Kids@Cockburn Library

Hello Baby- Wednesday 28 March at Manning Park

2012-03-21T13:25:00.001+08:00

No Pram Jams at Success Library next week because you babies all be at Hello Baby in Manning Park.

Hello Baby
Wednesday - 28 March 2012
10am - 12.30pm
Manning Park, Azelia Rd, Hamilton Hill

The Library will be setting up its Outdoor Reading Room, celebrating the National Year of Reading 2012, in Manning Park for this special event. Go along to check out a selection of baby and join in the outdoor Pram Jams sessions.

We've changed the storytime time (again!) @ Success Library

2012-03-07T12:53:00.000+08:00

By popular demand, Storytime sessions @ Success Library have reverted back to the earlier time of 9.30am, on both Tuesdays and Fridays.

Storytime - stories and fun activties for 2-5 year olds

Greatest Reading superhero competition!

2012-02-21T12:46:00.001+08:00

Who's your reading super hero? Wait! Don't tell ME! Go to this website and enter the competition! You just have to say who your reading superhero is and why and you could win an amazing super hero prize apparently! Be creative!
http://www.scholastic.com.au/minisites/readingsuperhero/

Storytime - Week 3 - Reading!

2012-02-17T15:32:00.002+08:00

This week at storytime was special as it started off with our National year of reading launch on the Tuesday! What was the theme of the week? Why, books of course! What else?

We read;

"We are in a book!" By Mo Willems - we don't have this book as of yet except in the storytime collection. We do have plenty of other Mo Willems books and I recommend them all. Click on the link to check them out.

"The incredible book-eating boy!" by Oliver Jeffers - Oliver Jeffers is another of my favourite picture book creators. Check out this and his other works from the library!

"Press here" by Herve Tulley - A particular favourite. This book shows that iPads are cool but books are really neat as well. This was the standout from the session. I'm ordering more copies for the library. Don't you worry!

We made;

Our own name book! We folded paper and tied it together with ribbon and then cut out the letters of our name. On each page we stuck a letter and also found and cut out things that started with that letter. So in the end everyone left the library with their own book that they created - their own special name book.

Success Library runs a little differently as their theme is spread out over two weeks - it was Dinosaurs today and will continue again on Tuesday so if you're in the area pop on down. You'll have storyteller masters Chantelle, Karen and Lizelle providing the free entertainment there!

This week was lots of fun! Look forward to seeing everyone next week! Remember times are 10:30-~11:15 on Tuesdays and Fridays at Success and Spearwood and Wednesdays at Coolbellup!

National year of reading launch special storytime!

2012-02-15T14:19:00.000+08:00

I'm doing a bit badly at my social media as I should have pushed this BEFORE the actual event! At Spearwood library yesterday we launched the National year of reading and besides all the grown up stuff going on inside we had a special outdoor storytime where I read books on books! The books read included We are in a book, Press here and The incredible book eating boy! Afterwards we attempted to make our own name books by cutting out letters and pictures and then punching and tieing with ribbon.
Then we had Lucy peach play some music for us and also had really cool face painting for everyone. Good times were had. I'll make sure I tell everyone about it next time but we still had loads of people show up!

Check our flickr for pictures of the event.

Yay, Comics! The "yes, I AM still doing this" edition or the "What the heck is manga anyway?" edition

2012-02-13T09:00:00.000+08:00

So like a phoenix rising from Jamaica Bay (sly nod to X-men fans, eh? Eh?<playful jab to the ribs>) thus "Yay, Comics!" is born again!
Yep - I'm back.

My loyal fanbase* has been pestering me about when I'm going to put up the next edition of the award-winning** series of blog posts so here it is! (**may or may not be award-winning) But as is normally the case when you take a little hiatus, "Yay,Comics!" is going to be a little different here on out. Am I still going to blow your collective socks off with awesome comic book and graphic novel picks while entertaining with an encyclopedic knowledge and devilish wit? You betcha I am! But now it's going to be shorter and weekly!

So enough of my babble lets get on down to "Yay, Comics! V.2" (or New Yay, Comics! if you like)!
So what IS manga? Simple. Manga tend to be those small little black and white paperback books that read back to front. Other definitions could include those books with the kids with the crazy hair or the Japanese word for comic books. All are correct.

Our manga collection over the years has been...spotty. There, I said it. However we are about to enter a new golden age my friend! We'll be getting the newest and coolest titles as they come out as well as trying to fill out some of the gaps every month! We'll be getting in the latest volumes of Bakuman, Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, One Piece and more! I just got a big massive box filled with older titles as well such as Fuishigi Yugi, Gundam, Vision of Escaflowne, Vagabond and (also) more!

Plus why not tell us what manga you'd like? Track me down. I intend to expand our manga quite considerably (to complement our new anime expansion but that's for a future post) so let me know. Give me a list if you like. I can be found hanging around Coolbellup or Spearwood libraries regularly and I'm always happy to talk about comics.

So more of a "state of the collection" this time around. We'll hit normal recommendations and rambling next week!

Michael

*my Mother hasn't much to do in her retirement.
**disclaimer - may or may not be award-winning. Probably not.

Lego Ideas Book Winners

2012-02-09T13:45:00.001+08:00

So we have our three winners! Looking at the nominees below the winners are;

(drum roll please!)

Taylor from Success Library! (Woo!)

Olivia from Coolbellup Library! (Yeah!)

Courtney (and Mr X from Spearwood Library! (Wee!)

Your books will be ready to be picked up from Saturday at the respective branches which you attended. Unless you've talked to me about it specifically(Courtney). If i haven't talked to you all laready I'll be getting in contact soon!

Thanks to everyone who joined in on our Lego activities over the holidays and hope to see some of you at our regular Lego club which is starting March 3rd 10am at Coolbellup Library! Email me at mparkinson@cockburn.wa.gov.au if you're interested in attending or ring me at 9411 3834.

If you didn't win it click on the picture over there to reserve it from the library. There's enough Lego love for everyone!

Lego finalists!

2012-02-03T14:21:00.000+08:00

Here are the finalists for each branch from the free build Lego sessions that ran over the school holidays. We had over 100 kids show up just for Lego - I guess you guys like it or something - and it's VERY VERY hard to pick winners from all the amazing creations that were made! Everyone did amazing things and you should all be very pleased with yourselves. Claps all round!

Which is why I got the staff at each branch to decide for me. Mwa-ha-haa.

The finalists at each branch are..(drum roll)

Success Library - Finn, Taylor and Alexis

Coolbellup Library - Amber( a little dark there..), Oliver Damien and David, and Olivia

Spearwood Library - Abby, Ethan and Courtney featuring Mr X

Winners of the Lego Ideas book are announced next week!

Anime a go-go!

