Monday, October 31, 2011

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:
  • "Hester & Lester" by Kyle MEWBURN
  • "The Pout-Pout Fish" by Deborah DIESEN
Fiction:
  • "Dirty Bertie - Mud!" by David ROBERTS (Dirty Bertie series)
  • "The Pup's Tale" by Sally & Darell ODGERS (Pet Vet series)
  • "Northwood" by Brian FALKNER
Senior Fiction:
  • "Z.Rex" by Steve COLE (The Hunting series)
Non-Fiction:

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Paul Jennings

Another in a series of posts about popular children's authors and their books.

Paul Jennings is one of Australia's bestselling children's authors. He was born near London in wartime England, April 1943, that's around the middle of World War II.  He emigrated to Australia with his parents and little sister Ruth when he was six and he grew up in Melbourne. When he finished school Paul trained to be a teacher, after teaching for a few years he retrained to become a Speech Therapist. Later he also worked as a Lecturer in Special Education and a Lecturer in Language and Literature.  In 1985 Paul's first collection of short stories Unreal!, was published. For the next four years he worked as a lecturer part-time and wrote part-time, then in 1989 he started writing full-time.  In 1992, he became the first author to sell a million books in Australia. In addition to his collections of short stories, Paul has also written children's novels and picture books.  In 1998, Paul teamed up with Australia's other bestselling writer for children, Morris Gleitzman, to create Wicked! - a gripping serial, composed of six short novels.  Paul's books have been translated into 18 languages and have sold more than 8.9 million copies around the world. Paul and his books have received many awards, including the Young Australians' Best Book Award more than a dozen times.

Books by Paul Jennings we have in our library:  We have more than 20 books written or co-written by Paul Jennings including The Cabbage Patch War; The Cabbage Patch Fib; The Gizmo; The Gizmo Again; Sink The Gizmo; Come Back Gizmo; Tongue-Tied! ; Wicked - all six books in one  in the Fiction section. Also  Paul Jennings' Trickiest Stories, Paul Jennings' Spookiest Stories and Paul Jennings' Weirdest Stories in the Senior Fiction section.

Upper Hutt Library currently holds copies of about 45 children's books and 1 teen book by Paul Jennings and 7 Audio Books.

The above information about Paul Jennings was adapted from here and here.

For more information about Paul Jennings and his books you could visit the Paul Jennings website.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

On the New Books Display this week

Picture Book:
Fiction:
  • "Lily Gets Her Wings" by Elizabeth PULFORD (Littlest Angel series)
  • "T-Wreck-Asaurus" by Kyle MEWBURN (Dinosaur Rescue series)
  • "One Dog and His Boy" by Eva IBBOTSON
Senior Fiction:
  • "Leviathan" by Scott WESTERFELD (Leviathan series)
Non-Fiction:
  • "First Thousand Words in Chinese" by Heather AMERY
  • "Summer" by Sian SMITH


    Welcome Back

    A new term and a new look for the library blog. What do you think of the new look? 
    Some great new books are lined up this term so make sure you check out the new books display each week, in the library or here on the blog. This term is a short term, due to changes made earlier in the year for the Rugby World Cup (yay the All Blacks won!).  So be sure to get in and make use of the library over the next six weeks or so before we ask for the books to be returned before the end of the year and the summer holidays.  

    Thursday, October 13, 2011

    Quentin Blake & Roald Dahl - Holiday Boredom Busters

    The holidays are almost half over already, if you've been a bit bored lately below is a great video of illustrator Quentin Blake who was involved recently in an interactive live webcast. Quentin Blake had a long association with Roald Dahl, illustrating his books, and as you can see in the video he had a lot of fun while he was working on them.


    For more Roald Dahl fun you can visit the Official Roald Dahl website here and go to the Treats page to find some fun activities.

    For more Holiday Boredom Busters click on the Boredom Busters label at the bottom of this post.

    Wednesday, October 5, 2011

    Mrs Keane recommends ...

    Senior Fiction:

      
    Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy (Fantasy/Horror/Humour)
    In the Shadow of the Palace by Judith Simpson (Historical-India)
    The 13 Treasures and sequels by Michelle Harrison (Fantasy)
    The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan (Adventure/Fantasy)
    Malice and Havoc by Chris Wooding (Horror)
    The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (Fantasy/Adventure)
    The Gypsy Crown by Kate Forsyth (Historical-England/Adventure)
    At the Sign of the Sugared Plum & Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper (Historical-England)


    The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R.Tolkien (Fantasy/Classic)
    Send Simon Savage by Stephen Measday (Time-travel/Adventure)
    The Merlin Conspiracy by Dianna Wynne Jones (Fantasy)
    The Phoenix Files series by Chris Morphew (Mystery/Thriller)
    Oracle by Jackie French (Historical-Ancient Greece)
    The Crowfield Curse and sequel by Pat Walsh (Fantasy/Horror)
    Knife and sequels by R.J.Anderson (Fantasy)
    The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (Fantasy)

    You can follow the links on the book or series titles above to a review or homepage for that book or series.

    Have you read any of these books? 
    What books would you recommend?

    Monday, October 3, 2011

    On the New Books Display this week

    Picture Book:
    • "Grandma McGarvey Surfs the Net" by Jenny HESSELL
    • "The Listening Walk" by Paul SHOWERS
    Fiction:
    • "Too Small to Fail" by Morris GLEITZMAN
    • "Whispering Wishes and other stories" by Emma THOMPSON (Felicity Wishes series)
    • "Battle of the Worlds : Aquatan" by Ali SPARKES (Boy vs Beast series)
    Senior Fiction:
    • "Victoria : An English Princess's Diary 1829" by Anna KIRWAN ( My Royal Story series)
    Non-Fiction:
    • "Changes in Population" by Steve PARKER
    • "Eco-Rangers Save the Planet" by Maria GILL