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Top 10 Children’s Non-Fiction March 2017

Dusty8 May, 2017

Great books to get your brains tingling! If you’re building a Minecraft empire or brushing up your acting skills with the Harry Potter script the top issuing non-fiction books have something you’ll love.

Batman and Lego fans are loving the new movie, The Batman movie : the essential guide, by Julia March and The Batman movie : the making of the movie, by Tracey Miller-Zarneke will give you inside knowledge into creating the new Lego legend. Want to build your own Lego Batman? Minecraft may be the creative space you’ve been looking for!

LEGO series, by Daniel Lipkowitz
Minecraft, by Stephanie Milton
Hacks for Minecrafters, by Megan Miller
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany and J. K. Rowling
Minecraft, by Nick Farwell
Star Wars character encyclopedia, by Simon Beecroft
Minecraft : Construction Handbook, by Matthew Needler
The Batman movie : the essential guide, by Julia March
Dog, by Juliet Clutton-Brock
Guinness World Records 2017, Craig Glenday editor in chief

Top 10 Children’s eBooks February 2017

Dusty29 March, 2017

Adventures, supernatural foes and heroes of all shapes and sizes fill the pages of the eBooks available through the library’s Overdrive service. Harry Potter dominates eBooks! Other titles creeping up the ranks are also books that are movies. The recent Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children has a great cast featuring Chris O’Dowd, as a moody Dad and Peculiars, Eva Green and Judi Dench get some amazing special effects treatments in their bird transformations. So book or movie? How do you rate the film versions of these books? Let us know in the comments?

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Official Script Book, by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J. K. Rowling,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J. K. Rowling,
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
Mockingjay: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Have you voted for the ‘Bird of the Year’ yet?

admin12 October, 2015

Each year Forest and Bird gives the nation the chance to vote for their favourite New Zealand Bird. The winning bird becomes the ‘Bird of the Year’

The 5 previous winners have been the Fairy Tern (Tara Iti), Mohua, Karearea, Pukeko, and Karariki. Who will win the 2015 title?

New Zealand’s native birds are unique. Did you know that more than half the birds in New Zealand are not found in any other countries? Unfortunately due to predators and habitat loss, many of our birds are endangered and threatened with extinction.

At the Bird of the Year website you can find out about a wide variety of our birds, and vote for your favourite.

Will the 2015 bird be the Hihi? Kākā? Bar-Tailed Godwit? Kererū? Kōkako?

Voting closes on October 25th.

New eBooks for children

admin17 June, 2015

Winter weather has you stuck inside? Can’t get to the library? Here’s the newest eBook fiction added to our collection:

1. 11 Birthdays: Willow Falls Series, Book 1 by Wendy Mass (also an eAudiobook)

2. 13 Gifts: Willow Falls Series, Book 3 by Wendy Mass (also an eAudiobook)

3. Beauty and the Beast: Twice Upon a Time Series, Book 3 by Wendy Mass

4. Connect the Stars by Marisa de los Santos

5. Finally: Willow Falls Series, Book 2 by Wendy Mass (also an eAudiobook)

6. Graceful: Willow Falls Series, Book 5 by Wendy Mass

7. Nanny Piggins and the Accidental Blast-Off 4 by R. A. Spratt

8. Nanny Piggins and the Pursuit of Justice 6 by R. A. Spratt

9. Nanny Piggins and the Rival Ringmaster 5 by R. A. Spratt

10. Nanny Piggins and the Runaway Lion 3 by R. A. Spratt

11. Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan 2 by R. A. Spratt

12. Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures: Pip Bartlett Series, Book 1 by Maggie Stiefvater (also an eAudiobook)

13. Planet Kindergarten by Sue Ganz-Schmitt (eBook with Narration)

14. Rapunzel, the One With All the Hair: Twice Upon a Time Series, Book 1 by Wendy Mass

15. Sisters: Smile Series, Book 2 by Raina Telgemeier (Comic)

16. Sleeping Beauty, the One Who Took the Really Long Nap: Twice Upon a Time Series, Book 2 by Wendy Mass

17. The Last Present: Willow Falls Series, Book 4 by Wendy Mass (also an eAudiobook)

18. The Whispering Trees: The Thickety Series, Book 2 by J. A. White (also an eAudiobook)

19. You Can’t Sit With Us: Mean Girl Makeover Trilogy, Book 2 by Nancy N. Rue

Gallipoli Campaign in LEGO

admin24 April, 2015

We found this great clip of the Gallipoli Campaign using everyone’s favourite LEGO blocks and characters. It gives a really good overview of the battle.

