself.” (Catalogue)


Tess of the road / Hartman, Rachel
“Tess Dombegh journeys through the kingdom of Goredd in search of the World Serpents and finds herself along the way”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)


SilverFin : the graphic novel / Higson, Charles
“Young James Bond, while attending boarding school at Eton in the 1930s, must battle against an insane arms dealer who, by using killer eels, is attempting to create a race of indestructible soldiers on the eve of World War II.” (Catalogue)


Into the river / Dawe, Ted
“When Te Arepa Santos is dragged into the river by a giant eel, something happens that will change the course of his whole life. The boy who struggles to the bank is not the same one who plunged in, moments earlier. He has brushed against the spirit world, and there is a price to be paid; an utu to be exacted. Years later, far from the protection of whanau and ancestral land he finds new enemies. This time, with no-one to save him, there is a decision to be made.. he can wait on the bank, or leap forward into the river”–Back cover. Suggested level: secondary.” (Catalogue)


A magic steeped in poison / Lin, Judy I
“For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it’s her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her-the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest shennong-shi-masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making-she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning’s only chance to save her sister’s life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.” — Provided by publisher” (Catalogue)


Song of silver, flame like night / Zhao, Amaelie Wen
“Lan’s last remnant of her mother–and the fallen Hin dynasty of her ancestors–is a symbol seared onto her wrist, which, if the mysterious boy she encounters is to be trusted, may be the key to freeing her people by mastering the ancient, forgotten art ofpractitioning.” (Catalogue)



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Sayonara!

It’s Dino Time, Literally: Discover Dinosaurs During Dinosaur Day!

Friends, family, acquaintances, we are all gathered here today, June 1st, to commemorate the passing of our beloved Dinosaurs. Truly they were the best of us, I mean, they were huge awesome bird-lizard things that were like super cool. Dinosaurs have been an inspiration for many of us, from becoming an obsession for us in our younger years, to never leaving that obsession, to those silly suits that people can buy that just make everything better. Unfortunately our beloved Dinosaurs were so cruelly taken away from us by some meteors, though that may have been for the best considering how squishy humans are and how big Dinosaurs were. The Dinosaurs’ legacy is continued by their descendants, birds, who are neat. I mean, have you seen geese? They put the “terrible” in “terrible lizard”.

Now, to say a few words is one of the T-Rex’s fierce relatives:

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Thank you for your wise words, Sir Cluckington.

But let us not be swamped in sadness, Dinosaurs wouldn’t have wanted us to live in sorrow for their loss. I mean, technically Dinosaurs probably wouldn’t have wanted anything besides food, but hey, let’s be poetic. Let us celebrate their lives, their radical coolness, rather than their deaths. For why focus on the fact they are dead and fossilised, but for the brightness they spark in our hearts.

So, in remembrance, this Dinosaur Day, June 1st, let us look at all the cool media about dinosaurs.

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Battlesaurus : rampage at Waterloo / Falkner, Brian
“In this alternate history, Napoleon wins at Waterloo by unleashing a secret battlefield weapon–a legion of giant, carnivorous dinosaurs imported from the wilds of the Americas–and only fifteen-year-old Willem Verheyen stands in the way of the emperor’s plan for world domination.” (Catalogue)


The extinction trials / Wilson, S. M.
“Stormchaser wants to escape her starved, grey life. Lincoln wants to save his dying sister. Their only chance is to join an expedition to a deadly country to steal the eggs of vicious dinosaurs. If they succeed, their reward is a new life filled with riches. But in a land full of monsters – both human and reptilian – only the ruthless will survive. Jurassic Park meets The Hunger Games in this epic new series.” (Catalogue)


Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur [1] : BFF / Montclare, Brandon
“Lunella Lafayette is an inhuman preteen genius who wants to change the world! THAT JOB would be a lot easier if she wasn’t living in mortal fear of her latent inhuman gene. There’s no telling what she’ll turn into — but Luna’s got a plan. All she needs is an Omni-Wave Projector. Easy, right? That is, until a red-scaled beast is teleported from the prehistoric past to a far-flung future we call … today!” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Reptil : brink of extinction / Blas, Terry
“Reptil — the dinosaur-powered graduate of Avengers Academy — is on the brink of extinction! In the wake of his grandfather’s worsening health, Humberto Lopez has taken a step back from crimefighting to focus on his family. Perhaps it’s a sign that he should give up on becoming a hero and finally come to terms with his parents’ mysterious disappearance… or perhaps not! When a mysterious figure ambushes Humberto, what unravels will shake the core of everything that Reptil thought he knew about his past. And it will either change the course of his future – or end it forever!” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Dinotopia : journey to Chandara / Gurney, James
“After many years of searching, artist James Gurney has discovered a never-before-seen journal by the nineteenth-century explorer Arthur Denison in a used bookstore. Denison’s previous travel accounts, published as Dinotopia: A land Apart from Time and Dinotopia: The World Beneath, introduced a lost island where dinosaurs and humans live together in peaceful interdependence. Now Professor Denison and his saurian companion, Bix, set out on a perilous journey to the long-forgotten empire of Chandara.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Raptor Red / Bakker, Robert T
“A pair of fierce but beautiful eyes look out from the undergrowth of conifers. She is an intelligent killer. So begins one of the most extraordinary novels you will ever read. The time is 120 million years ago, the place is the plains of prehistoric Utah, and the eyes belong to an unforgettable heroine. Her name is Raptor Red, and she is a female Raptor dinosaur. The life of a lady dinosaur in the prehistoric swamps of Utah. When her mate is killed on a hunting expedition she teams up with her sister, a mother of three, and the novels follows their struggle to eat and survive in a dangerous world.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Jurassic Park / Crichton, Michael
“Before seeing Jurassic World film this June read the original, multimillion copy number 1 bestselling thriller that inspired the first major motion picture Jurassic Park. On a remote jungle island, genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park. An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now one of mankind’s most thrilling fantasies has come true and the first dinosaurs that the Earth has seen in the time of man emerge. But, as always, there is a dark side to the fantasy and after a catastrophe destroys the park’s defence systems, the scientists and tourists are left fighting for survival…” (Adapted from Catalogue)


The lost world / Doyle, Arthur Conan
“The Lost World is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive.” (Catalogue)


Bermuda / Layman, John
“There’s a region in the Atlantic Ocean where planes disappear, ships are lost, and traveling souls go missing… never to be heard from again. And there’s an island within this place, mysterious and uncharted, untouched by time and civilization, where all who are lost end up. Bermuda lives here. She’s a normal, everyday 16-year-old girl, who just so happens to live in an otherworldly dimension swarming with dinosaurs and pirates! It’s made her scrappy, and a survivor, and it’s the only life she’s ever known… until today. Bermuda’s discovered something on her island that will either open a doorway between her world and ours… or destroy them both!” — page 4 of cover” (Catalogue)


Age of reptiles : tribal warfare / Delgado, Ricardo
“More real life’ adventures from the days of the dinosaurs. This series tracks the fortunes – and misfortunes – of a family of Ceratosaurs as they try to survive the rigors of the Jurassic era.'” (Catalogue)


The virtual realities trilogy / Carmichael, Claire
“Andy Tremain has a terrifying ability. Using virtual reality, he can create monsters from his unconscious mind. And he’s obsessed with dinosaurs. A psychiatrist in the United States promises a cure but when Andy and his brother and sister realise they are prisoners rather than guests in Dr Kaplan’s luxurious desert complex, Andy’s dream becomes a nightmare. When his powers change and reality itself begins to shift and tear, Andy is so dangerous that society clearly cannot afford to let him live. So the terror continues…” (Catalogue)

Wit and Whimsy! Celebrating National Limerick Day!

