NaNoWriMo: The Madness of Writing

I am a crap writer. 

My spelling is appalling, my grammar even worse and I break every writing rule there is and probably alot more. Before I started writing I never knew there were so many rules.  Passive voice, active voice.  Past tense, present tense.  Show, not tell.  Gerunds...

Ahhh!!!

It's enough to make you want to throw the bloody manuscript out the window or take up drinking or eat vast amounts of chocolate.

Mmm, tempting...

Sadly none of these things are an option because a) I write and store everything on my laptop so throwing it out of the window is sooo not a good idea b) I don't like alcohol and c) though I may love chocolate it is not something that will make my writing any better, however much I wish it was so.

Not writing isn't an option either as my head is constantly filled with stories.

Finding out I'm a crap writer is, in truth, a little sad and disheartening.  Then again I am in surprisingly good company.  Dan Brown, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, J K Rowling and many others have all been accused of being crap or hack writers.  

And though I don't consider myself nearly as good as them if I can write something that is at least half as good and is enjoyed by others I'd be pretty happy.

I'll certainly be getting plenty of practice.  50,000 words over 30 days.

Why, may you ask?

Well November is the annual National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for those in the know.  And I, along with a great many others, will be taking part.

Yes I know.  It sounds like madness and I'll probably be mad by the end of it or at the very least a little bit more loopy than I normally am.

Is it the end of November yet?

PS: Gerunds - and yes I had never heard of them before either.  Google as always to the rescue...

PS Again:  Since I am busy preparing for NaNoWriMo, i.e. skiving off by not writing or reading and instead watching the latest episodes of Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, etc  I have instead borrowed from the web goddess herself, Tosca and posted some weblinks that I have come across recently in my web travels.

Happy webbing or writing or whatever the case may be.

The Weird, The Wonderful and The Downright Strange...

Abebooks Weird Room  
http://www.abebooks.com/books/weird/index.shtml 

As you know I love bookie things so when I came across this book site that features "everything that's bizarre, odd and downright weird in books" I just had to share it.  How can you not love sites like this.

Amusing Planet
www.amusingplanet.com

I love travel and interesting places so this website is perfect of someone like me as it combines both.  Take a look and see some of the amazing things that are on our planet. 

Coursera
https://www.coursera.org

I love the idea of this website which offers around 200 courses that are taught at universities around the world for free.  All you have to do is enrol and pick what course you want to do.  Of course the only problem is, is that once you've finished you'll want to do another and then another...

The Blog Farm
www.theblogfarm.com

A website featuring blogs.  Over 3900 blogs.  Wow that's alot of blogs and lot of web reading.  I think I've died and gone to heaven...

BoredPanda
http://www.boredpanda.com

This site is addictive.  Seriously.  Once you get started it's hard to stop.  There's something here for everyone.  From the truly creative and wonderful to the very weird and strange.

Comic Book Month!

I'm super excited. September is Comic Book Month at Auckland Libraries, which means we get a whole month to celebrate one of my favourite storytelling formats. There's plenty to sink your teeth into, with competitions and events galore.

Show off your art skills and enter our create a character competition. There are some great prizes up for grabs in four age groups, which means that anyone can enter. That amazing picture to the left is of last year's winner, and we've used it on our posters and fliers - so not only are there prizes on offer, but fame too is up for grabs!

If art isn't your thing, and you just want to get reading, all you need to do to enter our other competition is borrow five comics, graphic novels, or manga. You'll go in the draw to win a cool prize, and the top 5 readers in Auckland will also get their hands on some goodies.

There's more information about these competitions and events on our website, or you can come into the library and ask your friendly neighbourhood librarian! Keep tuned throughout September for comics recommendations and reviews.

Launch Your Lyrics competition opens!

Are you a budding songwriter? Bring your hidden talent into the light and be in to win one of our fantastic prizes! Enter our Launch Your Lyrics competition with your original song and be in with the chance to win some fantastic prizes.

