New Zealand Author - Jenny Hessell

Evie, Judy, Angelina and Maia are your Thursday lunchtime Librarians this term.

They have chosen to display the Grandma McGarvey books written by New Zealand author, Jenny Hessell.

Evie - I used to read this book a lot when I was younger, and I still like them now.

Judy - These books are very funny.  There is always something to laugh about.

Angelina - My favourite is Grandma McGarvey Goes camping because it is really amusing when she is chased by a wild pig.

Maia - These books are great for four year olds and up to twelve year olds.

The Princess and the Foal By Stacey Gregg

 

NZ Post – Junior Fiction

Reviewed by Angelina, 10 years old and interested in drawing, especially animals, baking and reading any genre of novels.

 

This book is based on a true life story of Haya, the daughter of the King of Jordan. 

It is tragic when Haya’s mother dies when she is 3 years old.

Haya grows up a very shy and withdrawn girl, but things begin to get better when she is given 2 camels (I think this is nice, but weird) and a baby horse for her 6^th birthday.

She goes on to England to study and to become a great horse rider – her dream is to win the King’s Cup.

I think this is a really good book for girls who are 9 – 14 years old, and especially if they are interested in animals.  It could win the Junior Fiction category because it is very detailed and the story flows well.

Anzac Day, The New Zealand Story - reviewed by Shrina

 

What it is and why it matters

By Philippa Weary

NZ Post Book Awards – Non-fiction

Reviewed by Shrina, aged 10.

Interests are art & crafts, science, maths, and reading science books and novels.

This is a very interesting book telling all about Anzac Day, the conditions for the soldiers at Gallipoli, New Zealanders participating in the First World War and how Anzac Day is commemorated now.  The best thing about this book is how it is presented with lots of information, and illustrated with paintings and photographs.

One of the pieces of information I found interesting was why we use poppies to commemorate Anzac Day – read about it on page 28.  The book would have been better for me is there was more detailed information on why there was a war.

This book would be most enjoyed by readers who are 10 years old and older who are interested in history and war.

Judy loves Felix and the Red Rats, by James Norcliffe

 
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Felix and the Red Rats

By James Norcliffe

NZ Post Book Awards – Junior Fiction

Reviewed by Judy, 10 years old and interested in drawing, reading and writing.

Felix and the Red Rats is a story about a boy called David, whose Uncle Felix comes to stay.  Uncle Felix writes books and David loves to read them.  Shortly after Uncle Felix arrives, things start to turn red!

Throughout the story, excerpts of Uncle Felix’s book “Into Axillaris” (the book David is reading) are included, so this story is always interesting.

The ending is a big surprise as it has a great twist to it.

I think this is a really splendid book and many other people will enjoy it as much as I have.  You won’t want to put it down until you have finished.  Boys and girls who enjoy mysteries and magic mixed up with ordinary life will love this book.

Flight of the Honey Bee - reviewed by Alisya

Flight of the Honey Bee

Written by Raymond Huber and illustrated by Brian Lovelock

NZ Post Book Awards - Non-fiction

Reviewed by Alisya

Aged 9 and interested in cool things – ipods, books and cooking.

This book is about what honeybees do at the different stages of their lives and how the honeybees each play their role in being a honeybee.

It is a cool book and I learned a lot about honeybees, but I think the presentation is a bit mixed up because it is part picture book and part non-fiction.

Flight of the Honey Bee would be a good book for clever Juniors and older Primary School children.

Project Huia, by Des Hunt

NZ Post Book Award - Junior Fiction

Reviewed by Sarah, 10 years old.

Interested in reading, especially books by Jo Cotterill and Cathy Cassidy.

The Huia was a bird, native to New Zealand, but it is now extinct.  

The book, Project Huia centres around a character, Jim and how he tried to save the endangered Huia in 1947.  The story is set in the present day, and flashes back to 1947.

I think the best thing about the book is how every scene is described in detail and you can visualise the story in your head. 

This book would be enjoyed by everyone over the age of 10.  I found it a really good story, and I couldn’t stop reading it.

Watch Out, Snail!

 
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Watch Out, Snail!

Kia Mataara, e Ngata!

Written by Gay Hay, illustrated by Margaret Tolland

Maori translation by Piripi Walker

NZ Post Book Awards – Picture Book

Reviewed by Bella, 10 years old, interested in reading fiction, dance and animals.

This book is about a snail being part of the foodchain.  The snail in the book is a Powelliphanta Snail, which is native to New Zealand.  It shows that those who hunt are hunted.  I think that the best features of  Watch Out, Snail are the detailed pictures which have different textures and that it is also printed in Maori.

I think this book is best suited to 4 to 6 year olds who like bugs, insects and NZ animals.  My 5 year old brother really liked it!