2012-02-02T16:01:00.001+08:00

So expect a bit of a bump in the upcoming months in terms of our anime and manga content. We are now on board the anime train with titles like Naruto, Fairy Tail and Bleach coming in as soon as they hit the shelves in stores! What about manga? We will be getting in all the newest most popular manga titles as they come out and will also attempt to start filling out our back collection. Soon(ish) there'll be shelves JUST for our manga/anime so if you like your One Piece and Vampire Knight then keep an eye on the blog and website to be updated on whats coming in or better yet, pop in to one of branches and have a looksee yourself. There be good times ahead people!

What do we have now? Only the latest collections of Naruto Shippuden, Bleach and Fairy Tail! Click here to reserve them now.

New times for Pram Jams & Storytime at Success Library

2012-01-31T16:03:00.000+08:00

Back to school tomorrow which means a return to our regular kids activities for the littlies. At Success Library for 2012, both Pram Jams and Storytime will be at the new time of 10.30am.

So Storytime @ Success Library will be on Tuesdays & Fridays at 10.30am

Prams Jams @ Success Library will now be every Wednesday at 10.30am

(Remember there are no sessions during school holidays)

School Holiday Activities - Week One! (and a half)

2012-01-18T15:37:00.000+08:00

So we've been busy this holidays with a bunch of robot themed activities! It all started on Friday the 6th of January with the first of our Lego clubs at Coolbellup Library! Everyone grabbed themselves a Lego name label and joined in making various stuff for the first half of the session. We all wrote down ideas of what to make and then drew them out of a box. You then had 4-5 minutes to make it! Can you make a banana out of Lego in four minutes? I know some kids who can. The second half of the session was free for all and some people managed to win some pretty cool Lego books and minifigures. The second of the Lego sessions starting this Friday are going to be a full free for all session but I'll be taking pictures of some of the creations and we'll be giving out a Lego Ideas book to one lucky kid from each branch via Facebook!

That afternoon at Spearwood we got various bits of recyclable material and made some recycled robots. This session has been a pleasant surprise for me. All the kids joining in made some truly stupendous robots! Success library is having their own version of Recyclable robots on Friday run by the effervescent Lizelle! Good times to be had.

Last week we made R2-D2 mailboxes and robot dogs out of paper at Coolbellup and Success - which were...a bit tricky, but those who persevered had some cool stuff to take home. We have one more session on Friday at Spearwood for any interested.

On Wednesday we had the good folks from Tokyo Underground come out and help us make Gundam model robots! Good times were had by all. Remember if you came to this session don't forget to bring your colouring pages back by the end of school holidays so you win a model kit from the very generous TY.

This week we have more paper craft, Lego and Scitech are visiting to help us mess around with Lego mindstorm robots!

FINALLY next week Tiffany Barton is coming out to perform two sessions for us at Coolbellup on the Wednesday and Success on Friday. That should be lots of fun as well. If you want to get in on any of these there's probably still space - talk to your local friendly library officer or click here to do it online.

And I believe I did say that all those who attend the sessions would get put in a draw to win a prize from Tokyo Undergound!! Good luck!

Little Big Book Club - January picks

2012-01-12T14:10:00.002+08:00

It's playtime! This month's selection of fun and playful stories encourage young children to be creative and use their imagination each and everyday.

Playtime peekaboo! / DK Books (0-2 years)
Look see, look at me! / Leonie Norrington & Dee Huxley (2&3 years)
All though the year / Jane Godwin & Anna Walker (4&5 years)

The Little Big Book Club is a not-for-profit organisation promoting reading for kids. Its aim is to encourage parents and caregivers of children aged 0-5 years to read and enjoy books with their children from an early age.

Visit the Little Big Book Club website to download activity sheets for each of the three books.

Storytime Book of the month : No bears!

2012-01-10T17:19:00.001+08:00

As always every month Karyn gives us an excellent picture book of the month choice - and this month we have a selection by a local writer Meg McKinlay (who we should get into the library when we read this book at storytime)!

Take it away Karyn!

No bears is an Australian picture book written by Meg McKinlay and illustrated by Leila Rudge. It is a fun and humorous tale of adventure that will engage children from ages 3 upward.

Ruby is in charge of this book and is most adamant that there be no bears in it. Not even one. In fact, the most important thing about Ruby's story is that there are no bears in it. The secondary criteria are that the story must be scary, exciting and pretty. So there is a beautiful princess living in a faraway castle, a deep dark forest and a monster. What story could possibly be better?

But are there really no bears? Ruby's efforts to exclude bears seemingly backfires when a bear is ultimately the star of the story. Young children will enjoy spotting the bear within the book's pages. Humour hiding in the illustrations complements Ruby's tale and places emphasis on its funny side. On another level lies a message about inclusivity and friendship.

There are numerous references to fairytales and rhymes throughout the story. Children will readily recognise these and enjoy pointing them out - like an owl and a pussycat rowing the monster in a bathtub and a girl letting down her long golden hair.

No bears is a delightful addition to the Library's storytime resources and will be equally at home in both our "Bears" and "Fairytales" storytime kits. A copy is also available for you to borrow from the Library Service. Happy reading!

Best of 2011 Part 3 - The Books

2012-01-06T16:14:00.000+08:00

Finally - up to the business end of our look at the top things borrowed from Cockburn Libraries in 2011. We've looked at the top dvds and audio books, we've looked at the top graphic novels. Now, here are the most borrowed books including young adult fiction, non fiction, junior fiction and junior kindergarten..

Junior Non Fiction

5. Ripleys Believe it or not 2011: Special edition
4. Knock knock jokes
3. Star Wars Clone Wars: Visual guide
2. 501 great Aussie jokes

1. 1001 Awesome animal facts
Jokes, Star Wars and interesting stuff pretty much rounds out the Non Fiction top 20!

Junior Fiction

5. Emerald Ball - Vivian French
4. A fabumouse school adventure - by Geronimo Stilton
3. Geronimo's Valentine - by Geronimo Stilton
2. The new Girl - by Rowan McAuley

1. Where's Wally - the great picture hunt - by Martin Handford

Seriously the rest of the 20 were all fairy books by Daisy Meadows and more Geronimo Stilton. Where's Wally - still popular after all these years..

Junior Kindergarten

5. Lester learns a lesson - By Jill Murphy
4. Sam sheep can't sleep - By Phil Cox
3. Frog on a log - By Phil Cox
2. Gentle giant octopus - By Karen Wallace

1. I've won, no I've won, no I've won
By Lauren Child

The Charlie and Lola books are still incredibly popular and we have quite a few of them to make up for that. If you haven't tried them give them a go, they've incredibly inventive and creative books. But try to get one that is actually by Lauren Child and not just one inspired by her or taken from one of the TV episodes that werent based on one of her books.