Launch your Lyrics has been run out west for several years. This year it is open to all Auckland Library members between 11 and 18 years of age. There is a Launch your Lyrics page on our website, but here are the brief details.

There are two categories for entry, 11 - 14 years and 15 - 18 years.

We have fantastic prizes up for grabs in each category:
First prize in each category is a recording session at Zeal Music Studios to record your winning lyrics
One runner-up will receive a $200 music voucher
Two highly commended winners will receive a $100 music voucher

You do have to be a member of Auckland Libraries to take part. If you haven't already registered with us, what are you waiting for? It's really easy to join the library and doesn't cost you anything if you live or go to school somewhere in Auckland. Go to our Join Up page.

The competition runs from March 12 to May 16 2012. Our celebrity judge, Rodney Fisher of awesome Kiwi band Goodshirt (pictured), will select the winners! Rodney is a singer/songwriter - the lead singer in Goodshirt, he also has a solo career and is well known in New Zealand and the UK. As well as presenting the prizes at our Launch Your Lyrics Prizegiving on May 31 at the Zeal Music Studios, he will also be performing. There will also be plenty of spot prizes on the night so make sure you keep it free.

For all the information on how to enter and full conditions of entry head to our Launch Your Lyrics page on the Auckland Libraries website.

Are you a master of rhyme?

Last week I introduced you to a fantastic resource for poetry through our digital library. This week we want to hear about your poetry.

Submit your poem to the Auckland Libraries poetry competition by 13 July and be in to win prizes! The prize-giving ceremony will be held at Mt Albert Library on National Poetry Day, Friday 22 July. Established in 1998, National Poetry Day has grown to become one of the most anticipated events on the calendar and once again, our poetry competition is back. If you enjoy reading, writing, performing, or simply listening to poetry, wait no further – submit your poem(s) now.

There are two ways to enter the competition:
(a) get an entry form from your local library

(b) download a pdf entry form now

There are three age categories to choose from:
5 to 12 years
13 to 17 years
Over 18 years

Submit your entry/entries at a local library no later than 5pm, Wednesday 13 July.
Poems will not be returned, so make sure you keep a copy!
For full details of entry conditions go to our competition page

Matariki at Auckland Libraries

Pupuritia ki ngā taonga tuku iho (Holding on to the treasures of our ancestors)

Matariki runs from the 4th of June (Saturday) through to the 4th of July. It is a time to prepare, learn, share ideas and celebrate the future. Join Auckland Libraries (that's us) for a month of stories and activities (including harakeke weaving and kapahaka performances) to celebrate. Events around Rodney include:

Helensville Library

Mon 13 June, 10.30am - 11am. Matariki storytime.

Kumeu Library

Mon 20 June, 10.30am - 11am. Matariki storytime.

Mahurangi East Library

Tues 7 June, 10.30am - 11am. Special Matariki storytime for preschoolers.

Orewa Library

Thurs 9 June, 11am - 11.30am. Special Matariki storytime.

Warkworth Library

Mon 13, 20 & 27 June, 10.30am - 11am. Special Matariki storytime.

Wellsford War Memorial Library

Wed 8 June, 10.30am - 11am. Special Matariki storytime.

Whangaparaoa Library

Tues 14 June, 10.30am - 11am. Special Matariki storytime

Tues 14 June, 1pm - 3pm. Kapa haka performance in library forecourt Whangaparaoa Primary and College.

Wed 15 June, 10.30am - 11am. Special Matariki storytime.

A Matariki concert planned for Warkworth on Saturday 4th June has been postponed until a later date.

For other Matariki Events in the Auckland Libraries check out our Matariki Events page. Don't forget to sign up for our What's On E-Newsletter so it can arrive in your Inbox every month and you are the first to know what's happening.

We also have a Matariki creative writing competition for youth between 9 and 17 years of age.
The theme is He taonga te kōrero (Stories are precious).

