Our Hairy Maclary Party

On Tuesday we had a party in the library to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Lynley Dodd's first book about Hairy Maclary. We had fun activities like colouring, mazes, puzzles, videos playing, and Dalmation ears to make and take away. It was a busy lunchtime for everyone! Click on the link below for a time lapse video of the fun we had...

Hairy Maclary Day 9 July 2013 from H Nicol on Vimeo.

...and here are some photos of our wonderful kids with their creations!  We all had a terrific time!

Thank you to Summer, Astaria, Mikey, Ellie, and Morgan for giving up your lunchtime to help - you were all absolute stars!

Hairy Maclary turns 30!

That's right - this month is Hairy Maclary's 30th birthday.  He and his friends have been an essential part of childhood for three decades now!  To celebrate, we are having a special Hairy Maclary birthday party on Tuesday (July 9th) in the library at 1 pm.  We will have activities, crafts, and videos - followed by our special storyteller Alex in the afternoon to celebrate some of our favourite books.

If you can't wait till then, click below to see one of my favourite Hairy Maclary stories on film.  See you on Tuesday!

Takeshita Demons - on the New Book stand this week

Takeshita Demons is an adventure and mystery story about a girl who moves from Japan to the UK to live.

The question is.... what has followed her from her old home??  Click on the picture below to link to a video interview with the author (who is a New Zealander), which tells you a little more about the story.

This is a fast-paced, inventive action story, and confident Year 4 and up readers will love it!

NZ Post Children's Book Awards - 2013 Winners!

The winners have been announced, and some of our favourites are there!

Best Picure Book:

Mr Whistler by Margaret Mahy

Children's  Choice Award:
Melu by Kyle Mewburn

Best Junior Fiction

My Brother's War by David Hill

Best Non-Fiction:

100 Amazing Tales from Aotearoa by Simon Morton & Riria Hotere

Congratulations to all the authors and illustrators!!

Red Rocks

The announcements of the award winners for the 2013 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards are happening this Monday 24 June!  I will let you all know the winners after the announcements, but in the meantime, here is a book trailer for Red Rocks, set on Wellington's south coast - a great book for senior readers!

Click on the book cover below to see the video.

Kelly Campbell's Book Art

There are some amazing artists out there doing very clever things with books.  One I have recently come across is Kelly Campbell, who designs and makes pop-out graphic art from well-loved books.  Below is the link to a short article about her, with some wonderful pictures of her work!

We Give Books

'We Give Books' is an organisation based in America that aims to promote reading and access to books within the USA, but also around the world - by offering free books online for you to read!

The idea is simple: read a book online, and a physical book will be donated.  The causes change all the time, and include schools in Africa, Haiti, South America, and children in World Vision programmes in many countries.  Below is a video which introduces what they do.

The programme is run by The Penguin Group and The Pearson Foundation, who are both very big companies in the publishing world.    Click on the icon below to go to the website.  You need to have a (free) account to 'open' a book: you are welcome to use the school one to go online and read.  

The details are:

username:    PlateauLibrary

password:    read

Please note: the books on this site are all aimed at children between 4 and 10 years old.  You are welcome to set up your own account, but you must ask your parents first as you must be over 13 to sign up.