Winter Road Safety Competition winners

Winners were drawn for our two Winter Road Safety competitions today.

Winner of the Junior Colouring competition was Jessica Lowe


Winner of adult competition was Lisa Hicks

Alison

Duffy books school visit

Earlier today Nick and I had the pleasure and delight in witnessing 3 creative, energetic young performers engage and interact with 200 plus eager minds at Firth Primary School. Through song and drama Robin, Antonnia and Rowan delivered the message that kids love to read, public libraries are great places to be,are staffed by friendly people, are a free resource, and are still very much being used. A catchy saying: BRR- borrow,read, return simply outlined library ettiquette and left the children chanting 'borrow, read, return' on the way out of the hall.
The theatre promoted the idea of a visit reward card: visit the library 5 times, get your card stamped at each visit and receive a free book when card is filled. What a great concept!
This month is New Zealand book month. The slogan being used to promote the event is 'books change lives', a mantra Andrew Carneige will agree with. Libraries are a valuable asset to society. Could there be a better place to acquire a book for free than a public library?
New Zealand post is the major sponsor for the 'Duffy Books in Homes'. Click here for the finalists in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

The month of March

There are 3 initiatives aimed at encouraging any age group to read books being launched in the month of March.
Firstly New Zealand Book Month wants to celebrate the power of books. One of its objectives is too distribute 4 million $5 'books change lives' vouchers across New Zealand. Each week in the library we will display a different aspect of books for all ages, starting with New Zealand authors. We feel this idea is a great introductin to the book month and also links into the 'World Book Night': on the 5th March the library staff will be encouraging people to switch off the t.v for the evening and read.
The Duffy Books in Homes is touring the country and stopping off in Matamata. The theatre will be visiting Firth and Waharoa Primary schools with the aim of encouraging youngsters to visit libraries. Staff from the public library will be attending these sessions and wanting those who are not already a library member to become one.
Come into the library and have a look around - Martha the mannequin will be hopping out of her sari and dressing in school clothes - we really are friendly, helpful and love visits from children.

Trash

This story is set somewhere in South America and on a rubbish dump. Whilst sifting through the newly dumped trash one day, three boys find something extraordinary, something of value. They realise the object's worth when the police show an interest and want it. The boys sense the danger they are in and the determination of the police and so they run. They are persued all over the city with luck on their side.
The first thing that struck me about this novel is degree of realism with which it is written: fragile housing build on top of the dump, the constant smell, the 'stuppa' [ human muck]wrapped in paper, the crawling and sorting of rubbish. The description used when one of the boys gets taken to the police station goes far enough for the reader to realise that not all police are trustworthy. Life is generally hard for a dumpsite boy and hard for anyone who opposes the powerful.
The book uses themes of unity, loyalty, bravery and justice to demonstrate there is future and hope. It's an informing, exciting and original read for the intermediate age group.

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New year to you all. Today becomes the year of the rabbit. To learn more about this significant event for the Chinese click on lantern

2011

Hello to everyone and welcome back to the library blog. We wish you all a happy new year [ even if it is belated] and hope you are refreshed and ready to attack 2011. All the children are going back to school today full of stories from their holidays . We took our family to Northern India and travelled approximately 2,000km visiting 15th century forts, palaces temples and monuments, rode camels in the desert and haggled at markets. What were your holiday adventures? Perhaps, you would like to post a comment and tell the library about them.

We have changed the displays in the library to incorporate the Matamata Sculpture symposium, The Tower Fun Run, Cricket World cup and a children's table with books relating to India. Come in and have a look and hopefully learn something new.

Summer reading programme

This is the last posting on our library blog for the year 2010.

The summer reading programme entitled 'Don't monkey around' is based on an animal/ jungle theme and is aimed at 5 to 12 year olds. Registration opens on Monday 13th December 2010. Come and collect some information and enrol your children on a fun reading programme filled with activities.

The staff at Matamata Public Library wish all our patrons a happy and joyful christmas and we look forward to re-connecting via the blog in 2011.

The white woman on the green bicycle by Monique Roffey

Monique Roffey was born in Trinidad in the 1960’s and spent her first 13 year’s living in Portof Spain before moving to England. She has received most of her formal education from the UK and recently received a doctorate from Lancaster University, in creative writing. She has been a journalist, travelled the Middle East extensively, worked for Amnesty International and taught english. Monique describes herself as having unruly hair and being ‘curmudgeonly when not being impulsive.’ Her first novel ‘Sun dog’ was published in 2002.