Try writing a story that has been passed down from your grandparents, parents or any other whānau member. The stories can be written in te reo Māori or English. So get writing and be in to win some cool prizes. Check out the terms and conditions of entry on our competition page.

Top 5 for Friday - Five Fantastic Library Competitions

I was going to touch on school holidays this week and let everyone know what is happening around Auckland at the Libraries. But like many of you, I am still in denial that the first term is only one week away from endnig. So that particular post has been postponed until next week. Instead I am deviating from books and exploring some of the fantastic competitions we have running at the moment through Auckland Libraries. Sure - most of them are aimed at the children and teenagers, but we did put out the ANZAC challenge call on Wednesday so we haven't forgotton the adults. And if you can get the kids interested in these competitions, it may take up at least a morning of their time during the holidays.

1. Kiwi Kids Kidding Around. I'v talked about this one before. It is our official partnership with Rugby World Cup 2011 and apart from great spot prizes in each library, one lucky youngster will get to see their joke in lights during the World Cup tournament. Entry forms are available at ALL libraries around Auckland and the first several entries at each library get spot prizes. Jokes should be Kiwi in nature, inoffensive and if they had a rugby flavour it wouldn't hurt (although it's not necessary).


2. Launch your Lyrics. Last year Waitakere Libraries ran a fantastic contest during NZ Music Month for 11 to 18 year olds with the prize being a session at a recording studio and your chance to have a professional music CD produced. It's back again this year and you can start work on it straight away. There are plenty of other prize packs as well and from hip hop to opera, the choice of song style is up to you.


3. It's a dog's life online scavenger hunt. Running alongside the special Sir George Grey exhibition "It's a Dogs Life" at the Central Auckland Library is this online scavenger hunt with prizes every week as well as one main prize.


4. Mars needs Mom's. Prizepacks can be won by drawing what you think a Martian looks like. This contest closes on the 14th of April so you will have to be quick. It might be something to do this weekend.


5. Customer Satisfaction Survey 2011. Not so much a competition but there are prizes and this is for all our customers, young and old. We want to know how we are doing and we are willing to provide prizes for finding out. If you have ten minutes we would love to hear from you.

That's it from me for another week. Have a great weekend out there and stay safe on the roads (and I say that with feeling as I am heading down to Rotorua for a netball tournament so watch out for a tired umpire coming home on Sunday). Ka kite

Trans-Tasman ANZAC Day Blog Challenge

Seonaid Lewis is a geneologist and researcher extraordinaire. She will be well known to family historians in the area with a regular column in the New Zealand Geneology magazine. She also scribes the Kintalk blog for the Central Auckland Research Centre (second floor of the central city library) and organises regular talks and presentations.

The latest promotion is a competition with friends across the Tasman. Seoniad picks up the story...

It started with Shelley from Twigs of Yore issuing a blog challenge for Australian researchers in celebration of Australia Day. Here at the Central Auckland Research Centre at Auckland Libraries, we loved the idea and thought that we could be just as successful with a blog challenge for Waitangi Day. We had loads of international response, with people blogging about their New Zealand early settler ancestor from as far away as UK and the US and as close as NZ and Australia!

This time, it is a joint challenge with our Digger mates from across the Ditch. Australians and New Zealanders know ANZAC Day – 25 April – as a national day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealanders who died at war. Do you have an Australian or New Zealander in your family tree who was killed in or served in military operations? We’d like to hear about not only their sacrifice, but the way their loss or experience shaped their family history.

To participate: - Write a blog post about an Australian or New Zealander serviceman or woman’s family, and the impact war had on their family history - Post a comment with the URL on the Auckland Research Centre’s Facebook page under discussions or on the relevant post on the Twigs of Yore blog. - Publish your post by 25 April 2011.

After Anzac Day, all submissions will be listed in a summary posting on Auckland Libraries’ Kintalk blog and also Twigs of Yore blog.

