We’re kicking off the upcoming school holidays with an amazing event – Welly Word Art! Don’t miss this one!
Central Library, Monday 30th September at 2pm.
There will be amazing performances, games, competitions and crafts. We even have Small Blacks TV presenter Nua Finau coming along to play some games with you.
We have heaps of cool activities happening during the school holidays. Check out our Kids Events page for info.
.jpg "Storylines Festival")
Every year in Wellington there is a one day family festival, called Storylines, celebrating everything to do with books, reading, writing, illustration and authors.
This is your chance to not only see all the latest and coolest books, but also to meet authors and illustrators, play fun games, make craft, get freebies and have heaps of fun! There are even competitions you can enter on the day!
Storylines is at the Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday 17th August, starting at 10am. Entry is free! Wellington City Libraries will have a stall there, so make sure you come and say hi to us and tell us about your favourite books and great library experiences.
Check out the Storylines Festival programme here. To get into the storylines spirit you can enter this competition. Good luck!
See you at Storylines 2013!
The finalists for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards have been out for a while now, which means you’ve had heaps of time to read some and figure out your favourite… right?
Did you know that you could win a really cool prize just by voting for your favourite book?
Every year one book wins the Children’s Choice Award – this is the book that get’s the most votes by New Zealand Children. Often the authors say that it is the best award to win out of all of them.
By voting you and your school could win $1000 of book vouchers ($500 for you and $500 for your school). How many books do you think you could buy with that much money!!??
It’s really easy to vote – just go to the Children’s Choice voting page, enter your details and the name of your school, then choose your favourite book from the finalist list. Easy!
Voting closes on May 31st, so make sure you do it soon.
The New Zealand Post Book Awards winners are announced during the festival week on Monday 24th June. In the week leading up to the ceremony we have some cool, free and fun events happening that I’m sure you’d love to come to. Stayed tuned for more info on this!
Happy voting!
Here are the list on Non-Fiction finalists for the New Zealand post Children’s Book Awards:
100 Amazing Tales From Aotearoa by Simon Morton & Riria Hotere
Based on the TVNZ television series “Tales from Te Papa” and contains 2 DVDs including the original TV series. Find out about quirky NZ stories featuring some strange and precious artifacts.
Kiwi: the real story by by Annemarie Florian & Heather Hunt
With lots of illustrations a bold rhythmic verse describes the North Island brown kiwi in action in the bush, and a non-fiction narrative provides readers with added insight into kiwi biology and behaviour
Taketakerau, The Millennium Tree by Marnie Anstis, Patricia Howitt & Kelly Spencer
The story of a child who listens to Koro and Grandma as they weave a tale about the life and times of the ancient pūriri tree Taketakerau, the settlement and development of New Zealand, and world events that happened over the last 2000 years
At the Beach: Explore & discover the New Zealand seashore by Ned Barraud & Gillian Candler
Find out all about the New Zealand seashore in this amazing new book with fantastic illustrations. The book includes a removable, waterproof, quick-reference guide to common seashore animals
From these 4 great books a winner will be announced on June 24th. You can vote for a winner too – in the Children’s Choice Award (and you’ll go in the draw to win $500 of book vouchers for you and your school).
Here are the shortlisted books for the Junior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards:
The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi & Gregory O’Brien
Perry’s mother and father are busy people … they’re impatient, they’re tired, they get cross easily. And they think that only children, like Perry, should be kept busy. On Saturday mornings Perry and her father visit her gran, Honora Lee, at the Santa Lucia rest home, but Gran never remembers them. ‘Who is that man?’ Honora Lee asks when Perry’s father leaves the room. After movement class is abruptly cancelled, Perry is allowed to go to Santa Lucia on Thursday afternoons. She discovers her Gran has an unconventional interest in the alphabet, so Perry decides to make an alphabet book with the help of Honora and the others. Soon everyone is interested in Perry’s book project.
The Queen and the Nobody Boy (A Tale of Fontania) by Barbara Else
Hodie is the unpaid odd-job boy at the Grand Palace in the Kingdom of Fontania. Fed-up, he decides to leave and better himself. The young Queen, 12-year-old Sibilla, is fed-up too. Sick of gossip about her lack of magical ability, she decides to run away with Hodie, whether he likes it or not.
This is the sequel to The Travelling Restaurant.
My Brother’s War by David Hill
It’s New Zealand, 1914, and the biggest war the world has known has just broken out in Europe. William eagerly enlists for the army but his younger brother, Edmund, is a conscientious objector and refuses to fight. While William trains to be a soldier, Edmund is arrested. Both brothers will end up on the bloody battlefields of France, but their journeys there are very different. And what they experience at the front line will challenge the beliefs that led them there.
