Rangitoto - NZ Post Non-fiction 2010

The book Rangitoto tells the history of our volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf, how the volcano was created, and the Maori lore of the island. It also explains the flora and fauna on the island.

I liked Rangitoto because it uses descriptive language, and is also easy to understand for 9 year olds and over. If a parent read the book to a 7 year old, they would understand it too.
The facts just blow my mind and I have learnt heaps of new things by reading all of them.
The book also has great illustrations, very realistic.
It is like you are on Rangitoto.

Good luck with the competition. I think this is a great non-fiction book.

E3 Call Home by Janet Hunt - Non-fiction

E3 Call Home has become a favourite non-fiction book for Cheralyn and her Oupa.
The book tells the true story of two godwits, E3 and E7 and their migration and how the birds were tracked.
The book is full of detailed information, including weblinks, flightplans and bird identification. There a separate areas in the book to tell of E3 and E7, and another area which explains in more detail all about bird tracking, predators and bird habits.

This is such an interesting book, and the story of E3 has a sad part to it.
I think that this book should win the non-fiction award.

New Zealand Post Picture Books 2010

Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig goes to Dad's Cafe by Diana Neild
reviewed by Yewon Jung
Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig goes with his mum for lunch at his Dad's cafe, "The Ravenous Snout".
This story is told in perfect rhyme and illustrated with wonderful and colourful pictures of the different characters that come into the cafe.
I think that this book is fabulous and that everyone over 4 years old will love it.
Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig Goes to Dad's cafe is good enough to win the picture book and childrens' choice awards.

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith.
Reviewed by Selwyn Mitchell
The Wonky Donkey is a picture book which is also a rhyming song book.
I believe it should be in a joke book.
Here is why...
What do you call a donkey that has only one eye, 3 legs,likes to listen to country music, is quite tall and slim, and smells really, really bad?
A stinky-dinky-lanky-honky- tonky -winky -wonky donkey.
The song is meant to be funny. My brother Zac loves it, but I didn't think it was funny.
The book comes with a CD of the very catchy song.
I think this book will win the picture book award because the catchy song, the colourful illustrations and rhyme all go together well.

New Zealand Post Book Awards 2010 Picture Books

Old Hu-hu by Kyle Mewburn
Reviewed by Dimitrios Ramaiyah

Old Huhu dies and Huhu Tu misses him a lot. He looks everywhere in the forest for Old Huhu, and finally realises that he hasn't completely gone, because Huhu Tu finds him in his heart.
5 to 7 year olds would love this book because it is sad but interesting all the way through.
Dimitrios gives this book a 70% chance of winning the picture book category.




Cowshed Christmas
by Joy Cowley
reviewed by Mariah Rennie-Younger

This story is about farm animals which come mooing, clucking (or whatever their sound is) into the farmyard shed.
Who have they come to see ?
- you guess because it is Christmastime.
This picture book has a very simple storyline .I think the pictures are cool and this would be good to read and show younger children.

New Book Display Week 7 term 1

"Pushing the limits" could be the theme for this week's non-fiction.
Look to the Stars by Buzz Aldrin is about space exploration. DD# 629
Supercross and Arenacross is about the sport of BMX riding and racing. DD# 796.7
The Great Race Maze takes you all over the world. DD# 793.7
This month's New Zealand Geographic features our latest sports hero, Shaun Quincey.
Our 2 picture books are:
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (H), showing the kitten's nighttime adventures in effective black and white drawings.
You Can't Eat a Princess by Gillian Rogerson (R). This story has the characters Princess Spaghetti, King Cupcake and aliens and is quite silly.
There are 3 fiction books, 2 of them by Paul Jennings (JEN)- Uncanny and The Gizmo. Both are popular books that needed replacement.
The last new book introduces a new character to our library. Magyk is book 1 of the Septimus Heap series and is a magical adventure / fantasy written by Angie Sage (SAG). This book is for capable readers.

Win a bookmark or sticker for answering these questions (reply as a comment on the blog and leave your name).
What is Buzz Aldrin famous for?
What did Shaun Quincey do to become a sports hero?

New Book Display Week 5

As our new picture books this week, we have 5 Maori readers. Each reader has a translation on the back, but try to read the story without looking at the translation first. These readers will brighten up our browsing books.

Ivy and Bean (2 mischievous girls) are new characters to our library. We have 2 books, Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter and Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record, by Annie Barrows. These are fast, fun stories, especially for girls who are independent readers.
Following on from Andy Griffith's The Cat on the Mat is Flat, is our new book The Big Fat Cow that Goes Kapow. The same treatment of silly things.

The non-fiction books are a mixture of topics.
Mummy and Me Cookbook DD# 641
Survival Skills (Using Maths) DD# 510
White Island, New Zealand's Most Active Volcano DD# 551.21
Be a Demolition Expert (Using Science) DD# 690.26

Reminder for those of you who reserved a displayed book from last week to collect it from the box.