Just to get you started, recommended resources for New Zealand and Australian research, see the Auckland Libraries Digital Resources. Access great online resources such as:

Coming Home virtual exhibitionThe virtual exhibition consists of "albums" containing photos/images and documents. Virtual albums entitled "Gallipoli", "Lest We Forget", "New Zealand Maori Battalion", "Peace", "Postcards" and "Returned Services Association". Also has a portal for searching content nationwide from organizations such as libraries, archives, museums and galleries, including Auckland Libraries. Courtesy DigitalNZ.

Index Auckland and New Zealand Card Index For references to articles and other resources regarding WWI and WWII.

Manuscripts Online For diaries, letters, postcards and albums

And Papers Past

Within the library catalogue: Auckland Libraries Searching using WWI or WWII etc will return you wonderful results of holdings throughout the whole of Auckland Libraries, which you can narrow down by location by using the "select location" dropdown menu on the right of screen. For example, available in all three Research Centres:- Central, South (Manukau) and North-West (Waitakere) are gems such as:* New Zealand Expeditionary Force casualties, WWI. Books I to XIV, 15 Aug. 1914 to 6 Jan. 1919

and you’ll also find Australian resources in the Central Auckland Research Centre; for example:

* Book of remembrance of the University of Sydney in the Great War 1914-1918

* Index to news items and obituaries of WWI servicemen and women in the Tasmanian weekly magazines

For other sites, try looking at the Auckland War Memorial Museum ; the Australian War Memorial site and the National Archives of Australia, or look further using the resources listed on Cora Num’s website.

KIWI KIDS KIDDING AROUND

Have you been into the library and seen the posters for our new competition to support the Rugby World Cup 2011 yet? Well - what are you waiting for? There are heaps of great prizes to win and you could see your joke up in lights at some of the Rugby World Cup Games in October.

KIWI KIDS KIDDING AROUND is a children's joke competition to support Rugby World Cup 2011. It runs from the 1st of March for three months and involves children between the ages of 5 - 14 making up their own own jokes. Entry forms can be picked up at libraries or printed off the interim website. The competition is also promoted on the Council Website.

Completed entry forms need to be dropped into your local library. The first four children to drop off their entry/entries at each community library will be rewarded with a McDonalds Hat and a burger voucher.

CONDITIONS
Children must be between the age of 5 and 14 years of age and must be library members
Jokes must be no longer than 80 characters [not including spaces]
The joke must relate to either rugby, Kiwiana, cultural or a mix of them
Jokes must not use swear words or be insensitive to cultures.
The joke should be original

Oh - did I forget to mention the prizes? The prizes on offer are:
Ultimate winners joke in large scale art installation at TelstraClear event Centre at the time of the rugby festival (RWC)
4 x bikes from Bike Barn (2 x larger, 2 x smaller bikes including helmets)
Auckland Hogs (for a couple of vouchers for kids to ride on a hog (Harley Davidson that is ...not a large black pig!!)
McDonalds caps and vouchers for the first four entries at each community library.

So get your thinking caps on and drop your entries back to us as soon as you can to be in with a chance to win the McDonalds caps and vouchers.

Super Special Top 5 for Friday Part 1

It's a massive Top 5 for Friday this week, with not just one list, but two. This week we are counting down the five finalists in two of the sections of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2011.