Young Adult Fiction

5. Catching fire- by Suzanne Collins
4. The hunger games - by Suzanne Collins
3. Fang - by James Patterson
2. Shadow kiss - by Richelle Mead

1. Conspiracy 365: February - by Gabrielle Lord

Lots of popular series there - expect the Hunger games ot be even higher next year. We are getting in the newly revamped Code Black editions of Conspiracy 365 which I believe are tied into the tv series which also starts next year. SUprised not to see a single Twilight book in the top 5. I know they're fairly old now but normally the movies kickstart interest...there we go, Breaking Dawn #11. Hmmn.

Come back tomorrow as we look at the top 10 overall. Seriously - I may be the only person enjoying this..

New Stuff this week - Coolbellup Edition

2012-01-05T12:59:00.001+08:00

Ok, we have a few interesting new books at Coolbellup Library this week.I'll highlight some of the cool stuff.

Junior Fiction
The adventures of Tintin - A novelisation of the hit movie (which I still REALLY want to see). Reserve it if you want it as it's going to be popular!
The Cat in the Hat - Book & CD. Read and listen along to a Dr Seuss classic.

Picture books
Hmmn. Lots of Christmas books. A little late possibly? Or veerrryyy early.

Young adult books
Dark Eden - Fear is the cure apparently.

Extra goodies
Lego Star Wars - The Phantom Menace Easy reader
Paddingtons Cookery Book
The Green Lantern omnibus v2 - a huge hulk of a book reprinting all the cheesy classic comics of old.

Lots of good stuff - come in and pick some up or reserve them alone. If you click on the title it'll take you to the book on our catalogue.

Best of 2011 - Graphic Novels (or comics!)

2012-01-05T09:27:00.005+08:00

Today we're looking at the top comics or graphic novels borrowed at Cockburn Libraries. Onward!

Graphic Novels Junior (ahem..All ages)
5. Garfield - get serious
4. Asterix and the Chieftains Shield
3. Comic Crazy (Spongebob Squarepants)
2. Garfield Weighs in
1. Star Wars Clone Wars adventures Vol.2

I wanted to add a No.6 as that's the first Peanuts book and I'm a huge Peanuts fan. Oh well. The rest of the top books were all more Garfield, more Asterix and Peanuts with an occasional Star Wars and Simpsons book thrown in. Surprisingly the first Tintin book on the list wouldn't have even made it into the top 20. Disappointed Bone wasn't on the list - will have to push it further.

Graphic Novels Young adult
5. Wolverine Get Mystique
4. DC vs Marvel
3. Invincible Iron man V5
2. X-men Misfits 1
1. The Ultimates 2: ultimate collection

X-men Misfits is the only manga volume in the top 5 interestingly.

Next time! The biggie! The top books of the year! Stay tuned!

Best of 2011 - DVDS and media

2012-01-04T11:19:00.000+08:00

Hey all,
Hope everyone had a good holiday period. Now, as is generally the thing to do around this time of year I thought it would be nifty to put up some 'best of' lists. These are the most borrowed items of the year at Cockburn Libraries. Now, OK - in some cases we have multiple copies of the item so it may not be the most balanced and even way of doing things but hey - it's fun. This week I'll be posting the most borrowed multimedia, the most borrowed comics and the most borrowed books so let's get on down to it!

Top 5 Junior non fiction DVD's
5. Kid detectives: Complete Season One
4. Bindi the Jungle Girl: Roar Episodes 9-12
3. My first visist to the dentist
2. Amphibian/Bear
1. High school musical: the concert: extreme access pass

Top 5 Junior fiction DVD's
5. Star Wars: The clone wars
4. Hannah Montana Season 3 Part 2
3. Coraline
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks meet the wolfman
1. Bratz: Genie Magic

Top 5 Junior kindergarten DVD's
5. The Fairies: Three friends collection
4. Ducktales Volume 1
3. Wow! Wow! Wubzy! Happy holidays!
2. Curious George rides a bike
1. Curious George 2 - Follow that monkey

Top 5 PC games
5. The Fairies: Fairy magic
4. Dora the explorer: Dora saves the Crystal Kingdom
3. Mortimer Beckett and the secrets of Spooky Manor
2. The cat in the hat
1. Thomas saves the day

Top 5 Talking Books
5. Harry Potter and the philospher's stone
4. The BFG
3. The very hungry caterpillar
2. Phantom of the subway: the temple of the ruby fire
1. My extremely good story collection - by Lauren Child

I'm disapointed that Star Wars didn't beat Bratz. Ah well. Stay tuned for tomorrow when I do the top graphic novels of the year.

Robots invading for school holidays at Cockburn Libraries

2011-12-29T14:13:00.000+08:00

This school holidays Cockburn Libraries is being overrun by Robots! Whether its making our own recycled robots out of bits and bobs and junk (if you're coming bring in whatever sort of junk you have) to making papercraft R2D2's we have your robot craft needs catered for over January. As well as that, Scitech are coming out to show us how robots and Lego mix (sooo looking forward to racing some Lego robots) as well as Tokyo Undergound who are going to help us make our own robot Gundam kits.

On top of that Success Library have a few extra activities for the younger kids with their own junior version of recycled robots as well as a robot costume control panel activity. Finally we have a special guest, Tiffany Barton, coming out to entertain us with her Tall tales for small children program.

Throw Lego activities at all three branches on top of that and it looks to be a pretty jam packed January! I hope to see some of you there as I'll be running (pretty much) all of the sessions! Its going to be fun times.

Make sure you book early as places do fill up and PLEASE if you can't make it, let us know so we can give your place to someone else! You can eithe rbook by speaking to your friendly neighborhood library officer at the desk or you can sign up via the website which you can get to by clicking HERE.

Also please note that most of the activities are aimed at primary school aged children (barring the activities at Success mentioned above) HOWEVER younger kids may attend but they will need parent supervision as these activities are specifically planned for older children. (ie 6+) The scitech session though is for children 9 years and over only.

Merry Christmas! And new junior fiction books for the week

2011-12-24T10:36:00.001+08:00

Sorry everyone - I've been a bit slow in updating the blog the last week. Must be shutting down for Christmas early. Just wanted to wish all kids at Cockburn library a merry christmas and happy holidays. As a parting gift here are some highlights of the new books that hit the shelves this week that you can score when we open again on Wednesday.

We got in new copies of Son of Neptune, Inheritance, The Hobbit, War Horse and Cabin Fever! We also got some neat books which are great for reluctant readers. They're stories about the DC superheroes pets! They're awesome little books - check some of them out here!

On the DVD front we have Cars 2, Back at the barnyard, Care bears, Mr Poppers Penguins, Batman - Brave and the Bold (woo!) and new Pokemon!

