• recommended
• baby rock'n'rhyme
• storytime
• school visits

What's new @ Island Bay

Librarian's Choice

Feeling a bit rushed? Don't know what to read? Well, great news, we've got it all sorted for you at Island Bay.

Librarian's Choice is fast becoming a popular way for customers to pick up something that has been vetted by the fine minds of your local branch staff. Of course 'taste' is everything, so there's a range of books on the shelf from across fiction genres. Every book has been read and loved by somebody at the branch so feel free to select with confidence.

The Librarians Choice display is replenished regularly by the staff, and don't forget, if you've read something you loved and want to share feel free to let us know. And of course, if you pick something up and didn't like it, we're always up for a debate!

Baby Rock and Rhyme

Engages baby, involves action songs and nursery rhymes and entertains!
Odette and co will take your babies through their musical paces. They'll introduce forgotten songs from your childhood and gems you've never heard of. Each week the group reads together from a collection of specially selected board books. These are chosen from the Library collection and include classics like 'Brown Bear Brown Bear, what do you see?'

Contact Odette if you'd like to know more or enquire at Island Bay Library.

All free and at Island Bay Library!

What: Baby Rock and Rhyme
Time: Every Wednesday at 9.30 am during school terms.

Storytime

• Storytime is every Thursday at Island Bay Library at 10:30am in the children's area
• Storytime runs for about half an hour, with stories and songs
• Pre-school storytimes are fun and free - there's no charge, and you don't have to book
• Storytime is aimed at pre-school age children (three and four years old) - but younger siblings are always welcome!

School Visits

This month we talk to Kate, children's librarian extraordinaire, about our school visit programme at Island Bay

Q: How many children come through Island Bay library each year with their classes, and how do you plan for those visits?

A: Most days we have two classes, and some days three, in any year we would have an average of 6500 children passing through Island Bay library with their classes. All of the classes from St Francis and Island Bay School take advantage of this partnership with the library and the benefits that offers. In planning for visits we aim to teach the kids essential library skills linked to topical events and share new books which have come in.

Q: What do you think are the main benefits for the children coming with the school for library visits?

A: We hope it's something which is fun, stimulating and helps them understand how libraries work. It gives them a chance to borrow some really great books, but the main benefit I see is that it doesn't matter what the culture at home is regarding libraries, every child gets the opportunity to be comfortable in the library environment and to feel a sense of ownership that they can take with them into their future as adults.

Q: What do you see as the benefits for the library itself?

A: If our young people are familiar with libraries then throughout their lives, as university students, mothers, fathers, business people, right onto being retirees they will have a sense of libraries being there in their lives and an awareness of the wealth of information that can be mined at their local branch. This ensures our ongoing place in the community as both a recreational and informative resource.

Kate's recommended books:

Pepetuna by Denise Whitmore and The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

Monster Mission and Magic Flutes by Eva Ibbotson

Kate also highly recommends any of New Zealand author Des Hunt's novels as great reads!

New displays ...

New Documentary DVD

Wellington City Libraries has some of the finest documentaries from around the globe in its collection. This month we're highlighting some of the newer purchases which have recently arrived at Island Bay Library. There's nothing more powerful than a well made, insightful and revealing documentary, so please avail yourself of some quality home entertainment.

Popular Hits CD

This month at Island Bay we are showcasing our more recent CD arrivals. New albums include, The Best of Doves, Crying Light by Antony and the Johnsons, The Courage of Others by Midlake, Ultraviolet by Kirsten Morrel and the expanded bonus disc version of U2's Boy album. There's a little something from across the spectrum of genres on display, so make sure to take a look next time you're in!

Recommended:

Shades of Grey
by Jasper Fforde
This speculative fiction novel imagines a future in which social hierarchies are defined by ones level of colour perception. Set centuries after the mysterious ‘something that happened’, society is bound by the inflexible rules established within the Colortocracy. Our hero, Eddie Russett, is a young Red, looking forward to nothing more than marrying a Purple and obtaining a new status within society. Then he meets Jane, a rebellious Grey, and he finds himself questioning the validity and purpose of all those rules. Shades of Grey is a literary comic masterpiece, full of half explained truths and hints of foreboding it is the first in a new trilogy from bestselling author Fforde. Exceptionally well written, hilarious and heartbreaking in turn, it comes highly recommended.

Kracken
by China Mieville
Bestselling and award winning British fantasy author China Mieville returns with a new novel packed with escapism and magical charm. When a giant squid is stolen from a London Museum curator Billy Harrow finds his world tipped upside down as cultists, cops and crazies collide and send him running for his life. As with Mieville’s other novels there are outrageous creatures and fantastical settings galore, and while not as linear as some of his previous work, Kraken delights in mashing up genres and keeping things moving along at a dizzying pace. A sure fire hit for those with a science fiction or fantasy bent.

Jar City
by Arnaldur Indridason
The first in a fascinating series of crime novels from bestselling Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason. Featuring his grizzled detective Erlander Sveinsson, and sidekicks Sigurdur and Elinburg, Jar City is a grim tale suited to its windswept and freezing locale. A single septuagenarian is found murdered in his apartment and upon investigating Erlander finds the victims sordid past throws up more problems than clues. Struck with his own personal and family problems it’s up to Erlander and his team to dig deep into a past that nobody wants to relive. Indridason is a fine author, and the location makes for suitably exotic tales even if the crimes are familiar. Gritty noir from the top of the world.

Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel
Mantel won the Booker Prize in 2009 for this dense historical epic chronicling the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell during the reign of King Henry VII. Set in the 1520s and 1530s the novel is replete with nasty characters along with intrigues, machinations and cutthroat decision of court. Wolf Hall is by no means a light read with its enormous cast of characters and plot points galore, but for the readers who love historical fiction, Wolf Hall is an absolute feast and thoroughly deserving of its acclaim.

Solar
by Ian McEwan
"Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time it is different: she is having the affair, and he is still in love with her. When Beard's professional and personal worlds collide in a freak accident, an opportunity presents itself for Beard to extricate himself from his marital mess, reinvigorate his career and save the world from environmental disaster." (Amazon)