Olive of Groves series by Katrina Nannestad

The Olive of Groves series by Katrina Nannestad is one of my favourite series.  It's all about a girl called Olive who goes starts at a boarding school called Mrs Groves Boarding School for Naughty Boys, Talking Animals and Circus Performers.  Olive isn't any of these things so she has to learn how to fit in.  I love everything about this book, from the crazy antics to the loveable characters. 

Olive is only one of the many wonderful characters that inhabit Mrs Groves Boarding School for Naughty Boys, Talking Animals and Circus Performers.  If you step through the doors you’ll meet Blimp (a rat with a large bottom), Wordsworth (a rat who loves words), Chester (a rat who loves buttons), Glenda the Goose (who faints at the thought of the nine times tables), Reuben the Rabbit (who loves nothing more than a good spin in the washing machine), Fumble (a shy talking moose), Mrs Groves (the ‘teeny-weeny bit odd’ headmistress), the villain of the story, Pig McKenzie, and many, many more.   I love all the characters, but my favourites are the three rats – Blimp, Wordsworth and Chester.

We have the first three books in the Olive of Groves series in the library now so come and grab them.

Test your knowledge with these awesome quizzes

Are you a football fanatic?  Do you heaps of interesting facts about space?  Are you the world's biggest Harry Potter fan?  Try these awesome quizzes and find out!

• Fantastic Football Facts: how much do you know?
• Fascinating Facts About Space
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the quiz!

If you like David Walliams try David Baddiel

David Walliams' books are very funny and pretty silly.  We love his books here at Halswell School!  The main problem though with finding an author you really like is then finding someone else that writes stories like them.  David Baddiel is another author who writes hilarious and silly stories.  He has written four books - The Parent Agency, The Person Controller, The Boy Who Could Do What He Liked and his latest book, AniMalcolm.  You can borrow AniMalcolm now and the other books will be available soon.

Check out this book trailer for AniMalcom.  This book will make you laugh out loud!

We love Raina Telgemeier

Raina Telgemeier is an author and illustrator that is becoming super popular in our library.  Raina is the creator of Smile, Sisters, Drama and Ghosts, some awesome graphic novels.

Both Smile and Sisters (which we will have in the library very soon) are autobiographical, meaning that they are about the childhood of Raina.  Smile tells the story of the time that Raina tripped and knocked out both of her front teeth.  She has to have surgery, get braces and a special retainer with fake teeth attached.  Not only that but there is a major earthquake, and friends, boys and family to deal with.

Sisters is about Raina and the sister that she never wanted.  The book follows Raina and Amara as they go on a roadtrip with their mother, and there are lots of flashbacks.

Drama is about Callie who gets the chance to become the set designer for her school play.  The play isn't smooth sailing though as the crew are having trouble working together, the actors argue, and then a couple of cute boys enter the picture and things get crazy.

Ghosts is Raina's latest book, which is about two sisters who move to a seaside town and discover that the place is crawling with ghosts.  It's funny and a little spooky.

Raina has also illustrated four of the Babysitter's Club stories which we will have in the library soon.  Keep your eyes out for these.

Check out these book trailers for Raina Telgemeier's books too:

 

We read everywhere

It's been so cool seeing your crazy photos of the unusual places you've been reading over the summer. Here are some of the entries we've had so far:

It's not too late to enter! Just email me your photo by Wednesday next week to get in the draw for book prizes. Send your photo to zac.mccallum@halswell.school.nz.

Our Summer Reading

I'm really curious to find out what books you enjoyed over the summer holidays. I got the chance to read lots of books (23 great books!) and we'll be getting some of them for the library. If you've read an awesome book and we don't have it in our library please let me know so we can get it.

We have a Summer Reading display on the wall in the library. Let me know what your favourite summer reads were and I'll add them to the wall. Let's fill up the wall!

Welcome back!

Welcome back from your fantastic summer break! It's great to have you all back in the library again and I can't wait to hear all about the books you've been reading.

There are going to be heaps of exciting things happening in the library this year, including competitions, special events, author talks and cool activities.

If you want the chance to be part of the library team I'll be asking for kids to apply to be librarians next week.

Don't forget to submit your photos for the Unusual Reading Spot Competition and hand in your Summer Reading log for your chance to win prizes.

See you in the library soon!