On the YA front we have new copies of Twilight and Breaking Dawn so theres that!

Want to see more? Click here

Yay, Comics - The Runaways it started off well..edition.

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

Anything that features a panel like this has got to be good.

So in the mid 2000's Marvel comics thought they should try to cash in on this manga craze (which kinda imploded in upon itself a year or so ago) and put out a series of new titles in the so called Tsunami line. This line was intended to be aimed at younger readers and primarily those who enjoy the manga and featured stuff like Namor, Sentinel and Runaways. Of course anything that Marvel tried that doesn't involve their core characters seems to last about 10 issues these days so most of these didn't get very far. Except for Runaways. OK, sure, fine - it's not coming out any more but it lasted a good old long time and there's been talk of a movie over the last few years so that's nothing to sneeze at!

The general idea behind Runaways is about a group of teenagers who find out their parents are actually supervillains and they..surprise, surprise..go on the run. It's a great series - not initially focused on superheroes at all which was a nice change.

The second volume of the series tended to be more centred in the Marvel universe with appearances from Spider-man, Wolverine and the gang and to be honest suffered a bit for it.

After the creators left it just wasn't the same. Marvel kept trying to relaunch it with new writers such as Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) and Joss Wheadon (Buffy, Firefly, Astonishing X-men) but the magic just wasn't there.

Initially it was collected as digests , again mimicking the manga format but since then its been re released as oversized hardcovers and general trade paperback collections.

At the moment we don't have the complete series but have enough to get you going! I think I'll have to go out and buy the missing volumes as soon as possible. We have volumes 1 and 2 of the first series (missing volume 3, sorry about that chief). We also have volumes 5 and 6 which cover the middle of the second series. All volumes are by the series original creators.

Finally we have the Volume 3 relaunch of the series by Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos called Dead Wrong. (Comics, everyone! Confusing ain't it!) I think it's a bit of a downgrade from the original but that might just be me.

So go ahead and click on some of these pretty covers I've put up above and try the series out. Its definitely one of the under appreciated series that Marvel has put out in the last decade or so and well worth reading.

Font Fontificating.

2011-12-16T12:45:00.002+08:00

Is fontificating a word? I think I mean pontificating.

I can't decide on a readable font - I'm going with this one at the moment. It's relevant as its called 'play' which is what the experience of kids coming in to libraries should be all about. I need to find a font called Explore or Discover and then I'll be set.

2011-12-16T12:42:00.001+08:00

Karyn, one of our great librarians who has an interest in childrens' books, writes a regular "storytime book of the month" column. This was posted on the main blog about a week ago but from now on here is where you'll find it. Take it away Karyn!

There are many ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Well the silly season is now upon us as we get busy approaching Christmas. And what better book to enjoy with your children in the lead up to Christmas than Six White Boomers? A beautiful picture book and a personal favourite that brings Australia's favourite Christmas song to life. I know the words by heart and my five year old twins sing along and dance around. If you don't already know it, please grab yourself a copy and you and your children will soon be sharing the magic of this Aussie Christmas favourite.

The book includes the full lyrics to the song written by Rolf Harris and his friend John D. Brown, with watercolour illustrations by Bruce Whatley. A compact disc is included and contains two bonus Rolf Harris tracks - Christmas in the Sun and Pavlova.

The longevity of this song's success (it's been around since 1960) shows that Rolf was onto something when he sung about the blazing sun, a joey kangaroo and six white boomers instead of snowflakes, a white Christmas and reindeer. A song much more appropriate to the Australian climate and culture at Christmas time.

Every Australian child is sure to delight in this book - one of the few Christmas songs written especially for Australian children. In fact, any children enjoying an Aussie Christmas this year, or in previous years, will find joy in Six White Boomers. Happy reading and Merry Christmas.

Storytime sessions are over for the year

2011-12-14T13:53:00.002+08:00

So today I wrapped up the last of the Christmas storytime sessions at Coolbellup library. Storytime has gone really well this year. I started the year running the Tuesday session at Success library, then around August I took over the Coolbellup session as well and finally I did the last 3 or 4 at Spearwood also! Phew!

Thanks to everyone who came out and I hope everyone enjoyed the stories, crafts and rhymes we had this year. I want to make things super exciting next year with some NEW themes to tell stories about, NEW craft activities and a couple of other ideas that hopefully make it extra special.

If you didn't make it to any storytime sessions this year why not come along in 2012. They're totally free - run for around 45 minutes to an hour and include a few stories, some rhymes/songs/activities and a craft activity at the end. It's excellent for young children both in terms of entertainment and in terms of learning social skills and conventions. They run twice a week at Spearwood (Tue and Fri 10:30), twice a week at Success (9:30 Tue & Fri) and once a week (10:30 Wed) at Coolbellup.

Thanks again to everyone who came along this year and thanks for the presents/cards! I was truly touched.

Whats new this week - COMICS!

2011-12-10T11:04:00.001+08:00

Hey we have a few new comics hitting the racks..er..shelves this week! Here's five of the best - I think, anyway. Check them out by clicking on each title to get taken to the catalogue.

5. Astonishing Thor

The God of Thunder finds himself battling amysterious surge of natural catastrophes - hurricanes, tidal waves,earthquakes. At first, the Son of Odin suspects Zephyr, immortal mistress ofthe winds, but soon he finds that the climactic upheaval must be attributed toa much larger force- Ego, the living planet!

4. The Transformers. Volume 4, Heart of darkness

GALVATRON RETURNS! A major power-house villainreturns from the Dead Universe with a new purpose, new powers, and brand-newarmy! Blazing out of the events of Infestation, and paving the way toTransformers: Chaos - Heart of Darkness, is an essential piece of the ongoingTransformers saga and its by comic super-stars Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning(Annihilation, Legion of Super-Heroes) and artist sensation Ulises Farinas!

3. Captain America - Prisoner of War

Six months ago, Crossbones kidnapped the Red Skull'sdaughter, Sin, from a government re-education facility and disappeared into thenight. Now, he and his spawn of infinite evil have come to the American Midwestto tear a new hole in A.I.M. - but none of them counted on Cap and Agent 13stumbling into the mix.

2. Uncanny X-men - Breaking Point

Magneto is an X-Man. This may not be news to you, butonly a handful in the Marvel Universe know that the poster boy for FearingMutants is now living just off the coast of one of the United State's largestcities. How on Earth are the X-Men going to explain the presence of one of theworld's most infamous super villains? Next, when the X-Men left themilitaristic alien Breakworld, its political structure was reduced to ashes. Itdidn't stay that way forever. Now a warship is crossing the gulf of space, witha mission that will strike the lives of star-crossed lovers Colossus and KittyPryde with all the force of a meteor. Join them as they discover what thevessel them means for them, mutantkind and the rest of the Earth.

