Bonus Top 5

To make up for my lack of blogging last week, here is a Bonus Top 5 for the day before Friday. This comes to us courtesy of Annie, one of my colleagues in Auckland Central and features a collection of books she ordered and read, that she wouldn't have known about if it hadn't been for our suite of Library Blogs. It's short and sweet. H . e . r . e . ' s .. .. Annie

A top 5 list of books I *had* to request after exploring the Top 5 / Rodney blogs AND/OR compiling Top 5 lists… You know what it's like - you look at one book on the catalogue, which leads you to another title, then another, then… you end up with an exploding request list. These are the top 5 books I ended up requesting after exploring the Top 5 goodies and Rodney blogs, and/or working on top 5 lists for them:

5.
Crap lyrics: a celebration of all the very worst pop lyrics of all time-- ever! by Johnny Sharp.
Tosca sold me on this one. Thanks mate.

4.
A house is a house for me by Mary Ann Hoberman.
Thanks Danielle for the heads-up!

3.
The science of Sherlock Holmes from Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the real forensics behind the great detective's greatest cases by E.J. Wagner.
Science and Sherlock Holmes. Double win.

2.
Peter Pan's first XI: the extraordinary story of J.M. Barrie's cricket team by Kevin Telfer.
I hadn't read this one, so thanks for the mention, Fiona! I'm glad you enjoyed Penguins stopped play.

1.
Vampire forensics: uncovering the origins of an enduring legend by Mark Collins Jenkins.
I'm sure this one is self-explanatory.

New awareness

I am in the middle of a tertiary paper on different cultures in New Zealand, which I am finding both frustrating (because of some of the abstract theories) and enthralling. While on one level I thought I appreciated the depth of diversity in New Zealand, it has become more and more apparent that how lacking my knowledge was in the history of our countries makeup.

I have just completed an assignment based on the history of the Chinese in New Zealand and have been appalled at some of what I read. The level of prejudice against the Chinese went to the very highest level of Government (Prime Minister Richard Seddon) and no ethnicity appears to have been legislated against to the extent of the Chinese.

As well as researching through Auckland Libraries non-fiction shelves for material on the Chinese experience in New Zealand and watching documentaries, I also read some fiction based on the Chinese experience in Aotearoa.

Chinatown Girl (Eva Wong Ng) is part of the My Story series of children's fiction. Each is written in diary form and has a voice that the readers can relate to. Silvey Chan is a 12 year Auckland girl. New Zealand is at war but more important to Silvey is the news that her school is closing and she will have to adjust to a new school, new teachers and new children. Then the American soldiers descent on Auckland, including the Chinese-Americans and there is much more for Silvey to think about.

As the Earth turns Silver (Alison Wong) is the story of families, forbidden love and the clash of different cultures and loyalties. It is predominantly set in Wellington from the turn of the century to the 1920's but also travels to China, Dunedin and briefly to the war on the Western Front. Beautifully written to evoke emotion, with language on the one hand simple, but on the other filled with complex meaning. Fictional and real-life personalities blend in this worthy winner of the Janet Frame Fiction award.

Reading makes you think. Reading brings you to new understandings, awareness and appreciation. That's one of the reasons I love reading.

What a week

Bad blogger - Bad bad blogger. The fact that I have the voice of a frog and a broken finger is no excuse for the distinct lack of blogging last week... BUT what a week it was! Fantastic weather and fireworks. Lots of visitors to Aotearoa. Wonderful sport (no walkovers) but bad traffic. And the tenth anniversary or 9/11 to bring a more sombre note to the weekend.

Rugby World Cup Events. Check out this page on our libraries website for displays and event information during the Wolrd Cup.

Auckland Libraries. For all those visitors to Auckland (and some of the locals), why not check out what's on offer at the library. From free wifi and community spaces, to some wonderful exhibitions and displays of books and other items held by the library. There are over 50 locations araound Auckland that you can find us.

Auckland Council website. For more information on services and attractions around Auckland, check out the Council website.

I heard a young boy on talkback last night asking why we called it the 10th "anniversary" of 9/11 as to him anniversary was a celebratory word and it felt wrong. He had a point but I can't think of how else to put it. We mourn the dead and the death of innocence that day, but at the same time we do celebrate something - the bravery of those who worked to save and rescue, and those who were left behind.

