Magic – Kids' Blog

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

Children’s Top 10 eBooks January 2017

Dusty14 February, 2017

Travelling with your library this summer? Our eBooks collection has such a great selection. Reading online or downloading a title is a great way to make sure you get all the books in a series.

Did you know that you can ask the library to add more books to the eBook collect? So if there’s something you really want to read online ask us to add it to the collection, and we’ll see what we can do. Either way someone will get back to you and let you know 🙂

Top 10 Children’s Fiction January 2017

Dusty29 January, 2017

So it’s the holidays – who’s bored? and who is reading? Want to bring some of those tales into real life? Want something delicious to eat but it will totally disgust your younger/older, brother/sister/friend/cousin/relative staying over for the holidays? Well Roald Dahl (who I just learned to pronounce correctly, “Roo-aal”) invented snozzcumbers for his non-human eating giant, you may remember these from the movie! An edible version for humans can be found in Roald Dahl’s revolting recipes, page 12 =)

And what’s been really popular over the holidays…?

Tom Gates series, by Liz Pichon
Diary of a wimpy kid series, by Jeff Kinney
Storey treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths
Dork Diaries, by Rachel Renée Russell
Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling
The Secret Seven, by Enid Blyton
Magnus Chase series, by Rick Riordan
The BFG, by Roald Dahl
Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford
Ruby Redfort, by Lauren Child

Boredom Busters!

admin17 January, 2017

Want to confuse and astound your family these holidays? Learn some cool magic tricks, such as the vanishing coin, or balancing a ball on a piece of string! Practise with the step-by-step instructions in these books and see who you can fool. You can find great magic trick books on the shelf under 793.8.

Why not check out our newest book? Magic tricks with coins, cards and everyday objects by Jake Banfield

Want to listen to music or an audio book on your smartphone or tablet? Find out how to make your very own speakers for them! Feeling competitive? Build a balloon-rocket car or a soap-powered boat, then challenge your friends to a race and see whose creation is fastest! Check out these great inventions and more in Home Lab: exciting experiments for budding scientists by Robert Winston

Want to create your very own animated video clip masterpiece? Find out how easy it is to do this by checking out Creating Digital animations: Animate stories with Scratch by Derek Breen. Follow the simple steps and projects using Scratch (free online software). Build a character, create a world and animate your story!

Want the ultimate challenge these holidays? Work your way through mind-bending puzzles, riddles and brainteasers in The Mysterious Benedict Society : Mr. Benedict’s book of perplexing puzzles, elusive enigmas, and curious conundrums by Trenton Lee Stewart, based on his Mysterious Benedict Society Books. Check out the Helpful resources on page 130, and the hints on page 140 if you get stuck. Want a good puzzle to start with? Try finding Milligan hiding in a crowd on page 67!

And finally…become a master at the dark art of shadow-puppets. Create over a hundred animals from unicorns and crocodiles to dogs and owls, from one-handed to two, easy to challenging. Make your next sleepover story extra creepy with these shapes! Check out The art of making shadows by Sophie Collins.

Top 10 Children’s eBooks December 2016

Dusty29 December, 2016

There no doubt in anyone’s mind that J. K. Rowling totally owns the December’s eBook Top 10. The world of Harry Potter continues to inspire new readers, but also people love to re-read these books. Re-visiting the books often reveals passages that were missed the first time round. Or when you read a book at a different age you get new things out of the writing, and J. K. Rowling explores different aspects of her characters as the series expands through the school years.

But wait what is that at the end of the list? Squeaking in at the end… Thea Stilton. The Thea sisters are out to solve the theft of a precious ring on a trip to Russia. A figure skating medal and a good reputation is at stake!

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J. K. Rowling

2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling

3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J. K. Rowling

5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J. K. Rowling

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J. K. Rowling

9. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by J. K. Rowling

10.Thea Stilton and the Lost Letters, by Thea Stilton

Top 10 Children’s non-fiction for November 2016

Dusty21 December, 2016

Star Wars fans are having a great lead into the holidays with the release of Rogue One. There are some great materials related to the space epic in the library, some of them remain exclusively in the library! The reference shelf has some amazing paper engineering – known as pop-up books. If you don’t see the Star Wars : a galactic pop-up adventure on the shelf, ask at a desk and you’ll get to see the glowing lightsaber appear from the pages!

