Russell Street School Library

Hi everyone, and thanks for checking in on the library blog to see what’s happening in 2012!

It’s our first day back at school, and already we have some new books

A huge thank you to the families who very kindly donated books to the library at the end of 2011.

The first display on our stand will be the donations given to us by Jake. These books are some of Jake’s favourites over the years he was at primary school. Jake is an avid reader, and as well as borrowing lots of books from our library, he read loads of books from the city library too. It’s wonderful when books come with a special recommendation like this!

The books will be ready to reserve in the library this week. Here’s a look at what Jake and his family have given us:

Tashi books

Harry and the robots

Horrible Harriet

Wolven series

Our library is now closed for borrowing so that we can complete our annual stock-take.

If you have school library books at home, can you please finish reading them now, and return them to the library as soon as possible.

Thank you!

Caitlin visited the library a while ago, needing some help with a challenge. She had to make a book trailer for a book that she wouldn’t normally choose to read.  I suggested she try The doll people by Ann M. Martin, and she took it away to read. Now she has published her book trailer on Room 12′s class blog (Dozen Fresh Eggs), and has very kindly allowed me to embed it here as well. Thanks Caitlin!

And yes, in case you’re wondering – it turns out that Caitlin did enjoy the book, and she even went on to read the next one in the series: The meanest doll in the world, which you can also find in our library.

The  beautiful illustrations in these stories are done by Brian Selznick, whose book The invention of Hugo Cabret has been made into a 3D feature film (opening in Palmerston North on 12 January 2012). You can see the trailer here.

Hi everyone, we are getting excited about our Scholastic Book Fair, which will be held in the school library next week!

On Monday, children will have a chance to visit the library with their class, to look at all the books and to make a wish-list to take home. From Monday afternoon, we will be open for business! Families are welcome to come in to the library to browse and buy books on Monday after school, and before and after school for the rest of that week (8:30-9:00am, and 3:00 to 3:30pm). We’ll also be here after the Camp meeting on Tuesday evening, from 6:30-7:00pm.

We look forward to seeing you!

Some of our lucky students in Room 12 have been part of a trial of borrowing an iPad to take home each night for reading chapter books. The titles we chose were:

• 11 Birthdays (by Wendy Mass)
• The 39 Clues Series 2, Book 1: The Medusa Plot (by Gordon Korman)
• Invisible Fiends Book 1: Mr Mumbles (by Barry Hutchison)

If you are one of those students, can you please take this survey to help us evaluate this trial.

Hi everyone. The kids in Bookapedia have been putting together some fun bookish quizzes you can do. If you answer all the questions correctly you will earn points for your house, so have a go!

If you have a phone, iPod or iPad that can read QR codes, you can scan the code outside the library door to take you to the quiz page (you will need an app like Scan to do this).

We have 3 quizzes ready to go now, and will be adding more most weeks so check back soon

• Harry Potter quiz
• Matilda quiz
• Picture book covers quiz

Here is a story written by Jake.

Click the picture to read the story.

Jean and I have noticed that some of the games in our library are looking a little bit tired and worn, they have been well used over the years, and it’s time for some fresh fun.

So this week we have quite a few new things to play.

First up, a new set of Cranium Cadoo.
We also have 3 new 100 piece jigsaws – once you’ve finished them, you can play a game of I Spy!

And finally, a brand new game for our library: Doodle Dice! This is so much fun! I’ve played it with Jen and Helen to test it out and we can confirm that it is great fun I reckon we could even add some hilarious new cards of our own!

Written and illustrated by Peter Brown, the author of the award-winning picture book “The curious garden”, this is the story of a young bear who finds a new pet in the woods.

When Lucy brings home her pet “Squeaker”, her mother is less than impressed! Lucy’s mother has a bad feeling about Squeaker right from the start, and sure enough Squeaker gets up to all sorts of mischief. If you have ever brought home a new kitten or puppy, or tried to tame a creature from your garden (pet hedgehog, anyone?) you can probably imagine all the *worst* things a new pet might do.

Will the new pet stay, or will it have to go? Check out this beautiful new book to find out what happens!

Other books in our library by Peter Brown:

Entries in the Puffin Short Story Awards are open now.

If you are in years 4-6, and you like to write, please think about entering the juniors section! Stories can be about anything you like, and can  be up to 500 words long.

The winner will receive an iPad and 50 books for their school library, wow!

For more info, and to download an entry form, click the picture.