It could win the Picture Book category because young children will love it, it is written in 2 languages, and it is about a New Zealand topic.

The Boring Book - NZ Post Book Awards

 

The Boring Book

By Vasanti Unka

NZ Post Book Awards – Picture Book

Reviewed by Bea, 10 years old, who is interested in sports.

The Boring Book is a really exciting book with lots of colourful pictures and it is lots of fun to read.  In the story the words in the very Boring Book come to life.  The words hide all over town, but the people were getting annoyed by all the words and told them to go away. 

I think that this book would be most enjoyed by 8 to 10 year olds boys and girls who like fun ideas.

NZ Post Picture Books - Boats and Toucan Can

 

Boats

By Catherine Foreman

NZ Post Book Awards – Picture Book

Reviewed by Soowon , 10 years old

Interested in basketball and music. I like being a leader, and being helpful.

Boats is a picture book about all different kinds of boats ( but it also says that if you just want to float, just be a starfish).  The illustrations are great because they are set out beautifully.

I think that this book would be most enjoyed by 2 to 5 year olds, boys and girls, because it has a short text with great pictures that are well set out for talking about.

Toucan Can

By Juliette McIver, illustrated by Sarah Davis

NZ Post Book Awards – Picture Book

Toucan Can is a tongue-twister of a story.  It is about a bird that can do almost everything, even kung-fu!  He’s a great dancer and his friends are too (except for Ewan’s Aunts).

I think Toucan Can is a really great book for 3 to 7 year old boys and girls.  It rhymes, it is funny and interesting, and has great pictures.

This book is perfect for kids.

Wearable Wonders - reviewed by Soobin

Wearable Wonders by Fifi Colston
   Non-fiction Category: NZ Post Book Awards 2014

This book is about using recycled materials and changing them into wearable things such as masks and hats.  It also tells you about the materials you can use and how suitable they are!
The best thing is it not only it tells you how to make things, it also tells you how to use your tools and materials.
Towards the beginning of the book, it tells you how to make a mini doll template, so you can play with the doll and dress her with some of your awesome creations. (You can print the template out).
I think the book could be better if  there were instructions of how to make some of the projects step by step.

This book should appeal most to girls because it is about fashion and crafts but boys can try it too.
I think you can be 7 and up to create things and there are some parts you will need to ask your parents for help (using a craft knife and  using needles.)

I think it is a fantastic book because it gives you tips for crafts and uses for recycled materials and I think it should be a category winner.
I’m going to try and print out a mini doll template!!!

The Fly Papers - Book Two - The Sundew Stalks

The author of the Fly Papers series, Johanna Knox, contacted me to see if we would like to see her second story in the series, the Fly papers..  Because her first story, the Flytrap Snaps, has been very popular in our library, we were very keen to get our hands on it.
I asked Callum, a very capable and eager reader in Year 4, to review the Sundew Stalks for our blog.
Belinda Sutherland - Librarian, Sunnybrae Normal School.
I am Callum.  I am 8 years old and my main hobbies are rock climbing and reading.  My brother is 10 years old, and he is in Year 6.  I belong to the Glenfield Library and the Sunnybrae School Library, and I always have a book to read, incase I get bored.  I prefer fiction books but I am also interested in Astronomy, Reptiles and Deserts.
I read Flytrap Snaps first so I could get the storyline and that made me want to find out more about Spencer, Jimmy Jangle and Dion Horrible, so I went straight onto reading the Sundew Stalks.
This second story is really Tora's story.  She loves training for wrestling but she also has a secret third life, free running.  Tora and her friend Spencer, suspect Jimmy Jangle of doing evil experiments on plants and they want to stop him.
I loved that the story was full of action, longer than the first book, and it is really interesting.  When I reached Chapter 4, I was hooked and kept going until I finished the book.  I liked it that Tora was a lot like a boy and didn't agree with much girly stuff.
I think that boy and girl readers, 8 years and older, who love to read thrillers would really like this book.

New Zealand Post Book Awards - Ihiraia reviews

Taketakerau - The Millennium Tree, by Marnie Anstis

This book begins with a child sitting with his Grandma, listening to the radio.  Grandma shares a history book with the boy.  World history of the past 2000 years is covered in the book.  There is a timeline along the bottom of each page.  New Zealand's natural history is told as well, through the growing of a Puriri tree, which actually exists in the North Island's Bay of Plenty.

I found this an interesting book, telling the history of Aotearoa, through the perspective of the tree, Taketakerau.  The illustrations are more suggestive than realistic but they match the words very well, and bring the story to life.

