Weblog Archive

We have two fantastic new online resources available for you to use anywhere at anytime totally free of charge - all you need is an Internet connection and your North Lincolnshire Library card.

Firstly we now have access to Britannica Online.  It is divided into three sections: Britannica Junior for 5-11 year olds, Britannica Student for 12-18 year olds and Encyclopaedia Britannica for 18s and over.  Not only does it include fully searchable encyclopaedia content, but also videos, games, links to news articles, journal access and much more. 

Secondly the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera contains scanned images of posters, handbills, pamphets and prints from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.  Prividing an insight into the changing nature of life in Britain it covers topics such as entertainment, advertising and crime.

To access either of these resources, along with the rest of the fantastic online resources available to library members for free, 24/7, visit our Online Reading Room.

The winners of this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards have been announced and they are all available to borrow from your local library.

The winner of the Carnegie Award is Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book

The winner of the Kate Greenaway Award is Freya Blackwood and Margaret Wild - Harry and Hopper

Both are fantastic books and worthy winners!

We're starting to gear up for this year's Summer Reading Challenge - the Space Hop.  It starts on 19th July and as usual there are loads of fab rewards if you read six books over the summer holidays.  The theme is space and so be prepared for plenty of spacecraft, aliens and meerkats (!).  Join at your local library from 19th July.

We celebrated National Bookstart Day in style this morning with an indoor beach party.  We didn't let the rain outside spoil our mood as we indulged in some stories and rhymes.  There was also the chance to decorate a fish to take home, as well as a sand pit and water pool (complete with fish, shells, crabs and seahorses).  No trip to the seaside is complete without an ice lolly and there we're plenty for all.

Even the librarian-mermaids had fun - although we did get some funny looks as we walked across the library with our tails!

Bookstart Bear had a famtastic final day in North Lincolnshire, enjoying the sunshine at Normanby Park.

Today's Booknic was even busier than yesterday with even more children joining us for picnics, stories and the chance to meet Bookstart Bear. He even got to take is teabreak in the Hall itself.

Again there were queues of children waiting to meet him, hug him, and some even wanted to have their photo taken with him. 

There were one or two children who were a little sceptical about Bookstart Bear, suggesting that he wasn't a real bear, since they thought that bears weren't blue.  However, obviously he is real since we've spent the last fortnight touring around North Lincolnshire with him, we have lots of photos in our online photo album to prove it, and hundreds of children have met him.  Just because he's one of a kind doesn't make him any less real - there's only one Father Christmas but that doesn't make us doubt his existence!

So it's back to his cave in Wakefield now for the Bookstart Bear, after a very busy but thoroughly enjoyable fortnight in North Lincolnshire.

Bookstart Bear has had a very busy day today.

He started the morning meeting and greeting at one of the local children's centres.  The children got the chance to talk to Bookstart Bear, whilst the bear was able to warm up for the rest of the day (not that he needed to in this weather!)

Lunchtime saw the arrival of Bookstart Bear at Normanby Park - just in time to join in with everybody's picnics!

The Bear proved to be a huge hit, with queues of children just waiting for their chance to meet the great bear and have a hug.  In fact many of the children said that meeting him was the highlight of their day.  One toddler was so taken with him that she spent the rest of the day chanting "Bear", and the rest of the evening watching a video of him - much to the despair of her mum.

All in all it was a great day, enjoyed by everyone.  And all of us, including Bookstart Bear can't wait to do it all again tomorrow.

Bookstart Bear is feeling a little disappointed right now, and a little hungry.  He was due to go to a fun day and teddy bears' picnic this lunchtime but it's been cancelled because of the rain.  He was hoping to take a leaf out of his cousin Yogi Bear's book and borrow some picnic hampers, but that can't happen now.  So a word of warning if you're coming to the Booknic at Normanby Park tomorrow, hang on to your picnic baskets because there's a peckish bear on the loose, and he just loves jam sandwishes!

Bookstart Bear gets to have a rest this weekend after his busy first week in North Lincolnshire.  But don't worry if you've not had chance to meet him yet as there's plenty more planned for next week.  As well as some more visits to nurseries and early-years settings, there's also his 2 day appearance at our Bears' Booknic at Normanby Park on Wednesday and Thursday.  Don't forget to bring your picnic and teddy bears along to meet their idol - Bookstart Bear.

Bookstart Bear had his very own party at Crowle Library on Friday.  Children from some local schools and nurseries were invited to receive their Treasure Boxes and meet the VIB (Very Important Bear).

They also got to meet Bookstart Bear's baby bear, who started the day in the doghouse.  The cheeky bear managed to sneak into the room before the party, leaving muddy footprints on the floor, and made himself a comfortable throne on a pile of the Treasure Boxes.  The children didn't seem to mind but I'm not sure how popular he is with the cleaner right now!

It was a surprise appearance at storytime at the Central Library this morning.  Following a dance and the chance to formally shake hands with the children Bookstart Bear led them and the Pied Piper on a merry dance across Church Square to 20:21 for some painting.  But since he's already blue he decided not to stay!

More fun tomorrow!

Bookstart Bear has had a busy morning visiting pre-schools in Bonby and South Ferriby.  The children were very excited to meet him and were armed with all sorts of questions such as "How did you get here today if you don't fit in the car?" and "Where do you live?"  Unfortunately, since bears can't talk, we're still in the dark.  Although I'm sure that if we were to go on a bear hunt we might be able to find out.  "We're going on a bear hunt.  We're going to catch a big one.  What a beautiful day!  We're not scared..."

Bookstart Bear's tour continued yesterday afternoon with another trip on the Mobile Library.  This time he went out to Hibaldstow to visit a nursery and present some three-year-olds with their Bookstart Treasure Boxes.  He received a rousing reception with children waving from all of the windows as he arrived.

