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Reading, Wellington, and whatever else – teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

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Tūhono 2024: We Want Your Poems!

Tūhono, Wellington City Libraries’ poetry journal for children and teens, will soon be opening for submissions! From 1 April – 12 May, we will be accepting submissions of poetry from young writers aged 5 – 18 in Wellington City. In previous years we have published more than 200 young poets in Tūhono — so this year we’ll again be splitting it into two books, one for kids and one for teens.

Unlike some other poetry journals, having your work accepted in Tūhono is not a competition — as long as you follow the rules of submission, every piece of work that gets sent to us will be published. Tūhono itself will be published as an eBook on OverDrive, and in a limited print run for our libraries, so that everyone with a library card can borrow it and bask in your talent and glory! Check out previous editions of Tūhono on our catalogue here.

Let your poetic thoughts take wing!

Here is all the information you need in order to submit a poem for inclusion in Tūhono 2024:

When?

  • Submissions are open from 1 April – 12 May 2024.
  • The journal will be published and available to borrow from the library in late 2024.

Where?

  • Submissions may be entered here from the 1st of April.

Who?

  • Anyone between the ages of 5 and 18 who lives in the Wellington region may participate.
  • You may submit as an individual or as a group.

What?

  • Theme: We want you to write a poem on the theme of “Tūmanako | Hope.” The kupu Māori ‘tūmanako‘ has a wide range of meanings, including the act of hoping or wishing for something to happen, as well as hope as an object — something that you greatly desire, yearn for, or wish to be so. When you are writing your poem, you might like to think about some of the following questions, but as always with Tūhono, there is no one way we expect you to respond to this theme:
    • Act of hoping — how does hope make you feel? What does hope help you to achieve? What does hope mean to you? When you are hoping for something to happen, what thoughts and feelings come into your mind? How does the act of hoping make your body feel?
    • Hope as an object — Do you hope for something tangible, like a new thing to own? What does that thing look like, smell like, taste like, sound like, or feel like? Do you hope for something intangible, like world peace? What does that look like, smell like, taste like, sound like, or feel like? When you have gained (or not) the thing that you have hoped for, what do you think that will feel like?
  • Length: Your poem should not be longer than one A4 page typed, with size 12 font and 1.5 line spacing. Only one poem per person will be accepted.
  • Language: Your poem may be written in English or te reo Māori.
  • Format: Your poem should be submitted as a .doc, .docx, or .txt file.

Why?

  • We want to give all young people in Wellington the opportunity to have their work published on an accessible platform. We think everyone deserves a platform and the chance to see something they created be part of the library’s collection, alongside all the other great authors and poets represented on our shelves. Tūhono aims to be a uniquely Wellington collection of writing, capturing the thoughts and emotions of kids and teens from all over the city and region across time. We consider ourselves lucky to be able to provide this platform for your creativity to take wing.

Throughout the months of April and May, we will be posting regular updates on this blog providing inspiration for your writing — so keep your eyes peeled! If you would like more information about Tūhono, you are more than welcome to contact the editors here. Happy writing, everyone! We are so excited to see what you come up with.

What’s on for Wellington Pride 2024?

March is almost upon us, which means we’ve been getting ready for the Wellington Pride Festival | Tū Whakahīhī e Te Whanganui-ā-Tara which runs from the 1st to the 17th of March. If you’re familiar at all with us here on the WCL Teen Blog, you’ll know that we’re a pretty pride-ful bunch. So we have a whole plethora of library events for you to attend!

Read on to see what we’ve planned for you!


Rainbow Youth Nights

Waitohi | Johnsonville Library
Saturday 2 March, 5.00-8.00pm

Te Māhanga | Karori Library
Saturday 16 March, 5.00-8.00pm

Our Rainbow Youth Nights are back! We’ll be open after-hours for rainbow and takatāpui youth (and friends!) to socialise, have fun, explore our spaces without any of those pesky grown-ups around, and experience the General Youth Night Vibes of crafts, chats, gaming, and pizza.

Our Youth Nights are completely free (pizza included!) but you do need to be 14+ and of High School Age to attend, so please come prepared to show your school ID. And, if you have fun at a Rainbow Youth Night, you should come along to our regular monthly Youth Nights which are only slightly-less-rainbow-themed than these ones!


Wear Your Pride: Badge Making and Friendship Bracelets

Te Awa-a-Taia | Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library
Wednesday 6 March, 4.00-5.00pm

Taylor Swift brought friendship bracelets back, so of course we’re jumping on the bandwagon!

We’ll supply all the materials, you come along and create friendship bracelets and also use the Official Library Badge Maker to create your ideal Pride badge.


My Story, My Pride: A Youth Poetry Pride Workshop

Ngā Puna Waiora | Newtown Library
Thursday 7 March, 4.00-5.00pm

Are you a writer? Do you have Poetic Thoughts that you’d like to better express on the page?

Then come along to this workshop and explore the intersections between power, poetry, and being queer with a published poet!

Registrations are required, so follow the Friendly and Safe link above to find out how to register.


Comics, Queerness, and Community: A Workshop with Sophie Labelle and Sam Orchard

Waitohi | Johnsonville Library
Friday 8 March, 5.30-7.00pm

Wow! We’re very excited about this one. Amazing comic artists and Excellent Humans Sophie Labelle and Sam Orchard are leading a workshop at OUR Johnsonville Library. Yeah, we can’t quite believe it either.

If you’re a comic artist (or aspiring comic artist) this is something not to miss! Sam and Sophie will discuss comic-making and the power of art to bring communities together, and will take you through the process of creating a comic strip.

This event is for people aged 16+. Follow the link above to register.


Just to be Queer: Zine-making Workshop

Ngā Puna Waiora | Newtown Library
Thursday 14 March, 4.00-5.00pm

We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re making zines! Or rather, we hope you will be making zines.

Drag your friends along to the library to learn all about zines. Or if you’re already an expert, just make a bunch of zines! As an extra incentive, once you’ve made a zine, we are able to copy it and have it added to the Wellington City Libraries Zine Collection!


Youth Pride Quiz

Te Awe Library
Friday 15 March, 6.10-8.00pm

Do you wish you had a tiny trophy that proves how great you are at answering questions? If so, we’ve got the event for you!

This is another after-hours event, so the library will only be open for you keen quizzers. We’ve written some Pride-themed questions, you want to answer them (or so we’re hoping), and we’re just planning a fun night in general!

Register your team through the link above.


Rainbow Storytime with Queen Olivia III

Te Awa-a-Taia | Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library
Saturday 16 March, 11am-12 noon

Yes, we get this is a storytime more aimed at kids. BUT you may know some kids and can share the glorious word? Or you might just feel like dropping into the library to relive your own childhood?

Anyway, Queen Olivia Lucretia-Bourgeois Connie St Redfern III is a fantastic storyteller so if you or any children you encounter come along, you’re sure to have a magical time.


Out in the City

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington CBD
Sunday 17 March, 10am-4pm

Yes, our excellent Library Stall will be back at Out in the City! We’ll be there all day handing out books and badges – grab your favourite queer author, or rummage around for the Pride Flag of your choice – and talking about LGBTQIA+ books, movies, online resources and more. Come and say hi!

 

Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Soft Apocalypse Scouts!

Folks! Friends! Fellow humans living on this nice crispy earth!

The year is 2023. The global is warming, the 1 are %ing and things are looking iffy… Enter the Soft Apocalypse! It’s time for us to give capitalism the finger, and return to our humble roots as a pastoral society that bakes bread and sings Kumbaya way too often. AKA my escapist daydream when the Stresses of Life get a bit too much (my Soft Apocalypse plan includes joining a commune and inventing a new cryptid, Mary Shelley-style).

Welcome to Soft Apocalypse for Beginners, where we will be embarking on a journey of Learning to Look After Ourselves Even if the World is Ending (and saving the bees while we’re at it)!

Ah, summer. The season of weird sunburn patterns and everything being just a little bit sticky. Don’t get me wrong – I love summer, but in my high school days, this was also the hot little season in which I lost all sense of routine and purpose outside the structure of school. Thankfully, I am now an adult which means I can come up with whatever dumb activities I like for the sake of personal enrichment, and today I am here to share some of these said dumb activities, so if the hot season ennui is getting you down… why not become a Soft Apocalypse Scout??

I’ve made y’all some badges (because let’s face it, who the heck doesn’t like a good badge?), the templates of which you can find below, and I’m trusting each of you to DIY these badges into something a little more tangible , whether that means simply printing them off and sticking them to your foreheads, turning them into stickers using the HIVE Makerspace’s cricut machine, or even turning these into real badges using Wellington City Library’s badge-making machine!* I’m also trusting you to earn each and every one of these badges by accomplishing the associated task and/or challenge  – so without further ado, Soft Apocalypse Scouts move out!

*If you’re more into earning badges you don’t have to print yourself, surely you’ve already signed up for the Summer Reading Adventure?


via GIPHY


I solemnly swear to do my best every day, and in all that I do, to be brave and strong, to be truthful and compassionate, to be interesting and interested, to pay attention and question the world around me, to think of others first, to always help and protect my friends, then there’s a line about god or whatever, and to make the world a better place for Lumberjane scouts and for everyone else.

        –  Lumberjanes Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy


The Environment Badges

Digital scout badge depicting a silhouette hiking up a hill against a green background.

Hiking Badge: Explore a new hiking or walking trail to earn this badge.

Camping Badge: Earn this badge by spending a night in nature!


Camp / Rosen, Lev AC
“At Camp Outland, a camp for LGBTQIA teens, sixteen-year-old Randall “Del” Kapplehoff’s plan to have Hudson Aaronson-Lim fall in love with him succeeds, but both are hiding their true selves.” (Catalogue)

The Do-er Badges

Scout badge of two crossed tennis rackets set against an orange background.

Sporty Spice Badge: Learn or take part in a new sport to earn this badge.

Scout badge of a knife and fork set against an orange background.

Chef’s Kiss Badge: Learn to cook a new meal! Check out Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Cooking the Books (but make it literal) for inspiration.

 


Vegan BBQ : 70 delicious plant-based recipes to cook outdoors / Beskow, Katy
“70 simple, summery recipes to cook on your barbecue, as well as delicious sides, dips and snacks to brighten up any alfresco event. From Katsu burgers with wasabi mayo, Buttered Hassleback squash, and Sizzling fajitas, to Brown sugar baked beans, BBQ patatas bravas or Kiwi and avocado salsa.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The Literary Badges

Scout badge of a book against a red background.

