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Ho Ho Ho! Get your stockings ready… Christmas is coming!

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We want to get in the festive season with you at our 12 Storytimes of Christmas.

Catch a sleigh ride into your local library between December 7th and 18th for a special festive family storytime. Come in your pyjamas or favourite Christmas costume for songs, stories and fun for the festive season.

Christmas Storytimes mediumCummings Park Library: 7-Dec, 6pm
Island Bay Library: 10-Dec, 10.30am
Khandallah Library: 10-Dec, 6pm
Wadestown Library: 10-Dec, 6pm
Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie): 10-Dec, 6pm
Newtown Library: 11-Dec, 6pm
Miramar Library: 14-Dec, 6pm
Brooklyn Library: 14-Dec, 6pm
Central Library: 16-Dec, 6pm
Karori Library: 17-Dec, 6pm
Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library: 17-Dec, 6pm
Johnsonville Library: 18-Dec, 6pm

These storytimes are free, and perfect for the whole family. No bookings required.

Fun New Kids Fiction!

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Image courtesy of SyndeticsTell Me by Joan Bauer

Feeling scared and powerless when her father’s anger escalates and her parents separate, twelve-year-old Anna spends the summer with her grandmother and decides to make a difference when she sees what seems to be a girl held against her will.

 

 

 

Image courtesy of SyndeticsThe Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud

“In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn’t made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood’s investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper. Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George’s curiosity attracts a horrible phantom. Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood’s annoyance. Bickerstaff’s coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found…”

 

The incomplete book of dragons; (a guide to dragon species)Image courtesy of Syndetics by Cressida Cowell

Long ago, the world was full of dragons. But what happened to them? Where are they now? These pages are taken from the notebooks of Viking Hero Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third when he was just a boy. A keen dragonwatcher, Hiccup paints a picture of the brilliance and fire and spirit of that lost dragon world. Featuring dragon profiles, dragon anatomy, dragon riding tips and lots more must know info e.g. how to spot the difference between an arsenic adderwing and a glow worm (you don’t want to mix those two up) and what to do when confronted with a Hellsteether.

 

Egg & Spoon Image courtesy of Syndeticsby Gregory Maguire

An impoverished Russian country girl Elena Rudina and the aristocratic Ekaterina meet and set in motion an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and the witch Baba Yaga.

 

 

 

Awful AuntieImage courtesy of Syndetics by David Walliams

Aunt Alberta is on a mission to cheat the young Lady Stella Saxby out of her inheritance – Saxby Hall. But with mischievous and irrepressible Soot, the cockney ghost of a chimney sweep, alongside her Stella is determined to fight back … And sometimes a special friend, however different, is all you need to win through

New Year! New Fiction!

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The River Singers by Tom Moonhouse

“Something was approaching the burrow. Something deadly. Something that made Sylvan’s fur bristle with fear . . . Knowing their lives are under threat, Sylvan and his brother and sisters have no choice but to abandon their burrow for ever. Together they set out on an epic journey along the Great River; but with dangers lurking at every turn, will they ever find a safe place to call home?”–Publisher description.

 

 

Image Courtesy of SyndeticsChitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon by Frank Cottrell Boyce

“The Tootings are stuck in 1966! Somebody’s stolen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and left them behind. But that’s not their biggest problem. Their biggest problem is that Little Harry’s been kidnapped by whoever stole their magical car. There’s only one solution: the Tootings must find the Potts — the family that originally built Chitty. Sharing their combined knowledge of how Chitty works, the families may stand a chance of rescuing Little Harry and finding the most brilliant car in the world. But a fiendish criminal has different plans, ones that involve flying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the moon and putting an explosive scheme into action.” (Review from Good Reads)

 

 

The Boy on the Porch by Sharon CreechImage Courtesy of Syndetics

“One day a young couple wakes to find a boy asleep on their porch. Unable to speak, the boy cannot explain his history. What kind of people would leave their child with strangers? All John and Marta know is that they have been chosen to care for this boy. As their connection to him grows, they embrace his exuberant spirit and talents. The three of them blossom into an unlikely family, but how long can their happiness last?”– From inside book cover.