Explore ANZAC day and WW1 with these great websites

admin23 April, 2015

Are you looking for reliable online info about World War One? We have created a lit of great websites that you can go to for info on the causes of the war, the treaty that ended that war, ANZAC Day and Gallipoli, New Zealand’s involvement, and websites that provide info on casualties and gravesites.

Websites about the causes of World War One

The BBC has a great site dedicated to WWI including a section on the causes of the conflict: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25365441
BBC’s Bitesize section (tailored to the English school curriculum) has a section on the causes and interactive tests: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/
Closer to home, the New Zealand History site has a page dedicated to the origins of the war: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/first-world-war-overview/origins
Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand also has a war origins page: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/first-world-war/page-1
The Imperial War Museum, one of the best war museums, has a page on their website about the ‘path to war’: http://www.iwm.org.uk/history-terms/first-world-war/path-to-war
FirstWorldWar.com has a comprehensive page on how the war began: http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/index.htm (this site hasn’t been updated since 2009 so we suggest checking any information you find against other websites).

Websites about the Treaty of Versailles

Good for answering ‘what is..?’ questions, Wisegeek has a section on the treaty: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-treaty-of-versailles.htm
The Museum of Australian Democracy has images of the treaty with information about its significance: http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-23.html
FirstWorldWar.com has a primary documents page that focuses on the treaty, and includes a breakdown of the treaty’s articles: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/versailles.htm
Omni Atlas contains an interactive map of Europe that illustrates the impact of the treaty on the boarders and alliances: http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19190628/
BBC history has a page about the treaty that’s pitched at a secondary school level: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/versailles_01.shtml

Websites about ANZAC Day

New Zealand History provides information about the history of the day, the ceremony, and modern ANZAC day: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzac-day/introduction
The government’s site for Gallipoli2015 (100 year anniversary) has information on the 2015 commemoration: http://www.gallipoli2015.govt.nz
The government also runs an official site for ANZAC day with lots of good information: http://anzac.govt.nz
The returned Services Association (RSA) has some brief information on ANZAC Day, and is good for finding out about what happens at an ANZAC Day service and where they are happening: http://www.rsa.org.nz/anzac-day-%E2%80%93-25-april
For the Australian perspective, the Australian Army has a page with information: http://www.army.gov.au/Our-history/Traditions/ANZAC-Day and the Australian War Memorial has a site that includes speeches, photographs and historical facts: http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac-day/
Information about the red poppy can be found on the New Zealand History site: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzac-day/poppies, the RSA site: http://www.rsa.org.nz/poppy and the British RSL site: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/how-the-nation-remembers/the-story-of-the-poppy

Websites about New Zealand’s involvement

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand has a comprehensive section on the war from the New Zealand perspective: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/first-world-war
Similarly, New Zealand History has lots of information about our involvement in the war, including media such has campaign maps: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/nz-goes-to-war
The National Army Museum website has stories about individual New Zealand Soldiers: http://www.armymuseum.co.nz/kiwis-at-war/voices-from-the-past/

Websites with ANZAC Poetry

Australia’s ANZAC day site has a list of poetry with an ANZAC theme: http://www.anzacday.org.au/anzacservices/poetry/poetry01.htm
The Australian War memorial site has 2 poems about the ANZACs: http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs/poems/
New Zealand’s ANZAC Day site has an order of ceremony for ANZAC day: http://www.anzac.govt.nz/today/orderofceremony.html

