Books of the Week

A couple of books with a slightly local flavour this week.

Yates Landing. By Kate Stirling
This is a New Zealand historical romance set close to home for Rodney residents. The story is set on the Kaipara Harbour and the places plied by the boats in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Chloe Mainwell, a London belle, arrives at a situation that requires her to be married as soon as possible. Thomas Yates agrees to marry her and he brings her to New Zealand.
She faces all the hardships of life on a sailing ship for the long voyage by sea to New Zealand and her life with her new husband. This all becomes a huge challenge which she deals with the best way she knows how. The surroundings and the weather offers the biggest of these challenges and the outcome is not what she had expected.
Chloe soon becomes very settled into the rural way of life and becomes a regular visitor to and eventually resident in Dargaville.
This is a story that wends its way through the life of a young London woman, spanning through to her old age on the Northern Wairoa River, with all the issues that happen along the way.
Reviewed by Wellsford Library

Salt River. By Anne Hegarty

This is a children's title, once again set on the Kaipara Harbour. Based on a real life family in 1920, this is still a work of fiction. And there is plenty that younger readers will be able to relate to here. First and foremost is every child's dream. Mum and Dad have gone away for a week and you are in charge. There are still jobs to do, but there is plenty of fun and mischief to be had as well.

It's a Puzzle

This is my regular "Libraries are not just about books" entry. People are often surprised to find that we have a huge collection of children's jigsaw puzzles. They are one of the most popular items for our young patrons and their parents.

They range from simple five piece knob puzzles with big bright colours to help develop manual dexterity, right through to the more complicated puzzles which provide our librarians and volunteers with their daily intelligence tests (we have to put them together ourselves quite often so that we can check that all the pieces are there). From animals, trucks and Thomas the Tank Engine through to numbers, letters and match-up games, there is something for everyone.

You won't find the jigsaws out on the shelves, but we do have laminated sheets of all our puzzles for you to sort through and bring up to the desk. We will then find the jigsaw for you and hand it over. They range from small to rather large so be prepared.

Check out the range of jigsaws on this Rodney Libraries catalogue link.

Quantum theory cannot hurt you...

...but it sure can make your head spin.

"Quantum theory cannot hurt you: a guide to the universe" by Marcus Chown

Chown is one of the authors appearing at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. (I figured that since I'd bought a ticket to see him I should read something he'd written.) The book is about modern physics, specifically quantum theory and Einstein's general theory of relativity.

I like popular science books. Although this one alleges it can be "read in a morning" I must confess that I had to keep putting it down to mull over the ideas within it. Unlike most of the books that I have to put down though, this one kept me coming back.

The book is written in a relaxed style that takes you step by step through complex theories of how the universe works. It's divided into the "Small things" (quantum) and the "Big things" (everything else). The first half of the book concentrates on the peculiar properties of atoms and the world we can't see. The second half uses that information to explain why stars and galaxies are the way they are. (Well, it explains the current working theories anyway...)

This is one of the few science books I've read where I actually feel as if I have a good grasp of the contents after I'd finished reading it. Recommended.

Mayor Penny's Reading Challenge 2009

Term 2 has begun and May starts at the end of the week. Which is the signal for our annual children's reading challenge in Rodney to begin.

Mayor Penny Webster is once again challenging all the children in Rodney to "Read half an hour a day during the month of May". Information packs have been posted out to all schools who are distributing entry forms to their classes. If you don't get an entry form at school, you can always pick one up from your local Rodney Library.

Reading can be done anywhere (including at school). Once you have finished your reading for the day, colour in the date on the calendar in the entry form. At the end of May sign the form to say you have completed the challenge, get a caregiver or teacher to sign it as well and then get it to one of the Rodney Libraries by 10th June to be in the draw to win a new bike or one of our consolation prizes. PLUS if you come into the library and take out books with your library card twice during May you get a bonus entry and an extra chance to win.

Mayor Penny and Deputy Mayor John are visiting several schools to make the challenge in person and see how you are getting on with your reading. The Mayor's message is "Keep reading and the world is yours". Popular Kiwi author Joy Cowley has also lent her support to the challenge so look out for her message in the libraries.

So make sure you get your entry form and get ready to READ HALF AN HOUR A DAY DURING THE MONTH OF MAY!!

Have your say about Rodney

Rodney District Council invites you to have your say on a number of consultations. Included in these is the Diamond survey which is also running in the Rodney Times. The survey is intended to help RDC understand Rodney's communities. It takes around 5-10 minutes to do and gives people the opportunity to talk about the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of an area as well as to rate it according to its liveability, visitability, workability and investability. There's only one week left before this survey closes so get in and have your say.