The inspiration for her book originally came from her mother who in the 1950’s left the UK by boat with her green Raleigh bicycle and two suitcases for Trinidad. She told Monique how she used to cycle round wearing her shorts drawing attention to herself. People used to say: “Oh you are the woman on the green bicycle”. Monique took this idea and mixed it with the political history of Trinidad to produce a novel spanning a 50 year period. Events such as the rise in popularity of Eric Williams and the People’s National Movement [PNM], independence of Trinidad and Tobago and civil unrest in the 1970’s are woven into the plot. The novel’s main themes are colonialism, love, hate, resentment and anger.
The two protagonists, George and Sabine, arrive in Trinidad on a three year working contract at a time the country is going through change. Sabine hates the place whilst George loves it. Sabine adapts to life in Trinidad but at a cost to their relationship. Whilst I found I was not completely absorbed by the characters the novel did leave me with a sense of sadness and wondering about life.

Discover poetry

Underneath the abject willow,
Lover, sulk no more;
Act from though should quickly follow:
What is thinking for?
Your unique and moping station
Proves you cold;
Stand up and fold your map of desolation.


Bells that toll across the meadows
From the sombre spire,
Toll for those unloving shadows
Love does not require.
All that lives may love; why longer
Bow to loss
With warm arms across?
Strike and you shall conquer.


Geese in flocks above you flying
Their direction know:
Brooks beneath the thin ice flowing
To their oceans go;
Coldest love will warm to action,
Walk then, come,
No longer numb, Into your satisfaction.


March 1936.

Discover Auden.

Toddler Time

On Thursday we gave a big warm welcome to Hinuera and Te Poi play centres. It was fantastic to see so many bright, enthusiastic and cheery people.Children and adults came along dresed-up as either their favourite book character or animal. We had such a variety with the 'cat in the hat', princesses, jockey, pirates, a bunny, butterfly, miss Muffet and the Fat Controller.

Songs, stories and action rhymes reflected the theme and everyone had great fun.

Toddler Time sessions are held each week @ 11am on a Thursday for anyone wishing to come along. Reading is a fundamental skill which everyone must have, so why not start at an early age by coming along and help develop those life-time reading habits.

Elegy directed by Isabel Coixet

The word elegy means: a mournful poem or song, a lament for the dead. This is a beautiful art film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winner novel 'The dying animal' by Philip Roth. What starts out as desire, possession and lust turns into a most unlikely love story. A New York college professor who fills his time with art, music and literature becomes captivated by the beauty of a young college student. Not only is she physically beautiful but her heart and mind match. Elegy charts their intimate relationship and their transformation as people as their love develops, a love which is incapable of being erased. ' Beauty is what you see, love is what you don't see coming'.
Why the title? I think the end of the film explains this rather well.

Winnie the witch

The original author of Winnie the witch was Valerie Thomas, an Australian teacher who has travelled most of the world on a broomstick. She too has a black cat just like Wilbur. Korky Paul is the illustarator, born in Zimbabwe, studied fine arts and now lives in Oxford, England. Laura Owen is the present author of Winnie and has managed rather well to capture and maintain the humour started by Valerie 20 years ago.
'Winnie's Book Day' is a must read for all book and library lovers. It's funny and zany whilst promoting books. It is book week and the story teller is unable to turn-up at school.Winnie has been asked to read to the 'little extraordinaries' instead. Of course Winnie can not read but that does not stop her using books and her magic wand to entertain the little extraordinaries.
Abracadabra see what you will find.

October 2010

Hi there to our regular readers and to those who have just discovered us. For the regulars, you will have noticed that there were no entries for the month of September. It was a busy month. The APNK [ Aotearoa people's network] has now been installed in the library which means the public has free use of the internet and a wealth of educational data bases as well as access to a variety of programmes: come and make a film, use skype, view your photos and much more. Come and explore the available resources.

Toddler time will recommence on Thursday 14th October {first thursday of the new term} with some new songs, stories and rhymes. Alison is away for this first week so it will be Elaine taking the session. Tell your friends and come along for half an hour of fun.