There once was a man from library
Who thought that just prose was dreary
He wrote all in verse
But soon did he curse
All this rhyme made him so weary

But he had to conquer his fear
For the day of limerick was near
Give them some books
With whimsical looks
And then all the masses shall cheer

Are they all up to snuff?
I mean they sound good enough
Poetry is hard
I’m hardly a bard
So here’s some whimsical stuff:


Tress of the Emerald Sea / Sanderson, Brandon

On a treacherous green sea of spores
So she can save the boy she adores
A sorceress to beat
On a pirate’s fleet
Through the Midnight Sea she explores


Frogkisser / Nix, Garth

A prince turned to frog by saboteur
Must be saved by his love’s sister,
Wizards, dog astute,
Newt of ill repute,
And now a great quest must occur

The princess bride / Goldman, William

A tale told, only the best parts
There’s adventure, a hero with smarts,
Beasts, miracles, fights
And dangerous plights
A love story to capture our hearts


Six crimson cranes / Lim, Elizabeth

A wicked stepmother casts a curse
Taking her ability to converse
Brothers become cranes
She will take great pains
Finding how to make the spell reverse

The amazing Maurice and his educated rodents / Pratchett, Terry

A cat pulls a pied piper con
A plague of rats to be led on
In comes the “piper”
A wee lil minor
And suddenly all the rats are gone

The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making / Valente, Catherynne M.

A girl from our world so bland
Is transported into fairyland
Through enchanted woods
To get Marquees’ goods
Must return with talisman in hand


Cryptid Club / Andersen, Sarah

The normal lives of the cryptid
Who from humans often will be hid
They are just like us
They don’t like the fuss
Seek this kooky knowledge they forbid


I’ve shared some silly nonsense
So why not join in this madness hence
Make sure you rhyme
Follow beat and time
May your poetry writing commence!

Live Bats and Dead Bats! Celebrating International Bat Appreciation Day with Vampires!

A very cute picture of a New Zealand Short-Tailed Bat

Image: Lesser short-tailed bat, by Colin O’Donnell, Department of Conservation. Licensed under CC BY 4.0

Look at them! Aren’t they so adorable, with their cute little faces, ferocious teefies, and big goofy ears. If you didn’t know, today, April 17th, is International Bat Appreciation Day, a much beloved and well known holiday! Bats are like, super cool, so that’s why I have decreed that we shall celebrate their existence! That and I wanted to show y’all some cool books about vampires, but first let’s talk real bats.

The Bats of Kiwiland

Bats are Aotearoa’s only indigenous land-based mammals, making them a truly unique part of our nation’s already unique biodiversity. We have three* different species of bats: the New Zealand Lesser Short-Tailed Bat, the New Zealand Greater Short-Tailed Bat, and the New Zealand Long-Tailed Bat.

New Zealand Lesser Short-Tailed Bat on mossy log

Image: Short-tailed bat, by Colin O’Donnell, Department of Conservation. Licensed under CC BY 4.0

Pekapeka – The Short-Tailed Bats: 

Pekapeka are rather unique as bats go, hunting on the ground rather than the air. They are very capable at crawling along the ground and digging with their wings as front limbs. They are omnivores, eating mostly pollen, insects, fruit, and nectar. To attract mates, males will do this little song which is just too cute. Unfortunately the Greater Short-Tailed Bat is likely extinct, as the last time anyone saw one of these bats was 1967, but hopefully they are just being sneaky and are still alive.

New Zealand Long-Tailed Bat on researcher's finger. Aw they are so cute!

Image: Long-tailed bat, by Colin O’Donnell, Department of Conservation. Licensed under CC BY 4.0

Pekapeka-Tou-Roa – The Long-Tailed Bat:

Officially voted as New Zealand’s Bird of the Year in 2021, the long-tailed bat is a much more traditional bat than the short tails. It eats insects which it catches while flying, which in fancy science talk is called hawking (because clearly this mammal is a bird.) If you’ve ever seen a bat in Aotearoa, it was most likely one of these beauties, as they often fly at dusk.

Vampires!

And now for the most popular type of bat, Nosferatu! Real life vampires, vampire bats, are a little less dangerous than the ones in fiction. Vampire bats only occasionally nom on humans, so they’re mostly safe. However we need not restrict our imagination by paying attention to “reality”. If the animal kingdom won’t give us murderbats, the twisted minds of humanity shall.

Lo!

Behold!

Many a strange and horrific tale of the creatures of the night!

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Plague of the undead / Cross, Gary
The boy knew his father was going to kill him. Just like he’d killed everyone else tonight. The boy’s mother, his two older sisters and baby brother, the servants. All of them dead.

When Lucius is ten years old his father returns home one evening as a vampire and destroys his entire family. By luck Lucius is spared. Fifteen years later Lucius has joined the elite group of vampire hunters that saved his life that night. Now it’s his turn to lead the hunt.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


The lost girls : a vampire revenge story / Hartl, Sonia
“Holly Liddell has been stuck with crimped hair since 1987 when she agreed to let her boyfriend, Elton, turn her into a vampire. But when he ditches her at a gas station a few decades into their eternity together, she realizes that being young forever actually means working graveyard shifts at Taco Bell, sleeping in seedy motels, and being supernaturally compelled to follow your ex from town to town, at least until Holly meets Elton’s other exes, who invite Holly to join them in their quest to kill Elton before he can trick another girl into eternal adolescence. Adapted from book jacket.” (Catalogue)


Youngblood / Laurens, Sasha
“Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change. Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well. When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.” (Catalogue)


Go hunt me / Devos, Kelly
“For Dracula lovers and fans of Diana Urban’s All Your Twisted Secrets , this spine-tingling thriller follows seven horror buffs as their dream trip to a remote Romanian castle turns into a nightmare when they begin to be killed one by one.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Cruel illusions / Fuston, Margie
“Since a vampire murdered her mother, Ava has survived foster home after foster home, determined to get revenge. It’s been ten years since anyone has seen a vampire– until Ava stumbles across a hidden magic show where she witnesses impossible illusions. Ava sneaks backstage and catches them in acts they can’t explain. But they’ve been waiting for her: they are part of an ancient secret society with true magic, and Ava has the same power in her blood that they do. If she joins them they will help her avenge her mother. But if she wants to keep the power they offer, she must participate in a sinister and dangerous competition where illusion and reality blur– and the stakes are deadly.”– Adapted from jacket.” (Catalogue)


Department 19 / Hill, Will
“After watching his father’s brutal murder, sixteen-year-old Jamie Carpenter joins Department 19, a secret government agency, where he learns of the existence of vampires and the history that ties him to the team destined to stop them.” (Catalogue)


Direwood / Yu, Catherine
“No one ever pays attention to sixteen-year-old Aja until her perfect older sister Fiona goes missing. In the days leading up to Fiona’s disappearance, Aja notices some extraordinary things. Aja’s father, the neighbors, and even her ex-friend Mary all play down this strange string of occurrences, claiming there must be some natural explanation. It seems everyone is willing to keep living in denial until other teens start to go missing too. Aja is horrified when she meets Padraic, the vampire responsible for all the strange occurrences. His hypnotic voice lures her to the window and tells her everything she’s longed to hear–she’s beautiful and special, and he wants nothing more than for Aja to come with him.  Following him into the woods may be the only way to find Fiona, so she agrees on one condition: He must let her leave alive if she is not wooed after one week. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Eighth grade bites / Brewer, Heather
“For thirteen years, Vlad, aided by his aunt and best friend, has kept secret that he is half-vampire, but when his missing teacher is replaced by a sinister substitute, he learns that there is more to being a vampire, and to his parents’ deaths, than he could have guessed.” (Catalogue)


The hunt / Fukuda, Andrew Xia
“Seventeen-year-old Gene has passed as a vampire for years, carefully following every rule, but now, just as he finds a girl worth fighting for, he is chosen to participate in the hunt for the last remaining humans among ruthless vampires who soon suspect his true nature.” (Catalogue)

 


Vampires never get old : tales with fresh bite
“Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices! In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out–and going out for their first kill–and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night. Welcome to the evolution of the vampire–and a revolution on the page. Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: National Small Press Month!

It’s that time of year again, everyone’s favourite monthly celebration!

Yes! In March!

Christmas? Halloween? Are you alright? No, it’s not one of those, its…

NATIONAL SMALL PRESS MONTH!

What do you mean you don’t know what National Small Press Month is? Does the prospect of getting books from sources other than a handful of monolithic corporations not fill you with joy?! So what if it’s originally an American marketing ploy by the Publishers Marketing Association? IT IS TIME TO CELEBRATE!

To properly commemorate this time-honoured tradition, I deemed it worthy to gander upon New Zealand’s many small presses. Below I have collated some great reads written by kiwis and published by kiwis, as well as little bits of info on a handful of publishing houses.

