NZ Post Book Festival comes to Rodney

The annual New Zealand Post Book Awards are announced later this month. The Awards encourage NZ children to read and enjoy books. Activities and events are planned nationwide in a celebration of our best books for writers and teens.

Pigs at Rodney
Celebrate Piggity Wiggity Jiggity Jig Goes to Dad’s Café with pig stories, and crafts.
Wednesday 12 May 3.30pm at Helensville and Mahurangi East Libraries
Thursday 13 May 3.30 pm at Kumeu and Warkworth Libraries
Thursday 13 May 6.30 pm at Whangaparaoa Library

Author Talk

On Tuesday 11 May, Gavin Bishop, author and illustrator extraordinaire will be visiting Kumeu Library at 1.30 pm. There is limited space but members of the public are welcome. Check with the library.

Secret Snippets Competition

Collect your entry form from your local library and try to guess the title of the NZ Post Book finalist from the snippet on the entry form. There are two competitions, one for children's picture books and the other for teenagers. We have some fantastic prizes for Rodney entrants including an MP3 player.

For more information one what is happening elsewhere in North Shore, check this flyer.

Visit Voyager for FREE

The Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum in Auckland is offering free entry for Aucklanders (including Rodney residents) until the end of May.

Voyager CEO Paul Evans says free entry offers form a key part of delivering value back to the ratepayers of the Auckland region. Mr Evans says he hopes that people can take the time to develop an understanding of the huge role the sea has played in the creation of the Auckland region by visiting the Museum.

Provided they come with proof of address (such as a rates or utility bill with the persons name and address), Voyager will waive the galleries admission charge for Auckland region residents until 31 May. Charges still apply for Voyager Live heritage vessel experiences and education and pre-booked groups, and the free admission is not valid in conjunction with any other.

Visit the Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum website for more information about the offer and what's on at the Museum.

I’m a terribly susceptible reader

I read books set in winter during summer to cool down.

I read books set in summer during winter to warm up.

If I read a book including cheese or champagne or bread my consumption of those things goes up.

If I read a book about baking I’m suddenly very popular with my workmates.

If I read a book about endurance athletes I feel fitter and as if similar success is within my ability. (That lasts about as long as the first five minutes of a run.)

While I feel as if I should be reading more books on financial success and tidiness I’m grateful I don’t read a lot of graphic murder thrillers.

…

What about you?

Brilliant Children's Fiction

I have finally managed to catch up on some of my reading and over the weekend powered through some of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Award finalists for 2010. The first two are absolute page turners.

The Mine’s Afire! The Journal of Tommy Carter, Brunnerton, 1896
Susan Battye and Thelma Eakin

The My Story New Zealand series heads to the West Coast mining community . Tommy could be a typical boy from your school. He spends his time catching eels, swimming in the River without his mother knowing, playing cricket with his friends, playing in the local band and looking forward to the day when he leaves school and gets a job. The only difference is this is 1896, times are tough and one of only jobs available is going down into the coal mine, something Tommy is not sure he wants to do. It’s hard work, low paid and extremely dangerous.

One day there is a huge boom and smoke starts billowing from the entrance to the mine. How many lives will be lost and how will it affect Tommy and his family? When he finishes school will he still have to go down the mines to work?

This is a great addition to the My Story series which explore events in New Zealand’s history through the eyes of children like you.

Cry of the Taniwha
Des Hunt
Des Hunt is back to his absolute best with his latest book. What starts out as a long boring holiday with his grandmother in Rotorua soon becomes much more interesting for Matt with Juzza the strange kid from next door who wants to join one of the local gangs, not to mention that awful smell.

To keep busy Matt spends some time in the forest over the fence with his home made metal detector. But instead of the treasure he wants to find, he uncovers a skull buried under the roots of a tree. When the rest of the skeleton is unearthed, they find the hands locked into old fashioned police handcuffs.

How did he get there? What is his story? And might there still be a treasure? The gangs seem to think so and they want Matt to help them find it…. Or else!

An action-packed page turner which blends history and contemporary adventure, with Maori mythology and the science of one of the most volcanic areas of New Zealand. This book is one of my “must-reads” of the 2010.