Bookworm Badge: In order to earn this badge you can borrow and read a new book from your local library! (For bonus points – why not sign up for the Summer Reading Adventure 2024??)

Scout badge of a quill and inkpot set against a red background.

Author Badge: Try your hand at writing a poem, essay, or short story to earn this badge!

 


Dear Ally, how do you write a book / Carter, Ally
“With practical tips and helpful advice, Dear Ally is a treasure for aspiring writers at any stage of their careers. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how books get made, from idea to publication, and gives you insight into the writing processes of some of the biggest and most talented YA authors writing today.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The Aesthete Badges

Scout badge of two drama masks set against a blue background.

Thespian Badge: Attend or take part in a theatrical performance to earn this badge.

Scout badge with a crossed pencil and paintbrush in front of a white paint splatter, set against a blue background.

Artist Badge: In order to earn this badge, create an original work of art. Check out Weird Art (and How to Make It!) for ideas!

 

 

 

 

 


Drama / Telgemeier, Raina
“Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going.” (Catalogue)


The Self-Care Badges

Scout badge of a person in bed against a purple background.

Sleepy Baby Badge: Put your phone on DND at night and get eight hours sleep for three nights in a row.

Scout badge of four paper dolls holding hands, set against a purple background.

Friendship is Magic Badge: To earn this badge, organise a fun event for you and at least one friend.

 

 


Rookie on love : 45 voices on romance, friendship, and self-care
“A single-subject anthology about the heart’s most powerful emotion, edited by Tavi Gevinson. Featuring exclusive, never-before-seen essays, poems, comics, and interviews from contributors like Jenny Zhang, Emma Straub, Hilton Als, Janet Mock, John Green, Rainbow Rowell, Gabourey Sidibe, Mitski, Alessia Cara […] and many more!” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The Creature Badges

Scout badge of a pawprint, set against a brown background.

All Creatures Great and Small Badge: Earn this badge by volunteering at a local animal sanctuary, or completing one of the activities suggested in Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Comforts for Creatures.

Scout badge of an alien doing peace fingers, set against a brown background.

I Want to Believe Badge: Research a historical alien or cryptid sighting, and create a movie, text, presentation or artwork inspired by what you learned.

 


Unnatural creatures
“Magical creatures from the werewolf, to the sunbird, to beings never before classified will thrill, delight, and quite possibly unnerve you in tales by E. Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Gahan Wilson, and other literary luminaries. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

So there you have it! Your Soft Apocalypse Scout assignment for the summer. If your interest has been piqued, why not check out a local Scout (11-14yrs), Venturer (14-18yrs) or Ranger (12-17yrs) troop near you?

For a teaser of some activities that you might get up to as a Scout, check out their regularly updated e-zine from their 2024 Jamboree currently taking place just outside Hamilton!

Or if you’re feeling like something a bit more low-effort, have a browse through some of our summeriest, scoutiest books below:


Lumberjanes [1] : beware the kitten holy / Stevenson, Noelle
“Five best friends spending the summer at Lumberjane scout camp… defeating yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons… what’s not to love?! Friendship to the max! Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together… and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way!” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Under the Stars Camping Australia and New Zealand: The best camsites, huts, glamping and bush camping / Lonely Planet (Corp)
“Discover more than 200 out-of-this-world camping hotspots in this epic guide that features breathtaking wild camping pitches, picturesque glamping sites, scenic campgrounds, cabins, huts and more – with practical details and expert tips for an adventure like no other.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Lumberjanes : campfire songs
“Cryptids, and kittens, and costumes, on my! Neither rain nor heat nor mischievous faeries can put a damper on the fun at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types! Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley are helping throw a huge, mid-summer costume bash with the rest of the Lumberjane scouts, but the decorations, snacks, and supplies keep going missing, thanks to some pesky faeries!” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Hungry campers cookbook : fresh, healthy and easy recipes to cook on your next camping trip / Holder, Katy
“Hungry Campers Cookbook brings together the fun of family camping holidays with fresh, healthy, gourmet yet simple recipes.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Lumberjanes [14] : X marks the spot / Watters, Shannon
“The Roanoke scouts are eager to hunt down what they hope might be some kind of mystical hoard of gems and jewels, rad dinosaur bones, or maybe even more treasure maps (that you have to piece together to find an EVEN BIGGER prize, obviously)! What they end up finding is scattered pieces of an ancient Greek statue of a woman, who, when assembled, comes back to life as a vindictive ex-goddess!” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Give me a sign / Sortino, Anna
“Seventeen-year-old Lilah, who wears hearing aids, returns to a summer camp for the Deaf and Blind as a counselor, eager to improve her ASL and find her place in the community, but she did not expect to also find romance along the way.” (Catalogue)

Excellent short walks in the North Island : 250 walks under 2 hours / Janssen, Peter
“Wherever you are in the North Island you’re sure to be within reach of a short walk with an excellent destination […] All walks will suit those who enjoy walking but do not want a long tramp with heavy boots and a pack, or travellers who are short on time.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Survive in the outdoors / Lawrence, Mike
“Step-by-step instructions for seven projects that will help you survive in the wild […] Prepare yourself before you set off on your next adventure! Whether you’re hiking in the wilderness or camping in your own backyard, Survive in the Outdoors! will equip you with the know-how you need. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Robinson Crusoe / Defoe, Daniel
“Robinson Crusoe is determined to devote himself to a life at sea. Luck, however is not with him in his various voyages–his first is shipwrecked and his second taken by pirates, yet nothing dissuades him from his passion. One day, en route to Africa, his ship is wrecked, leaving him marooned on an uninhabited island, with no way to return to civilization…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: The Summer Round-Up!

Folks! Friends! Fellow humans living on this nice crispy earth!

The year is 2023. The global is warming, the 1 are %ing and things are looking iffy… Enter the Soft Apocalypse! It’s time for us to give capitalism the finger, and return to our humble roots as a pastoral society that bakes bread and sings Kumbaya way too often. AKA my escapist daydream when the Stresses of Life get a bit too much (my Soft Apocalypse plan includes joining a commune and becoming the cryptid I want to see in the world).

Welcome to Soft Apocalypse for Beginners, where we will be embarking on a journey of Learning to Look After Ourselves Even if the World is Ending (and saving the bees while we’re at it)!

Believe it or not, it’s summer! Since it’s an established fact that you can’t beat Welly on a good day, how exactly can we make the most of the sunny season?? If you’re the type with access to a letterbox, then you will have hopefully received Wellington City Council’s summer edition of Our Wellington – Tō Tātou Pōneke which outlines some of the nifty and magical events that will be taking place in the capital over the next few months. I’ve taken it upon myself to highlight the (in my opinion) niftiest and most magical activities on offer, for your perusing pleasure:

via GIPHY

Marvel: Earth’s Mightiest Exhibition

  • What: Explore the stories and characters of the Marvel Universe at the world-premiere exhibition.
  • Where: Tākina Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre
  • When: 14th December 2023 – 28th April 2024
santa at Waitangi Park
  • What: The last of WCC’s Christmas in the Quarters series of events, come along to meet Papa Tinsel himself and make the most of the activities on offer, including ice skating, a foam pit, face painting, food trucks and more!
  • Where: Waitangi Park
  • When: 11am-5pm 16th December
Summer Solstice
  • What: Celebrate the 2023 summer solstice with music, bonfires, and a solstice ceremony!
  • Where: Island Bay Beach
  • When: 8.30pm 22nd December 2023
New year’s eve
  • What: More live music, more food trucks, and – most importantly – fireworks! Come along to welcome in the New Year with ✨pizazz✨
  • Where: Whairepo Lagoon
  • When: 8pm-12am 31st December 2023

Gardens Magic

  • What: Live music! Lights! Sleepy pigeons! Explore the botanical gardens after dark with the astounding concerts and light displays on offer.
  • Where: Wellington Botanic Gardens
  • When: 9-28th January 2024
island bay festival
  • What: I opened up the website and immediately saw bagpipes and horses, so you know it’s going to be good. Come explore the best of Island Bay!
  • Where: Island Bay
  • When: 11-17th February 2024

Wellington pride Parade

  • What: Celebrate our rainbow whānau in style this summer with the annual Wellington Pride Parade featuring floats, performers, music and more!
  • Where: Courtenay Place, Dixon Street and lower Cuba Street
  • When: 5.30pm 9th March 2023

Not too shabby, eh? And that’s just what’s on offer through WCC – explore the wider Wellington region with local berry picking, flower farms, camping spots, and more. Plus –  keep an eye on the Wellington Advent Calendar for neat vouchers and nifty inspo for the sand season!

Have a beautiful summer, and meri kirihimete from all of us here at Wellington City Libraries!


Summer in the city of roses / Keil, Michelle Ruiz
“All her life Iph has protected her sensitive younger brother, Orr. This summer, with their mother gone at an artist residency, their father decides it is time for Orr to toughen up at a wilderness boot camp. When he brings Iph to a work gala in downtown Portland and breaks the news, Orr has already been sent away. Furious at his betrayal, Iph storms off and gets lost in the maze of Old Town.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
This one summer / Tamaki, Mariko
“Rose and her parents have been going to Awago Beach since she was a little girl. It’s her summer getaway, her refuge. Her friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had, completing her summer family. But this summer is different […] It’s a summer of secrets and heartache, and it’s a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Fat girls hiking : an inclusive guide to getting outdoors at any size or ability / Michaud-Skog, Summer
” Equal parts empowering and impassioned, personal and practical, this book adds an important voice to the conversation about diversity in the outdoors, raising visibility of hikers who have too long been marginalized. As the Fat Girls Hiking motto goes, “Trails Not Scales!””” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Camp / Rosen, Lev AC
“At Camp Outland, a camp for LGBTQIA teens, sixteen-year-old Randall “Del” Kapplehoff’s plan to have Hudson Aaronson-Lim fall in love with him succeeds, but both are hiding their true selves.” (Catalogue)
Summer days and summer nights : twelve love stories
“Summer meets love in both fantasy and reality in this anthology featuring renowned writers of both teen and adult fiction. Summer is the perfect time for love to bloom, and these short stories of teenagers facing the confusing maze of first love will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake.” (Abridged from catalogue)