So, without further ado…

Ahoy!

These be they that come from our home port o’ Wellington! Ahoy! (or AHOY!) be the kids and bigger kids imprint o’ Cuba Press, named for the great vessel from our history, the Cuba. That ‘n the street.

Between-the-Flags-cover-web

Between the flags / Fenton, Rachel

“What if the worst thing that could ever happen to you had already happened, but you didn’t realise? … Fourteen-year-old trainee lifeguard Mandy Malham has wanted to beat Jen in the surf lifesaving championships at Soldier Tree Bay ever since Jen bullied her in primary school, but to do that, Mandy comes to realise that first she must rescue herself…” (abridged from catalogue)

Annual Ink

Annual Ink is the Children and Young Adults imprint of Massey University Press, because apparently universities do more than write books with 100,000 footnotes on academic topics, who woulda thunk? They’re most known for their Annual books (hence the name) which are these collections of kiwi authors talking kiwi things. They’re a great way to see some of our great burgeoning writers, filled with stories unique to Aotearoa.

Annual. 3
“A unique, entertaining miscellany of all-new material for 9-13 year olds in one beautifully presented package. Alongside familiar names (Paul Beavis, Giselle Clarkson, Ant Sang, Gavin Bishop, Kimberly Andrews, Tim Denee, Johanna Knox, Dylan Horrocks, Josh Morgan), you’ll fnd welcome surprises: a new song from Troy Kingi, gothic fiction by Airini Beautrais, a te reo Maori crossword from Ben Brown, an adaptation of Maurice Gee’s The Champion presented in comic format, and work from emerging talents J. Wiremu Kane and Austin Milne. The editors have stayed faithful to their original intent: to reach an audience that’s curious, discerning, up for anything … with commissioned content that reflects the diversity of experience across Aotearoa New Zealand to reach as many kinds of readers as possible…” (Abridged from catalogue)

#Tumeke / Petherick, Michael
“In the boundary-riding tradition of the Annual project, Annual Ink’s latest title #Tumeke! brings you the lives, loves and larrikin spirit of an inner-city neighbourhood. The story is told through texts, Instagram posts, emails, fliers, committee minutes, posters, diary entries, blog posts, chatrooms, school homework, raps and the reliably bonkers community noticeboard. Stuffed with big personalities, surprising friendships and a little intrigue, this multimedia story brims with creativity and comedy, and everyday heartaches, too”–Publisher’s website.” (Catalogue)

David Bateman Ltd

Auckland based Bateman Books is one of Aotearoa’s biggest publishers and distributors. They’re pretty neat, not only do they publish kiwi authors, but they also act as the NZ distributor for some aussies, brits, and yanks.

In our own backyard / Kayes, Anne
“It’s March 2020 and Liza, her husband and two teenage children are at home in Auckland in level-four lockdown due to Covid-19. Reflections with her family around the dining table inspire Liza to reflect on another challenging time in history nearly forty years before when the South African Springbok rugby team toured New Zealand. Casting her memory back to 1981, Liza recalls her life as a fifteen-year-old, including her first love, friendships, first-hand experiences of racism, and what it means and what it costs to find your voice and use it. In Our Own Backyard is a startling, confronting portrait of a society divided…”–Publisher’s description.” (Catalogue)

Gecko Press

Another Wellington based press, Gecko is a children’s publisher who focuses mostly on translating popular children’s books from other languages into English. Not to be a one trick lizard, they also publish kiwi authors, and distribute not only to Kiwiland, but other English speaking countries!

Mortal fire / Knox, Elizabeth
“When sixteen-year-old Canny of the Pacific island, Southland, sets out on a trip with her stepbrother and his girlfriend, she finds herself drawn into enchanting Zarene Valley where the mysterious but dark seventeen-year-old Ghislain helps her to figure out her origins”–Publisher information. Suggested level: secondary.” (Catalogue)

Huia Publishers

Huia Publishers, also based in Wellington (my, it’s almost like we’re some sort of… cultural capital or something), is a Māori owned printing press. It focuses on Māori authors telling Māori stories, with a huge variety of content. One really cool thing they do is translating books into te reo Māori. Some of their original books have editions in both English and te reo Māori. They also have translated some classic picture books, such as Te Anuhe Tino HiakaiThe Very Hungry Caterpillar. If you want a change of pace and to hear some local voices, Huia Publishers has your back.

Falling into Rarohenga / Matuku, Stephanie
“It seems like an ordinary day when Tui and Kae, sixteen-year-old twins, get home from school — until they find their mother, Maia, has disappeared and a swirling vortex has opened up in her room. They are sucked into this portal and dragged down to Rarohenga, the Māori Underworld, a place of infinite levels, changing landscapes and some untrustworthy characters. Maia has been kidnapped by their estranged father, Tema, enchanted to forget who she really is and hidden somewhere here. Tui and Kae have to find a way through this maze, outwit the characters they meet, break the spell on their mother, and escape to the World of Light before the Goddess of Shadows or Tema holds them in the underworld forever”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)

Flight of the fantail / Matuku, Stephanie
“A busload of high school students crashes in bush in a remote part of New Zealand. Only a few of the teenagers survive. Their phones don’t work, there’s no food, and they’ve only got their wits to keep them alive. And as if that wasn’t enough, there are the nosebleeds, pounding headaches and erratic behaviour to deal with, and no rescue team in sight. To make it out, they have to find out what’s really going on and who is behind it all”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)


The pōrangi boy / Kino, Shilo
“Twelve-year-old Niko lives in Pohe Bay, a small, rural town with a sacred hot spring and a taniwha named Taukere. The government plan to build a prison here and destroy the home of the taniwha has divided the community. Some are against it, but others see it as an opportunity. Niko is worried about the land and Taukere, but who will listen to him? He’s an ordinary boy who’s laughed at, bullied, and called pōrangi, crazy, for believing in the taniwha. But it’s Niko who has to convince the community that Taukere is real, unite whānau in protest against the prison and stand up to the bullies”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)

See this great collection? Want more? Well you’re in luck, stay tuned for next time, as I show you even more of the great local bookmakers we have in our glorious country.

Toodeloo!

Collectively Hallucinating: A Librarian’s Guide to Dungeons and Dragons!

Mother dearest has kicked you out of your room, off your phone, off your games, off the books. Apparently you have to “be social”, “touch grass”, and “go outside”. But you know that’s hogwash. The real world is boring. You want magic, adventure, excitement. You want to delve into stories, tales of great heroes, of great villains, of the epic fights between good and evil. But alas, parental figures are to be obeyed. So what is one to do? Interact with people?

Why yes! But it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom!

Behold! I present to you Dungeons and Dragons! You may have heard of it, it is getting mildly popular with you young’uns on your ‘interwebs’.

But what is this D and D? Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game where a group of people play-act through adventures in (what is usually) a fantasy world. Players play characters of their own creation, heroes or villains together in a team to journey on quests of magic and wonder. One player, known as the Dungeon Master, or DM, plays as the everything else besides the players’ main characters. The DM makes the stories and world and characters for the players to interact with. With your friends you can spin your own epic tales, express your imaginations, and have plain old fun!

“Well,” you may be asking, “that’s all well and good great and amazing J’Shuall, but doesn’t that game require very expensive books? I hear they sell for like $70 a pop! And there’s like a million of them! That sounds expensive.”

You see, incredibly accurate strawman reader, that is where the Library comes in! For I, J’Shuall of Jackanapery, Librarian Supreme, come baring the gift of knowledge! The Library contains many of these D&D books, available for free! So, dear reader, both players new and old, let me explain our collection!

Editor’s note: Interested in playing D&D, but not sure where to begin? A number of our branches host campaigns for beginners. Check out our event calendar to find your nearest session.

The Basics!

There are a lot of books released for Dungeons and Dragons, so it can be difficult to know where to start, but that is where I come in! The most important book for you to begin is the Player’s Handbook, which details the rules of the game and how to make characters. While it may seem a lot, the book clearly explains things to you, and a lot of the content is various options for you to play. This is the only book you really “need” if you are starting out.

Player’s handbook
“An essential reference for every Dungeons & Dragons roleplayer, this text contains rules for character creation and advancement, backgrounds and skills, exploration and combat, equipment, spells, and much more.” (Catalogue)

Dungeon Mastering!