An Acoustic Night at the Library with Josef Trethowen

We are thrilled to announce that Josef Trethowen will be performing at the Whangaparaoa Library on Thursday 20 May at 6.30pm during NZ Music Month. He'll be playing a couple of songs off his EP, "Inside the Wendy House" then will stay around for a short jam session post-performance. Bring in your instruments and join in.

Josef Trethowen is an acoustic singer/songwriter from Auckland. After being in a few bands and having toured with Excel Performing Arts as a guitar player he is now concentrating on gaining musical maturity and expanding on his depth and range of song writing abilities.

Josef's songs are inspired from his interpretations of life around him. Be it personal, emotional, moral, political or religious his songs aim to react upon the listener. His warm, catchy, heart felt music is inspired by many different easy listening sounds including acoustic rock/pop, country, classical, new age, and is accompanied by powerful vocals and deep lyrics.

Lest We Forget

A couple of great new books have just arrived at the Library in time for Anzac Day.

Anzac Day Parade (Glenda Kane & Lisa Allen) is a Kiwi Picture Book. Simple and poignant text with sympathetic pencil sketches both tell and show the story of an old soldier and a young boy. "Did ya shoot them dead? asked the bright-eyed boy...No son, it was no thrill" gives plenty of potential to introduce the Anzac tale to the younger members of the family. The authors acknowledge the help of the RSA, Auckland War Memorial Museum and Crete veteran Noel Dromgool and his wife Peggy in the creation of the book.

Over 10,000 New Zealand horses went to war between 1914 and 1916. Only one ever returned home. The rest gave their lives in battle or had to be left behind when the War ended. Brave Bess and the ANZAC horses (Susan Brocker) is told through the eyes of Bess, a jet black mare who left with the first Kiwi soldiers in 1914, returned home in 1920 and died in happy retirement in 1934. A mixutre of fiction, fact and photographs this is a fantastic children's fiction book that would appeal to those who like war stories, and those who liked horses.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them

Library Book Clubs

Some of our Rodney Libraries run Book Clubs for their customers and we thought we should put them all in one Blog post today to promote them and so you can see if there is one near you.

Mahurangi East
2nd Tuesday of the month 2.30 to 4pm run by Rosemary Ashton

Kumeu
4th Thursday of the month @ 7pm run by Tina Collins and Anne Pearson

Whangaparaoa
The Library does not run a bookclub but they do have two Bookclubs that meet in the library each month
1st Tuesday of each month 9.30 - 11.30 am in the Manuka Room. (Contact Denise 09-4244565)
1st Wednesday of each month 9.30 - 11 am in the Pohutukawa Room (Contact Pamela 09 4248249)

Wellsford
Meets once a month on a Friday. Run by Jocelyn Koks

Helensville, Orewa and Warkworth don't have Book Clubs run by the Libraries but there are plenty in the community.

Hello Tauhoa School

The 2010 Rodney Libraries Roadshow kicked off today and I am really excited that our first visit was to my old school Tauhoa. Especially as since I last visited, they have undergone a complete rebuild. Rosie very proudly showed me around and we loved the new classrooms. I took along an old photo from my days of the entire school hanging or sitting in the branches of the "Twisty Tree". Some of the kids even spotted uncles and aunties in the photo. We had an awesome time.

The Roadshow is a library programme where we go out to primary schools in the area and promote books and the library. We tell you about all the exciting things that we have happening in the library, what you find there and how to get a library card. There is some storytelling, some great new picture and story books and a special production. Best of all (for the schools) it's FREE.
We have been running the Roadshow for a number of years and other libraries around New Zealand have picked up on our ideas. If you would like to know more about having us visit your school contact the Roadshow Coordinator Tina Collins 09 4273962 .