Introducing Picture Books
Baa Baa Smart Sheep Mark Sommerset & Rowan Sommerset. Publisher Dreamboat. Target age 3+. Little Baa Baa is bored so he decides to play a practical joke, telling Quirky Turkey that the pile of round, brown things on the ground are "Smarty Tablets". Who is smarter, sheep or turkey?
A Dog Like That! Janene Cooper & Evie Kemp. Publisher Duck Creek Press. Target age 2+ . All dogs should be like this! Everybody tells her how dogs should be, but this girl knows better. This is a story about a little girl and her unruly, loveable best friend. Local author.
Hill & Hole Kyle Mewburn & Vasanti Unka. Publisher Penguin Group (NZ). Target age 3+. Hill loves being a hill, but sometimes he wishes he could feel the earth breathing beneath him. Hole loves being a hole, but sometimes wishes he could see the sun rising. Their friend Mole is happy to help and soon Hole is a hill, and Hill is a hole, but what at first seemed wonderful turns out to be not so great after all. Will they find a solution to their problem?
Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam Juliette MacIver & Sarah Davis. Publisher Scholastic New Zealand. Target age 4+ . Down in the woods, not far from the sea, Marmaduke Duck found a grapefruit tree. What luck! cried the duck. How lucky I am! I'll take some and make some marmalade jam. The smell of Marmaduke Duck's marmalade jam cooking draws a lot of other animals to his river.
The Moon & Farmer McPhee Margaret Mahy & David Elliot. Publisher Random House New Zealand. Target age 4+. A heart-warming story - with lots of fun wordplay - about a grumpy farmer whose animals keep him awake at night singing and dancing by the light of the moon. Eventually he is won over by the moon and the animals and learns how to be happy.

Introducing Junior Fiction
Finnigan & the Pirates Sherryl Jordan. Publisher Scholastic New Zealand. Target age 7+. Wildbloode the Wicked is the fiercest, most ferocious pirate in all the seven seas. All she wants is for her nephew to follow in her footsteps. But Finnigan's not interested in piratical pillaging. All he wants to do... is dance!
The Haystack Jack Lasenby. Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Target age 8+. Maggie's growing up during the Great Depression without her mother in the little Waikato dairying township of Waharoa.
Hollie Chips Anna Gowan. Publisher Scholastic New Zealand Target age 8+. Hollie Chips is an unusual girl. Not just because she has one blue eye and one brown eye... but she just cannot tell a lie, no matter how small. So when she finds out that the unscrupulous Barry Buckscud has been lying to her and her neighbours, she plans to get even.
Shadow of the Boyd Diana Menefy. Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Target age 8+. Historical novel based around the events of the Boyd masscre in which two young boys, a Māori and Pakeha, find their friendship stretched to breaking point.
Tussock Elizabeth Pulford. Publisher Walker Books Australia Target age 9+. When a family is struck by tragedy a little hope is all that is needed. When Kate and Madeline's father goes missing on a routine local flight, family life is thrown into chaos. While the close rural community help the family deal with their grief, Kate lights a lamp every night in the window of the old tin hut on the hill in the hope that it will help her father find his way home. Madeline invests her hope in building a replica of the fabled stone man. But it is the appearance of the troubled Troy that brings comfort to Kate in the most unexpected way. To Kate, Troy seems nearly as lost as her father and the mystery surrounding him and also the stone man leads Kate into dangerous territory.

There is also a People's Choice award. Call into the Library and pick up a voting card or go online to the NZ Post Book Awards website.

Puffin Short Story Competition

We have just received this press release from Puffin and we know there are heaps of keen budding authors out there (especially after our Scribbles to Books New Zealand Book Month Events last week). So check out the website.

The Puffin Short Story Awards are back for 2011! We had some amazing entries last year and are looking forward to receiving another huge blast of creativity from our nation's future writers in the coming months. There are three entry categories spanning school years four to eleven and the winner in each category will receive an Apple iPad as well as 50 books for their school library!
Last year's winning stories and everything you need to get started are available on the webpage, so click the link and start getting creative!
Happy writing,
The Team at Puffin

As you will see from the website there are categories for Junior, Intermediate and Secondary school students, with fantastic prizes for both the author and their schools. Entries are now open and close on Friday 3rd June. The competition is held in partnership with The Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust and winners are announced at the Storylines Festival Day in August.

