Summer reading fun

We at the Invercargill City Libraries endeavour to ensure that we are providing services and support for those children and young adults who are enthusiastic about reading.

We have implemented two fantastic progammes that promote active minds while away from school during the Summer holidays from 1 December 2011 through to 28 January 2012.
As you may already know, the Children’s Summer Reading Programme has been running for a number of years now with fabulous success. Last year we introduced a new component to the
mix and offered a reading programme for teens over the summer holidays. The young adults’ programme will be open to anyone in Year 9 through to 20 years of age. The Children’s Reading Programme is open to those from Year 0 to year 8. In doing so we are covering all children interested in taking part.

The Children’s Summer Reading Programme and the Young Adults’ Programme will be coordinated slightly differently to accommodate the two different styles of reading. Children’s participants will be monitored by their parents and/or guardians to ensure they are reading the recommended 20 minutes per day over the set period of time. Once these times have been recorded in the log book provided, children are eligible to collect prizes.

The teen programme, however, will be independently focused with the participants reviewing the material read in order to gain points. Once a certain amount of points have been reached they will go into the draw to win prizes that are desirable and appropriate to the age group.

Registrations open on 1 December for both programmes and will remain open until all places are filled. Online registrations will also be available via www.ilibrary.co.nz We officially invite anyone who is interested in taking part to register as soon as possible and be in to win some amazing prizes.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Luce sees things, shadows that make her skin crawl and bad things can happen when they come. That is why Luce is sent to Sword & Cross Reform School after a terrible accident at a party where a boy, Trevor, was burnt to death. Everyone thinks Luce had something to do with it.

On her first day she meets Daniel, who she is instantly drawn to. She has this feeling that they have meet before. After some mixed signals from Daniel, Luce and her friend Penn decide to do some investigation into Daniel’s family. They bring up more than they bargained for.

It seems Luce and Daniel meet every seventeen years and are destined to fall in love. Unfortunately it always ends badly with Luce always ending up dead, but something is different this time.

Lauren Kate's book was very different from what the cover indicates but I was not disappointed. It features it all, murder, romance, action and mystery all with a supernatural twist. This is a great teen supernatural romance and the best thing…no vampires.

Fallen is also availble in spoken word.

Hunger Games the movie

Here's a sneak peak trailer for the Hunger Games movie which is due for release next March. If you haven't read the books perhaps you'd better start reading before the rush begins.

New Young Adult

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This is not the end!

If, like me, you have just seen the final Harry Potter movie but are still not ready to leave the incredible magical world created by J.K Rowling – never fear! You are only a few mouse clicks away from an amazing variety of web pages, fan sites, encyclopedias, and much, much more.
There has been a lot of buzz over the last few months about J.K Rowling’s mysterious new online project, Pottermore. It is promoted as an interactive online experience, which seems to mean an opportunity to read the books online, but with loads of new information written by J.K Rowling, as well as games and fun extras like being sorted into a house and buying a wand. It is launched in October so grab your broomsticks and head to http://www.pottermore.com/ to sign up.
Other sites to check out…
Lexicon - J.K Rowling herself used this amazing online encyclopedia to check facts when she was writing the final books in the series. There are maps, lists of spells, family trees and just about anything else Harry Potter related that you could think of. Even the most dedicated fan can find some new information on this site.
MuggleNet – One of the biggest online fan sites. Mugglenet has the latest information on everything Harry Potter including the books, movies, and Pottermore. It also has a podcast called Mugglecast, which, amongst other things, has a chapter by chapter discussion on the books.
Scholastic – Games, quizzes, polls and more from the publishers of the book series.
Warner Bros. – This is the official site for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. You can download wallpaper and screensavers, watch videos, find your patronus and, my personal favourite, have a message translated into Parseltongue.
And of course, nothing beats enjoying the books the way J.K Rowling intended for us. Maybe it’s time for a re-read.

Kirsty A.

Matched

17 year old Cassia lives in a perfect futuristic world where there is no sickness or disease, everyone dies at the age of 80, and everyone's future is mapped out for them by the Society.
Matched begins with Cassia travelling to her Match Banquet to find out who the Society has decided she is to marry when she turns 21. Cassia is relieved to find she has known her match all her life: her good friend Xander. However when she sees another boy's face flash up on her screen as well, she is confused - the Society does not make mistakes. Cassia knows the other boy too - Ky - and falls for him even though, for many reasons, she knows she shouldn't.
Cassia soon finds that life under the Society is not as perfect as it seems, and she must choose whether to follow the rules or her heart.
Matched is a compelling love triangle, but also a gripping thriller as Cassia begins to question everything she has always known. The first in a trilogy, this book will appeal to young adults, particularly girls, who enjoy futuristic love stories with a bit of depth and have had enough of vampires!
Check availability here.