1. The New Teen Titans - Games

Harking back to the era when NEW TEEN TITANS was thebest-selling monthly comic series comes this lost tale from legendary creatorsMarv Wolfman (CRISIS ON INF INITE EARTHS) and George Perez (FINAL CRISIS:LEGION OF THREE WORLDS) starring their fan-favorite characters just in time forthe NEW TEEN TITANS 30th anniversary! Set in the 1980s during the height of NewTeen Titans popularity, this standalone hardcover features a mysterious villainplaying a deadly game with New York City as the gameboard - and the Teen Titansas the pieces! Like something out of a timecapsule, this never-before-seen epicis the New Teen Titans story from their original creators that never gottold...until now! Twenty years in the making, TEEN TITANS: GAMES is acan't-miss for fans new and old.

Other goodies include Deadpool, Battlestar Galactica, Tintin, Thanos imperative, Secret Warriors and more. Go have a look see.

While you're waiting.. Cabin Fever!

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000+08:00

Well hello there, it's your friendly neighbourhood Librarian here again. So I hear there's this book about a kid. Some kind of...wimpy kid? I don't know, it seems to be a thing these days. And there's a movie as well..maybe even a few? I don't know..is that the thing about Vampires? Twinight or something? Maybe..

I'm kidding of course! (Hilarious ain't I!) I know all about Book of a Nerdy child. Of course I do. Sheesh!

Sigh.

Annnnyyyway we have copies (soon to be much more!) of the new book in the series, Cabin Fever, scattered across Cockburn Libraries. If you want it click on the picture just over there to my left and you'll be taken to our catalogue where you can reserve away. BUT - while you're waiting on it why not catch up on the previous Wimpy Kid books. Be warned they are still (STILL!) fairly heavily borrowed but we have soooo many copies of them you shouldn't have to wait very long if at all! So go on and catch up on the epic tale of the wimpy one in preparation for the next in the series. Click here. Did you do it? I think you did.

Pick of the week(ish)! - Uncanny X-Force: The Apocalpyse Solution

2011-12-08T11:27:00.001+08:00

Phew - I have to get better at these Pick of the Weeks! Sorry all!
I've got a graphic novel this week that is still classified Young Adult but more skewed to the adult than the young ..possibly.

The Apolcalpyse Solution by Rick Remender and Jerome Opena is a brilliant book featuring an underground team of X-men who do the dirty work so the X-men themselves don't get their hands dirty. In this case one of the X-men's most dangerous villains, Apocalypse, is back and X-Force head off to shut him down. Of course, Apocalpyse has returned as an innocent young boy which, y'know, makes things different.
Story is great - art is beautiful - the colouring by Dean White is, as always, amazing.

Highly recommended as long as you're old enough to read this stuff - it does have a Parental Advisory label on the back so while it's not adults only it's probably not a good idea to go from Garfield: I hate Mondays to this.

2011-12-05T09:00:00.000+08:00

So there's only ..what..20 days to go to Christmas now! Have you got your letters into Santa yet? Well, good thing if you haven't as we have you covered! We have mailboxes to Santa out at all three branches starting this morning - you can mail your wishlists at Success, Coolbellup or Spearwood and as long as you get your letter in on time you should receive a special letter back from Father Christmas himself! Cool!

So get writing and make sure you get your letters in before Friday 16th December as that's when the last reindeer pickup takes place and you don't want to miss out. Also make sure that your name is written clearly on the letter and your address so Santa knows where you live. I know Santa should have the list and everything but it doesn't hurt to make EXTRA sure right?

39 Clues rapid fire!

2011-12-02T11:53:00.001+08:00

Now this is pretty cool! Starting on Christmas day and continuing until the 31st December a new short story 39 Clues ebook will be released which you can download and read on your computer, iPad, iPod touch, e-book reader or iRefrigerator (I made one of those up) or whatever device you use to read on! The series is called 39 Clues - Rapid Fire. If you or your Mum or Dad or someone is lucky enough to have a Kindle I know for sure you can buy them for only 99 cents! But it may be more on other devices - I'm not sure yet.

Anyway - a very nice little Christmas present for those 39 Clues fans out there.

Read more about it - HERE!

While you're waiting...Inheritance Cycle

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000+08:00

So I know you're all eager to read the latest and final chapter of Christopher Paolini's epic series but, gosh darn it, there's 5 people already waiting on it. Well actually - 6 now - I just requested it also. Sorry. Now, now, I know you're upset but relax. There's no point freaking out about it is there.What to do? You could buy it but really what's the point? It'll just sit there on the shelf after you've read it. I mean, honestly. Think of the environment. The Library makes the most sense if you think about it. And we do have 10 copies I believe. So you won't be waiting long.

a short read..

But why don't you catch up with the previous books while you are waiting? I just got in a couple of brand new, fresh off the press copies of the previous books in the series to complement our already complete collection. (I believe we have around 264 and a quarter copies of the third book in the series!) .And you know what, I actually haven't read the series myself so I'm going to go ahead and read through the series as well. They're fairly short books right - let me go and have a look at.....

...

oh.

Premier's Summer Reading Challenge begins today!

2011-12-01T12:28:00.001+08:00

So I know what you're all thinking - school's finished but I want to keep reading all summer holidays and I want some kind of reward/reason to do so! If that IS what you're thinking then shame on you all! Shame! I used to spend my summer holidays reading comics in my swimming pool but that's me. I wouldn't advise it actually. ESPECIALLY not comics from the library. But I'm getting off topic..

Besides the joy and magic that you get from reading if you participate in the reading challenge listed above than you also get cool stickers, pencils, wristbands and stuff! Anyone from Kindy to Year 7 can participate and anyone who completes the challenge gets a certificate from the premier himself and also goes into the draw to win some VERY cool prizes.

Tickets to see the new Muppets movie! Kobo e-readers! iPod Nanos!! Books from Fremantle Press!! And a holiday for a family to "Explore Western Australian" valued at 6,000$!!!!

Pick up a reading log from any of our branches and get cracking! If you're in Kindy to Year 3 you need to read 10 hours over the summer (that's less than 10 minutes a day) and if you're Year 4 to 7 then you need to read a whopping 15 minutes a day for a total of 15 hours. Pfft - I know that's easy peasy to you guys.

So come on down - I have thousands of these logs and I want to give them all away. They'll be scattered all around our libraries or ask at the front desk! I'd looooove to have some of you win one of those cool prizes!

(Hmmn, can I enter..?)

Premier's Summer Reading Challenge!

