School Journal Exhibition & ComicFest!

Imagine being 110 years old! Well that’s how old the School Journal is turning in May and to celebrate Wellington Central Library is having an exhibition about the School Journal as part of the cool ComicFest 2017.

The School Journal was first published in May 1907, the same year New Zealand became a dominion and it has been going ever since. It’s packed full of stories, cartoons and articles by New Zealanders and many of the people who write and illustrate it are now famous all over the World! The School Journal has helped New Zealanders to find their own voice and has given us an opportunity to show who we were and what it is like to live in Aotearoa.

Over last 40 years comics have been a big part of the School Journal and many comic writers and illustrators have made there “bread and butter” through its pages.

Ask your parents or grandparents what they remember about the School journal and chances are they will have fond memories to tell you. Why not bring them down to Central Library to help prompt their memories.

The exhibition is on now and will run until the 9th of May. Better still come down for ComicFest on the 6th of May, grab some free comics and join in with the many free activities on offer. So hurry on in and find out more about the School Journal and all the amazing people who have contributed to it.

Some fun new fiction for you to try out!!!

Image courtesy of SyndeticsHappy Bethday by Knife & Packer

So I’m being chased through the park by a pack of angry zombies, I’ve got cake mix on my face and MY MOST EMBARRASSING PHOTO EVER IS IN THE SCHOOL MAGAZINE! Beth Orsen is back for her third hilarious adventure. And with a zombie party, Granny’s baking contest and Beth’s baby photos accidentally being printed in the school magazine, life is about to get messy again!

Image courtesy of SyndeticsPodkin One Ear by Kieran Larwood

A thick white blanket covers the wide slopes of the band of hills known as the Razorback Downs. Podkin One-Ear is a legend: a fearsome warrior rabbit whose reputation for cunning and triumph in battle has travelled the ages. When a travelling bard arrives at Thornwood Warren on Midwinter night, he is warmly welcomed. In return for food and lodging, he settles down to tell the tale of Podkin One-Ear – and soon the rabbits are enthralled to hear the story of how one lost little rabbit overcame the cruellest enemy imaginable, and became the greatest warrior their land has ever known.

Image courtesy of SyndeticsWelcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird

Twelve-year-old Omar and his brothers and sister were born and raised in the beautiful and bustling city of Bosra, Syria. Omar doesn’t care about politics – all he wants is to grow up to become a successful businessman who will take the world by storm. But when his clever older brother, Musa, gets mixed up with some young political activists, everything changes. Before long, bombs are falling, people are dying, and Omar and his family have no choice but to flee their home with only what they can carry. But no matter how far they run, the shadow of war follows them – until they have no choice but to attempt the dangerous journey to escape their homeland altogether. But where do you go, when you cannot go home?

Image courtesy of SyndeticsWhat not to do if you turn Invisible by Ross Welford

Turning invisible at will: it’s one way of curing your acne. But far more drastic than 13 year-old Ethel Leatherhead intended when she tried a combination of untested medicines and a sunbed. It’s fun at first, being invisible. And aided by her friend Boydy, she manages to keep her extraordinary ability secret. Or does she…? When one day the invisibility fails to wear off, Ethel is thrown into a nightmare of lies and deception as she struggles to keep herself safe, to find the remedy that will make her seen again – and solve the mystery of her own birth…

Image courtesy of SyndeticsAn Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo

It’s 1944. Elizabeth and Karli live in Dresden where their mother works at the zoo. When the zoo director announces that the dangerous animals must be shot to prevent them running amok if the town is bombed, the childrens’ mother moves a young elephant into the back garden to save her. Then the allied bombs begin to fall and the whole family, elephant included, must flee the city.

 

Top 10 Children’s eBooks 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 comics December 2016

Summer is here! So it’s time to take a pile of comics, find a big shady tree and spend some time letting the gentle breezes turn the pages for you. What would you take with you? Pages of Pokémon? Will you giggle at Garfeild and Titter at Tintin? Some more serious adventuring with Amulet?

There are other really cool titles with great illustrations, we have new titles coming in all the time so come in for a browse or have a look with ComicPlus online.

If you use a tablet or other device you can download so you can read them when you’re you’re out of wifi range or stream them while you’re connected.

1. Pokemon, by Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto

2. Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz

3. Garfield, by Mark Evanier and Jim Davis, Cedric Michiels

4. Big Nate, by Lincoln Peirce

5. Adventure time, by Ryan North and Chris Hastings

6. Tintin, by Herge

7. The Smurfs, by Peyo

8. Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi

9. Asterix, by Goscinni and Udzero

10. Chi’s sweet home, by Kanata Konami

Top 10 Children’s fiction December 2016

Alan MacDonald is in the Top 10 again with his Dirty Bertie series. Stuck for things to do in the holidays? Then this page was made for you (Dirty Bertie fans only!).

The Dirtie Bertie author honed his skills writing and performing for children in a travelling theatre troupe that visited schools.  Having an audience that threw paper at you when they were bored quickly showed him what kids like and dislike! Alan MacDonald has a page on his site dedicated to the drawings that children send him.  Do you have access to a scanner? We have one at the library if you don’t. You could send him a picture yourself !

1. Diary of a wimpy kid, by Jeff Kinney

2. Tom Gates series, by Liz Pichon

3. Storey Treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths

4. Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford

5. Dirty Bertie series, by Alan MacDonald

6. The Secret Seven series, by Enid Blyton

7. The BFG, by Roald Dahl

8. The enormous crocodile, by Roald Dahl

9. The world’s worst children, by David Walliams

10. Matilda, by Roald Dahl

Top 10 Children’s fiction November 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 eBooks October 2016

So what were the most popular eBooks for October online readers?  Classics, modern and old feature in the Top 10,  British authors, J. K. Rowling, Tolkien and Kenneth Grahame are leading with their adventures taking their characters through dangerous encounters. Valuable friendships are the magic ingredient to these tales.  So keep your friends close people, who knows when adventure will knock on your door!