Reviewed by Angela

Going Bovine

Libba Bray

Cameron has got Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease. There are two things you need to know about Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease:

1. It's fatal. There is no coming back from this one.

2. It eats little holes in your brain and makes you go mad.

   With that in mind Going bovine is told from Cameron's point of view and when a punk rocker angel tells him to save the universe and himself in the process he's off on a wild adventure with an hypochondriac dwarf and an immortal garden gnome.
   

   This book plays with reality and Libba Bray has no problem seeing just how far we are willing to go. She takes us on an insane journey in and out of conciousness making sure to poke fun at reality T.V. consumerism and terrorism along the way. A great read for anyone with a sense of humour willing to laugh in the face of death.

(Reviewed by Donald)

Young adult winter reads

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Goth Girl Rising

Barry Lyga


Barry Lyga has finally given us a second instalment to the story of Fan boy and Goth Girl. This time he shows us the world from Kyra Sellers' (A.K.A. Goth Girl's) point of view. Did you wonder why Kyra was so angry in Fanboy and Goth Girl? Well this is where you go to find out.

Once again Lyga manages to get inside his character's heads without going all judgy on them and once again we want to reach into the story and give the character a good shake, make her look at the world differently.

That being said I preferred "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl" to "Goth Girl Rising" because I found Fanboy to be a more sympathetic character. To be honest I didn't like Kyra much. Still it's a good book. Just make sure you read the Astonishing adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl first.

(Reviewed by Donald)

Fleur Beale and other winners

So the New Zealand Post Children's book awards have come and gone for another year. I hope you all had a go at voting for the children's choice award as there was a great prize to be won.

We were lucky enough to have Fleur Beale down as our visiting author during the awards period. She visited local schools and held a writing workshop for teenagers while here. I hope she enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed having her.

On top of that Fleur's book, Fierce September, won the young adult's section of the awards so I'm claiming the Southland influence helped her win (I'm not really sure how I can justify that but I'm saying it anyway). Fierce September is the follow up to Juno of Taris which won Fleur the Esther Glen award in 2009. Juno of Taris was reviewed here as part of our Pursue 100 reading competition last summer (thanks Aliesha).

Fierce September picks up the story where Juno left off a ship arrives at Taris saving the occupants from their crumbling world and taking them to New Zealand as refugees. The New Zealand they find is not the New Zealand we know however. The calamities of climate change and pandemics has given rise to right wing extremists. Extremists who are eager to use the people of Taris for their own political ends.

Now I've got to admit I liked this book better than Juno of Taris. While they both hive some great themes and characters Fierce September to me digs further into the future world Fleur Beale was trying to create. This makes it in a way more real. I loved the interactive side of the book as well. Fleur set up two Warningtheworld.blogspot.com and bobbingontheocean.blogspot.com. Each one gives the reader a different perspective on the action of the story again making things more real.

Check out the blogs and see if they peak your interest.

Anyway I'd best let you know about the other New Zealand Post Children's book award winners too. The Moon & Farmer McPhee by Margaret Mahy & David Elliot for best picture book. This wonderful gentle story about stopping and taking time to smell the roses also won book of the year. The non-fiction prize was taken out by Leon Davidson for Zero Hour: The ANZACs on the Western Front. From the junior fiction category Hollie Chips by Anna Gowan won best new book while Finnigan & the Pirates by Sherryl Jordan won the category. Lastly and not surprisingly Baa Baa Smart Sheep by Mark & Rowan Sommerset won the children's choice award.

New term, New teen books

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Opposing Viewpoints

Now here is the database for those of you who want different views or debates on topics. This is very good for new concepts or ideas as it covers all the angles. Great for school projects or general research. There is a main search box in the top right of the home page or there are eight headings that you can choose from as follows:

• Business and Economics
• Energy and Environmentalism
• Health and Medicine
• Law and Politics
• National Debate Topic
• Science, Technology and Ethics
• Society and Culture
• War and Diplomacy

If you choose the View All option beside a heading you will get a list of subheadings to choose from.
Also under the homepage heading are tabs for Home, Issues, Maps and Resources. The Issues tab will take you to an alphabetical list that you can choose from. If you click on Resources you then see a list of Curriculum Standards and there is one for New Zealand. This leads on to options for drilling down into study topics for age levels.
Down the right of the homepage are the Featured Video and Featured News links.

Vanessa

Looking for Alaska

John Green

Although not John Green's best book this book is an amazing first novel. The book centres around Miles Halter during his first year at boarding school and His relationship with the other borders at the school, especially Alaska Young: Smart, sexy and self destructive.