ANZAC day services

Silverdale

The Silverdale and Districts RSA extends a cordial invitation to all kindred clubs, associations and public, i.e. Silverdale and Manly Fire Brigade,Red Cross, St John Ambulance, Women’s Division, Girl Guides, Brownies, Scouts, Sea Scouts and Cubs, Youth and Service organisations and local schools and colleges, to join them in their Anzac Day parade and church service.
A special invitation is extended to dependents of deceased veterans to march wearing the medals of their late family members.The parade and march past the Cenotaph is scheduled to commence at 11.00am at our Vipond Road property. The church service is to be held inside if the weather is inclement. Representatives of organisations wishing to take part in the parade, as well as persons wishing to lay wreaths, should contact the Secretary/Manager on telephone 09 424 9026. The Parade Commander will be Sqn. Ldr. G White, Retd. Food and refreshments will be provided for the veterans and their caregivers, Silverdale RSA members, parade participants and children.
NOTE: The RSA Clubrooms will remain closed from 10.15am until after the parade and church service are finished.

Silverdale War Memorial Park
Wreath-laying Service: 12.15pm

Remembrance Reserve, Orewa
Remembrance Service: 12.40pm

Upper Waiwera Cenotaph Service
This service will again be held at Upper Waiwera at 2.30pm. The Silverdale and Districts Returned Services Association extends awarm welcome to anyone wishing to attend. Poppy Collection day is Friday, 23 April 2010; please support us on this day.

Helensville
A cordial invitation is extended to all residents to attend a Citizens’Commemorative Service to be held in the War Memorial Hall, Commercial Road, Helensville at 11.00am on Sunday, 25 April 2010.The parade will assemble at 10.45am outside the former Rodney District Council office on the corner of Commercial Road and Rata Street. Wreaths will be laid at the War Memorial Hall prior to the service.

Parakai
Dawn Parade at 6.00am at the Cenotaph in Parakai Domain followed by a short service at the Servicemans’ Cemetary in Helensville.

Riverhead
A memorial parade will take place at the Riverhead War Memorial Park gates at 9.00am Sunday, 25 April 2010. Any person or group wishing to lay a wreath is welcome to do so.

Waimauku
Waimauku RSA will hold a service at the Memorial Hall, Waimauku at 11.00am, Sunday, 25 April 2010. A march back to the RSA will be at 11.30am for a wreath laying ceremony. Any person or group wishing to lay a wreath is welcome to do so.

Warkworth
Members of local organisations and residents of the Warkworth area are invited to attend the Memorial Services on Anzac Day,Sunday, 25 April 2010.
Dawn Parade:A service will take place at 6.00am at the War Memorial Church Hill, Warkworth. Any person or organisation wishing to lay a wreath is invited to do so.
A Civic Service and Parade:At 10.30am the Parade officials will meet the Officer in Charge of parade at Anglican Church.
Church Hill, Warkworth: At 10.35am Parade fall in – Anglican Church. At 10.40am Parade will march to War Memorial, Church Hill. At 10.45am Service at War Memorial. In the event of inclement weather, these events will be held in the arkworth Fire Station.

Wellsford
The ratepayers and residents of Wellsford and Districts are invited to attend the Anzac Day parade on Sunday, 25 April 2010 at 5.45am at the Wellsford Memorial Domain gates. Any person or group wishing to lay a wreath is welcome to do so.

Leigh
The ratepayers and residents of Leigh and Districts are invited toattend the Anzac Day Ceremony at the Leigh Cemetery on Sunday, 25 April 2010 at 11.00am.

Kawau Island
Kawau Island Yacht Club 12pm

Bad Behaviour

Nope - I am not talking about inconsiderate happenings in the library. This is actually a book review (from the Wellsford Librarians) on Liz Byrski's latest novel titled Bad Behaviour.

The main characters are once again mature woman. Zoe is a suburban housewife in Freemantle in Western Australia. Her children are growing up and Zoe is feeling unsettled wither life. She has trouble accepting the new woman in her eldest son’s life although she doesn’t really know why.

The other main character Julia lives in England. She is coping with the death of a close friend and struggling to come to terms with the fact that she too is getting older.

The bad behaviour of the title happened in the sixties. This is when Zoe and Julia met and during the course of the story we go back to this time to see how the decisions made by these two women at the time have shaped their lives.

I have enjoyed all Liz Bryski’s books as I find her characters very believable and the issues they are dealing with interesting and entertaining.

Mayoral Reading Challenge Coming in May

Rodney libraries are launching their seventh annual reading challenge during May which is aimed at improving the literacy skills of local children.

Rodney Mayor Penny Webster is leading ‘Mayor Penny's Reading Challenge’ which encourages children to ‘read for half an hour a day during the month of May.’