New Zealand Post Book Review - Bella

At the Beach, Ned Barraud and Gillian Candler

In this book you will find out all about New Zealand's beaches - what animals and plants live there.  
It looks at the Mudflats, Rocky Shores and the Sandy beach.  My favourite pages are the ones which show the crabs, with the Camouflage crabs being the most interesting to me.
(Did you know that their claws look like seaweed?)
The illustrations of the birds, seaweeds, sea stars, shellfish, shells, crabs and habitats are fantastic because of the colours and details.
A wide range of ages would enjoy this book, and you could read it yourself if you are 8 years old and older.

Literacy Week - The Jabberwock

Our group made dioramas to illustrate Lewis Carroll's poem, the Jabberwock.  Mrs Sutherland told us that the Jabberwock is a famous poem written over 150 years ago.  The Jabberwock is an evil monster, and the poem has nonsense words through it.  You can try to read the first five verses.

T'was brillig and the Slithy Toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe,
All mimsy were the borogroves and the momerathes outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my Son, the jaws that bite, the claws that catch.
Beware the Jubjub Bird and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand, Longtime the manxome foe he sought,
So rested He by the Tumtum Tree, and stood a while in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead and with its head He went galumphing back.

Second World War Stories for Boys, by J. Eldridge

This book has 3 short stories in it.  The main character is John Smith, a 19 year old British soldier.  Even though the name of the main character is the same in each story, John Smith is a different person each time.
The first story is about John Smith, a pilot in Fighter Squadron, in the RAF.  It tells of his airbattle in France, against the Germans.
In the second story, John Smith is a driver in the Tank Regiment in the deserts of Egypt.  He is captured and put into a prison camp, but escapes.
The third story is set in the jungle of Burma.  John Smith is a lieutenant in the army, on a mission to blow up a bridge.  The enemy is the Japanese Army.
I think that this is a really great book.  It is full of exciting adventures and interesting, detailed information, all about the war.
This is a good book for 10 year olds (good readers) and over, who love to read about history and adventure.  I think girls would like this too.

The Queen and the Nobody Boy by Barbara Else.

I have read Barbara Else's book, The Queen and the Nobody Boy, an entry in the New Zealand Post Book Awards (Junior Fiction).
Hodie is the name of the Nobody Boy - he is a not-noticed boy who has to do the worst jobs in the castle and just gets scraps of food.  He runs away to make a better life for himself.  The Queen, who is called Sibilla, only 12 years old, decides to run away with Hodie. 
I felt this book didn't hold my attention because the plot moved quite slowly for me, but I did enjoy the descriptions.

Barbara Else has edited several short story collections in our library. 
Last year her entry in the New Zealand Post Book Awards was
The Travelling Restaurant.

Georgia reviews A Horse for Angel by Sarah Lean.

I have read this book and I quite liked it.  
Angel is a very nasty girl who does very bad things.  I can't tell you what they are because that will spoil the story for you.  Most of the story is set on her cousin's farm.
At the end of each chapter, I wanted to read more, but I would have found it more exciting if the descriptions were more detailed and the problem in the story could have been resolved sooner.
I think that girls in Years 4 to 6 would enjoy reading about Angel.

The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable

My name is Elise, and I am 10 years old.
I have read this book and I think it is one of the best books I have ever read.
The main character, Sophie travels on a train to Russia.  Sophie and her travel companions were left on the train, but then rescued by a Russian Princess.
I love this book so much because unexpected things happened.  I didn't think the story would turn out the way it did.  The ending was exciting as you find out what happens to Sophie.
This story is best for 9 to 13 year old girls who enjoy realistic fantasies.

New book - Milly and the Chittens by Julie Scott

I am Christina, Year 6.  I have just read this new book and I think it is quite a funny story.  Milly is a 10 year old girl who has a disastrous bedroom - her dirty clothes and discarded toys are all over her floor.  Milly's Mum makes her tidy her room and Milly finds 3 Chittens hiding under her bed.
If you want to find out what Chittens are, if you are between 8 and 12 years old and enjoy chapter books, you will find this an interesting book.
I look forward to reading the next in the series, Chittens in trouble.
Did you know that Julie Scott is a New Zealand author, and this is her first published book.

Chantelle has reviewed three new books, that are now on display.

Starring Jules (as herself) by Beth Ain is a senior fiction especially for 8 to 10 year old girls.  
Jules is a cheerful girl with a great imagination.  This story tells how she has been chosen to star in a TV show.  I enjoyed this book quite a lot and I think my friends would like it too.

Great Galloping Galoot is a picture book by Stephanie Thatcher. Galoot is a clumsy giraffe who is teased by other animals, but there is a happy ending.

Polar Bears Close up is a non-fiction book. Anyone using our library would enjoy this, because the polar bears are cute and there are interesting facts about them.  I found out that cubs stay with their Mums for about 2 1/2 years.