Ka kite.

New Children's Fiction by Kiwi Author

Award winning Kiwi Author Brian Falkner recently released a delightful new Children's Fiction title (with illustrations from Donovan Bixley)

Northwood is a whimsical fantasy tale with hints of humour in the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett vein of writing. The young heroine is Cecilia Undergarment, which is acknowledged in Chapter One as being a "slightly odd name" but is otherwise perfectly normal, except that she can talk to animals. Her family live in an extraordinary house (Mr Undergarment owns a balloon factory) in a small town with the a vista over the lake and Mr Jingle's Wild West Show and African Safari Park to the "mist-shrouded forest, and black-capped mountains of Northwood". No one who enters Northwood forest ever returns.

This is the setting for Cecilia's adventure. Along the way she rescues a neglected dog, which unfortunately leads her to Northwood where ferocious black lions roam. There are secrets in Northwood and Cecilia sets out to uncover them. It is a fabulous tale which the author readily admits "It depends on whether what I am telling you is true, or just a big fat farty fib".

This is a book which I think will quickly make it onto the read aloud lists for many classrooms around the country. It's setting is universal and I think it will also be taken up around the world. Its the sort of book I can easily picture as a movie (but that is probably thinking too far ahead). Highly recommended.

Top 5 for Friday - September is...

It's September! Winter is over and it's time to celebrate in a BIG way as the world comes to New Zealand. Today's Top 5 concentrates on some of the things that are happening in the world of Libraries and the big city of Auckland during September.

1. Blue September. This comes first because this one is personal. Blue September is encouraging us to face up to Prostate Cancer. Here's what the website says. Why blue? It's simple - blue is for boys! Did you know men are twice as likely as women to die from cancers that in many cases can be prevented? Come on guys, it’s time to face facts and get cancer aware. Blue September is a nationwide awareness and fundraising initiative for prostate cancer, supporting the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. The campaign seeks to raise funds for prostate cancer research, as well as helping men reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by encouraging early detection. In Library terms, we can help by providing reading (subject search Prostate Cancer) for those who may have just been diagnosed and want to make sense of the frustrating rounds of tests and doctors (and for their families) or go to one of our Health databases through our Libraries website to get tips on early detection.


2. Rugby World Cup 2011. It's hard to ignore so we are not going to. The World's here to play, Auckland is ready and so are the Libraries. From fantastic displays supporting one (or all) of the teams, rugby and other sporting literature and provision of internet services so that visitors can keep in touch with home to lots of friendly welcoming spaces and enthusiastic people, Auckland Libraries are right behind the Rugby World Cup. Check out the special RWC2011 page on our library website for more details of events near you.


3. Comic Book Month. The best of all different activities from previous years from all around Auckland have been combined into one event during September. We give you Top 5s, write-ups, an interview with the award-winning Sheehan Bros, and introduce you to our graphic novel and zine collections. There are also reward cards (with the chance to win some fantastic prizes) special events and storytimes being run in some libraries and our Create a Character competition starts up next week. Watch the website or your local library for more details.


4. Auckland Art Gallery. After nearly four years away, a civic ceremony on Saturday 3 September will officially reinstate the Auckland Art Gallery to its original home on the corner of Kitchener and Wellesley Street... The newly developed Gallery has 7,194 sqm of public space, including four floors, 4,264 sqm of display space, a café, gallery shop, Learning Centre, auditorium and more than 800 artworks on display. Museums and Art Galleries are the cousins of Libraries and visiting this family member (which I am ashamed to say I have never done before) is top of my list to do once netball finishes and I get my weekends back. Which leads me to the last item on today's list.


5. Spring. Yes - Winter is officially over and September marks the beginning of spring. This morning every single member of the netball team I coached remarked on how lovely it was to turn up to 7am practice and for it to be daylight. Time to spring clean, prepare the gardens, start the exercise/diet programme that will have you looking the best you can for the beaches this summer. Or just be able to take your book and coffee (or wine) outside onto the deck to relax and enjoy. (If you hit the link on 'spring' you get a rather eclectic mix of library resources which is the result of a keyword search).

It's a full month and I plan to make the most of it. Have an awesome weekend everyone.