Last year 32 Rodney schools took up the challenge to participate, and the event is expected to be popular once again this year.

Mayor Webster is a strong supporter of the challenge, and says that as winter approaches and the nights get darker, reading in bed is a great way to keep warm.

This May she will be visiting Rodney schools to promote the challenge, the benefits of reading and to share stories with school pupils.

It’s simple to take part in the challenge and children can enter through their school or at a Rodney Library. Entry is open to children in Years 1 – 8. Children just need to read for half and hour a day during May and have their reading verified by a parent, caregiver or teacher. Reading can be done at home, at school or anywhere else. Sharing stories can be a fun family activity involving parents, grandparents and children.

Children who visit one of the seven Rodney Libraries and take books out twice during May also get an extra entry into the prize draw.
All children who complete the challenge will receive a certificate and will go into a prize draw to win a bike or other prizes.

The reading challenge is supported by the following sponsors: Free Ride’n - Huapai, Lions Clubs of Orewa, Whangaparaoa Rotary and Warkworth Rotary.

Petrol-Heads

Having discovered over Easter that I am the member of the family who can do the MOST damage to a rally car in 8 minutes on a Play Station game, I am probably not the right person to be writing today's post. However, with the V8's in Hamilton this weekend, it seemed an opportune time to let the petrol heads know that there are things at Rodney Libraries that could interest them.

Books Feeling slightly mischevious, I did a keyword search in our catalogue for petrol heads and to my surprise got a result. However, if you had to guess at what it was, it probably wouldn't take you long. Top Gear: The official annual 2010 is apparently "perfect for little petrol heads! Ages 10+".

Whether you are looking for sports cars, muscle cars, classic cars or something inbetween, a subject search for automobiles will give you a number of options and is the starting point regardless of what you are looking for. V8 Kiwis: New Zealanders making it big in touring cars is a couple of years old now but is still an excellent start for enthusiasists. Hamilton 400 profiles the inaugral race and cars.

Magazines Search under Automobiles or Automobiles Driving. Currently we subscribe to Evo, NZ Driver, NZ Classic Car and Top Gear New Zealand.

Multi-media From Formula 1 to Nascar and stunts, our computer and Play Station games are very popular. There are also plenty of DVD's

And with the news through yesterday that the driving age is being raised to 16, it also seems like a good time to remind everybody that while we have multiple copies of the Road Code (for cars, motorbikes and heavy vehicles) they are in very high demand and are not usually available on the shelves. The best way of obtaining one is to put a request in. The Road Codes (with updates) are also available online at The NZ Transport Agency website

Celebrity Biographies

The latest celebrity biography is embargoed in New Zealand until 16th April, but that hasn't prevented the furore already surrounding it. Claims and counterclaims over the veracity of what between the covers of Kitty Kelley's new book on the life of Oprah Winfrey.

All of which will make Oprah : a biography even more popular than it would otherwise be, so I am sure Kitty Kelley doesn't mind the fuss. A simple Google search of "Oprah Kitty Killey" certainly reveals that there are a lot of opinions out there. The summary of this version reads "Based on three years of research and reporting as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication, Oprahis the first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful, and admired public figures of our time, by the most widely read biographer of our era. Anyone who is a fan of Oprah Winfrey or who has followed her extraordinary life and career will be fascinated and newly informed by the closely observed, detailed, and well-rounded portrait of her provided by Kitty Kelley's exhaustively researched book. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation of who Oprah really is ..."

This is not the first biography of Oprah Winfrey that has been published and we hold one by George Mair (a 1994 publication aptly subtitled "The Real Story") in Rodney Libraries. And of course we also hold a subscription to the Oprah magazine.

The problem with biographies, particularly celebrity biographies, is that they sometimes leave you wondering. If they are authorised you wonder what has been left out and if they are unauthorised you wonder what has been embellished. I will, of course, qualify this statement because I know it is a gross generalisation and there are whole shelves full of brilliant biographies.

Regardless they make entertaining, inspirational and informative reading and are one of the most popular sections in the library. All our biographies are shelved with a Call Number (the Dewey Decimal number on the book's spine) of 920. Our Biography section in our catalogue is narrowed down into more defined subject headings (e.g. Biography Actors and Actresses Great Britain or Biography Prisoner of War New Zealand).