Read to Succeed Winners

Read to Succeed is over for another year and this week we celebrate the winners for 2010.

First place getter and the winner of a new (green) iPod nano is Ashleigh Milner from Kingsway School.

Runners up were Laura Bates from Rangitoto College and Caitlin Mowatt, also from Kingsway, who both receive book vouchers. A special set of book vouchers is awarded to Sam Sinnott from Kaipara College for the most entries into the competition (very impressive Sam)

Read to Succeed is our teen reading challenge which launches during Youth Week in May and runs right through to the end of Term 3. It challenges Rodney Year 9 to 13 students to read five different types of books (e.g. historical, science fiction, poetry, etc) and is designed to support the NCEA "wide reading" criteria. The schools this year were again very supportive of the challenge and entry numbers were up. So well done Rodney, congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone for taking part.

Read to Succeed

There's only about a month to go on our "Read to Succeed" teen reading challenge aimed at students in Years 9 to 13. All teens have to do is to read five books across a range of genres by the end of Term 3. (This is also part of the requirements for NCEA English - how convenient...)

Entry forms can be obtained from Rodney Libraries or local college libraries. The form must be completed and signed by a parent, teacher or a librarian each time a book has been read. Once five books have been completed and signed off, teens should drop their entry form into the library. Successful entrants will qualify to go into a draw to win an iPOD and other prizes. Prize winners will be notified at the beginning of Term 4. For more information pick up one of the flyers or ask a librarian.

We're getting some great questions and feedback about the challenge. If you know a teen then make sure they're in to win!

Rodney "Poetry Aloud" Winners

Rodney Libraries National Poetry Day ‘Poetry Aloud’ competition winners have been announced for 2010.

James Logue of Tomarata School was the overall winner. Alex de Beer of Red Beach School and Regan James from Helensville were both placed second. James won an 4 Gigabyte video MP3 Player and Alex and Regan both received a 4 Gigabyte MP3 Player.

The competition was a Rodney Libraries initiative as part of the build up to National Poetry Day, which is celebrated on 30 July.

National poetry day has been marked for a number of years. Two years ago Rodney Libraries decided to embrace the new technology now available to local residents through public access computers within libraries and launch a ‘Podcast Your Poetry’ competition.

The competition was a way to bring the objective of ational poetry day, ‘Poetry shouldn't stay on the page - it needs to be shared and read aloud,’ to life within Rodney. Podcasting gives children and teens the opportunity to share their creativity with others around Rodney District and New Zealand.

The competition ran from 1 – 30 June. 75 entries were received in this year’s competition, which was open to children in years 4 to 13.

“The number of classrooms entering was great to see,” says Rachel Fisher of Helensville Library who was the National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud Co-ordinator. “Tomarata School have always been a big supporter of this competition but this year has seen other schools come on board such as Red Beach School. We are pleased to be able to offer them a competition which fits in with their school curricula.”

Pauline Mee, a Helensville poet who judged the competition commented that, “the poetry and prose was full of beautifully descriptive use of imagery and evocative story telling. It was thoroughly enjoyable to listen to everybody’s work.”

And the winners are...

Mayor Penny's Reading Challenge for 2010 is over and on Friday we surprised several children around the district with their prizes for taking part in one of the best ever years. We had 800 entries (over 100 more than our previous best) from 590 children. 38 different schools were represented plus there was a good entry from our local Home-schoolers. Well done everyone.

The bike this year went to 5 year old Madison Eldridge from Orewa North Primary School. Second place went to Gitanjali Bhatt from Silverdale and third place to Abbey Barnes-Wright from Tomarata.

This year we also recognised the School who had the most entries based on their school roll. Leigh Primary School pipped Tomarata Primary School by just 1% (both schools had over 40% representation). Tauhoa Primary School were third, with Parakai and Orewa North close behind.

We would like to say a huge congratulations to the winners and well done to everyone who took part (Certificates will go out to all participants early in the third term).