2011-11-26T12:34:00.001+08:00

Phew. Say that four times fast! The reading challenge starts on 1st December - make sure you get involved for the chance to get some cool freebies and win some great prizes! It's aimed at kids from kindergarten all the way up to year 7 so why don't you click on over here and have a look?

There's also booklists for ideas on what to read and it's even broken down into the different age levels. Handy! Of course I'm sure we have every single book on the list. Definitely.

WAYRBA Winners

2011-11-23T12:26:00.001+08:00

So the WAYRBA winners have been announced! For those of you not in the know the West Australian Young Readers' Book Awards are given out every year and are chosen by you - the readers! Earlier in the year voting slips were sent out and you guys got to fill them out and place your vote on what you thought should win in each category.

Well the results are in and the winners are ...(drumroll please)

Older Reader Award-

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus) by Rick Riordan

Younger Reader Award -

Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney

Picture Book Award -

Missile Mouse by Jake Parker

Hoffman Award -

Ned Kelly and the Green Sash by Mark Greenwood

Click one each title to access it in our catalogue. Good choices everyone - you voted well.

Pick of the week - Alone - Chasers Bk1

2011-11-17T10:54:00.001+08:00

Ugh. So i've been off sick this week. Not a fun experience. Oh well - at least I've passed it on to the rest of my family! Mwahahah...erm..anyway. One PLUS side to being sick is once you get past the stage where you can't focus on a screen or printed material without passing out then you're pretty much restricted to reading.

Which leads to my pick of the week.Pick of the week is a thing I'm going to do, by the way. Every week, I'm going to pick something. Simple really.

This week is the first in the Young Adult 'Alone' series by Australian author James Phelan. Short review, two thumbs up - longer review..

Chasers is the first book in the 'Alone' series as mentioned above - essentially an Australian kid is participating in a camp in New York when some bad stuff goes down. There's destruction, death and chaos as Jesse and his three friends struggle to survive in the as well as having to deal with the survivors from the ...er...bad stuff.....who seem to have been infected with..err..something....causing them to become something not quite human. I'm using my words carefully as there is potential for spoilers aplenty and I want everyone to go into it fresh. Check it out - theres three in the series, we have the first two and the third is on it's way.

Click here or on the cover of the book to reserve it. It's available now - I just brought it back. Although you might have to wait a bit for the second one as I just borrowed it.

Speaking of Harry Potter

2011-11-12T11:12:00.001+08:00

I mentioned Harry Potter yesterday. You know what it is right? I'm sure you all have maybe heard of it? This is pretty cool courtesy of Warner Brothers France via Mugglenet. It's a video interview of Alan Rickman talking about the Potter Phenomenon and his thoughts on Snape 'n' Stuff. Pretty cool. Check it out.

Harry Potter : Interview d'Alan Rickman by WarnerBrosPicturesFrance

Inheritance is out!

2011-11-11T15:37:00.001+08:00

Any fans of the Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini? The fourth book in the series "Inheritance" just came out this week and apparently it set the record of the biggest combined opening day sales of any book this year. According to the publisher of course. Although admittedly it was a bit down from the opening day sales of the previous book in the series "Brisingr". Anyway, if you want to catch up on the series before getting hold of the latest then come on in to the library or click this little word right here (ok, so that was three words) and reserve it from our catalogue.

As for "Inheritance" it's on the way, I promise! These things take time but rest assured I'm going to purchase a few extra copies just to make sure. You can click here and reserve it if you want to get in early. In fact, I just checked and we already have a copy being processed and available soon over at Coolbellup library! Yay!

Harry Potter is REAL!

2011-11-11T11:22:00.001+08:00

Seriously you guys! Seriously! Check this out!
I wonder if that wall has caused any concussions with aspiring wizards and witches running headlong into it with the hopes of catching the Hogwarts Express or something. This is from Kings Cross Station in London if you want to jump on a plane this weekend.

The Life of a Teenage Body-snatcher Review - (Hint - It's awesome!)

2011-11-10T16:54:00.001+08:00

OooOoo..sinister no?

Wow. I loved this book so much I can't even tell you. Admittedly I tend to be a bit ..focused..on what I read. A book set in England in1828, dealing with a boy who ends up digging up bodies for a living (kinda) isn't really on my standard reading list. I mean there's not even a superpower or orphan to be seen I tell you!

It was actually one of the runner ups (or should I say, honour books ) in the 2011 Children's Book Council "Older Readers Book of the Year" (phew) awards and goshbygolly it's made me want to check out the other honour book as well as the winner! (Hint - click the links to get to them on our catalogue)

I don't want to give away any more as you should already be positively drooling to read it (You are right? If not - for shame) but it's one of the most original, laugh out loud funny and entertaining books I've read in a long while. And it surprised me to learn that Doug MacLeod (writer extraordinaire) as well as writing other books -which I definitely need to check out now - also wrote for shows such as The Comedy Company (possibly before your time), Kath & Kim and Dogstar.

Well there you go.

Give it a try - one of the most entertaining things I've read in a while. Click on the book, or this very collection of words right here, to go to our catalogue and reserve (Hey, I think most of our copies are actually available RIGHT NOW! What are you waiting for!) a copy now! NOW people!

Kids 2.0!!

2011-11-09T13:21:00.001+08:00

Hey everyone, after a bit of a rough start with the blog I'm now in a position to post interesting stuff more regularly now as I have just been apointed the young peoples librarian here at Cockburn! (Hoorah!) So expect more stuff more often! For now I'll post a picture of what this job's about.

Thanks Niamh :)

If you go down to the woods... on Wednesday

2011-10-24T14:12:00.001+08:00

It's Teddy Bears' Picnic time again. The City of Cockburn's annual Teddy Bears' Picnic is this Wednesday.

Grab your teddy and head on down to 'the woods' (and by 'the woods' , I mean Manning Park)

Amongst the many fun activities, library staff will be on hand to provide your teddy bear with a special teddy bear make-over.

Wednesday 26 October
10am - 1pm
Manning Park

School Holiday wrap up - Puppets

2011-10-18T09:49:00.000+08:00

So the October school holidays are over and most of you guys are back at school by now. Thanks to everyone for coming and joining in on the fun. What were your favourites? I personally liked the zombie science and the Lego. I have great plans for next time so we'll see everyone back then.

One of the things we did over the holidays was to make some very cool super puppets with some very talented puppet makers joining in.

To see more check out our Flickr page HERE (or by clicking on the doohickey on the left)

Lego is a dangerous business..

2011-10-17T09:45:00.000+08:00

So as I mentioned earlier Kai was the lucky winer of the Lego set. He came in to Success Library last week to pick up his prize. I did feel momentarily unsure when handing it over as the other winners also did SUCH a good job but he...persuaded me.