Biographies are one of the genres that NCEA students are required to read for their "wide reading" requirements. Come in and talk to your librarians about where to find them.

International Awards Season

The International Book Awards season is well under way with the announcement of winners and shortlists around the world.

The 2010 Pulitzer Winners (from their website)

Fiction - Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press)
Drama - Next to Normal, music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey
History - Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press)
Biography - The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf)
Poetry - Versed by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press)
General Nonfiction - The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman (Doubleday)

The 2010 shortlist for the Orange Prize for New Fiction (from their website)

The Book of Fires Jane Borodale, Harper Press
The Boy Next Door Irene Sabatini, Sceptre
After The Fire, A Still Small Voice Evie Wyld, Jonathan Cape

The 2010 Commonwealth Writer's Prize

Overall Winner - Solo by British-Indian writer Rana Dasgupta

Award for First Book - Siddon Rock by Australian writer Glenda Guest

The eight regional winners can be found on their website

And finally for one of the more unusual literary awards, the new Hippocrates Award for Poetry on a medical subject the short list was:

Treatments by Siân Hughes from Banbury
Insight by Pauline Stainer from Suffolk
Ischaemia by CK Stead from Auckland, New Zealand

and the winner was our very own Kiwi author and poet CK Stead.

The one and only Mr Child

I am in the minority here at work. I am probably the only Librarian here that hasn't yet had a personal experience with Jack Reacher. That's right. I admit it. I have never read a Lee Child novel. My colleagues were aghast.

The reason the subject came up is, of course, because the man himself is touring the country at present. Lisa and Julie were disappointed that other commitments clashed with the opportunity to attend his discussion with Graham Beattie and a North Shore audience on Sunday night. But media commitments have been numerous and you can catch video and audio clips of him on Radio New Zealand, Newstalk ZB, TV3 and TVNZ (to name a few).

Graham called Child "intelligent, articulate, amusing, generous and humble" after his Sunday event. To find out more about the author and his books, check out his website http://www.leechild.com/.

The latest book which the tour is publicising is 61 Hours which is the 14th Jack Reacher instalment. The summary on our catalogue reads "Winter in South Dakota. Blowing snow, icy roads, a tired driver. A bus skids and crashes and is stranded in a gathering storm. There's a small town twenty miles away, where a vulnerable witness is guarded around the clock. There's a strange stone building five miles further on, all alone on the prairie. There's a ruthless man who controls everything from the warmth of Mexico. Jack Reacher hitched a ride in the back of the bus. A life without baggage has many advantages. And crucial disadvantages too, when it means facing the arctic cold without a coat. But he's equipped for the rest of his task. He doesn't want to put the world to rights. He just doesn't like people who put it to wrongs."

From the discussion in the workroom on Friday, these are definitely books that I will have to read. Anything that can provide animated discussion about which was the best one, which one I should read first, and who should be Jack in a movie is well worth a look. The first novel in the series is Killing Floor, but I am told it is not imperative to read the books in order.

There is still time to catch up with Lee Child in our part of the world today as he will be in Queen Street, Auckland from 12.00-12.30pm at Borders and from 1.00-1.30pm at Whitcoulls Corner (if he doesn't get recognised and mobbed walking down the street).

Photo of Lee Child heading off for a helicopter ride over Auckland from Lee Child Tour blog

Pirates Ahoy! School holiday programme this week 12-18 April

Helensville Library

Monday 10.30 am Storytime for pre-schoolers Avast Matey! I need a Parrot!

Wednesday 10.30am X marks the spot!

Friday 10.30am Raise the jolly roger! I need a Pirate Hat!

Kumeu Library

Monday 10.30 am Storytime for pre-schoolers

Tuesday 10:30 am Swash buckling pirate stories and activities

Mahurangi East Library

Tuesday 10:30 am Pirate Storytime for preschoolers

Wednesday 10:30 am Come on Board for Pirate Stories and activities

Orewa Library

Tuesday 11 am Rhymetime for preschoolers

Tuesday 2.30 pm Shiver me timbers! Pirate stories and activities

Thursday 11 am Storytime for preschoolers
Thursday 2.30 pm Shiver me timbers! Pirate stories and activities

Warkworth Library

Monday 10.30 am Storytime for pre-schoolers

Thursday 10.30am “Ahoy my hearties” Dress in your best pirate gear! More stories and activities.