1. LEGO Books, by Daniel Lipkowitz

2. Minecraft ; The survivors’ book of secrets, by Stephanie Milton

3. Harry Potter and the cursed child, by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany and J. K. Rowling

4. Star Wars, by Adam Bray

5. Star wars ; complete vehicles, by David West Reynolds

6. Minecraft, by Nick Farwell

7. Star Wars character encyclopedia, by Simon Beecroft

8. Guinness world records 2016, edited by Craig Glenday

9. Lego DC comics Super heroes character encyclopedia, by Simon Hugo

10.Minecraft hacks master builder, by Megan Miller

Top 10 Children’s eBooks November 2016

Dusty20 December, 2016

Overdrive has had a revamp! Are you liking the new layout?

Finding great titles that you can down-load and read remotely is a great way to carry your own personal library around with you. And it’s not going to squash your sandwiches like a dozen or so books would! So who did library children love in November? Authors whose first names begin with J. So if you’re a budding author, tried writing fan fiction maybe? And your name begins with J you could be in the Top 10 before you know it! If your name doesn’t begin with a J don’t despair – some very good authors who nearly made it into the Top 10, Neil Gaiman with Coraline and Francis Hodgson Burnett with The Secret Garden wrote popular books with really cool characters without a J anywhere in their names!

Our classic favourites have a new addition with Jaqueline Harvey’s Clemantine Rose, a girl who has a teacup pig! Unusual pets and great characters make this fun series to read through in the holidays. Have a look at Jaqueline Harvey’s blog for a choclatey recipe to try at home

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ,by J. K. Rowling

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J. K. Rowling

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling

7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J. K. Rowling

8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling

9. Clementine Rose and the Special Promise, by Jaqueline Harvey

10.The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

Top 10 Children’s fiction November 2016

Dusty16 December, 2016

Puzzle geniuses have been getting lots of inspiration at the Library. As well as fiction you can find some great seek and find adventures that will delight your eyes and tease your brain.

There are awesome illustrations in some of the puzzle books. Several of your favourite fiction books have cool pictures in them too. Dirty Bertie, Dork Diaries and Diary of a Wimpy Kid are brought to life with the characters
sketched in the pages.

Do you want to know more about the author of the Diary of a Wimpy kid series? His biography is now available!

Here’s your Top 10 for last month:

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney

2. Storey Treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths

3. Puzzle book series, by Susannah Leigh

4. Dork Diary series, by Rachel Renee Russell

5. Harry Potter series , by J. K. Rowling

6. The BFG, by Roald Dahl

7. The Secret Seven series, by Enid Blyton

8. Dirty Bertie series, by Alan MacDonald

9. Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford

10. The Twits, by Roald Dahl

Top 10 children’s comics for November 2016

Dusty8 December, 2016

The Pokemon phenomenon continues…

The animation, comic and app have captured the hearts and minds of many, so if you’re coming to the library for comics, reserve your copies to make sure you won’t be disappointed.

Did you know that Lord Evil has written an Adventure Time Encyclopaedia?! Anything you want to know from about the land of Ooo (from the perspective of Lord Evil) can be found in it’s pages. Luckily Finn, Jake and Marceline have put notes in the book when Lord Evil gets a bit over the top!

Here’s your November Top 10:

1. Pokemon, by Hidenori Kusaka and Yamamoto Satoshi

2. Big Nate, by Lincoln Peirce

3. Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz

4. Garfield, by Mark Evanier

5. Asterix, by Goscinny and Udzero

6. Tintin, by Herge

7. Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi

8. Adventure time, by Ryan North

9. Chi’s Sweet Home, by Kanata Konami

10. My Little Pony, by Ted Anderson

Top 10 Children’s non-fiction October 2016

Dusty7 December, 2016

What’s so special about October’s most favourite non-fiction library loans?

Literature! It’s been a great year for Children’s literature, with the new Gecko Press Annual filled with stories, songs, poems and illustrations hitting the shelves (find it on the shelf at 828 ANN).

Shakespeare in the library, there’s another performance coming up on December 10 at the Central Library and now…

The Harry Potter play. The much read book is found in the non-fiction section, with the Dewey number: 822 THO (if it’s not being borrowed by some other Harry Potter fan!)

But that aside, here were the most borrowed non-fiction items from the library in October:

1. Lego : Awesome ideas, by Daniel Lipkowitz