The girl’s guide to summer / Mlynowski, Sarah
“Sydney Aarons is leaving her Manhattan townhouse for a summer backpacking around Europe with her best friend, Leela. They’re visiting London, France, Italy, Switzerland and everywhere in between – it’s going to be the trip of a lifetime. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
All summer long / Larson, Hope
“Thirteen-year-old Bina faces her first summer without her best friend, Austin, who has left for soccer camp.” (Catalogue)
Unbored : the essential field guide to serious fun / Glenn, Joshua
“Vibrantly designed and illustrated, it’s crammed with activities that are not only fun and doable, but get kids engaged in the wider world–and provides information to expand their worldviews, too, inspiring them to learn more.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Lumberjanes [1] : beware the kitten holy / Stevenson, ND
“Five best friends spending the summer at Lumberjane scout camp… defeating yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons… what’s not to love?! Friendship to the max! Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together…and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Recipes from an Italian summer
“380 summer recipes for all lovers of Italian food.” (Catalogue)
Paper planes / Wood, Jennie
“After a life altering incident, Dylan and Leighton are sent to a summer camp for troubled youth. They both need a good evaluation at the camp. Otherwise, they’ll be sent away, unable to attend high school with their friends […] Can Dylan and Leighton save their friendship and protect their future while trying to survive camp?” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Ugly Christmas sweater party : Christmas crafts, recipes, activities / Shay, Brandy
“Put on your ugly holiday sweater and get ready to PARTY! Whether you’re planning your own wacky celebration or contributing to someone else’s festive affair, here are the most deliciously ugly (in a good way!) ideas for making Christmas merry. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Easy vegan Christmas : 80 plant-based recipes for the festive season / Beskow, Katy
“Easy Vegan Christmas is a 80-recipe cookbook showcasing simple vegan recipes, for a fuss-free festive season.” (Catalogue)

Summer Reading: A Guide for Adventurers

The first day of December is a sacred day for the librarians of Wellington — for today, the Summer Reading Adventure begins!

Yes, that’s the Wellington Cable Car. Yes, that does appear to be a rather cranky dragon nesting at the cable car station. What of it?

From now until the 31st of January 2024, you can win free stuff just by reading books, writing or filming book reviews, and undertaking perilous quests for the betterment of all humankind*!

Every time you complete an activity or log a book in the Summer Reading Adventure, you go in the draw to win one of our fabulous Grand Prize packs, which include things like tickets for the movies and theatre shows, book vouchers, gaming-related paraphernalia, and much more. We’ll also be doing weekly spot prize draws for the best-written book reviews. And what’s more, you even get a rad collectible badge just for signing up, and can earn more along the way!

So what are you waiting for? Pick up an Adventurer’s Guide from your local library, or check it out below, to get started — or just head straight over to our Summer Reading website to kick things off. Don’t forget to check out our previous blog post for heaps more info about how you can take part in this year’s Summer Reading festivities!

* well, okay, maybe just the betterment of the library. But still!

The Summer Reading Adventure for Teens Looms on the Horizon

Welcome, Adventurer

Is reading kinda your thing? How about slaying dragons? Facing off against a centuries-old archmagus in order to steal his arcane codex so you can use the magic contained therein to pull off similar heists in the future sound like a fun and standard start to your summery mornings?

From 1 December 2023 — 31 January 2024, you are invited to take part in an Adventure — a Summer Reading Adventure, to be precise. In this year’s Summer Reading Adventure, teens aged 13-18 will be able to embark on the journey of a lifetime by reading books; writing, drawing or filming reviews; and completing quests to help you either specialise as one reader class, or multi-class as them all!

Hark — is that the unearthly screech of some otherworldly demon we hear reverberating in the deep places beneath our beloved city?

How to Play

All Adventurers, seasoned or otherwise, need somewhere to start. From the 1st of December, you’ll be able to pick up an Adventurer’s Guide from the library, but you don’t need to wait! Right now, you can head over to our Summer Reading Adventure website to pre-register. You can take part in the Adventure in three different ways, depending on how far you’re willing to take your newfound powers:

  1. Log your reading — tell us how many books you’ve read and you’ll earn mysterious tickets that you can cash in to get a chance to win the Grand Prize of your choosing!
  2. Write, draw or film book reviews — get creative and tell us what you thought about the books you’ve read, and you’ll go in the draw to win fabulous spot prizes as you do.
  3. Complete quests — choose your own adventure and complete up to three unique questlines, following the path that most closely aligns with the type of Adventurer you wish to be.

You mentioned something about quests?

Indeed, questing is possibly the most important part of being an adventurer. The adamantine dragon that has taken up residence in the Cable Car tunnel is unlikely to vanquish itself.

For this Summer Reading Adventure, you can complete quests in three categories:

  • Might: a fitting first choice for an Adventurer! Will you follow the path of axe and spear as a mighty Barbarian; take up sword and shield as a Fighter of the realm; mix sword and warhammer with holy fire as a learned Paladin; or opt for the relative quietude of life as a wise Cleric?
  • Magic: ever has the pen been more mighty than the sword! Will you tame the wild elements as a powerful Sorcerer; accept the bargain of he-who-dwells-between-worlds as a mysterious Warlock; harness the power of books and learning as a scholarly Wizard; or heed the call of the wild as a shapeshifting Druid?
  • Stealth: why bludgeon your enemies with a mace or blow them apart with crude magicks when a soft word in the right ear could be all it takes to ease your passage through this perilous land? Will you use your voice to influence those around you as an inspiring Bard; hone your natural agility as an ascetic Monk; keep yourself and your companions out of harm’s way as a hardy Ranger; or strike from the shadows as a sharp-tongued Rogue?

Each quest you complete helps you further specialise as a Reading Adventurer — complete enough of them, and you can Multi-Class, which puts you in the running to earn some sweet spot prizes.

Reaping Your Reward

As with all good Adventures, these quests come with the tantalising promise of reward for your Herculean (or perhaps Sisyphean) efforts. Each quest chain you complete, or reading milestone you meet, will earn you collectible badges, digital achievements, and the chance to win awesome spot prizes, as well as tickets towards one of our four Grand Prize packs.

Prizes for this year’s Summer Reading Adventure have been generously sponsored by our friends at Ben & Jerry’s, Experience Wellington, Read NZ Te Pou Muramura, Te Papa Press, Wellington Zoo, Zealandia, Staglands, Wētā Workshop, Ye Olde Pinball Shoppe, and Light House Cinema. Keep an eye out on the blog to find out more as the prize packs get announced over the summer.

Retro Gaming Consoles at Karori Youth Night

Young people aged 14— 18 are invited to join us at Karori Library’s last youth night of 2023 on Saturday, 18 November from 5 – 8pm.

Television displays the video game Sonic the Hedgehog

Testing our retro gaming consoles!

These after-hours events are for teens who are into books, gaming, making music, watching movies, crafts, eating pizza, and generally just hanging out!

This month we explore the fourth & fifth generation of gaming consoles from the 16 bit and early era of 3D graphics capabilities! Yes, that does mean the original Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991 will be making an appearance!

The retro consoles we will get a chance to use include the Dreamcast (1999), Sega Megadrive II (1993) and the Nintendo 64 (1996).

Our Youth Nights are totally free (pizza included!) but you do need to be 14+ in order to come, so please come prepared to show your student ID. Once you’re in, our space is yours! Check out the event calendar for more details.

Youth Nights will be back in February, so send any ideas for activities to karori.youthnight@wcc.govt.nz.

Pukapuka about gaming history!  

The greatest stories ever played : video games and the evolution of storytelling / Hansen, Dustin
“A lifelong gamer with over 20-years experience in the gaming industry examines the storytelling skills in some of the most beloved and moving games of the past thirty years in this fun and informative YA non-fiction title”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
Gamer girls : 25 women who built the video game industry / Kenney, Mary
“Discover the women behind the video games we love–from the iconic games they created, the genres they invented, the studios and companies they built–and how they changed the industry forever. From classic games like Centipede and Solitaire to popular modern games like Final Fantasy, Uncharted, and Halo, this book explores the work and history of 25 influential women in the video game industry and how their contributions ultimately built and transformed the medium that we know today…” (Abridged from catalogue)

Video game creators / Arbona, Alejandro
“Did you know that Nintendo started in the mid-19th century as a playing card company and that the Japanese giant also sold rice and operated taxi cabs? And did you know that the very first video game was called Tennis for Two and was created by a US government scientist named William Higinbotham? Today, video games play a gigantic role in our culture and none of this would have been possible without people like Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative mastermind that turned a failed business venture into the game that eventually inspired him to build Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., or Donna Bailey, who created the arcade sensation video game Centipede…” (Abridged from catalogue)

Gamish : a graphic history of gaming / Ross, Edward
“This… illustrated book transports us through the history of video games, from the pioneering prototypes of the 1950s to the modern era of blockbuster hits and ingenious indie gems. Exploring the people and politics behind one of the world’s most exciting art-forms, this is a love letter to something that has always been more than just a game.”–Back cover.” (Catalogue)

Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Flower Crowns & Other Cottagecore Niceties

Folks! Friends! Fellow humans living on this nice crispy earth!

The year is 2023. The global is warming, the 1 are %ing and things are looking iffy… Enter the Soft Apocalypse! It’s time for us to give capitalism the finger, and return to our humble roots as a pastoral society that bakes bread and sings Kumbaya way too often. AKA my escapist daydream when the Stresses of Life get a bit too much (my Soft Apocalypse plan includes joining a commune and ✨learning the language of the goats✨).

Welcome to Soft Apocalypse for Beginners, where we will be embarking on a journey of Learning to Look After Ourselves Even if the World is Ending (and saving the bees while we’re at it)!

Any good dystopian revolutionary/post-apocalyptic trudger of the earth can tell you that the most important part of surviving in the apocalypse is the aesthetic. Would Katniss have been able to take down the Capitol if it hadn’t been for the iconic sidebraid? Could Thomas have ever escaped the maze if he hadn’t been wearing that odd little vest? Important questions to which we may never have the answers. However, better safe than sorry, so in order to truly excel in our most aesthetic of all apocalypses (the Soft one) we must embrace the uniform of our experience. THAT’S RIGHT, WE’RE MAKING FLOWER CROWNS (AND OTHER COTTAGECORE NICETIES).

via GIPHY


I’m hoping we all know how to daisy chain here. I’m hoping that – like me – you are now imagining the daisy chain as a complex but romantic dance move, not dissimilar to a grapevine. For the purposes of today though, the daisy chain we will be discussing is that of the tangibly floral variety. The technical base of our floral DNA, daisy chaining is the basic way to link flowers into a useable strand, and it goes something like this:

  1. Gather your daisies, keeping the stems as long as possible.
  2. Using your thumbnail, make a small slit in the stem, about a centimetre down from the flower head.
  3. Poke the stem of another daisy through the slit and pull it gently through.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 on the new daisy, and et voilà! Continue until your daisy chain is the desire length.