Red Rocks by Rachael King
While holidaying at his father’s house, Jake explores Wellington’s wild south coast, with its high cliffs, biting winds, and its fierce seals. When he stumbles upon a perfectly preserved sealskin, hidden in a crevice at Red Rocks, he’s compelled to take it home and hide it under his bed, setting off a chain of events that threatens to destroy his family. Red Rocks takes the Celtic myth of the selkies, or seal people, and transplants it into the New Zealand landscape, throwing an ordinary boy into an adventure tinged with magic
Uncle Trev and His Whistling Bull by Jack Lasenby
More humorous stories of life on the farm with Uncle Trev and his family set in New Zealand during the 1930’s.
There are many other Uncle Trev books. Why not try the first book called ‘Uncle Trev‘ or Uncle Trev and the Treaty of Waitangi, or Uncle Trev’s Teeth and Other Stories?
From these 5 great books a winner will be announced on June 24th. You can vote for a winner too – in the Children’s Choice Award (and you’ll go in the draw to win $500 of book vouchers for you and your school).
We had loads of amazing review by all you super readers over the 2012-2013 Summer Reading Challenge, those that read & reviewed more than 10 books all went into the draw for the BIG prizes.
Two names were drawn…
Congratulations to Emma and Marina!
Emma (left) is pictured here with Librarian Sarina at Miramar Library. Emma read and reviewed 13 books for the Summer Reading Challenge – cool!
Marina (right) is standing and smiling with Librarian Florence at Kilbirnie Library. Marina managed to read and review 21 books over summer and lots of them were in the back of the car on long car trips – wow!
Just because summer is over and you’re back at school doesn’t mean you have to stop! You can keep reading and reviewing books and winning prizes With the Kids’ Club – and online book club for 5-12 year olds. Go there now and start earning prizes.
Here is the shortlist for the Picture Books category of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards:
A Great Cake by Tina Matthews
Harvey wants to bake a great cake, but doesn’t have all the ingredients. That doesn’t stop him. Harvey can make cakes from the most amazing things!
Melu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Ali Teo & John O’Reilly
Melu has always been different. While the other mules stubbornly clip-clop around the sun-baked hills, Melu dreams of swimming in the glittering green sea below. But it will take more than stubborness for Melu to reach the glittering green sea.
Mister Whistler by Margaret Mahy, Illustrated by Gavin Bishop
Absentminded Mister Whistler always has a song in his head and a dance in his feet. In a rush to catch the train, he is so distracted he loses his ticket. Is it in the bottom pockets of his big coat or the top pockets of his jacket? Perhaps he slipped it into his waistcoat. Where is Mister Whistler’s ticket?
Mr Bear Branches and the Cloud Conundrum by Terri-Rose Baynton
Lintfrey Longfellow would love nothing more than to sit among the clouds… But sadly, clouds just aren’t made for sitting on. Can Mr Bear Branches find a solution to Lintfrey’s cloud conundrum
Remember that November by Jennifer Beck, illustrated by Lindy Fisher
It’s almost Guy Fawkes Night, and at the school speech competition Andy talks about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. The children cheer excitedly, thinking Andy will win the contest. But then, Aroha gets up, wearing a white feather in her hair, and tells the story of another fifth of November – the invasion of Parihaka in 1881
Also published in te Reo as Maumahara ki tērā Nōema
From these 5 great books a winner will be announced on June 24th. You can vote for a winner too – in the Children’s Choice Award (and you’ll go in the draw to win $500 of book vouchers for you and your school).
The shortlist for the annual New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards have been announced.
The awards nominate the best NZ children’s books that have been published in the last year in 4 categories – Picture Book, Junior Fiction, Non-Fiction and Teen.
During the NZ Post Book Awards festival week, which is June 17th – June 24th, there will be fun events and the winners of each category will be announced. Watch this space for more info.
The best thing is that you get to vote for one of the winners! Every year children can vote for their favourite book from any of the categories. The Children’s Choice Award is the one that all the authors and illustrators want to win, and you could win too! By voting you could win $500 of book vouchers for yourself and for your school – cool! Get voting!
We’ll be profiling the shortlist here on the blog so you can find out about all these super cool books and get your hands on them.
The Summer Reading Challenge is almost over. Have you read enough to go into the prize draws?
The challenge finishes at midnight on Sunday 3rd February – that’s only 2 days away? Will anyone be up late on Sunday writing reviews?
Remember – you need to read and review 10 books from the Summer Reading Challenge booklist to get an entry into the prize draw. There is another prize draw for those super readers who read and review 20 or more books from the list.
Hurry, hurry hurry!
Only 10 days to go!! How’s your summer holiday reading been going? It looks like it has been going really well, judging by all the reviews coming in.
Some books are really popular, others not so much. Thanks for your thoughtful and honest reviews about what you are reading. It looks like you are all loving The 39 Clues series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Judy Moody, Frindle, The Magic Tree House series, Ramona, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.
Many of you are now in the draw to win the big prizes. Here is the latest list of the top summer readers (in alphabetical order):
The Summer Reading Challenge finishes at midnight on Sunday 3rd of February.