If you are lucky, you may already have friends who play DnD, and may be able to join an existing game or be roped into a friend’s new one, where you can create your player character (PC) and begin playing.

But sometimes you have to be the one to start things, to create the group.

To be the Dungeon Master.

But how do you do it? What do you need? Easy, two books: The Dungeon Master’s Guide and The Monster Manual.

The Dungeon Master’s Guide is what it says on the tin, a resource for people wanting to be DMs. It has a bunch of helpful information about running games and is a great resource for making content for them. However it’s also important to read the Player’s Handbook so you have a good understanding of the rules.

Dungeon master’s guide                   “This book contains tools a Dungeon Master needs to provide stories and game play. A resource for new and existing Dungeons Masters to engage in both adventure and world creation, with rules, guidelines, and advice from the game’s experts. Created as part of a massive public playtest involving more than 170,000 fans of the game.” (Catalogue)

The Monster Manual is another kinda self-explanatory book. It’s where all the statblocks for monsters are. With the Player’s Handbook you have the heroes, with the Dungeon Master’s Guide you have the story and world, but the Monster Manual gives you the monsters to be defeated. What’s great about the Monster Manual is that it gives you information and pretty art on each of the monsters, which makes it great fun to flick through. Luckily you don’t have to read the entire thing, often you’ll only need the pages that have the monsters you want. It’s a great tool for sparking the imagination of DMs and it even tells you how to make your own beasties!

Monster manual
“The Monster Manual presents a horde of Dungeons & Dragons creatures, including dragons, giants, mind flayers, and beholders — a monstrous feast for Dungeon Masters ready to challenge their players and populate their adventures. The monsters contained herein are culled from the D&D game’s history, with game statistics and stories. This book details all manner of creatures that characters might encounter over the course of their adventures.” (Catalogue)

Stories!

You’ve manage to drag your friends into a group together, everyone has read the rules and knows how to play. But as you think of what game you want to make as a Dungeon Master your brain freezes. Nothing clicks. You know how to set up a game, but you don’t know what to do. If only you had a story idea…

But wait!

There’s a solution!

Not only are there DnD books explaining how to play the game, but they also have campaigns, stories you, as the DM, can run! But wait, there’s more! These campaign books are available for free at the library! These stories give the DM everything they could want to run a story: people for the players to interact with, plothooks for them to follow, dungeons to explore! There are a wide variety of different campaigns to choose from, so I have gathered a select few for inspiration.

Happy Adventuring!


Curse of Strahd
“Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd’s face forms the barest hint of a smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came — all according to his plan. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind fills the midnight air. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.” (Catalogue)


Hoard of the dragon queen / Baur, Wolfgang
“In an audacious bid for power the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seek to bring Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to Faerun. To this end, they are sweeping from town to town, laying waste to all those who oppose them and gathering a hoard of riches for their dread queen. The threat of annihilation has become so dire that groups as disparate as the Harpers and Zhentarim are banding together in the fight against the cult. Never before has the need for heroes been so desperate.” (Catalogue)


Icewind Dale : rime of the frostmaiden / Perkins, Christopher
“Beneath the unyielding night sky, you stand before a towering glacier and recite an ancient rhyme, causing a crack to form in the great wall of ice. Beyond this yawning fissure, the Caves of Hunger await. And past this icy dungeon is a secret so old and terrifying that few dare speak of it. The mad wizards of the Arcane Brotherhood long to possess that which the god of winter’s wrath has so coldly preserved–as do you! What fantastic secrets and treasures are entombed in the sunless heart of the glacier, and what will their discovery mean for the denizens of Icewind Dale? Can you save Ten-Towns from the Frostmaiden’s everlasting night?” — back cover.” (Catalogue)


Baldur’s Gate : descent into Avernus
“This heroic adventure book takes players from levels 1 to 13 as they journey through Baldur’s Gate and into Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. The text introduces the infernal war machines to fifth edition D&D–battle-ready vehicles”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

Invasion of the Interwebs! Terrifying Tales of When Books and Social Media Mix!

It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and you’re inside because the sun is scary. You’re in the library peacefully searching for your next read. You’ve managed to break your phone’s hold over your mind, banishing it into some far away dark place, somewhere where it can’t hurt you any more. All thoughts of tockticking, of metubing, of teetering, of bookfacing, all gone, freeing your brain to be a real human being. But then you see something that chills you to the very bone. It’s following you. Even the library, this sacred place of safety and education can not protect you. There is no escape. Sometime, somehow the internet has invaded the hallowed ground and seeped into the books and mind of the public.

So let’s explore this eldritch abomination and see how exactly the dreaded s̵̙̝̥͓͊̋̿ȏ̴̲͚̺̻̊͝c̸̭̟͖̩̑̈́i̸̗͒̐͝͠ȧ̴̱̘̙̜̽ĺ̴̠̟̗̋͗̆ ̶̙̙̊̓̚m̶̰̱̌ẻ̸̹͇̥̈d̶̻͗̊́̕į̷͕̠̟̈́͊̌́a̷͙͂͛ has amalgamated into book form.

Become a _____ Pro!

Welcome to the section I like to call “people who have no authority to tell you how to be good at thing tells you how to be good at thing.” So! Do you want the hundred percent accurate works every time definitely no trust me way to becoming an instant success on any particular social media? Yes? Well sucks to suck, you better spin that roulette wheel and pray to be lucky, because there is no sure fire way. That doesn’t stop these books from being published, and by your favourite social media sensation: random non-fiction author! Now to be fair these guides are probably at least somewhat useful to the inspiring instagrammer or tiktoker, but it’s funny when these books are called “expert’s guide” and then written by a no-name. For my fine selection I have been diligent in having approximately one guide for each format, but be assured there are many many more. Of particular note are the “For Dummies” books, which has a wide selection of internet based guides, which should be a laugh seeing these ridiculous things explained so blandly.


The quick expert’s guide to being a YouTuber / Sutherland, Adam

“This series offers a shortcut to instant expertise! Quick Expert’s Guides are aimed at teens and ‘tweens who are keen to know more about a popular topic, but who may be put off by the idea of having to read wordy or technical guides. Each title includes features that break down technical/scientific/complex aspects of the subject, inspirational case studies, activities and a final project to test the reader’s new skills. Chapter round-ups also offer tips on key words and phrases, as well as boosting self-esteem and confidence, in order to walk the walk and talk the talk of a true expert. Become a successful YouTuber! From setting up your account to creating a viral video, we show you how to master this popular platform and have your creative output seen around the globe!” (Catalogue)


The rough guide to social media for beginners : getting started with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ / Mahoney, Sean

“If you haven’t joined the social media revolution yet, don’t fret: There’s still time! But with so much out there, where to start? Something more than a text message, something less than a phone call… Not engaging in these new types of online social messaging could mean you are missing out on the action.” (Catalogue)


The ultimate guide to Tiktok

“This is the ultimate guide to TikTok, just #foryou! Packed with profiles, quizzes, fill-in fun and loads of top tips for creating your own videos” (Catalogue)

 

 


Blogging for dummies / Gardner, Susannah

“This proven bestseller is fully updated and better than ever!Now in its fourth edition, Blogging For Dummies is fully updated and more practical than ever for today’s bloggers. Whether you’re just beginning or are already a full-tilt blogging maven, you’ll find the up-to-date information you need in these friendly pages. Want to integrate your blog with social media? Jump into the fast-moving world of microblogging on Twitter or Tumblr? Choose which blogging software to use? Optimize your current blog for search? This detailed book guide covers it all, and then some. Buy the book, build a better blog, and blog about it!” (Catalogue)


Twitter power 3.0 : how to dominate your market one tweet at a time / Comm, Joel

“Tweet your company to the top of the market with a tailored approach to Twitter. This book is the best business leader’s guide to Twitter, with the most up to date information on trends in social media, branding, and competitive research. Readers will learn that viral content doesn’t happen by accident, why videos and photos are crucial to engagement, and how to measure the success of a Twitter strategy using specific and accurate metrics. This new edition contains brand new case studies, user profiles, features, and images, helping readers create a stronger overall Twitter strategy whether they’re already engaged or just wondering if Twitter’s important for their business future. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)


InstaStyle : curate your life, create stunning photos, elevate your Instagram influence / Tezza

“Gain Instagram followers, grow your personal brand, and influence others with your authentic personality, beautiful photography, and stunningly curated grid. Instagram is the place where trends break, tastes are made, and brands are launched. Plus it’s packed with insightful analytics and handy business tools to help you elevate your social media presence to the next level. Create, connect with others, and share the way you see the world! InstaStyle is a must-have guide for a booming industry, full of beautiful imagery and easily understood guides to help you achieve your Instagram goals. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Create your own podcast / Anniss, Matt

“Want to make your own podcast but don’t know where to start? Think you could be the next podcaster to get millions of downloads? This book is packed with practical tips on how to make your own podcast, from planning and preparing to actually recording, editing and launching your work. It even offers advice on the next step – vodcasting! Success stories of how famous podcasters made their mark on the industry are sure to motivate you. Go on, be a media genius!. Ages 9+” (Catalogue)


I’m Popular Online, Surely That Means I’m Destined to Write a Book, Right?