Now that you can daisy chain, congratulations! Frolic off into the summer sunset making flower crowns, bracelets, and chains for all your loved ones! Or. If you’re hooked on the cottagecore power of it all. You could attempt a Daisy Braid (capitalised because it’s harder).

  1. Gather your flowers (any type can be used, but long stems are essential, preferably longer than 10cm).
  2. Starting with a minimum of three flowers (the more flowers, the thicker the crown), start to braid the stems together.
  3. At intervals of your choosing, introduce new flowers into the braid.
  4. Once the braid has reached the desired length, you can tuck the loose end back into the beginning of the braid OR tie it in place with a piece of thread.
  5. Wear your flower crown like the pretty creature you are and practice rejecting offers of marriage from Oberon and Titania.


Blooming daisies growing in a garden bed at the botanical gardens

It’s springtime baby.


Other Cottagecore Niceties….

While first priority is adorning ourselves in flowers, it’s also pretty neat to add a little floral hint to literally anything you like thanks to the power of STICKERS! We’re going to be using pressed and dried flowers for this – if you have a bona fide flower press sitting around at home then great (did you know you can make your very own flower press at the Tūhura HIVE Makerspace?)! Otherwise test out the handy dandy methods below:

For the pressed flowers: Collect as many flower heads as you like, then lay them flat between two paper towels. Squash these down under something solid, flat and heavy (like that stack of library books you forgot to read), and leave to dry for five days or thereabouts. You can check your flowers at this point, and if they still feel damp then leave them for another few days.

For the flower stickers: You’ll need a roll of wide, clear tape, your pressed flowers, some baking paper, and a pair of scissors. Lay out a sheet of baking paper, and place down a length of tape, sticky side down so it adheres to the baking paper. Arrange your dried flowers on top of the tape, either individually or in clusters (but making sure there is good bit of space between the flowers and the edge of the tape). Lay a second layer of tape over the flowers and first layer of tape, again sticky-side down so the flowers are stuck between the two layers. You can then cut around the flowers, leaving an edge of clear double-layered tape, and there you go! Once you’re ready to stick them to something, simply peel off the layer of baking paper and you’re good to go!


Flowerheart / Bakewell, Catherine
“Sixteen-year-old Clara accidentally curses her father with wild magic, and in order to save him, she makes a dangerous bargain with a local wizard, who happens to be her childhood best friend.” (Catalogue)

Floret Farm’s discovering dahlias : a guide to growing and arranging magnificent blooms / Benzakein, Erin
“Grow and arrange breathtaking dahlias to enhance every occasion. In this luxe compendium, world-renowned flower farmer and floral designer Erin Benzakein reveals all the secrets to cultivating gorgeous dahlias. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Flower fairies of the garden / Barker, Cicely Mary
“The Song of The Narcissus Fairy Brown bulbs were buried deep; Now, from the kind old earth, Out of the winter’s sleep, Comes a new birth! Flowers on stems that sway; Flowers of snowy white; Flowers as sweet as day, After the night. So does Narcissus bring Tidings most glad and plain- “Winter’s gone; here is Spring – Easter again!”” (Catalogue)

Wild beauty / McLemore, Anna-Marie
“For nearly a century the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds and lush estate gardens of La Pradera. They have a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. When a strange boy appears in the gardens, he is a mystery to Estrella and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Flower : exploring the world in bloom
“Showcasing the diversity of blooms from all over the world, Flower spans a wide range of styles and media – from art, botanical illustrations, and sculptures to floral arrangements, film stills, and textiles – and follows a visually stunning sequence with works, regardless of period, thoughtfully paired to allow interesting and revealing juxtapositions between them.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Weedflower / Kadohata, Cynthia
“After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Florapedia : a brief compendium of floral lore / Gracie, Carol
“This book is an engaging and informative compendium of flower facts. Similar in a nature to Lawrence Millman’s Fungipedia, the book brings together a wide range of interesting facts and stories-ranging from the historical to the scientific to the whimsical. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

This poison heart / Bayron, Kalynn
“When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift: the ability to grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Flower art : Makoto Azuma / Azuma, Makoto
“The art of Makoto Azuma uses flowers and plants as its starting point, but juxtaposes their timeless yet transient beauty with an incredibly diverse range of striking settings. In a series of sculptures, installations and interactive events, he delights in blurring the boundaries between nature and artifice. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Girls who green the world : thirty-four rebel women out to save our planet / Kapp, Diana
“A guidebook to the modern environmental movement featuring 34 inspiring women working to save our planet”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

Growing wonder : a flower farmer’s guide to roses / Alvarez, Felicia
“Do you dream of possessing a magical rose garden or a thriving flower farm? Whether you long to fill your own acreage with roses or consider yourself more of a weekend gardener, Menagerie Farm & Flower’s Felicia Alvarez can help make your love affair with roses a joyous and rewarding experience. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The price guide to the occult / Walton, Leslye J.
“Sixteen-year-old Nor, who comes from a long line of witches, prefers to hide her ability to communicate with nature and lives in constant fear of the return of her abusive mother.” (Catalogue)

Hope for the flowers / Paulus, Trina
“Two caterpillars plunge into the pile of those who seek the ever elusive top, but, finding nothing there, return to the ground to change into beautiful butterflies.” (Catalogue)

Foolproof flower embroidery : 80 stitches & 400 combinations in a variety of fibers / Clouston, Jennifer
“This comprehensive guide to floral embroidery features instructions for more than 80 embroidery stitches and includes more than 400 stitch combinations to create beautiful flowers, stems, leaves, twigs, and more”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Comforts for Creatures

Folks! Friends! Fellow humans living on this nice crispy earth! 

The year is 2023. The global is warming, the 1 are %ing and things are looking iffy… Enter the Soft Apocalypse! It’s time for us to give capitalism the finger, and return to our humble roots as a pastoral society that bakes bread and sings Kumbaya way too often. AKA my escapist daydream when the Stresses of Life get a bit too much (my Soft Apocalypse plan includes joining a commune and ✨eating fairy apples then falling asleep in a mushroom circle just to see what happens✨).

Welcome to Soft Apocalypse for Beginners, where we will be embarking on a journey of Learning to Look After Ourselves Even if the World is Ending (and saving the bees while we’re at it)!

It’s all for one and one for all in the Soft Apocalypse, and that includes looking after some of the smaller critters with which we share this lovely world. The best part? You don’t have to wait until the End of Days to do it! You can be nice to animals now – I KNOW, it’s REVOLUTIONARY (all jokes aside, be decent to the critters or I’ll find you and it will not be nice). So today we’re going to be checking out how to make homemade bird-feeders, and a few other easy peasy things you can do to help out the animals in your neighbourhood!

Pinecone Bird-Feeder

  • What you need: A pinecone (it’s in the title really), peanut butter, string, birdseed.
  • What you do: Tie the string to the pinecone, leaving enough of a tail on the string that you’ll be able to attach it to a tree, beam, or hook outside. Smother the pinecone in peanut butter, then roll it in birdseed until it has a good thick coating. Attach the pinecone to a tree (or similar) outside using the string, and perhaps brew yourself some tea to sip while you watch your new birdie besties enjoy their aerial picnic.

Orange Macramé Bird-Feeder

For the bougie birds at home.

  • What you need: A large orange, string, birdseed.
  • What you do: Cut the orange in half and scoop out the insides (eat this. for strength.). Make your little macramé net by knotting together eight strands of twine/string. Make sure the strands are the same length (about the length of the average arm). Knot the eight strands together, then separate into four pairs. Tie another knot in each of these pairs, about an inch away from the bottom knot. Next, separate the pairs of string into new pairs, with each string pairing up with it’s neighbour (not the one it was knotted with). Tie another knot in these new pairs, again about an inch away from the precious knot. You should now have a nice little string cradle (congrats you made something)! Pop your empty half orange into the cradle so it sits like a bowl, fill with bird seed, and hey presto! (You can also use the remaining string to attach your new birdfeeder to a tree branch outside, but pretend I didn’t say that because I wanted to end on “hey presto”.)

If you’re feeling more minimalist, feel free to go feed those bad boys some birdseed all by your lonesome (after all, the real bird-feeder was the hands we made along the way), or for bonus points, complete your Birbie Dreamhouse Ensemble with a DIY bird bath or house!

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Karori Youth Night in Living Colour

Artwork of a globe ornament with a loom wheel inside of it

Image courtesy of Karori Arts & Crafts Centre

Young people aged 14— 18 are invited to join us at Karori Library’s Youth Night on Saturday, 16 September 2023, 5 – 8pm.

These after-hours events are for teens who are into books, gaming, making music, watching movies, crafts, eating pizza, and generally just hanging out!

Logo for Karori Arts & Crafts

This Youth Night, you can add colour to your artwork with alcohol markers! Jenny from the Karori Arts & Crafts Centre will teach some tips and tricks to using marker in your drawings to bring them to life. Learn how to ink and colour your sketches, adding a 3D feel to your characters and drawings in no time. All materials provided!
Our Youth Nights are totally free (pizza included!) but you do need to be 14+ in order to come, so please come prepared to show your student ID. Once you’re in, our space is yours!

Pukapuka for inspiration, available at the library

Pocket fantasy art : the very best in contemporary fantasy art & illustration
“Featuring some of the freshest and most exciting artists working in the genre today, ‘Pocket Fantasy Art’ is an inspirational pocket-sized showcase of the very best in contemporary fantasy art and illustration.” (Catalogue)

Art of protest : what a revolution looks like / Nichols, De
“From the psychedelic typography used in “Make Love Not War” posters of the ’60s to the solitary raised fist, some of the most memorable and striking protest artwork from across the world and throughout history deserves a long, hard look. Readers can explore each piece of art to understand how color, symbolism, technique, and typography play an important role in communication.” (Abridged from catalogue)

Guide to cartooning / Bohl, Al
“Provides instructions for drawing different styles of cartooning, including political, strips, books, and illustration, and gives advice on how to get a job in the field.” (Catalogue)
Manga mania fantasy worlds : how to draw the amazing worlds of Japanese comics / Hart, Christopher
“Manga fantasy is the swords-and-sorcery Japanese animation style featured in the most popular video role-playing games on the market. Christopher Hart’s latest tutorial reveals the secrets and art techniques that go into creating these worlds of wonder.” (Catalogue)
Halo warfleet : an illustrated guide to the spacecraft of Halo / Peters, Kenneth
“The authoritative guide to the spacefaring fleets of the Halo universe. Discover everything about the spaceships of the Halo universe with Halo Warfleet, from the Covenant’s homeworld, High Charity, to the gigantic Forerunner Guardians that lay dormant beneath the planets of the Orion Arm. Each of the featured ships is shown as a detailed cross-section, illustrated by renowned technical artists Hans Jenssen and John R. Mullaney, which shows the internal machinations and features of these incredible spacecraft. Created in collaboration with the team at 343 Industries, this is the perfect companion to the multimillion-selling franchise. Look out for other Halo titles from Egmont: Halo Mythos: A Guide to the Storey of Halo The Art of Halo 5: Guardians.” (Catalogue)

Comics, graphic novels, and manga : the ultimate teen guide / Bonser, Randall
“In Comics, Graphic Novels, and Manga: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Randall Bonser explores the history, evolution, diversification, and impact of these storytelling forms. This book looks at the origins of illustrated stories and how they have evolved over the decades.” (Catalogue)


Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Let’s Save the Bees!