And finally THANK YOU to our loyal sponsors and supporters who have been with us since the challenge started seven years ago. Free Ride'n' in Huapai, the Whangaparaoa and Orewa Lions Clubs and the Rotary Club of Warkworth. We couldn't do this without you.

National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud

The competition has now closed and all of the entries are up on the website. Thanks to the schools and students who submitted entries. The judge will have a difficult time picking a favourite from all the poems. (There's also a little bit of karaoke!)

National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud competition - only a couple of days left

There are only a couple of days left for kids to get their entries in for the poetry competition. Tomarata School have been working hard - well done team! Thanks for your support.

You can listen to the poems that have already been submitted on the competition website.

Poetry Aloud - Podcast Your Poetry Competition

We're halfway through June and halfway through the National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud competition for children in year 4 -13. There are a few entries already which is great to see. Don't miss out! Entries close June 30. Win an MP3 player or other prizes.

Entries are open to any children in Year 4 - Year 13 who are:
- enrolled in a Rodney District school, or
- living in Rodney District but attending school outside the District, or
- being educated in a verifiable home-schooling equivalent

To enter children just need to write their poem and record it. It should then be emailed to rodneylibraries@yahoo.com.au as an MP3 attachment.

Entries must include the following information:

- name of poet- contact details

- the school and year they attend

- their library card number (if they have one)

Rodney Libraries now have free computers with internet access and a range of multimedia features which children can use to record their poems at the library.

National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud

Rodney Libraries are running a competition for students in Years 4 to 13 encouraging them to submit a podcast of an original poem during June. The National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud competition is in celebration of National Poetry Day- this year on July 30 2010. The competition runs from 1 - 30 June. One talented poet will win an MP3 player. Poetry shouldn’t stay on the page – it needs to be shared and read aloud. Podcasting poetry gives children and teens the opportunity to share their creativity with others around Rodney District and New Zealand.
To enter children just need to write their poem and record it. It should then be emailed to rodneylibraries@yahoo.com.au as an attachment.
Entries must include the following information:
- name of poet
- contact details
- the school and year they attend
- their library card number (if they have one)
Rodney Libraries now have free computers with internet access and a range of multimedia features which children can use to record their poems at the library. Library staff can also provide advice about how to do this.

Check out the terms and conditions here, Helpful stuff and how to make a podcast at your local library.

Read to Succeed - teen reading challenge kicks off this week

Rodney Libraries are celebrating Youth Week with the launch of their teen reading challenge. Called "Read to Succeed" the programme is aimed at students in Years 9 to 13. The Challenge will run throughout Terms 2 and 3. All teens have to do is to read five books across a range of genres by the end of Term 3. (This is also part of the requirements for NCEA English - how convenient...)

Entry forms can be obtained from Rodney Libraries or local college libraries. The form must be completed and signed by a parent, teacher or a librarian each time a book has been read. Once five books have been completed and signed off, teens should drop their entry form into the library. Successful entrants will qualify to go into a draw to win an iPOD and other prizes. Prize winners will be notified at the beginning of Term 4.

For more information pick up one of the flyers or ask a librarian.

Rodney Writes writing competition 2010 winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Rodney Writes writing competition for 2010. The awards ceremony was held last night at Whangaparaoa Library. The three judges, Lorraine Orman (Young Writers), Helen Kirkman (Novice) and Sue Orr (Premier) commented positively on the entries.
MC Stu Duvall presided over the ceremony for a small but enthusiastic group of people. Mayor Penny Webster also spoke.

Thanks to Rodney District Council for supporting the competition again this year.

Winners

Premier
1st - Wes Lee
Runner-up - Fay Cameron

Novice
1st - Brenda Howsen
Runner-up- Cathy Clarke

Young Writers
1st - Alice Allfree
Runner-up - Tom Vasey


The winning stories will be published on the Rodney District Council website in the near future.