Now for the feast of this blog post, books written by ï̸̦̱n̶̗͙̥̈́̂f̵͔̈̊͐̾ͅl̶͍͛͂̆u̶̧̹̻͌͆͘͠ȅ̶̥n̵̗̝̓̀̇c̷̡̺̝͊e̴̪̼̮̜͐͠r̶̦̯̠̍s̴̙̃͒. For some reason, whenever anyone becomes famous, they all suddenly realise they dream of being authors. Could it be because it’s a relatively easy way to make money off their fame? No surely not. It’s just one of those things. That’s not to say these do not have literary merit, but it is a funny thing to point out. One of my favourites is the TikTok cookbook, the thing that set me on this journey to explore the corruption of our grand institution. It’s just fun to see such a modern and ephemeral thing locked down into print form. But it makes perfect sense, TikTok is full of food videos (or so I hear, of course, you wouldn’t see me dead on TikTok (I watch it all on Youtube Shorts, like a dork)). Most of these are memoir style, gods among mere mortals stepping down from their ivory thrones to tell you how to live. Others however mimic their content, such as Thug Notes or DanTDM’s book.


As cooked on TikTok : fan favorites and recipe exclusives from more than 40 TikTok creators / Stephenson, Emily

“Featuring both viral and brand-new recipes from many of the community’s most beloved TikTok food creators, find tried-and-tested #simplerecipes for the hottest dishes, from THE FLUFFIEST #cloudbread to THE MOST DELICIOUS #fetapasta recipe to THE BEST #bakedoats. Published in partnership with TikTok, a curated list of 45 TikTok Creators (based on highest trending food content and largest platforms) contributed recipes and food hacks to this unique cookbook as well as ‘remember that?!?’ food-adjacent content.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Make your own magic : discover the secret tricks of a TikTok magician / M, Joel

“My name is Joel Mawhinney, though I go by the name Joel M. You might know me from TikTok as @joelmagician.” (Catalogue)

 


Ninja : get good : my ultimate guide to gaming / Blevins, Tyler

“From one of the leading Fortnite players in the world comes your game plan for outclassing the rest at playing video games. This complete compendium includes everything Tyler “Ninja” Blevins wishes he had known before he got serious about gaming. Video games come and go, but Ninja’s lessons are timeless. Pay attention to them and you’ll find that you’re never really starting over when the next big game launches. Who knows– you may even beat him one day. As he says, that’s up to you.” (Catalogue)


Thug notes : a street-smart guide to classic literature / Sweets, Sparky

“Remember your high school and college literature classes. Not really? Too boring? Well, why did literature have to be analyzed so blandly? Professors are clearly intelligent, but sometimes literature needs to be translated, especially classic works, to speak to today’s audiences. Enter the one and only Sparky Sweets, PhD. Based on the hit YouTube series, Thug Notes: The Book will celebrate the most widely read (and widely assigned) works of literature. Each title will get the classic Thug Notes treatment: razor-sharp analysis, hilarious summary, and eye-catching illustrations. Readers of all stripes will be eager to see their favorite books like never before”– Provided by publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Ryan Higa’s How to write good / Higa, Ryan

“An unconventional, irreverent, yet heartfelt memoir by Ryan Higa, one of the top creators on YouTube.”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

 

 


The odd 1s out : how to be cool and other things I definitely learned from growing up / Rallison, James

“Like any shy teen turned young adult, YouTube star James Rallison is used to being on the outside looking in. He wasn’t partying in high school or winning football games like his older brother. Instead, he posted comics on the Internet. Now, he’s ready to share his hard-earned advice. In this illustrated collection, Rallison tells his own stories of growing up as the “odd one out”: in art class with his twin sister (she was more talented) and what it was like in the middle scholl locker room, all the way up to one strange year of college. Filled with fan-favorite comics and never-before-seen material, this tongue-in-cheek take on some of the weirdest, funniest parts of life is perfect for anyone who’s also felt like an odd one.”–Back cover.” (Catalogue)


The odd 1s out : the first sequel / Rallison, James

“The sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Odd 1s Out, with all new and never-before-seen content featuring opinions, stories, and signature characters from YouTube phenomenon James Rallison. James Rallison has always felt like he was on the outside looking in. His YouTube videos are all about his “odd” behavior, and with over 13 million subscribers and millions more followers on social media, these animations have found their way into the hearts of fans who also feel like a bit of an odd one”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)


Dan and Phil go outside / Howell, Dan

“YouTube sensations Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (AmazingPhil) were just two awkward guys who shared their lives on the Internet…until now. Dan Howell and Phil Lester, avoiders of human contact and direct sunlight, actually went outside. Traveling around the world on tour, they have collected hundreds of exclusive, intimate, and funny photos, as well as revealing and candid side notes, to show the behind-the-scenes story of their adventure.”– From publisher.” (Catalogue)


The hidden power of f*cking up

“The Try Guys deliver their first book-an inspirational self-improvement guide that teaches you that the path to success is littered with humiliating detours, embarrassing mistakes, and unexpected failures. To be our best selves, we must become secure in our insecurities. In The Hidden Power of F*cking Up, The Try Guys reveal their philosophy of trying: how to fully embrace fear, foolishness, and embarrassment in an effort to understand how we all get paralyzed by a fear of failure. They’ll share how four shy, nerdy kids have dealt with their most poignant life struggles by attacking them head-on and reveal their – ahem – sure-fail strategies for achieving success. Through their insightful, emotional journeys and surprising, hilarious anecdotes, they’ll help you overcome your own self-doubt to become the best, most f*cked up version of yourself you can be!” (Adapted from Catalogue)


Trayaurus and the enchanted crystal / DanTDM

“From the mind of one of the most popular YouTubers of all time, DanTDM, comes a graphic novel adventure that reimagines the Minecraft-style worlds and characters he’s created like you’ve never seen them before.”–Publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Fin…

 

 

 

Or is it!?

Summer Reading Adventure: The Archmagus’ Collection Prize

Welcome, Adventurer

Gazing into the orb of the future foretold, we have been able to reveal a preview of the Archmagus’ Collection – one of three grand prizes that readers could win by taking part in the Summer Reading Adventure – Teens (13-18).

The Archmagus’ Collection Grand Prize

– A Unity Books voucher to the value of $80
– A day pass for a VIP experience at Wellington City Libraries’ Te Pātaka Collection Centre, where you will be given free reign to explore and borrow whatever you like from our off-site collection of over 300,000 items, with guidance and personal assistance from our expert librarians.
– A selection of locally-made goodies, including chocolate! 

Te Pātaka calls you to adventure!

The vast stacks of Te Pātaka call forth a brave adventurer!

From 1 December 2022 — 31 January 2023, you are invited to take part in an adventure — a Summer Reading Adventure, to be precise. In this year’s Summer Reading Adventure, teens aged 13-18 will be able to embark on the journey of a lifetime by reading books; writing, drawing or filming reviews; and completing quests to unlock an epic narrative that you are the protagonist of, one step at a time.