Folks! Friends! Fellow humans living on this nice crispy earth!

The year is 2023. The global is warming, the 1 are %ing and things are looking iffy… Enter the Soft Apocalypse! It’s time for us to give capitalism the finger and return to our humble roots as a pastoral society that bakes bread and sings Kumbaya way too often. AKA my escapist daydream when the Stresses of Life get a bit too much (my Soft Apocalypse plan includes joining a commune and ✨embracing a healthy range of human emotions✨).

Welcome to Soft Apocalypse for Beginners, where we will be embarking on a journey of Learning to Look After Ourselves Even if the World is Ending (and saving the bees while we’re at it)!

So, let’s at it and save some bees! We couldn’t get along without bees for an infinite number of reasons, but the top three would be 1) they really do keep the ecosystem chugging along, 2) how would adults explain intimate relations without the metaphor of the birds and the bees, and 3) they’re just so darn lovely. So, what can we do to protect these little honey-sucking critters?

Plant a Bee Garden

Obviously, you’re all experts at gardening after reading Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Gardening (feat. Worms!), so why not use those green thumbs to set up a cosy floral spot for bees to come and visit? A bee garden is exactly what it sounds like (I take that back, it’s not bees growing on stalks like the vegetable lamb of Tartary. Although that would be neat too.) and consists of flowers, foliage, and shrubbery that bees find Particularly Delectable. You can go as big or small as you like, from a couple of designated bee plants in pots to filling your entire yard with dandelions (if you intend to aggravate your parents and/or landlord then this is the way to go). Some of the best plants to feature in your bee garden include:

  • Catmint
  • Lavender
  • Borage
  • Pōhutukawa

  • Sunflowers
  • Clover
  • Pansies
  • Sage

Open a Bee Hotel

Have you spent your childhood dreaming of a bright future as a hotelier, but the Disney magic hasn’t quite kicked in and you don’t magically have a bajillion dollars to buy said hotel chain? Why not start on a smaller-but-infinitely-sweeter-smelling scale with a bee hotel! Bee hotels are small structures, like bird houses, that offer a spot for bees to rest and – for solitary bees without a hive – lay their eggs in safety. Again, you can go as grand or as minimalist as you like here. Check out some guides and advice here (Sustainability Trust), here (Wildlife Trusts), and here (Natural History Museum UK) if you want to know more about making your own!

Not feeling that hotelier vocation? Try a bee bath – fill a shallow bowl or bird bath with fresh water, and pile pebbles and stones inside so that they emerge above the water’s surface. This will give the bees something to land on as they come for a genteel slurp of the world’s tastiest beverage (stay hydrated out there folks).

Support Local!

By purchasing (and/or convincing your parents to purchase) honey and bee products from local farmers and beekeepers, not only are you supporting your community and benefitting from an impressive range of health benefits (did you know that the presence of local greenery in honey makes it ideal for toughening up your immune system and combatting allergies??), but small-scale beekeepers are likely to be more invested in the wellbeing and quality of their hives, as well as in broader bee conservation practices in the area. Plus, recent honey research has revealed that a scary number of commercial honey producers adulterate their honey with sugar syrup, or similar artificial sweeteners, and that’s not the wholesome bees-knees kind of content we’re looking for (sugar = bad for you. sweet pure floral bee puke = good for you).

Plus, there’s arguably nothing cuter or more soft apocalypse aesthetic than buying honey from your local farmer’s market. Be sure to wear a straw hat.


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Backyard bees : a guide for the beginner beekeeper / Purdie, Doug
“Just about anyone can keep bees. All you need is a bit of space in your backyard (or on your rooftop) and a little love for the creatures that pollinate the vegie patches of your neighbourhood. Once introduced to the charms of beekeeping and the taste of warm honeycomb direct from the hive, you’ll be hooked.” (Catalogue)

How to bee / MacDibble, Bren
“Peony lives with her sister and grandfather on a fruit farm outside the city. In a world where real bees are extinct, the quickest, bravest kids climb the fruit trees and pollinate the flowers by hand […] Life on the farm is a scrabble, but there is enough to eat and a place to sleep, and there is love. Then Peony’s mother arrives to take her away from everything she has ever known.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Unnatural creatures
“Unnatural Creatures is a collection of short stories about the fantastical things that exist only in our minds–collected and introduced by beloved New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. The sixteen stories gathered by Gaiman, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, range from the whimsical to the terrifying.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The beekeeper’s apprentice, or, On the segregation of the queen / King, Laurie R
“In 1915, long since retired from his crime-fighting days, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybees on the Sussex Downs. Never did the Victorian detective think to meet an intellect matching his own-until his acquaintance with Miss Mary Russell, a young twentieth-century lady whose mental acuity is equalled only by her penchant for deduction, disguises, and danger.” (Catalogue)

Bees and their keepers : through the seasons and centuries, from waggle-dancing to killer bees, from Aristotle to Winnie-the-Pooh / Möller, Lotte
” In her travels Moller encounters a trigger-happy Californian beekeeper raging against both killer bees and bee politics, warring beekeepers on the Danish island of L so, and Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey, breeder of the Buckfast queen now popular throughout Europe and beyond, as well a host of others as passionate as she about the complex world of apiculture both past and present.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The music of bees : a novel / Garvin, Eileen
“Following three lonely strangers in a rural Oregon town, each working through grief and life’s curveballs, who are brought together by happenstance on a local honeybee farm where they find surprising friendship, healing–and maybe even a second chance–just when they least expect it”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

Bee movie
“Having just graduated from college, Barry B. Benson finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice – honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa. He is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bee’s honey for centuries. He ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race. That is until the ensuing chaos upsets the very balance of nature. It is up to Barry to prove that even a little bee can spell big changes in the world.” (Catalogue)

The bees / Paull, Laline
“Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen. But Flora is not like other bees. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Wild honey bees : an intimate portrait / Arndt, Ingo
“The honey bee, a key pollinator, is now an endangered species, threatened by human activity and loss of biodiversity. Because of this, understanding forest-dwelling wild honey bees – which are more resistant to diseases and parasites than honey bees kept by beekeepers – is more important than ever before.”– Dust jacket.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Zinnia and the bees / Davis, Danielle
“Seventh-grader Zinnia’s last-day-of-school got off to a bad start when she ended up in the vice principal’s office for yarn-bombing a statue of the school mascot, but it is about to get a whole lot worse–because, thanks to the incompetence of Bee 641, a colony of commercial, migratory bees escaping from a truck has settled their colony in her hair.” (Catalogue)

Buzz : the nature and necessity of bees / Hanson, Thor
“From honeybees and bumbles to lesser-known diggers, miners, leafcutters, and masons, bees have long been central to our harvests, our mythologies, and our very existence. They’ve given us sweetness and light, the beauty of flowers, and as much as a third of the foodstuffs we eat. And, alarmingly, they are at risk of disappearing. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Bees in the city : the urban beekeepers’ handbook / Benjamin, Alison
“From the rooftop of Fortnum and Masons in Piccadilly and the grounds of Buckingham Palace to the Square Mile’s skyscrapers, the landscape is now dotted with bee hives. This book paints a vivid portrait of these intimate, sometimes secret, locations, it also introduces you to the beekeepers and their bees through changing seasons.” (Catalogue)

Planting for honeybees : the grower’s guide to creating a buzz / Lewis, Sarah Wyndham
“Our gardens would be unrecognizable without the gentle buzz of the humble honeybee. Yet in recent years bee populations have suffered from the loss of green spaces and need our help. Planting for Honeybees is a charmingly illustrated, practical guide on how to help attract these delightful pollinators – whether you only have a city window ledge or a whole country garden.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Green urban living : simple steps to growing food, keeping chickens, worm farming, beekeeping and much more in New Zealand / Luke, Janet
“As life gets busier and backyards get smaller, it is a challenge to grow food and live more sustainably. Janet Luke shows that it can be done […] This book evokes some of the methods used in traditional Kiwi backyards, with modern concepts like recycling, organics and using water sustainably to grow food and keep chickens and bees in an urban environment.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Kissing the bee / Koja, Kathe
“While working on a bee project for her advanced biology class, quiet high school senior Dana reflects on her relationship with gorgeous best friend Avra and Avra’s boyfriend Emil, whom Dana secretly loves.” (Catalogue)

 

 

Teenagers Can Like Dinosaurs Too: Youth Night, US State Dinosaurs, And Other Associated Ramblings

The monthly Youth Night at Johnsonville Library is coming up on Saturday the 2nd of September. Youth Nights are a lot of fun! The library is open from 5pm-8pm only for youth aged 14-18, we feed you (arrive before 6pm to be added to the pizza order!), Keith-Spry Pool next door is also open just for teen use from 6pm-8pm, and we also have a different theme each month and exciting activities based on that theme! For example! The last Youth Night at Karori Library was all about crochet – they even had a proper tutor in to teach stuff about how you can take a hook and some yarn and turn it into something miraculous.

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of blog, the September Youth Night theme is dinosaurs! This was a theme requested by one of our Youth Night regulars, so we know it’s going to make at least one person very happy. As well as the librarians of course. We also think dinosaurs are pretty neat.

via GIPHY

We’ve got a whole lotta fun things planned. Dinosaur jigsaw puzzles (we’ve got a big one to put together, and little ones you can paint and take home!), a dinosaur themed scavenger hunt throughout the library, and a short dinosaur-themed quiz to start off the night.