No I'm just kidding. Kai is a scholar and a gentlemen. Thanks everyone for participating and hopefully we can do it again soon.

The Lego winner announced..!

2011-10-12T09:49:00.004+08:00

Over the last several days the staff at Cockburn Libraries have been involved in an intense argument - fisticuffs have ensued, slurs hurled, chairs thrown - all over which of the three amazing winners from our Lego sessions should receive the grand prize!

Well, it's with great pleasure (and bruised kneecaps) that I can announce that the winner(who just squeezed in by a nose to victory) is Kai from Success Library. Well done Kai - he wins the Alien Conquest Lego set for his amazing Lego creation. Thanks to everyone who participated - I hope everyone had a great time and I hope we can do a lot more Lego activities in the future!

Kai can pick up his prize from Success from tomorrow morning!

How do you know a zombie wore your pants? Staaains.

2011-10-11T00:45:00.000+08:00

The weird thing is this was BEFORE Scitech got here!

The school holidays are almost midway through its second week and we're starting to finish up with our holiday programs. We have one more visit from Scitech to Success Library on Thursday afternoon at 2pm where once again I'll try eating some braaaaaaiins (it's edible but not tasty..not tasty at all..shiver) and we'll make life threatening gashes on ourselves. Good times! It is all booked out but if you're in the area pop in for a look, who knows you might squeeze in a spot. Just make sure you're equipped for zombie apocalypses. You know how it is this time of year. Hayfever. Undead rising. Etc.

Check out all the horrific pictures at our Flickr page HERE!

Lego over man, Lego over.

2011-10-06T12:12:00.000+08:00

Look at these guys and what they created! Multi level buildings
cars, ships....I made a dog out of two blocks.
It had a sproingy tale...
...I thought it was good.

So our Lego school holiday sessions have wrapped and they were a huge success! Hands up who'd like to see these be a regular thing? (Hand shoots up) I was blown away by everyone that came - you guys made some awesome stuff! Check out some of the photos on our Flickr page to see the excellent creative and artistic skills on our potential future architects. Oh! And kids - don't forget to come into the library next week to pick up your "Official"* Lego Master builder certificates!!

*may or may not be official

Lego Madness - Round three - Coolbellup Library

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000+08:00

So the final Lego session ran on Wednesday morning at Coolbellup library and again a group of talented and creative kids showed up and made me look VERY bad with their building skills. The winner of todays session was Nicole with her amazing bike/plane/car thingy. Congratulations Nicole :)

Round 2 of Lego Madness @Spearwood Library Dario is the winner!

2011-10-05T12:19:00.000+08:00

Wow. I am amazed by the creative skills in these kids so far, everyones been doing an awesome job. I hated giving out prizes as there were so many amazing creations. But it was Dario (pro gamer in his spare time) who won out with his ultra cool treehouse. Very awesome indeed. These kids arent the only lego experts though - I made a dog out of three blocks. It had a sproingy tail.

I liked it.

Ah well. Congrats Dario!

Round 1 of Lego Madness at Success - Kai the winner

2011-10-05T09:41:00.001+08:00

So we had a great turnout at Success Library on Monday morning for the first of our three Lego Madness sessions and boy, madness it was! Everyone that came out made some awesome stuff! Very, very hard to pick a winner but in this case it was Kai! Kai wins a Star Wars Lego book (which you should be able to borrow from the library real soon!) and as the winner of the Success Round he is in for a chance to win the Alien conquest lego set. I'll have more pictures from our lego insanity up soon.

Sorry for the blurry picture Kai - I'm not the best with the photo's.

Quentin Blake VIrtually Live - video

2011-10-04T21:49:00.000+08:00

Well this is pretty cool. You may know Quentin Blake as the artist on most of Roald Dahls books? He's actually had a hand in over 300 childens books -eitherwriting or drawing.

Anyway Puffin books have a great video up interviewing Quentin as well as him drawing live onstage. Pretty awesome.

Heroes of Olympus catch up time!

2011-10-04T18:09:00.000+08:00

OH! The new Percy Jackson book came out today..well its not TECHNICALLY the new Percy Jackson book but it's in the same world and he's in it.

The second volume of Heroes of Olympus was released on the 4th of October - The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan.

Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, God of the Sea, has woken from a very deep sleep and come face to face with two snake-haired ladies who refuse to die.

But they're the least of his problems. Because Percy finds himself at a camp for half-bloods, which doesn't ring any bells for him. There's just one name he remembers from his past. Annabeth.

Only one thing is certain! Percy's questing days aren't over. He and fellow demigods Frank and Hazel must face the most important quest of all: the Prophecy of Seven. If they fail, it's not just their camp at risk. Percy's old life, the gods, and the entire world might be destroyed . . .
(from Puffin Books)

We don't have it YET (soon!) but in the meantime you should check out the first in the series by clicking on this little linky right here. Off you go!

Gross, dude.

2011-10-03T22:19:00.000+08:00

Me with Abagail, Jemay, Dallano and Shai

Just a little teaser for our upcoming holiday activity with Sci-tech ;)

If you Like...Harry Potter

2011-10-03T00:00:00.000+08:00

I know how you feel Kitty, I know how you feel

So Harry Potters done. Finito. Kaput. Over. You probably have a big gaping hole left in your soul right? Don't despair gentle reader, although nothing quite matches the 'magic' (Hee!) of Mr Potter, there are a few alternative series out there that you might like to try.

All of these books are series where the main character discovers a magical world that exists outside of normal reality and while none of them will totally cure P.W.S. (potter withdrawal symptoms) they are still enjoyable books and recommended.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

A little different to the others below as Artemis is almost a villain to begin with, these are a very funny series of books with Master Fowl figuring out how to unlock the faery world. And the gold that goes along with it. Witty writing, great characters and exciting adventure - I give this series 4 out of 5 "butlers!"

Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix

When an asthmatic 12 year old boy almost dies he becomes the heir to the epicenter of the universe and finds out there's more to the world than meets the eye. A great 7 part series by the writer of the amazing Abhorsen trilogy.
4 out of 5 "I've only read half the first book but really want to read more!" guilt trips

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

An uncomplicated adventure story where Percy discovers that his Dad is actually Neptune, the god of the sea. He then has lots of awesome adventures steeped in Greek mythology but with a modern twist where only HE can save the world. It's a bit formulaic but still fun. The movie was nowhere near as good as the book by the way. I give it 3 out 5 "bad movie adaptations!"

There you go! 3 different series that can start to fill the void that Harry left behind. Good luck with your healing!

School Holiday activites all booked up!