How to Play

All Adventurers, seasoned or otherwise, need somewhere to start. Your first port of call will be to visit your local library to pick up a copy of the Adventurer’s Guide (or you could download it here):

Then, head over to our Summer Reading Adventure website to get started. You can take part in the Adventure in three different ways, depending on how far you’re willing to take your newfound powers:

  1. Log your reading — tell us how many books you’ve read and you’ll earn mysterious tickets that you can cash in to get a chance to win the Grand Prize of your choosing!
  2. Write, draw or film book reviews — get creative and tell us what you thought about the books you’ve read, and you’ll go in the draw to win fabulous spot prizes as you do.
  3. Complete quests — choose your own adventure and complete up to three unique questlines, earning XP and achievements along the way.

The Story Begins…

Each time you reach a milestone in any of the above categories, you’ll unlock a fragment of a grander story — a story in which you are the protagonist — a story which begins with a call to adventure, a creaky door, a mysterious figure, and a fire in the hearth:

The heavy wooden door groans on its hinges as you step into the darkened room, squinting as your eyes adjust to the light. Someone — a sorcerer of some kind? — stands at a desk in front of you, scrolls covered in cryptic symbols and cracked leather tomes spilling from the shelves on either side.

In a dirty hearth to the rear of the room, a hearty fire casts a warm glow on the surroundings. Looking around the room, you see illuminated by the firelight other hopeful initiates huddled around scarred oaken tables, perched on benches, pacing anxiously between the stacks.

The stooped Magus in front of you clears their throat suddenly, and silence falls as dozens of ears strain to hear the fated words, words that so many have travelled so far in the hope of hearing. —Welcome— the being intones, —to the Library of Souls.— At no point does their mouth move, the words projected by some arcane method directly into your mind. —You’ve made it just in time. Now, your Adventure may begin.—

Reaping Your Reward

As with all good Adventures, these quests come with the tantalising promise of reward for your Herculean (or perhaps Sisyphean) efforts. Each quest chain you complete, or reading milestone you meet, will earn you collectible badges, digital achievements, and the chance to win awesome spot prizes, as well as tickets towards one of our three Grand Prize packs.

Prizes for this year’s Summer Reading Adventure have been generously sponsored by our friends at Ben & Jerry’s, Experience Wellington, Circa Theatre, Cerberus Games, OfficeMax NZ, Wellington Zoo, and Light House Cinema.

Check out some of our badge designs below — which ones will you collect?

 

 

 

Literary Cookbooks for Edible Inspiration

You know what two things are great? Books and food. I know what you’re thinking, “Oh, if only there was a way to bring these two great things together!”

Well be despondent no longer! Because I am about to introduce you to some of the literary cookbooks we have in our collection.

These are cookbooks full of recipes inspired by the food in fiction, the deftly described deliciousness, the succulent snacks that your favourite characters munch on at feasts or as they head off on an adventure. Did you find your mouth watering as you read about the fellowship snacking on Lembas Bread in the Lord of the Rings? Or maybe you got a hankering for some forbidden Turkish delight such as that given to Edmund by the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Or perhaps your stomach started grumbling at the mention of Deeper’n’Ever Turnip’n’Tater’n’Beetroot Pie in Mossflower? Whatever your literary cravings, there’ll be a cookbook out there with something that will entice you.

So let’s have a look at these cookbooks, paired with the books that inspired them. After all, what better summer activity can there be than to lie in the sun with a book while snacking on the same thing as the character you’re reading about!

The Anne of Green Gables cookbook : charming recipes from Anne and her friends in Avonlea / Macdonald, Kate
This book contains recipes inspired by the food written about in Anne of Green Gables, but it also has some of L.M. Montgomery’s own recipes because the book was written by one of her granddaughters!

There are quotes from the book paired with each recipe so you can see how the food fits in with which book and which character.

Anne of Green Gables series / Montgomery, L. M.
Admittedly, I found Anne a bit annoying. But more people love her!


Jolly good food : recipes / McEvedy, Allegra
Relive some childhood nostalgia (if you were a child who read Enid Blyton, that is) and eat some tasty food. Enid Blyton’s books are full of wonderful descriptions of picnics and midnight feasts and “lashings of ginger beer” and this cookbook has recipes from or inspired by many of her books!

Enid Blyton has written many, many books, so here are a couple of suggestions to get you started:

Famous Five Series / Blyton, Enid
The classic adventure series featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, George, and of course Timmy!

The Faraway Tree Series / Blyton, Enid
Some fantastical ridiculousness. Also, in newer editions of these books, Fanny has been renamed Frannie. Just putting it out there.


A literary tea party : blends and treats for Alice, Bilbo, Dorothy, Jo, and book lovers everywhere / Walsh, Alison
This book features a plethora of recipes inspired by many, many books. There are recipes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Brian Jacques’ Redwall Series, Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, Agatha Christie, The Borrowers


The little library cookbook : 100 recipes from your favourite stories / Young, Kate
This one’s another collection of treats from a wide variety of books. If you like the sound of  Choclatl from His Dark Materials, Marshmallows from Tomorrow When the War Began, or Pear and Lemon Cake from Comet in Moominland then check it out!


The Pooh cook book: inspired by “Winnie-the-Pooh” and The house at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne; / Stewart, Katie

I’m mainly featuring this book because some part of me sniggered at the title. My childish proclivities aside, it does contain a lot of tasty recipes! From Poohanpiglet Pancakes and Biscuit Cake, to Honey Tart and Toad in the Hole, there’ll be something for everyone!

Winnie-the-Pooh / Milne, A. A.
Because who doesn’t wish they were a Bear of Very Little Brain living in the woods with a pot of honey and all your friends nearby?


Roald Dahl’s revolting recipes / Dahl, Roald
“Recipes for savouries, puddings, cakes, sweets and drinks, all of which have appeared in Roald Dahl’s books.” (Catalogue)

We’ve also got Roald Dahl’s Even More Revolting recipes!

Like Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl has written a LOT. Here are a couple of highlights:

Matilda / Dahl, Roald
Ah, Matilda. She’s super-smart, she loves books, and she’s great at pranks that serve some good comeuppance. Why not make yourself one of Trunchbull’s cakes and enjoy it while you read?

Skin and other stories / Dahl, Roald
You’ve surely read his fantastic children’s books, but have you read any of his much creepier works for older readers?

If you haven’t, well… They’re quite different!


The unofficial Narnia cookbook : from Turkish delight to gooseberry fool–over 150 recipes inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia / Bucholz, Dinah
Now the tasty food you make will distract you from the fact that somehow Christmas is still a holiday over in a whole other fantasy world Father Christmas has to sneak in to deliver presents.

The chronicles of Narnia / Lewis, C. S.
Definite classics. But Susan deserved better.


The Unofficial Recipes of The Hunger Games
This cookbook takes you on a culinary journey through all three of The Hunger Games books. It starts you off with the more basic food Katniss and her family were eating in District 12, then there’s the decadent food of the Capitol, the meal on the train on the way to the Quarter Quell, and the food offered in District 13.

If you’re feeling adventurous there are some more questionable sounding recipes you can try as well, such as “Charred Tree-Rat” and “Mom Everdeen’s Breakfast of Mush”.

The Hunger Games / Collins, Suzanne
Some good teen dystopia. And it’s confirmed that Panem is a future version of North America.

Books about books and books within books

Some of you may have read The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. It’s got a sequel too, The Night Country. If you haven’t read them, they’re both books about Alice who lives with her mother and has spent her whole life moving from place to place trying to avoid bad luck. Some weird stuff happens, her mother goes missing, and Alice figures out that it has something to do with a book of creepy cultish fairytales that her estranged grandmother wrote: Tales from the Hinterland. There are snippets of these fairytales throughout the two books, which are, as I’ve already said, creepy. And fascinating – throughout Albert’s book, everyone who reads these fairytales seems to become an also-creepy-fan of both the stories and their author.

They sound cool, right?! I mean, who doesn’t like the sound of a dark fairytale?

But sadly, you/me/we/the person reading The Hazel Wood never gets to read all these tales in full. At least not in The Hazel Wood, but I’ll get to that later.

Tales from the Hinterland is an example of a book within a book, and in this case, it started out as a fictional book. I’m saying fictional here because when Melissa Albert wrote The Hazel Wood, and created Tales from the Hinterland as something important to the plot, Tales from the Hinterland didn’t exist. She never planned to actually write these tales. The Hazel Wood is a work of fiction, and Tales from the Hinterland was a fictional book within that book.