The first book club evening for October met today and people appear to be enjoying this. A small entusiastic bunch get together once a fortnight to talk about books. Anyone is welcome to come along and join in.

NZ Post Book Award winners for 2010.

The award winners were announced on 27th August 2010 and are as follows:

NZ Post Book of the Year Award goes to Judith Binney for 'Encircled Lands.'

The Fiction award was won by Alison Wong for 'As the Earth Turns Silver'.

Brian Turner was the winner of the poetry section with 'Just This'.

The illustrated non- fiction award went to Al Brown for 'Go Fish: Recipes and Stories from the New Zealand Coast. This book also took the people's choice award.

These books are available in the Matamata Piako District libraries. Come in and have a read.

Rug up & Read

This is another new initiative from the public library. It is a winter reading programme aimed at everybody[ there is no age limit!]. The programme is designed to encourage all to read books and write a review on each book read. The reviews go into several draws and the best one wins a prize. The programme is going to run until the end of September so there is plenty of time to rug up with a good book.

Come in to the library and collect a booklet containing all the information and get started.

Book Club

Last friday [6th Aug] a small group of people met in the library to talk about setting up a new book club. The group plan to meet on a fortnightly basis, starting at 6pm, here in the public library.

At the moment there is no prescribed format for the club but two ideas are : bring a book along that has been a particular favourite and everyone read and discussthe same book .

If you are a lover of reading and like talking about books, why not consider this opportunity and get together with some like-minded people.

Contact Susan for further details.

The loblolly boy by James Norcliffe

This book is the winner of this year's junior section of the New Zealand Post book Awards. It is a fantasy set in present day about an unhappy boy who becomes a Loblolly boy: a human who doesn't exist in our world, a sort of ghost who can fly and go unnoticed by other humans. Initially this idea seems attractive and fun but it doesn't take long for the Loblolly boy to feel lonely. A view from a 'special' telescope provides him with images he is unable to explain until, by chance he meets up with a couple of girls who can see him. ' From here the plot twists and turns before ending favourably.
It all sounds very complicated but it is not because the plot is written simply and clearly. It is a book that will stimulate the young reader's mind and leave one wondering.

From an adults perspective the idea that 'the grass is always greener' is not always the case.

Toddler Time

Our first story and music time went well with lots of pre-schoolers, from 18 months to 4+ years, joining in. Elaine read 3 picture book stories which engaged both boys and girls. Alison was her usual enthusiastic self and had every one up and dancing to easy songs. These fun sessions are going to be held every Thursday from 11- 11.30am Please come along and enjoy.

Stories for 6 year olds

We have just had the school holidays and over that time I have been able to explore and read new books with my 6 year old boy. here are some of the ones Samuel has particularly enjoyed.

Zac power [mission series] by H.I. Larry. These are great stories about a secret agent [Zac Power] who works for the Government Investigation Bureau and generally has 24 hours to save the world....... and go to the dentist! A simpler series in the Zac Power collection is the Test Drive series. A 6 year old would be more able to read these himself.

Akimbo and the crocodile man by Alexander McCall-Smith.

Five books make up this series of adventures. Akimbo, the son of a ranger has many experiences helping others with the wild African animals. The stories are gentle but at the same time engaging and quite a change from the fast paced 'fighting' stories.

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.

This was the first time reading 'Flat Stanley' and I am not so sure what Samuel's thoughts on the book are but I quite enjoyed it. Stanley became flat when a wardrobe fell on him. Surprisingly, his family accepts this rather well and discovered they can inflate him again using a bicycle pump. The books take you through the adventures Stanley has being flat. A different idea but good fun.

Battle boy- Aztec attack by Charlie Carter & Secret agent Jack Stalwart by Elizabeth Singer Hunt.

These books are variations on a theme: detectives travelling the world saving others from the 'baddies'. They are engaging for 6 year olds and incorporate history and facts relating to the story setting. A good way of learning facts whilst having fun reading a story.

Toddler Time

Toddler Time is fast approaching.

Our first session is this Thursday[ 29th July at 11am]. It promises to be fun with Alison and Elaine reading stories, singing and introducing hand rhymes. Participation is the key, so come along, join in the fun and explore new stories.

Nick