Wellsford Library

Wednesday 10.30 am Storytime for pre-schoolers

Thursday 10.30am Raise the Jolly Roger! X marks the spot!

Whangaparaoa Library
Tuesday 10.30 am Storytime for pre-schoolers
Wednesday 10.30 am Storytime for pre-schoolers
Wednesday 2.00 pm Pirates are back! More high-seas fun at the Library

Thursday 10.30am Rhymetime for preschoolers

What was your favourite Children's Book of 2009?

Did you fall in love with Old Hu-Hu or has the tune of Wonky Donkey driven you crazy? Now is your chance to tell New Zealand what your favourite book. It's People's Choice Book Award time.

Here is the release from the NZ Post Children's Book awards website:

This award allows our toughest critics - New Zealand's young readers - to have their say in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. School-aged children and teenagers from all over New Zealand can vote for their favourite book from among the 20 finalists selected by the judges. The award winner is announced by young readers at the awards ceremony and the author and/or illustrator of this coveted award wins $1,000.
Each year this award produces an enormous response - proof of its enduring popularity. Book lovers can vote only once, in any form. Every voting card or online vote that is received puts the voter's nominated school in the draw to win $1,000 of Booksellers Tokens.

So whether or not you want to vote for something well known, or just something that you have read and liked, show a local bias by voting for Maria Gill's Rangitoto or give a brand new author a boost by voting for Sting by Ramond Huber, the possibilities are endless.

You can either vote online at http://www.booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-childrens-book-awards/childrens-choice-2010 or pick up a voting card from your local Rodney Library. And look out for our displays of books that have made the 2010 finalist list.

Te Papa Tupu Writing Competition 2010

Huia Publishing, the Māori Literature Trust, Creative New Zealand and Te Puni Kokiri have announced a new competition for Maori writers with the chance for six talented authors to take part in Te Papa Tupu - a six month intensive writing programme which pays a basic living allowance and teaches skills to improve participants writing.

To find out more about who they are looking for and how to enter go the the Huia Publishing website here

Author's Dark Past

To many the name Anne Perry simply refers to one of our popular authors of crime fiction. Others, however, will remember her by her former name Juliet Hulme. Over 50 years ago Juliet, together with her friend Pauline Parker, was convicted of the murder of Pauline's mother.

Now a documentary has been made and is being shown, initially in Wellington at the World Cinema Showcase. Anne Perry: Interiors is about her life in the village in Scotland and unlike other documentaries in the past, was made with her input and cooperation.

Read more about the documentary and about Anne/Juliet in this article http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/3544438/Killer-revisted-50-years-after-murder.

To find out more about Juliet, Pauline and other notorious New Zealanders, have a look at this catalogue link for Rodney Libraries.

A new career for an old rocker

When I was at school, being a librarian was very uncool (I was a student librarian anyway and never really got in with the cool kids). I was pleasantly surprised when I changed jobs five years ago and became a librarian, how many people commented that it was something that they would like to do.

So I couldn't resist a news item from the UK Sunday Times over the weekend. "Keith Richards, the grizzled veteran of rock’n’roll excess, has confessed to a secret longing: to be a librarian."

All is revealed in the full article which you can find on this link.

Would you like to see your name in print?

Do you know anyone at primary school who is a budding author or poet? Are you one? Then you are going to be really interested in this competition.

New Zealand Post, the major sponsor of the Children's Book Awards, wants to celebrate not just what is written for young Kiwis, but their own writing as well.

So they are creating a very special book and are asking Kiwi Kids to share their magic by contributing a story or poem. The best 50 pieces (judged by a panel of well known New Zealand authors) will be professionally illustrated and published.

This competition is open to primary school aged children and entries up to 300 words must be submitted by 30th April 2010.

Entry forms are in the Rodney Libraries or visit http://www.nzpostbookawards.co.nz/ for more information and some hints to start you off on your story.