At least, it was a fictional book until earlier this year when it was released as a real book! (and yes, we do have copies you can get out)

Let’s go over that again. Author writes book about a book. People like author’s book, she writes another. Readers have been interested enough in the book-within-the-book that author and editor decide to make the book in a book a real book.

There, nice and clear, right!?

Books within books within books within books…

Anyway, it shouldn’t be a surprise that people who write books sometimes also enjoy writing about books. And, in my case, that people who like reading books also like writing about books.

The point of this post is that I want to write about books that don’t exist and books that started off not existing. There are lots of them out there, a few different kinds, some that I wish were real, and some that (like Tales from the Hinterland) eventually became real! And, if you find this as interesting as I do, I want to know which books you’ve read about that you wish were real and you could actually read too!

Let’s get into it! (And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to give you links to the real books in our collection that you can read.)


The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death
This book within a book remains fully fictional. Ellen Kushner has written a short story with the same name, but it’s completely different and is about characters from her earlier book Swordspoint: a melodrama of manners. The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death can be found in Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword and it’s obviously very important. Two characters bond over it, it becomes a play and, in the words of one of the characters, “It’s not trash. It is full of great and noble truths of the heart. And swordfights.” There are a couple of these things in The Privilege of the Sword as well.

From what goes on in The Privilege of the Sword, we know that The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death is about the swordsman Fabian who is bound to kill Lady Stella, but they love each other, and there is an antagonist in the awful Mangrove with his awful moustache, and also Stella kisses Fabian’s friend Tyrian! And there are many swordfights and a scene with hunting cats on the roof, and it’s all very dramatic. But The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death is not a book we’ll ever get to read.

So you want to be a wizard
This not-real book appears in Diane Duane’s real book of the same title. In the real So You Want to be a Wizard, Nita finds the not-real So You Want to be a Wizard at the library. It looks just like one of those other books about a future career, except in this case the career is wizardry. Which is… not a Real Thing. But isn’t this such a wonderful idea!? That you can just find a book that has snuck itself onto one of the shelves in a library (an occurrence surely not possible here, due to our diligence and constant shelf-checking), a book that is there specifically looking for you, and that it is there to guide you on your journey to becoming a wizard? It’s a book that I think would just be so cool to read for real, because it would mean you were a wizard. For real.

The not-real So You Want to be a Wizard is a fictional non-fiction book, in that in the world of the book that it’s in, it’s a textbook for new wizards. Come on, that explanation makes perfect sense.

Over the woodward wall
This one’s just like Tales from the Hinterland, in that it was a fictional book within a real book (the real book in this case being Middlegame by Seanan McGuire), until it got written and published a couple of years after Middlegame.

Over the Woodward Wall is one of those weird stories about children who go off on a surreal adventure. Think The Phantom Tollbooth, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Book of Changing Things and Other Oddibosities. But this one was written by McGuire’s fictional alchemist, A. Deborah Baker, and contains hidden messages about her own agenda and doctrine that she wants to sneak through to future generations of children. There are quotes from Over the Woodward Wall at the start of each Middlegame chapter demonstrating different aspects of this doctrine and if you’ve read both books it’s fascinating seeing how the prewritten snippets of Over the Woodward Wall work their way into the published version.

Middlegame won an Alex Award last year, which is an award for for books that were written for adults but have special appeal for young adults, so make of that what you will.

My Parents Didn’t Steal an Elephant
Now THIS is a book that I wish I could read! My Parents Didn’t Steal an Elephant, by Uriah C. Lasso (unscramble that name and see what you get) is a book given to the main character Bradley in Louis Sacher’s There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom to use for a book report.

My Parents Didn’t Steal an Elephant is about an unnamed child who’s living with their aunt and uncle because their parents have been (get this!) accused of stealing an elephant.  There are excerpts from My Parents Didn’t Steal an Elephant in There’s a Boy in the Girls Bathroom that show just how great it is – like when the lawyer gets the child to eat peanuts so they can say if asked that they can eat fifty thousand peanuts a day. Totally manageable for a child and a normal number of peanuts of have in a house that has no elephants in it at all! (Question: Do elephants actually like peanuts?)

This nonsensical logic is just the sort of thing I like to find in a book, so since you can’t read Uriah C. Lasso’s My Parents Didn’t Steal an Elephant, you might as well go and read Louis Sacher’s Wayside School series for the same sort of fantastic nonsense.

The Princess Bride 
“What!” I can hear you saying, “The Princess Bride’s a real book/a classic movie!” Well, you’re right. The Princess Bride is a real book by William Goldman. BUT Goldman’s The Princess Bride is, as Goldman writes, merely an abridged version of the Florinese classic of the same name by S. Morgenstern. Except S. Morgenstern does not exist, Florin is not a real place, and the only The Princess Bride is Goldman’s.

S. Morgenstern’s The Princess Bride is a fictional book, that a fictional version of Goldman says is his favourite book from when he was a child (and according to the introduction of the 25th anniversary edition, still is). The fictional Goldman’s father read The Princess Bride to him as a child. Later in life Goldman realised that his father had left out a lot of the boring historical detail, the Morgenstern version wasn’t as exciting and swashbuckling as he remembered, and it was out of print and very hard to find, so he decided to write an abridged version so other people could love it as much as he did.

The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern is different to the other books in this list because of the way it exists within the world of Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Goldman’s framing of his own novel as a retelling of another fictional narrative is an effective and interesting literary device and is an example of metafictive or self-conscious storytelling.

Ok, that was possibly too much literature-nerd talk. Just know it’s fascinating.

There’s also another fictional book alluded to in The Princess Bride, which is its unpublished sequel Buttercup’s Baby. Some editions of The Princess Bride include a sample chapter of Buttercup’s Baby, but the fictional Goldman informs us that due to legal problems with the Morgenstern estate he has not been able to publish it.


So that’s a few of the books-within-books that I’ve come across. There are definitely more – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the actual guide), Don’t Go Out Alone, The Book of the Dead, The Neverending Story, Diseases of the Sheep… but this post is just getting far too long with the books I’ve already written about.

So now it’s over to you. What book within a book do you wish you could read?

An exciting Out on the Shelves update!

Unlike what you may have heard, librarians are actually human. And as such, we do like to boast a bit when we win things. So on with the boasting!

Back in June was the Out on the Shelves Campaign Week (actually two weeks, but we’ll let that slide!). If you don’t know what that is then I’d definitely recommend having a poke around the Out on the Shelves website, or even reading this blog post about it that we put up in June.

Anyway.

There’s a Campaign Week, there’s a Display Competition, and we won some things!

There were three categories, each with a winner and a runner-up. One is for the Best School Library Display, which we aren’t eligible for, but congratulations to St Hilda’s Collegiate School, the winner, and to Northcote School, the runner-up! You can see their displays on the Out on the Shelves website.

The winner of the Most Creative Display, however, was very exciting for us here at Wellington City Libraries. This category was won by our very own Johnsonville Library!

Check out their fantastic (and award-winning!) display:
A collage of four pictures of the Johnsonville library display. Largest at the bottom is the whole display, a table covered with a selection of pride flag scarves, a sign across the from saying "Out on the Shelves”, rainbow-themed books on stands, then a large rainbow arch across the whole table. The second picture is a close-up of a group of colourful painted wooden figures holding a sign that says “Pride!”. The third picture is of two small wooden people holding a sign that says “Be Trans and throw hands” above two 3D printed penguins that are holding hands. The last picture is of a small wooden Bernie Sanders sitting on a chair in his famous mittens and mask pose. He is wearing all pink, except for his mittens and socks which are rainbow.
Johnsonville Library is lucky enough to house Tūhura – The HIVE, our makerspace. The HIVE is full of all sorts of exciting things, a loom, a laser-cutter, and several 3D printers, to name but a few. And this display has made excellent use of these exciting things. There are those fantastic 3D-printed penguins and wonderful rainbow arch. And what about those pride-flag scarves adorning the table? They were woven right there on the loom in the library by expert staff, interested passers-by, and by many keen queer kids who use the library. And do you see those laser-cut wooden figures of people waving flags and banners? Those were painted for this display by some of the young people at one of the recent Youth Nights. Ka pai e hoa mā!

The Most Creative runner-up was Martinborough Library in the Wairarapa who also did a great job. But of course we’re firmly behind our own here in Johnsonville.