 

 

Image Courtesy of SyndeticsRunt by Nora Raleigh Baskin

From different perspectives, explores middle school bullying as Maggie, tired of Elizabeth Moon’s superior attitude, creates a fake profile on a popular social networking site to teach Elizabeth a lesson.

 

 

 

 

Image Courtesy of SyndeticsThe Truth of Me by Patricia MacLachlan

Robbie and his dog, Ellie, spend the summer at his grandmother Maddy’s house, where Robbie learns many things about his emotionally distant parents and himself.

New fiction to devour

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Here’s some great new Junior Fiction books for you to borrow from our Library shelves!;

Upside Down in the Jungle by Helen Phillips

Our world turned upside down when bird-freak Dad went to the Central American jungle and didn’t come back. All we have from him is the Very Strange and Incredibly Creepy Letter, which Roo swears is in code. So what does she want us to do?

 

 

 

Spy Camp by Stuart Gibbs

As almost thirteen-year-old Ben, a student at the CIA’s academy for future intelligence agents, prepares to go to spy summer camp, he receives a death threat from the evil organization SPYDER.

 

 

 

Runaways by Sherryl Clark

Cassie and her brother Jack are on the run from the past, from the future and from their failure of a family. But where can they go? And can you ever really run away?

 

 

 

 

Story’s End by Marissa Burt

(Sequel to Storybound) “A deadly Enemy has threatened the future of Story–and twelve-year-old Una Fairchild is the only one who can stop his plans and save the character world from destruction”–Provided by publisher.

 

 

 

Mirage by Jenn Reese

The desert is no place for ocean-dwelling Kampii like Aluna and Hoku, especially now that Aluna has secretly started growing her tail.

 

Kids’ Review by Sofia

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce

This is a really good book. It is about a magical car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When the Tootings family finds out that it can fly they go on heaps of adventures. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has a mind of its own and is trying to find its missing parts. The Tootings go to Paris, The Sphinx and to a funny island. But will someone try to stop them? Here is a question: What is a lighting?
 
5 Stars
 
Review by Sofia of Hataitai
 
 

 

 

Kids’ Review by Jemima

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The Longest Whale Song by Jacqueline Wilson

The Longest Whale Song: even the title interests you! This story is about a small girl called Ella. She is already pretty upset as her new step-dad has moved in, plus her mum is pregnant! But as Mum goes in to hospital, after she’s had little baby Samson, Ella is getting worried. It turns out her Mum is in a coma. Panic!

Ella is made to act a lot more grown up than she feels, and her step-dad, Samson, and the moody nurse aren’t being much help. The reason I gave this story three stars is because it seems to go on and on. I still really enjoyed this book though, and would definitely recommend it to children aged 8-11. 3 stars.

Review by Jemima of Karori

Kids’ Review by Jemima

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Ways To Live Forever is an emotional, yet effective and powerful novel, by the one and only Sally Nicholls. Sam – the main character – is twelve years old and is struggling with leukemia. He wants to conquer everything before he dies, and with the help of his teacher and best friend Felix, he does everything from riding in an airship to kissing a girl. This book will make you laugh your head off one minute, and sob into your pillow the next! It is a whole emotional rollercoaster; a good one, of course. I would recommend it to children aged 10 – 14. 5 stars.

Review by Jemima of Karori

Kids’ Review by Emily

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Warriors: Bluestar’s Prophecy by Erin Hunter

A brilliant book! It was fun to read, but I also cried. This is the start of Firestar and Bluestar and her family. It is sad the way she suffers, and how she has to give her kits to her riverclan mate in order to stop Thistleclaw being deputy. They are fighting fight after fight, and marking their borders with blood. 4 stars.
Review by Emily of Newlands