Now, as a result of my preparations for Youth Night I have learned that as well as having state birds, state capitals, and state marine animals, some US states also have state dinosaurs. Like, officially recognised state dinosaurs! Admittedly, some of these deliberately dedicated dinosaurs do come under the rather less exciting title of state fossil, but they still get a dinosaur/dinosaur fossil of their very own!

For example, picking a state at random*, the official dinosaur of the state of Delaware is the Dryptosauridae. Look! There’s even an official Bill from the Delaware General Assembly about the decision!

This gangly genus belongs to the superfamily Tyrannosauroidea and seems to have had slightly longer arms that the famed T-Rex, and one of the reasons put forward in the nomination for this dinosaur is that Dryptosauridae are bird-like, the Delaware state bird is the blue hen chicken, so it would be meaningful to have a bird-like state dinosaur. Go figure.

Black silhouette of a T-Rex like dinosaur

A Dryptosauridae.
Photo by Tasman Dixon, Licensed under CC0 1.0.
*Ok, maybe not picking a state at random. Dear Delaware is still going on. If you haven’t signed up for a pen pal from Delaware yet, you still can! Sign-ups are ongoing so you can register anytime and you’ll be notified when there’s Delawarean pal ready for you!

Hamish Campbell, the geologist and palaeontologist I keep on speed-dial (well not quite speed-dial, but I did text him), has suggested Titahia, an unusual tube fossil, for a Wellington Fossil.

Titahia has been found in, and named after, Titahi Bay. These wee worms would have been making their little tube-dwellings all the way back in the Triassic Period. That’s 252-201 million years ago – the specimen below is around 215 million years old! And it was during this period that dinosaurs started appearing.

A rock on a black background with pale lines of titahia fossils throughout it

Titahia corrugata Webby. Fossil tube worms AU1316
Image attribution: Brian Donovan (Photographer), Geological Collections, The University of Auckland.
All rights reserved.

A tube worm is perhaps not as illustrious as a dinosaur, but hey, you can’t have it all. We don’t have any local dinosaur fossils in Wellington, but we certainly have, um, wind? And tube worms!

Other parts of the country are lucky enough to have evidence that dinosaurs once roamed these lands. If you’re after dinosaurs in New Zealand you really have to go over to the Hawkes Bay and Joan Wiffen’s incredible discoveries. But other than that link, I won’t go into more detail about that particular matter since there is an important discover-versary coming up in 2025 and I believe our illustrious leader in the blogging department has strong feelings and plans on this topic and I wouldn’t want to step on his blog-writing toes two years in advance.

Usually when preparing blogs we do try to justify our subject choice with a list of thematically-linked books. However, this time I don’t have to do that! If you’re after books about dinosaurs, I can simply direct you over to It’s Dino Time, Literally: Discover Dinosaurs During Dinosaur Day!, written by fellow blogger J’Shuall to celebrate, you guessed it, Dinosaur Day.

Youth Night at Karori: Crochet, Pizza & Games

This weekend, young people aged 14— 18 are invited to join us at Karori Library’s Youth Night on Saturday, 19 August, 5 – 8PM.

These after-hours events are for teens who are into books, gaming, making music, watching movies, crafts, eating pizza, and generally just hanging out!

This Youth Night, you also have a chance to learn some of the basics of Crochet with Judy, one of the fantastic tutors from Karori Arts & Crafts Centre. You might learn to make something beautiful to keep you warm on a cold winter night! All materials provided.

Our Youth Nights are totally free (pizza included!) but you do need to be 14+ in order to come, so please come prepared to show your student ID. Once you’re in, our space is yours!

Email karori.youthnight@wcc.govt.nz if you’d like more info — otherwise, we’ll see you there!

For any budding Crochet enthusiasts, here’s a quick intro to crochet from our wonderful blogger Maiph taken from their blog Cool Things to Make During a Study Break.

Crochet

A green, grey, and yellow crocheted caterpillar sits next to a yellow crocheted octopus. The octopus has one tentacle through the handle of a white and blue crocheted teapot.

Just some crocheted friends sharing a pot of tea. Lovely.

Crocheting is done with one hook rather than two needles, so there’s not as many things to keep track of with your hands. And it’s usually faster than knitting too! Particularly with a big hook and chunky yarn…

But there are so many things you can crochet! Crochet a curious critter (as seen on the right), make a garden of flowers, or even the Twelve Birds of Christmas!

Hats are usually a good beginner project, and they can be embellished in very fun ways if you feel like it, or there’s the good old-fashioned granny square – great for blankets, using up yarn leftovers, and cushion covers!

Some of the books we have available for you to borrow include more Literary Yarns, amigurumi style foods or animals, you’ll be sure to find something fun! We’ve got books of crochet patterns available through our eLibrary, and there’s also a few crochet eMagazines, and our eMagazines are always available.

Claude, a grey, green, and yellow caterpillar is sitting on a cushion crocheting the last row of a scarf. The stripes of the scarf are, in order, yellow, white, purple, and the last one is black.

Claude, our favourite crocheted caterpillar with their Non-binary Pride Flag scarf.

 

 

 

Soft Apocalypse for Beginners: Let’s [Make] This Bread!

Folks! Friends! Fellow humans living on this nice crispy earth! 

The year is 2023. The global is warming, the 1 are %ing and things are looking iffy… Enter the Soft Apocalypse! It’s time for us to give capitalism the finger, and return to our humble roots as a pastoral society that bakes bread and sings Kumbaya way too often. AKA my escapist daydream when the Stresses of Life get a bit too much (my Soft Apocalypse plan includes joining a commune and ✨forming an emotional attachment with the local worm population✨).

Welcome to Soft Apocalypse for Beginners, where we will be embarking on a journey of Learning to Look After Ourselves Even if the World is Ending (and saving the bees while we’re at it)!

Baking bread is one of the fundaments of thriving in the pastoral fantasy that is our soft apocalypse (it’s a fact that sunsets are more beautiful with baked goods in hand), so today we’re having a look at a few basic Bread-y recipes!

Pro Tip: Put on a timer when baking stuff. For the love of emergency services, please and thank you.


via GIPHY

The Sweet

Nothing says ‘cottagecore’ like a hearty loaf of banana bread, and it’s ideal if you’re anything like me (aka chief of forgetting to eat my bananas then hoarding them in the freezer when they go brown). This recipe is adapted from Chelsea Sugar’s banana bread recipe. Shout out to Chelsea x

  1. Preheat your oven to 18o°C bake.
  2. Pop 125g Nuttelex Buttery Spread (söftened) in a bowl with 1 cup of brown sugar. Beat it with measured violence in your heart, then add in either 2 flaxseed eggs (or similar substitute) and mix.
  3. Sift and stir in 2 cups of white flour, 1tsp of baking powder, 1tsp of ground cinnamon, and 1tsp of baking soda (tsp = teaspoon, for those Not In The Know). Mix in 1 cup of soy milk.
  4. Mash 3 ripe/overripe bananas and add, then roughly chop up 1/3 cup of walnuts (optional) and add. Mix ’em all together, then pop the mixture into a loaf-shaped tin lined with baking paper.
  5. Bake for an hour (or until a skewer skewered through the middle comes out clean). Leave in the tin for a further ten minutes, and hey presto you have a Loaf!

The Savoury

Continuing on with our slow-burn pizza making journey (check out tips for growing your pizza toppings here)! If you’re feeling brave, you can even do the neat ‘spinning the dough above your head like a pro’ thing – just remember to watch out for ceiling fans. Love and two kisses to Nadia Lim because this recipe is a 100% knock-off of hers xx

  1. Stir 1tsp of sugar in  cups of warm water until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Stir in 4tsps of yeast and set aside for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
  2. Thoroughly mix in 1tsp of salt and 4 cups of flour, then transfer to a clean surface sprinkled with flour and knead the dough for 5-8 minutes (until you can poke the dough with your finger and the indentation springs back quite nicely). Feel free to add a little more flour if your dough is too sticky.
  3. Lightly oil a large bowl (no more than 2tbsp (tbsp = tablespoon, for those Not In The Know) of olive oil should do). Place the dough in the bowl, turning once so it’s lightly covered with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp, clean(!) tea towel, and leave in a warm place for just under an hour.
  4. Remove the freshly puffy dough, and knead for another 2-3 minutes, then cut the dough into four even pieces and shape into pizza bases! Top with your favourite pizza toppings (Pineapple on Pizza for President 2023), and bake in an oven at 200°C for 10-15 minutes.

The Basic

Where would we be without the humble loaf of sliced white bread (slicing not included, terms and conditions may apply)? What would the millennials have their avocados on? What would we make fairybread with? Truly disturbing to consider. Luckily! We don’t have to! And here’s how to make your very own! (Blessings be to Gather for Bread, from whom I stole this recipe x).

  1. Stir 1tbsp of sugar and 1tbsp salt in 2 cups of warm water until mostly dissolved. Stir in 1tbsp of yeast and set aside for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
  2. Mix in 5-6 cups of flour, until the mixture is clumped and doughy, then turn out onto a clean, floured surface.
  3. Knead your dough for five minutes or so, sprinkling flour as needed to prevent sticking, until the mixture springs back slightly when poked. (Avoid adding too much flour or over-kneading as this will toughen the dough.)
  4. Lightly oil a large bowl (no more than 2tbsp of olive oil should do). Knead the dough for another couple of minutes, then place in the bowl, turning once so it’s lightly covered with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp, clean(!) tea towel, and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours. During this time, the dough should double in size.
  5. Once the dough has risen, briefly knead out any air bubbles, then cut the dough in half and shape into two oval loafs. Place them on baking tray dusted with flour, and lightly slash the tops of the loaves three times on a diagonal, then brush them with cold water.
  6. Bake the loaves in a preheated oven at 200°C for 35-45 minutes, until the loaves are a tasty golden-brown colour, and sound hollow when tapped. Very good with soup, five stars.