Pirates Ahoy! School holiday programme this week

Helensville Library
Wednesday 10.30am Ahoy me hearties! I need a Spyglass!

Kumeu Library
Thursday 10:30 am Swashbuckling pirate stories and activities

Mahurangi East Library
Please note: no Storytime today

Orewa Library
Tuesday 11 am Rhymetime
Tuesday 2.30pm Shiver me timbers! Pirate stories and activities
Thursday 11 am Storytime Thursdays
Thursday 2.30pm Shiver me timbers! Pirate stories and activities

Warkworth Library
Thursday 10.30am ‘X’ marks the spot for Pirates. Bring your best Pirate jokes.

Wellsford Library
Wednesday 10.30 am Storytime
Thursday 10.30am Ahoy me hearties! I need a pirate hat

Whangaparaoa Library
Tuesday 10.30 am Storytime for preschoolers
Wednesday 10.30am Storytime for preschoolers
Wednesday 2.00 pm Come onboard for Pirate stories and fun
Thursday 10.30am Rhymetime for babies

My long weekend reading

It's a long weekend which means some solid reading time.

Here's what's on my bedside table.

We need to talk about Kelvin : what everyday things tell us about the universe by Marcus Chown.

I've had this one for a while and am about half-way through it. It needs concentration so it's no good for a lunch time read. It builds on some of Chown's other titles. I'm really starting to feel as if I understand the theory of things like the Large Hadron Collider

Summary: Look around you. The reflection of your face in a window tells you that the universe is orchestrated by chance. The iron in a spot of blood on your finger tells you that somewhere out in space there is furnace at a temperature of 4.5 billion degrees. Your TV tells you that the universe had a beginning. In fact, your very existence tells you that this may not be the only universe but merely one among an infinity of others, stacked like the pages of a never-ending book. Marcus Chown takes familiar features of the world we know and shows how they can be used to explain profound truths about the ultimate nature of reality.

Shades of grey : the road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde.

It's the latest title by the fabulous Fforde. He has written about the Nursery Crime Division (nursery rhyme/crime thriller mashup) and Thursday Next (a special operative investigating literary crimes.) This one promises to be just as weird and fun.

Summary: Eddie Russett lives in a world where fortune, career and ultimate destiny are rigidly dictated by the colours you can see, with Violet at the top, and Red at the bottom. Below the Colours are the Grey underclass who can only see tones of black and white. It is also a world of rules and regulations - a place of merits and demerits, prefects, bullies, snitches, sports days and over-boiled cabbage. Eddie is pretty happy - he thinks he can see over 70% Red, so will be able to marry up-spectrum. But then he meets Jane, a Grey: alluring, exciting - and dangerous. But she's not his only preoccupation. Eddie is awarded so many demerits his dowry is wiped out, and the only way to turn things around is to take a trip to High Saffron, an expedition from which no one has ever returned ...

Born to run : a hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen by Christopher McDougall.

I love to read about super athletic people while eating chocolate.

Summary: McDougall reveals the secrets of the world's greatest distance runners--the Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon, Mexico--and how he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of super-athletic Americans.

What have you got to read/watch/listen to this weekend?

Happy Easter everyone

Easter is more than just a fantastic chance for a break and lots of chocolate (although those are great bonuses to this particular holiday season). It is a religious holiday and in New Zealand it is the traditional "end of summer" break (at least most of the farmers in Rodney will be hoping that the summer dry ends soon).

To find out more about all the variety of ways people treat Easter, have a look at a subject search for Easter on our catalogue. Most of the Easter picture books and Easter cooking books are already out but you may still be able to find something on Saturday when all the Rodney Libraries will be open their usual hours (click on your local library on the map to find out what they are).

To investigate the religious nature of Easter, you may like to check out our holdings by doing a subject search for Christianity. There is everything here from history, geography of the bible, the relevance of the Church today and first bible stories. Diverse opinions and animated debate can be found on our shelves for those that want to explore religion in more detail. Religion can be found on our non-fiction shelves in the 200's.

Have an awesome Easter. Drive safe on the roads. Don't forget to put your clocks back over the weekend as Daylight saving ends. And if you are looking for something to do over the school holidays, don't forget about Rodney Libraries holiday programme.