2011-09-28T13:06:00.000+08:00

So I WAS going to talk about the awesome school holiday activities we have running over the next few weeks but y'know what? They're all full! Sorry for anyone that missed out (we'll have to run more next time maybe?) but my plan is to introduce regular activities all year long and not just limit them to school holidays. Who'd like a Lego get together once a month? (raises hand) Keep your eyes peeled - there should be a lot of interesting things happenning in the future.

If you DO want to put your name down on a waiting list just in case go for it!

Hungry for some Hunger Games? (Sorry)

2011-09-23T00:00:00.000+08:00

So my prediction for the next big thing is the big screen adaptation of The Hunger Games hitting next year. Based on the book by Suzanne Collins this stars Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique from the X-men:First Class movie) as Katniss and it looks like it COULD be good. Now the book is the first of a trilogy (I've only read the first myself) so if it does well enough we can expect all three to be made. I've popped the trailer for it below. Check it out.

Ok, so it's not the most exciting trailer out there. Yup, that's Jennifer Lawrence running through a forest for 60 seconds. Good stuff! Etc etc. It's only a teaser trailer really but if you need more content why not read the books (again)?

We have the complete trilogy at Cockburn Libraries - just click HERE to go straight to our catalogue where, once logged in, you can click and reserve it. It's quite a hot item at the moment and bound to get hotter so get in before the crowds descend!

Vote for books chosen by you - WAYRBA!

2011-09-20T14:56:00.000+08:00

Have you all been voting for your favourite books in the West Australia Young Reader Book Awards?
There was a very detailed post on our main blog a little while back showing the nominated books and how you could vote for them. You can read the entire post after the jump... (and by that I mean, click to read more!)

Vote for your favourite book in the 2011 Western Australia Young Reader's Book Award (WAYRBA). WAYRBA is a readers' choice award, organised on a statewide basis for young readers. This year the award has three categories: Picture Books, Younger Readers and Older Readers. All listed books have been selected based on the nominations received from kids over the the past 12 months.

Read any of the books on the list and tell us whether they were terrific, good, okay or awful. Vote now by completing an online voting slip. Voting closes on 26 September 2011. You can also pick up paper voting slips from any of the Cockburn Libraries.

Cockburn Libraries have most of the books, but not all, so if one of the links below doesn't show the book it means the library doesn't have a copy at the moment, so fill in an inter-library loan request form and the library will attempt to get in a copy from another library for you).

Older readers

Angel Cake / Cathy Cassidy
Blue Bloods / Melissa De La Cruz
The Project / Brian Falkner
Hush, Hush / Becca Fitzpatrick
Then / Morris Gleitzman
I lost my mobile at the mall / Wendy Harmer
Blue Eyed Aborigine / Rosemary Hayes
The Innocents / Nette Hilton
Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant) / Derek Landy
The Piper’s Son / Melina Marchetta
Avenger / Andy McNab
Solace & Grief / Foz Meadows
The Phoenix File – Arrival / Chris Morphew
Brigands MC / Robert Muchamore
Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking Trilogy) / Patrick Ness
Brisingr / Christopher Paolini
The Dead & the gone / Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Lost Hero / Rick Riordan
Mostly sunny with a chance of storms / Marion Roberts
The Magician: the secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel / Michael Scott
Dreaming of Dior / Charlotte Smith
Faketastic (Frenemies) / Alexa Young

Younger readers

The Claw of the Dragon / Patricia Bernard
The Red Wind / Isobelle Carmody
Battle Boy: Aztec Attack / Charlie Carter
Cicada Summer / Kate Constable
Tiger Trouble / Justin D’Ath
Hannah’s Secret / Nariander Dhami
Just Macbeth / Andy Griffiths,
Dr Brad Has Gone Mad! / Dan Gutman
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - the Ugly Truth / Jeff Kinney
Pit Crew Crunch / Lisa Trumbauer
Rocky Road (EJ12 Girl Hero) / Susannah McFarlane
Billionaire’s Curse / Richard Newsome
Magic Thief / Sarah Prineas
Sock Shocks Secrets / Leila Rasheed
Lost! / Stephanie Owen Reeder
War Nurse (My Story) / Sue Reid
Queasy Rider / James Roy
Camelot (The Dragons) / Colin Thompson
Ice Lolly / Jean Ure
Charlie Small Journals: The Puppet Master's Prison / Nick Ward
Cookie / Jacqueline Wilson

Picture books

Mirror / Jeannie Baker
Legend of the Golden Snail / Graeme Base
Loongie the Greedy Crocodile / Lucy Dann
Ned Kelly and the Green Sash / Mark Greenwood
Point Blanc -graphic novel / Anthony Horowitz
Caterpillar and Butterfly / Ambelin Kwaymullina
The Red Piano / Andre Leblanc
Crow Call / Lois Lowry
Tatiara / Jo Oliver
Missile Mouse –graphic novel / Jake Parker
Sparrow Girl / Sara Pennypacker
Sydney of the Antarctic / Coral Tulloch
Race for the Chinese Zodiac / Gabrielle Wang
The Night We Made the Flag / Carole Wilkinson

Penguins Kids' TV Episode Eight

2011-09-19T23:47:00.000+08:00

Have you guys checked out Penguin Kids' TV? The latest episode mentions the release date and title for the next Wimpy Kid book as well as featuring writer Oliver Phommavanh..and..well, I think that was pretty much it. Check it out below.

Neil Gaiman Goodness

2011-09-15T03:00:00.000+08:00

Who out there loves Neil Gaiman? How can you not! What with his various comic works, The Sandman particularly and his novels (looove The Graveyard Book) we're BIG fans of #neilhimself over here. (Ppsst - click on the links to go to some of Neils works that we have at our libraries) At the guardians kids site they posted a pretty awesome video of him talking about various things such as Dr Who, The Simpsons and Terry Pratchett. Check it out!

Clicky click!

Source: guardian.co.uk

Welcome to the new kids blog at Cockburn Library!

2011-09-14T12:45:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone! So at Cockburn Library we're starting up a kids blog which will deal with..yep, you guessed it..kids stuff! When I say kids I really mean 'young persons' so we'll be covering things of interest to high school kids, primary school kids and also the little ones who may need help from their parents to read our awesome posts. And hey, we'll be covering stuff of interest to big kids as well (raises hand) so there'll be something for everybody really. .

This will essentially be the place to go to find out whats happenning at Cockburn Library for anyone under 20, with reviews and general blogging about the cool stuff thats hitting our shelves as we go.

In one word - STUFF. Lots and lots of it

As time goes on I'd like to be able to integrate everyone into the site and allow you to log in and rate and review stuff which in turn will earn you points! I'd like you all to be able to keep track of what you've read and what books you want to read - which will also earn you points! What are the points for? Well, we won't be getting to that JUST yet. Wait and see :)

So for now stay tuned to Kids @ C.L - I'll be updating with STUFF every day or two.