 


via GIPHY


Fitwaffle’s baking it easy : all my best 3-ingredient recipes and most-loved cakes and desserts / Head, Eloise
” I’m Eloise, known online as Fitwaffle, and welcome to my first book! […] Find fifty 3-ingredient recipes, including my crowd-pleasing Cookies and Cream Cake and delicious Chocolate Caramel Fudge, plus all of your favourite 4- and 5-ingredient recipes including Speculoos Ice Cream and a cinnamon roll made in a mug!” (Adapted from Catalogue)


A wizard’s guide to defensive baking / Kingfisher, T
“Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The heartbreak bakery / Capetta, A. R.
“Teenage baker Syd sends ripples of heartbreak through Austin’s queer community when a batch of post-being-dumped brownies turns out to be magical–and makes everyone who eats them break up. ” (Catalogue)

The bread bible / Beranbaum, Rose Levy
“Winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Award, Best Bread Book” (Catalogue)

How baking works / Morton, James
“Whether you want light cakes, squidgy brownies, perfect pastry, stress-free macarons or mountainous meringues, this book features a mini-masterclass for each one.” (Catalogue)


A taste for love / Yen, Jennifer
“Smart, kind, and pretty, Liza Yang dreams big and never shies away from a challenge. But her mom compares her to older sister Jeannie, and sees Liza as stubborn, rebellious, and determined to push back against all of Mrs. Yang’s traditional values, especially when it comes to dating. The one thing they agree on is their love of baking. Mrs. Yang is the owner of Houston’s popular Yin & Yang Bakery. Liza agrees to help out at the bakery’s annual junior competition, but discovers there’s a catch: all of the contestants are young Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date. Grudgingly attracted to stoic, annoyingly hot James Wong, Liza begins to realize there’s no tried and true recipe for love.” (Catalogue)

Bread : from ciabatta to rye / Collister, Linda
“A delicious journey around the great breads of the world – required reading for all home bakers, whatever their level of experience.” (Catalogue)

The little book of vegan bakes / Jade, Holly
“Recipes range from the simple (Chocolate Orange Fridge Fudge, Cookies and Cream Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Flapjacks) to the more ambitious (Honeycomb Doughnuts, Cherry Bakewell Tartlets and No-bake Biscoff Cheesecake) making this a book for anyone and any ability.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The great British bake off : how to bake : the perfect Victoria sponge and other baking secrets / Collister, Linda
“Twelve new amateur bakers are ready to rise to the Great British Bake Off challenge. While they don their aprons, adjust to their new ovens, and get used to baking in a tent, this book takes you through the challenges from the series and shows you how to achieve baking perfection.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Breadsong : how baking changed our lives / Tait, Kitty
“‘If you had told me at 14 when I couldn’t even get out of bed with depression and anxiety that three years later I would have written a book I would never have believed you. But here it is – the story of the Orange Bakery. How I went from bed to bread and how my Dad went from being a teacher to a baker. ” — Publisher’s description.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Baking with Kim-Joy : cute and creative bakes to make you smile / Kim-Joy
“If you’ve ever wanted to know how to bring your baking to life, Kim-Joy will show you how in this fun and practical book. […] Recipes include step-by-step photography and adorable illustrations accompanied by little messages of positivity throughout.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Batter royale / Adams, Leisl
“In this fun graphic novel, a talented young chef is selected to participate in a baking reality show and finds herself mixed up in spicy competition, bitter rivalry, and sweet romance.” –author’s website.” (Catalogue)

Bread therapy : the mindful art of baking bread / Beaumont, Pauline
“Therapy is a love letter to the art of making real bread. […] It celebrates bread making as a way of understanding ourselves better, learning important life lessons and making positive changes to our mental and physical wellbeing. It features eight simple bread recipes to get you started on your bread-making journey.” (Adapted from Catalogue)


The vegan cake bible : the definitive guide to baking, building and decorating spectacular vegan cakes / Kidd, Sara
“With step-by-step tutorials for frosting and decorating, mix and match ideas, and recipes for gluten-free cakes that actually work, Sara teaches you the ingredients, tools, and tips to master the art of vegan baking”– Provided by publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Honey and jam : seasonal baking from my kitchen in the montains / Queen, Hannah
“Featuring Queen’s rich photography throughout, Honey and Jam not only showcases a collection of rustic desserts, but also captures the sprawling forests and farmlands of Blue Ridge, anchoring each recipe in the backdrop of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Youth Nights Come to Kilbirnie Library!

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re super excited to announce that our popular Youth Nights are finally coming to the queen of gorgeousness herself, the wonderful Kilbirnie Library!

On Saturday the 22nd of July, Kilbirnie Library will be open after hours, from 5.00 – 8.00pm, but only if you’re a teen. Bring along your student ID to prove you’re over 14, and your Emotional Support Adult to sign you in, and the fun shall commence! Our Youth Nights are LGBTQIA+ inclusive and we can’t wait to welcome you 🙂

If you’ve been to one of our Youth Nights at Karori or Johnsonville Libraries before, you know the drill — there’s free pizza, board games, music, crafts, anime, VR (can you beat the librarians at Beat Saber? Only time will tell…), chill vibes, good friends, and oh so very much more! (Did we mention free pizza? There’ll be free pizza.)

Also known as the Ruth Gotlieb Library, after the late legendary former City Councillor, stalwart library enthusiast, and fashion icon Ruth Gotlieb, Kilbirnie Library offers the following amenities for the discerning teen library-goer:

  • In honour of Matariki, a cosy ‘fireplace’ perfect for listening to gentle stories about the stars and doing celestial crafts with your pals
  • Magical ring lights in the ceiling that will ensure every selfie is perfectly-lit (as long as you are specifically taking them in the children’s picture book section)
  • Stunning views of the bustling Kilbirnie Crescent precinct and surrounds (I guess they might not be so bustling at night, and ‘stunning’ may be a strong word to describe ‘across the road from St Pat’s’, but you’ll be chilling indoors with pizza and friends so what does it matter?)
  • Books! Shelves! Comfy chairs! Cushions! Cool librarians! Unicorns! Enthusiasm for literature! Places to be yourself! And much, much more!

What kinds of Mischief, Hijinks, Tomfoolery, and Other Miscellaneous Examples Of Harmless Fun will we get up to at Kilbirnie Library’s Youth Nights? Well, that’s up to you to decide. Get in touch with us by email or message us on Instagram if you want more info, otherwise, we’ll see you there!

Rainbow Youth Night at Karori

I’m sure that our monthly Youth Nights at Karori Library, are already locked in your calendar, but here’s a reminder that this weekend we have a Rainbow Youth Night, Saturday, 17 June 2023, 5 – 8pm to celebrate Pride and Out on the Shelves!

We’ll be open after-hours for rainbow and takatāpui youth (and friends!) to socialise, have fun, and chat to a librarian about your favourite queer literature. As usual, there will be pizza, gaming, movies, crafts, and quiet spaces to chill out. Our Youth Nights are totally free but you do need to be 14+ in order to come, so please come prepared to show your student ID.

Out on the Shelves display, 2023

In case you’re just learning about it, Out on the Shelves, is an online reading resource that aims to connect rainbow young people with the stories that represent them, listing books with positive rainbow representation in them. They also have a Rainbow Writing Competition, and you can submit reviews of books you’ve read too! June is Out on the Shelves campaign month, where our library branches compete to create the most impressive displays!

This rainbow youth night will offer another chance to be part of a large-scale collaborative art piece that will be toured between all fourteen of our library branches around the city. This creation will reflect our collective and individual queer identities.

Hope to see you there!

 

Youth Night at Karori: Manga Masters

This weekend, young people aged 14— 18 are invited to join us at Karori Library’s Youth Night, Saturday, 20 May 2023, 5 – 8pm!

Hand drawn art of facesThis month, we are lucky to have Lauren, a tutor from the Karori Arts & Crafts Centre, coming to teach us all about manga illustration and anime-style art! Lauren teaches step by step skills that will have you creating your own cool characters in no time! All materials provided.

If you’ve been along to one of our Karori or Johnsonville Youth Nights, you’ll know the drill: we have a bunch of games, crafts, anime and free pizza!

Our Youth Nights are LGBTQIA+ inclusive and we welcome folks of all stripes. Bring along your student ID to prove you’re over 14, and the fun shall commence!

Email karori.youthnight@wcc.govt.nz if you’d like more info — otherwise, we’ll see you there!

For any budding illustrators, here’s some pukapuka from our collection to check out!

How to draw manga in simple steps / Li, Yishan
“Learn how to draw boys, girls and creatures (ordinary and extraordinary) in the manga style, using this fun and simple step-by-step book. Starting with basic shapes, professional comic artist Yishan Li shows how easy it is to turn circles, rectangles, squares and ovals into teens, kids, witches, wizards, monsters, animals and much more…” (Abridged from catalogue)


Shojo fashion manga art school, year 2 : draw modern looks / Flores, Irene
“This title provides readers with modern looks and fashions for classic shojo graphic novel themes such high school romances, complex dramas, stories about friendship and sweet comedies.” (Abridged from catalogue)
One thousand years of manga / Koyama-Richard, Brigitte
“…Manga has, in fact, deep roots in Japanese culture, drawing on centuries-old artistic traditions… The more familiar manga comics of today echo similar themes, both light and serious, and draw on narrative forms present in the sagas and skits from Japan’s rich cultural heritage…” (Abridged from catalogue)

Shojo fashion, manga art school : how to draw cool characters, action scenes and modern looks. Boys / Flores, Irene
“Learn how to draw male characters’ figures, faces, and looks, and in settings of groups and in action. “35+ step-by-step demonstrations, including 9 complete character portraits, from athletes to artistic types.” (Catalogue)

Manga mania fantasy worlds : how to draw the amazing worlds of Japanese comics / Hart, Christopher
“Manga fantasy is the swords-and-sorcery Japanese animation style featured in the most popular video role-playing games on the market. Christopher Hart’s latest tutorial reveals the secrets and art techniques that go into creating these worlds of wonder.” (Catalogue)

Johnsonville Youth Night – Yu-Gi-Oh! Special

Trading card illustrated with a large magic library. This weekend, young people aged 14— 18 are invited to join us at Youth Night, Saturday, 6 May 2023, 5 – 8pm at Johnsonville Library! This month’s optional activity is all about Yu-Gi-Oh! Speed Duel.

Seeing as I saw the Yu-Gi-Oh movie three times in theatres in 2004, I feel I’m the best bet for introducing you to the Yu-Gi-Oh universe!


25 Years ago, Japanese manga artist Kazuki Takahashi created Yu-Gi-Oh! the story of a boy who solves an ancient Egyptian puzzle and awakens the spirit of the King of Games! Yu-Gi-Oh quickly turned into a trading card game sensation globally, with 12,500 unique cards being created!
Yugioh GIFs | Tenor

Dueling decks contain cards divided into three types: spells, traps, and monster cards. Originally, spell cards were called ‘magic cards’… but Magic the Gathering didn’t like that too much. Amongst those thousands of cards, I am pleased to say there are at least a couple of librarian monster cards.