 

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany and 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 Deathly Hallows, 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. The Bungalow Mystery : Nancy Drew Mystery series, by Carolyn Keene

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

9. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

10. Rodrick Rules : Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney

 

Cool new children’s books coming soon

There are some awesome new kids fiction titles coming out in the next couple of months. While they haven’t landed on our library shelves yet, they’re already on our catalogue for you to reserve. The ones listed here are all sequels, so you can catch up with the rest of the series while you’re waiting for the new orders to arrive.

 

Double DownDouble Down by Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid #11.

The pressure’s really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mum thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his “creative side.”

As if that’s not scary enough, Halloween’s just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.

When Greg discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can he get his mum off his back by making a movie . . . and will he become rich and famous in the process?

 

 

Frenemies Forever by Rachel Renee Russell – Dork Diaries #11.

Nikki is spending a week at North Hampton Hills as part of the school transfer programme.

The good news is that NHH is super-cool and preppy.

The bad news is that Nikki’s nemesis MacKenzie started there two weeks ago!

But, faced with NHH queen bee Tiffany, who takes meanness to a whole new level, Nikki might need to work WITH Mackenzie if she’s going to survive the week! Can Nikki and MacKenzie overcome their differences and become BFFS … Best Frenemies Forever?!

 

 

Hammer of ThorMagnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan – sequel to The Sword of Summer.

Thor’s hammer is missing again . The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon – the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds.

But this time the hammer isn’t just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can’t retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn.

Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer’s return is the gods’ worst enemy, Loki – and the price he wants is very high.

 

 

Rise of the Robot Army by Robert Venditti Robot Army

Following on from Attack of the Alien Horde comes the second book in the Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape series, about an eighth grader who finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the role of real-life superhero.

His latest mission: to defeat an army of robots designed to destroy him!

5 fun new children’s fiction books to kick off your springtime reading

 

Spring has sprung! The weather can be a bit mucky – sunny one day, raining the next. So it’s a good idea to have some awesomes reads on hand in case you need some emergency entertainment while waiting for the sun to shine. Try these new fiction books:

 

The Whispers of Wilderwood Hall by Karen McCombie

Ellis is losing track of time … Following her mother’s marriage to a famous rock star, Ellis moves to a crumbling old mansion in the wilds of Scotland. Far away from her friends and familiarity, she finds waves of anxiety rolling in and threatening to capsize her. But when she finds herself whisked back to the world of 1912 where she meets lonely servant girl Flora, Ellis finally feels like she’s home. But living in the past might not be as perfect as it seems … and is there more to hope for in the present than she first thought?

 

 

Image courtesy of Syndetics

The Castle of Inside Out by David Henry Wilson

Lorina, a young schoolgirl, is led by a black rabbit through a wood to a magical land. There she finds a race of green people, who are all overworked, starving and suffering from the toxic fumes billowing out of a nearby castle. She decides to gain access to the castle for the poor green people, and within its walls she meets the “insiders”, selfish creatures who hoard all the resources and treat the outsiders as slaves. Her quest leads her to encounter the bureaurat, the superviper, the farmadillo and, eventually, the awful Piggident himself.Will she be able to save the green people from the cruelty of these “insiders”?

 

 

Image courtesy of Syndetics

How to Beat Genghis Khan in an Arm Wrestle by Nick Falk and Tony Flowers

Join three friends as they use their imagination, settle playground scores and alter the entire course of history in the process! Big bully Zachary Black has stolen the awesome comic that Sid has spent hours drawing. Zachary sets Sid a challenge – beat him in an arm wrestle and the comic is his once again. Sid’s evil-genius neighbour, the Mighty Professor Skeletron, calculates Sid’s chance of victory as one in ten, so they create a Time Rescrambler in order for Sid to take the challenge ten times… and eventually win! But catastrophe strikes when the rewind button jams and the boys, along with Sid’s little sister, Wendy, are transported back to the time of the Mongol Empire. To make matters worse, the device falls into the hands of a fearsome warrior. Will they save the world, or will life as we know it no longer exist?

 

 

Alanna the First Adventure; Song of the Lioness #1Image courtesy of Syndetics by Tamora Pierce

Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, a learning many hard lessons along her path to high adventure.

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Syndetics

The Spy Who Loved School Dinners by Pamela Butchart

Izzy is really pleased to have been put in charge of the new girl at school. Matilde is French, and Izzy and her friends can’t wait to show her their den and its moth, and to help her avoid school dinners (also known as poison). But Matilde LOVES school dinners and even has seconds! And that’s when they know. Matilde is a spy and she has come to find out their secrets. They must stop her before it’s TOO LATE!!!

 

 

 

Top 10 Children’s eBooks September 2016

 The Harry Potter fans know where to download their eBooks!

Right here folks, the library has what you like, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!  I was surprised that it wasn’t at the top of the list last month, but it sure is now.  The new script version of Harry Potter’s future has been mighty popular. Olympian and time travelling heroes are also highly prized, with accomplished authors Rick Riordan and Eoin Colfer in the run up for the Top 10.

Do you want to queue up some books for the upcoming school holidays? You can reserve eBooks if someone has what you want out already. So now you can catch up with you favourite characters.

 

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 Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling

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

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

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

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

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

9. Fortune Cookie, by Cathy Cassidy

10. The Son of Neptune: The Heroes of Olympus Series, by Rick Riordan