The winner of the Best Community Space Display was Dunedin Public Libraries down in …Dunedin.

But the runner-up was Te Awe Library, our CBD branch just off Lambton Quay!

Have a look at the Te Awe displays:
A collage of four pictures of two displays, clockwise from the left they are: first the whole upstairs display around the corner that sticks out into the young adult area. A large picture of a bookshelf has been stuck to the wall, on these shelves are the heading “Out on the Shelves”, holders for bookmarks, and pictures of book covers. Along the top are real books on stands. Hanging from above are rainbow paper chains and pompoms in pride flag colours. The second picture is a close-up of the fake bookshelves. The third picture is of the second display in the downstairs area. There are rainbow paper chains along the top, then a colourful heading of “out on the shelves”. On the left side are pictures of book covers, on the right side are posters of the Out on the Shelves booklists. Between the two sides is a vertical line of pride flags. The last picture is a close-up of a bookmark holder on the first display.
Such excellent rainbow chains! And those shelves look almost real (Out on the Shelves, get it?). There’s pompoms and flags and bookmarks. So fun!

A whole bunch of our libraries had awesome displays as well — check out these from Karori Library and Arapaki Library on Manners Street!

A collage of two displays. Left: A rainbow pyramid of books at Karori Library, decorated with person-shaped cutouts in various colours. Right: A brightly-coloured display of books at Arapaki Library, decorated above with rainbow streamers and balloons.

So that’s our celebratory blog post! We’re very happy to have taken part in the Out on the Shelves Campaign Week, very proud of our displays, and very excited to have won things!

Introduction to Warhammer

During the school holidays, we have all kinds of cool stuff going on under the banner of General NerderyNow, we would hardly be doing that title service if we ignored the kingpin of all things nerdy and wonderful: Warhammer 40K.

Ain't no party like a Warhammer party.

Warhammer is a miniature wargame set in the fantastical realms of a far future society in which human civilisation has stagnated and is beset on all sides by aliens, supernatural creatures, arcane powers, and Lovecraftian horrors. Since its inception in 1987, it has become the most popular miniature wargame in the world.

The excellent folk at Te Awe Library on Brandon Street are staging an Introduction to Warhammer event on Sunday May 2, 2-4pm, so you can learn all about the game, the hobby, the world and its characters, and receive a free figure to paint and take home, either to add to your army or start a new one. We are generously supported by the kind and dedicated bunch at Warhammer Wellington — your source for all your (other)worldly needs.

To register for this event or to find out more, email the team at Te Awe Library, or message us on Facebook or Instagram. To find out what else we have going on for the school holidays, visit our calendar or check out our blog.

What’s On for Wellington Pride?

Wellington Pride Festival logo, dark field, rainbow design surrounding

Join us for the Wellington Pride Festival 2021!

This month, from 13-27 March, is the Wellington Pride Festival | Tū Whakahīhī e te Whanganui-ā-Tara. As New Zealand’s longest-running Pride festival, Wellington Pride is the annual celebration of rainbow pride in our city, featuring LGBTQIA+ performers, historians, writers, artists, musicians, and — of course — librarians doing their thing for the community. Wellington City Libraries always joins in on the fun, and this year we have a selection of awesome events that you might be interested in coming along to. Check out the deets below!


Queer Stories: Discovering LGBTQIA+ History at the Library
Friday 19 March, 5.00 – 7.30pm
Newtown Library

Join some very cool librarians as they trace how LGBTQIA+ stories are told through the library’s collections in print, online, and on film. The event will conclude with a free screening of a queer film from our collection, and we anticipate rainbow cupcakes will be consumed voraciously!


The Queer History of Te Whanganui-a-Tara
Thursday 18 March, 5.30 – 7.00pm
Te Awe Library

Join us for an evening of sharing Wellington’s queer and takatāpui oral history. We’ll being hearing kōrero from historians Will Hansen and Roger Swanson, both involved in the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand (LAGANZ), as well as Kay’la Rian representing Tīwhanawhana celebrating the organizations 20th anniversary. More speakers to be announced!


Queer Experience and Expression
Thursday 25 March, 5.30 – 7.00pm
Te Awe Library

Hear from a variety of local queer and takatāpui artists about their experiences through their unique form of artistic expression. Celebrate the LGBTQI+ perspective that comes through in all varieties of expression. We’ll be hearing from illustrator Sam Orchard, Wellington-based artist and musician Olga Lapin, and Dr Elizabeth Kerekere — artist, LGBTQ+ activist, scholar and NZ politician with the Green Party.


Rainbow Storytimes with Hugo Grrrl and Friends
Sunday 14 March, 2 – 3pm at Johnsonville Library
Monday 15 March, 11am – 12pm at Karori Library
Saturday 20 March, 2 – 3pm at Kilbirnie Library
Sunday 21 March, 2 – 3pm at Te Awe Library

Okay, okay, I know if you’re reading this you’re probably not a kid, and you’re probably thinking these events are for kids. And they are! But they’re also for you. Come along for a most enchanting hour of stories, songs and games with some of Wellington’s most excellent drag performers, including Hugo Grrrl, Harlie Lux, Amy Thurst, and many more. So wholesome, so fabulous, so great — even if you’re not a kid, you’ll dig it! And if you’re an aspiring drag artist yourself, you should come along to see how it’s done!


Out in the City
Sunday 27 March, 11am – 5pm
Michael Fowler Centre, 2nd floor

Yes, your favourite library again has a stall at your favourite LGBTQIA+ community event of the year — Out in the City (it used to be called Out in the Park if the name sounds a little unfamiliar). We’ll be there all day handing out our signature queer literary icon badges (as well as the usual rainbow library ones!), and talking about LGBTQIA+ books, movies, online resources and more. Come and say hi!

Tūhono: Submissions are Closed!

Well, folks, this is it — submissions for Tūhono, our inaugural poetry journal for children and teens, are officially over. We received nearly 200 valid entries, all of which are going to be included in the final publication.

At the moment, the editorial team is hard at work adding all of the poems into our design templates, and we’re super excited with how it’s looking! We thought we might share with you some of our favourite moments reading through the poems. One of the first entries that really stood out to us was this poem by Thyme, age 16. It’s called ‘Included Components: notes to my past self in the form of a contents list.’

CONTENTS:

ASSORTED COMPONENTS: BLOOD, CONNECTORS, BONES, ETC       Factory Settings: Standard. Possibility of inherited deficiency.
(blood tests aren’t as bad as you’d expect them to be, and you won’t regret getting them)

BRAIN, 1 COMPONENT           Factory Settings: Open to programming. Runs best when fully charged.
(you’ll want to be proud of this, and that’s fine, but remember it’s okay not to be the best. it’s okay to get lower marks. let yourself fail sometimes)

CHEST, RIBS, TORSO   Factory Settings: Standard Breathing. Growth in chest area expected and normal.
(you won’t like how it changes. look after your ribs when you work this out)

ARMS, 1 PAIR       Factory Settings: Standard Flexibility. Bones will remain malleable for approximately 12 years.
(you’ll break them three times, but don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt as much as you think. don’t worry about your first cast’s awful color – you’ll have plenty more opportunities)

LEGS, 1 PAIR         Factory Settings: Average Length, Standard Flexibility.
(you might not like these either, but understand there’s nothing wrong with them. standard sizing is frustrating but you will find yourself a pair of pants that fit properly)

EYES, 1 PAIR        Factory Settings: Slight Nearsightedness, Standard Cone Cells. Optic nerves also included.
(you’ll get them tested, and think that they’re okay, but don’t be afraid to test them again later. school is easier when you can read the board)

HANDS, 1 PAIR            Factory Settings: Standard Flexibility, Multiple Fingers, Opposable Thumbs. Useful for grasping.
(they won’t always feel like they belong to you – they do. they’ll learn to create nice things, and sometimes not so nice things as well, but I promise you the scratches will fade eventually

I can reveal that we’ve chosen this poem to open the collection — but it’s just one of literally hundreds of exceptional pieces of work from Wellingtonians aged 5-18 that are making their way onto the page, all of which explore in different ways what it means to be connected, whether that’s to yourself, to others, or to something that you can’t quite see or feel, but know is there. More updates are in the pipeline as we approach publication, so keep your eyes peeled!

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