Websites with casualties, wounded, and graves information

FirstWorldWar.com has a list of the dead, wounded and missing from each country involved in the war: http://firstworldwar.com/features/casualties.htm
New Zealand History provide a month-by-month breakdown of New Zealand casualties for the war: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/first-world-war-casualties-month
New Zealand History also have a memorials register: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/memorials
A UK site dedicated the World War One has information about records of the dead and war graves. Also contains links through to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/research/military-records/ww1-war-dead-records.htm#recordsbritishcwealthdead
Commonwealth War Graves Commission has information about burial grounds and memorials: http://www.cwgc.org/
Auckland War Memorial Museum have a online cenotaph register: http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/cenotaph/locations.aspx

Websites with primary sources

DigitalNZ is an online resource for images and other media: http://www.digitalnz.org/ Use their search box to find World War One (or Great War) media.
Papers past is a digital archive of New Zealand Newspapers: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast Search for World War One, Great War, or individual battles and campaigns. You can limit the results by date, region and title of publication.
Christchurch City Libraries has a online digital archive of primary resources: http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/DigitalCollection/WarsandConflicts/WorldWarI/

General World War One sites

BBC: http://www.bbc.com/ww1
BBC Schools page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/
Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/first-world-war
New Zealand History: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/first-world-war
WW100: http://ww100.govt.nz/
Imperial War Museum: http://www.iwm.org.uk/
FirstWorldWar.com: http://www.firstworldwar.com/
Archives New Zealand: http://archives.govt.nz/world-war-one
The British Library: http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one
National Library New Zealand: http://natlib.govt.nz/ww100

You are also welcome to chat live with an online librarian, who will help you with your research and finding online resources. AnyQuestions is a government-funded homework help service for New Zealand School Students. It’s open 1pm – 6pm Monday to Friday. Go to the site, type in your question, and chat to a librarian who will help you with your question and finding online information sources. It’s fun and free!

Back to school – here’s a website to bookmark

admin20 April, 2015

So long holidays, hello school. We hope you enjoyed your April School Holidays (despite the weather) and managed to read heaps of awesome books and do cool stuff. Did you get along to any our the Libraries’ awesome holiday activities?

But now that you’re back to school, you’ll need to know about where to go for homework help. Here’s two great starting places:

AnyQuestions.co.nz and ManyAnswers.co.nz

These two NZ websites are designed to help school students find online information for their school work. AnyQuestions is a live service – which means you chat live with a librarian who will help you find helpful websites with the information you need. AnyQuestions in open Monday – Friday from 1pm to 6pm. All you need to do is visit the website, type in your question, and you’ll be chatting live with a librarian very soon. The librarian will talk to you about your question and the information you need, and then will help you to search for helpful and trustworthy websites.

ManyAnswers is open 24/7 and has lots of great tips about where to find online info for heaps of topics. Use the search box or topic cloud to find advice on how to search for your topic. this is a great place to visit when AnyQuestions is not open for a live chat.

Download and keep Horrible Histories magazine for free

admin6 March, 2015

We know you all love Horrible histories, and now you can download the magazine for free through our website. Best bit – you get to keep them!

Zinio is where you can download heaps of magazines -it’s a bit like eBooks, but with magazines. There are heaps of cool international and New Zealand ones to chose from – sport, cooking, movies, music, pets, science and technology, and more. Take a look!

Here’s where you’ll find the Horrible Histories magazine.

Back to school!

admin13 October, 2014

The school holidays are over and it’s time to go back to school! We hope you had a great two week break.

Your teacher is bound to start giving you projects and homework to do – and we’re here to help!

Have you heard about AnyQuestions.co.nz? It’s a live online homework help service where you can chat live to a New Zealand Librarian who will help you find the information you need online. It’s a free service and open Monday to Friday 1pm – 6pm. the service is available in English and te Reo.

If you need help outside those times you can go to ManyAnswers.co.nz. This is the sister website for AnyQuestions.co.nz and has information about where to find information online for thousands of homework topics.

Of course you can always visit your local Wellington City Library after school and ask the librarians for help finding information -they’re always happy to help!

Give it a go!