In 2023, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh! and commemorating the work of Kazuki Takahashi, who sadly passed away last year, while saving three people from a rip at sea. We’ve added a selection of the original manga to our collection on Libby. Check em out!

Book coverYu-Gi-Oh!, Volume 1 / Takahashi, Kazuki                          Sitting by himself in the back of the class, 10th-grader Yugi always had his head in some game—until he solved the Millennium Puzzle, an Egyptian artifact containing a powerful spirit from the age of the pharoahs… the King of Games possesses Yugi, recklessly challenging bullies and evildoers to the Shadow Games, where the stakes are high… (abridged from catalogue).

book coverYu-Gi-Oh!, Volume 2 / Takahashi, Kazuki                            Meet Seto Kaiba, master of the world’s most dangerous collectible card game. When Kaiba discovers that Yugi’s grandfather owns the incredibly rare “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” card, he will stop at nothing to get it…even if he has to duel with Yugi’s dark alter-ego… (abridged from catalogue).

Along with the seven volumes of the original manga, we also have the first five volumes of the follow-up Yu-Gi-OH! Duelist which focuses on the card game sensation and became the basis for the original season of the international anime!


Book coverYu-Gi-Oh! Duelist, Volume 1 / Takahashi, Kazuki                    A mysterious videotape sends Yugi and his friends to Duelist Kingdom, the island home of super-rich American game designer Maximillion Pegasus. There, Yugi must compete with the world’s greatest Duel Monsters players for the honor of fighting the man who made the game! (abridged from catalogue).

Among the physical stacks, we have a few Yu-Gi-Oh novellas aimed at a younger readers, from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era, where teens attended a duel monsters academy. We also have a couple of volumes of the Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal manga.


Game on / West, Tracey
“Jaden is determined to be the King of Games in spite of facing two powerful rivals.” (Catalogue)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Volume 1, The name’s Yuma / Yoshida, Shin
“In a futuristic city, augmented reality Duels are all the rage… With more awesome monsters and unbelievable cards, the future of Yu-Gi-Oh! starts right here! No one loves Dueling more than Yuma Tsukumo, but unfortunately for him, no one is worse at it! ” (abrudged from catalogue)

It’s time to duel! 

Dear Delaware: Write letters, gain friends, profit???

Hey you!

Yes, you! Have you ever had a pen pal? Have you ever written letters to a friend who lives over 14,000km away? Do you wish to confuse an American with s’s instead of z’s and extra u’s in your writing? Are any of these new experiences you want to partake in?!

Well, we’ve got just the thing for you!

We’ve teamed up a series of public libraries in Delaware, USA for a Pen Pal program! It’s a chance to make new friendships and learn about another person’s culture and life experiences.

From Tuesday 18th April –  Sunday 14th May you can join the first round of the program, simply by filling out a sign-up form. This program is open to adults, teens and children over 5 years old. Parental permission and in-person signup is required for ages 5-15, so if you’re not 16 yet just grab a parent and drag them in to your local library. If you’re 16 or over you can sign-up via the online form below.

From there, we’ll pair you with a similar participant from Delaware – you’ll be notified via email of who your pen pal is and what their interests are. Then write your letter and bring it to the library – we’ll take care of the international postage and you’ll be notified when to pick up your pen pal’s response.

Begin meaningful conversations and experience the enduring joy of receiving snail-mail!

Sign up for Dear Delaware!

If you’d like some letter-writing inspiration, check out some of our favourite epistolary novels (yes, there’s a word that specifically means book-written-as-a-series-of-letters):

Ella Minnow Pea : a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable / Dunn, Mark
Set on the totally-real island of Nollop, birthplace of the author of that sentence about brown foxes and lazy dogs, the islanders decide to stop using letters of the alphabet when they fall off a statue adorned with the sentence. And since the story is told in letters between residents who also have to stop using certain letters when writing to each other… It’s a lot of fun! For the reader, at least.

Also available as an eBook.



Illuminae / Kaufman, Amie
This story is told through a series of interview transcripts, chat logs, video summaries, and other ephemera. Chat messages are basically letters, right?

The story itself is about two exes in the middle of a fleeing space fleet, an …interesting AI, and a deadly space-plague.

Also available as an eBook.



Dear Rachel Maddow : a novel / Kisner, Adrienne
Brynn writes emails to Rachel Maddow, and did actually get a reply! To the one she sent…  But hey, at least she’s writing? As well as dealing with her ex-girlfriend, her brother’s death, passive mother and even worse step-mother… And we get to read all the unsent (and sent) emails Brynn writes.



To Night Owl from Dogfish / Sloan, Holly Goldberg
The story of two kids trying to get their parents back together. No, this isn’t The Parent Trap, this is two 12 year olds who were unhappy when their dads started dating, but who are even more unhappy when they break up. And they were sent to te same summer camp and then have to communicate by writing letters.



Laura Dean keeps breaking up with me / Tamaki, Mariko
Just like the title says, in this graphic novel Laura Dean keeps breaking up with Freddy. So Freddy writes to an advice columnist (and medium), who writes back.

Also available as an eBook.



Code name Verity / Wein, Elizabeth
This isn’t really letters between people, but I love this book so I’m including it. It does get pretty heavy though! One part told through a written confession to Nazi captors in 1943 occupied France, the other part told through scribbled diary entries in a flight journal, this book is gooood.

Also available as an eBook and Audiobook.



The Cecelia and Kate novels / Wrede, Patricia C.
Cecelia and Kate are cousins in magical Regency England. And they write letters and help solve magical mysteries and deal with nefarious magicians and one of them may get turned into a dog!

The Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to… Dungeons & Dragons

Welcome to the Wellington Comic Lover’s (WCL) Guide, where we take you through the Wellington City Libraries’ comic collection. This post collects all the comics we have inspired by the premiere tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons!

(via GIPHY)


What Dungeons & Dragons comics are there?

Dungeons & Dragons has inspired many comics since the tabletop gaming renaissance of the 2010s. In addition to the official comics licensed by Wizards of the Coast, D&D has crossed over into other comic franchises, and “actual play” podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Critical Role have started adapting their in-game storylines into graphic novels.

If you were looking for sourcebooks and manuals to run your own campaigns, check out J’Shuall of Jackanapery’s recent post on our Dungeons & Dragons collection here!


Official Dungeons and Dragons comics

These are the official licensed Dungeons & Dragons comics we have, based on the Pathfinder system and Forgotten Realms setting.

Forgotten realms. Cutter / Salvatore, R. A.

Pathfinder. Volume one, Dark waters rising / Zubkavich, Jim

Dungeons & dragons. Infernal tides (only on Libby)


Dungeons and Dragons and Television

Dungeons & Dragons has crossed over into comic-book tie-ins of TV shows, notably Stranger Things and Rick and Morty.

Stranger things and Dungeons & Dragons / Houser, Jody
(also on Libby)

Stranger things : Erica the great / Lore, Danny

Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons and Dragons (only on Libby)


The Adventure Zone

Artist Carey Pietsch adapts the McElroy-starring live-play podcast The Adventure Zone into graphic novels, starting with the ‘Balance’ arc. The storyline follows impulsive fighter Magnus, vainglorious wizard Taako, and grumbling monk Merle as they collect magical artifacts for a secret organization called The Bureau of Balance.

The Adventure Zone [1] : here there be gerblins / McElroy, Clint (also on Libby)

The Adventure Zone [2] : murder on the Rockport Limited / McElroy, Clint (also on Libby)

The Adventure Zone [3] : petals to the metal / McElroy, Clint (also on Libby)

The Adventure Zone. 4, The crystal kingdom / McElroy, Clint

The Adventure Zone [5] : the eleventh hour / McElroy, Clint


Critical Role

Critical Role, the acclaimed live-play podcast helmed by GM Matt Mercer and a troupe of voice actors, has been adapted into comics, starting with their first campaign Vox Machina.

Critical Role – Vox Machina

Critical role : Vox Machina origins [1] / Colville, Matthew

Critical role : Vox Machina origins [2] / Mercer, Matthew

Critical role : Vox Machina origins [3] / Houser, Jody

Vox machina : kith & kin / Nijkamp, Marieke

Critical Role – Mighty Nein

Critical role : the Mighty Nein origins. Volume one

The Chronicles of Exandria : the Mighty Nein

Critical role : the Mighty Nein origins : Fjord Stone / Burke, Kevin

Critical role : Mighty Nein origins : Mollymauk Tealeaf / Houser, Jody

In addition to the comics, there are also Critical Role books about the settings, lore and history of the campaign.

The world of Critical Role : the history behind the epic fantasy / Marsham, Liz

The tales of Exandria : the Bright Queen / Poelgeest, Darcy van


DIE – a comic turned TTRPG

A darker take on the typical D&D story, DIE follows five forty-somethings who return to the tabletop fantasy world they were trapped in as teenagers. Created by Kieron Gillen (Young Avengers, The Wicked & The Divine) and artist Stephanie Hans (Angela: Asgard’s Assassin), DIE was later adapted into its own tabletop RPG.

Die. Volume 1, Fantasy heartbreaker / Gillen, Kieron (also on Libby)

Die. Volume 2, Split the party / Gillen, Kieron (also on Libby)

Die. Volume 3, The great game / Gillen, Kieron

Die. Volume 4, Bleed / Gillen, Kieron (also on Libby)

The entire DIE series is also collected in one volume as Die. [Book 1].


More tabletop gaming-themed comics

Roll for initiative / Walls, Jasmine – On the eve of their college graduation, a group of friends try to complete their unfinished campaign.

D&D Dungeon Club [1] : roll call / Ostertag, Molly – The friendship between two D&D players is tested when they open their two-person campaign to other players.

Modern fantasy [1] / Roberts, Rafer – D&D meets office culture in this comedy series drawn by Henchgirl artist Kristen Gudsnuk.

Rise of the dungeon master : Gary Gygax and the creation of D&D / Kushner, David – A biography comic about the creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax.


D&D inspired zines

We also have zines inspired by Dungeons & Dragons in the catalogue by local artists, including Hicksville artist Dylan Horrocks.

Darkest dungeons / Horrocks, Dylan

Saint : a collection of drawings and writings from a campaign of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons / Lean, Alis

Choose your own D&D character. Vol. I, Class / Fey


Comics that ARE roleplaying games

We’ve covered comics based on roleplaying games, but what about a comic that is a roleplaying game? In You Are Deadpool, you play through the comic as the Merc with a Mouth, your journey through the story determined by your dice rolls.

You are Deadpool / Ewing, Al

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