The book is separated into two halves before and after an event that will change the way Miles sees the world.

Like all John Green's novels Looking for Alaska is a wee bit geeky and a wee bit philosophical. While the first half is full of fun and games the later parts of the book will make you think. A must read for all John Green fans and a great introduction to this great teen author for anyone else.

(Reviewed by Donald)

Awards on the horizon

The New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards festival week kicks off on 9 May, culminating in the Awards dinner and winners’ announcements on 18 May.

Ever-popular NZ author and Young Adult Fiction Finalist Fleur Beale will be in town during awards week (9-17 May). Fleur will be holding a workshop for school students on Friday 13 May (9am to midday in the Library Meeting Room). Places are strictly limited for this free workshop and registration is essential; please contact Kirsty Graham at the Library for further information (211 1444 or kirsty.graham@ilibrary.co.nz ).

Fleur will then be off to Southland Boys’ High School for a lecture for school children at 2pm. Again, this free event has limited spaces, so any teachers interested in taking a class along should contact Kirsty Graham at the Library ASAP (211 1444 or kirsty.graham@ilibrary.co.nz ).

Children are being invited to create and decorate their own fossil to enter in our “Make a Fossil” competition. Instructions on how to make a fossil are available from Children’s Services and entries close Friday 6 May. Prizes for the best and most creative fossils are up for grabs. This activity is inspired by the award-nominated book The Kiwi fossil hunter’s handbook by J S Crampton.

We will be having giveaways and spot prizes for children throughout NZ Post Children's Book Awards festival week, so make sure you bring your kids in to be in to win.

Young Adult New releases

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$500 dollars worth of books

In addition to New zealand book month which I mentioned a wee while ago the finalists for this years New Zealand Post Children's book awards have been announced. You can go to http://www.booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-childrens-book-awards if you're interested in learning more about the awards but I'm more interested in the finalists themselves;

Picture books

Baa Baa Smart Sheep Mark & Rowan Sommerset

A Dog Like That! Janene Cooper & Evie Kemp

Hill & Hole Kyle Mewburn & Vasanti Unka

Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam Juliette MacIver & Sarah Davis

The Moon & Farmer McPhee Margaret Mahy & David Elliot

Non-fiction

The Kiwi Fossil Hunter's Handbook James Crampton & Marianna Terezow

The life cycle of the Pukeko Betty Brownlie

Sensational Survivors Sandra Morris

Who's Cooking Tonight? Claire Gourley & Glenda Gourley

Zero Hour: The Anzacs on the Western Front Leon Davidson

Junior fiction

Finnigan & the Pirates Sherryl Jordan

The Haystack Jack Lasenby

Hollie Chips Anna Gowan

Shadow of the Boyd Diana Menefy

Tussock Elizabeth Pulford

Young Adult

Ebony Hill Anna Mackenzie

Fierce September Fleur Beale

Guardian of the Dead Karen Healey

The Limping Man Maurice Gee

Smiling Jack Ken Catran

Some of the ones that catch my attention are Baa Baa Smart Sheep, a wonderfully irreverent story in the style of The Mole who knew it wasn't any of his business and The Moon & Farmer McPhee for those of a more contemplative mind. I can't let the opportunity go by to recommend Maurice Gee's The Limping Man. It's the last book in a great trilogy and Gee has got to be my favourite NZ author. Feel free to let me know who you think would win and when winners are drawn I'll let you all know if the majority of people in our library agree with the judges.

If you want to make a more formal vote there is a children's choice award where you can get in on the action. If you vote for the children's choice award you go into the draw to win $500 dollars of book tokens for yourself and another $500 for your school (voters must be of school age). So come into the library and grab a voting form. They're free post so it will cost you nothing and could win you $500 dollars worth of books. Voting closes 5pm on the 29^th of April.

Many reached their goal

The first annual Pursue 100 reading challenge wound up last week with the Three major prizes drawn in the library on Thursday afternoon. We were really impressed by both the quantity and especially the quality of all the reviews we received over the summer. Most of those who tried reached the goal of 100 points which put them in the draw for an apple iPad.

I can now reveal the big winners;

Our third prize, an iPod Nano went to Georgina Kennedy.

The second prize of an iPod Touch was won by Bonnie Mcleish.

And congratulations to Israel Christie who won first prize, an apple iPad.

As well as the major prizes everybody who sent in a review over the summer won at least one minor prize. These consisted of books, DVDs, CDs, vouchers and some other toys. I've posted pictures below of a selection of our prizes including the big three.

If you missed out this year don't panic we hope to hold the challenge again next summer and think we can make it bigger and better. So keep watching this space and we'll let you know all the details.

New Teen books for a new Year

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