Once the children had received their boxes (and hugs) they were rewarded with a round of applause and a spot of dancing from Bookstart Bear - which the children responded to by joining in!

He was then visited by some of the older and younger children from other rooms in the Nursery - not all of whom were impressed by the sight of a very large dancing blue bear!

Bookstart Bear is out and about again today visiting some pre-schools and distributing more Treasure Boxes.

Tomorrow you can catch him (if you dare) at the Central Library where he will be joining in with the storytime session (from 10am to 10.30am).  I'm not sure how good bears are at storytelling, but we'll soon find out!

The Bookstart Bear is in town for the next two weeks, promoting the Bookstart scheme, meeting children and gifting Bookstart packs.

This morning he arrived at Little Goslings Nursery in style. aboard the mobile library, where he greeted everyone and was met with waves and hugs by the children.  The children were very generous and in return for being allowed to cuddle Bookstart Bear's baby bear they shared their dinosaur toys with him!

There's more fun with another trip on the mobile and a nursery visit this afternoon where he'll be giving out treasure boxes to the three-year-olds there.

There's much more to come over the next two weeks, so watch this space.  And keep checking our photo album for the pictures.

Did you know that Puffin Books are 70 years old this year.  I don't imagine there's anyone who hasn't read a Puffin at some point in their childhood.

To celebrate Puffin have created a list of the 70 best ever children's books (all Puffins). How many have you read?

The list in full: 

The Best Mischief and Mayhem
1. The Twits by Roald Dahl
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
3. The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong
4. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
 
The Best Weepies
1. Watership Down by Richard Adams
2. The Truth about Leo by David Yelland
3. Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman
4. Charlotte's Web by E B White
 
The Best to Cuddle-Up With
1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
2. The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis & Gwen Millward
3. Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
4. Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd
 
The Best Blood and Guts
1. The Enemy by Charlie Higson
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. Being by Kevin Brooks
4. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
 
The Best Swashbucklers and Derring-Do
1. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae & Russell Ayto
3. Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford
4. Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green
 
The Best Heroes
1. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
2. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
3. Young Bond: SilverFin by Charlie Higson
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
 
The Best Characters
1. Charlie and Lola: Excuse Me But That is My Book by Lauren Child
2. Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll & Jan Pienkowski
3. Angelina Ballerina by Katharine Holabird & Helen Craig
4. Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs
 
The Best Sugar and Spice
1. Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories by Joyce Lankester Brisley
2. The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
3. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
4. The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child & Polly Borland
 
The Best Animals
1. Spy Dog by Andrew Cope
2. The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith
3. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
4. Lionboy by Zizou Corder
 
The Best Friends and Family
1. Dizzy by Cathy Cassidy
2. The Borrowers by Mary Norton
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
4. The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett
5. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
 
The Best Phizzwhizzers
1. The BFG by Roald Dahl
2. Matilda by Roald Dahl
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
4. Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
 
The Best War and Conflict
1. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
2. Once by Morris Gleitzman
3. Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
4. Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
 
The Best BEST BEST BEST!
1. Stig of the Dump by Clive King
2. Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery
3. Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
4. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
5. Junk by Melvin Burgess
 
The Best Fantasy and Adventure
1. TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow
2. Dot Robot by Jason Bradbury
3. Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
4. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
 
The Best Weird and Wonderful
1. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
2. Five Children and It by E Nesbitt
3. The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum
4. Peter Pan by J M Barrie
 
The Best Rhymes and Verse
1. Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg
2. Michael Rosen's A-Z The best children's poetry from Agard to Zephaniah
3. Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah
4. Bad Bad Cats by Roger McGough
 
The Best Alternatives to Twilight
1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
2. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
3. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
4. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

The shortlists for this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards have been announced and they are all available to borrow from your local library.

 Shortlisted for the 2010 CILIP Carnegie Medal are

• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• The Vanishing of Katherina Linden by Helen Grant
• Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn
• The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
• Nation by Terry Pratchett
• Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
• Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

Shortlisted for the 2010 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal are

• Leon and the Place Between illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith (text by Angela McAllister)
• Harry & Hopper illustrated By Freya Blackwood (text by Margaret Wild)
• The Great Paper Caper illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
• Millie’s Marvellous Hat illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
• Crazy Hair illustrated by Dave McKean (text by Neil Gaiman)
• The Graveyard Book illustrated by Chriss Riddell (text by Neil Gaiman)
• The Dunderheads illustrated by David Roberts (text by Paul Fleischman)
• There Are Cats in this Book illustrated by Viviane Schwarz

See the CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards page for more details.  The winners are announced on the 24th June.  So watch this space!

We had a fab night last night at our 3rd Manga ReCon event.  A good time was had by all and if you missed it - or were there and want to spot yourself - photos are now in our Photo Album. There were some fantastic costumes worn and made by the cosplayers including Hello Kitty complete with huge papier-mache head and the full cast of Alice in Wonderland.  The overall cosplay winner was Andria Watson (see her costume in our album).  The winner of the artwork competition, Natalia Anelay, couldn't attend on the night but sent along her picture with a friend (you can see it in the album too).

Storytime are back at the Central Library in Scunthorpe from this Thursday (8th April).  Join us every Thursday from 10am to 10.30am for stories and rhymes.  Everyone is welcome no matter how noisy!

Wiggle and Giggle is coming to the Central Library in Scunthorpe. For those of you that haven't come across it before it's a fun session for babies and their carers combining songs, rhymes and activities to help them develop new skills. It starts on the 21st April from 1pm to 2pm and runs for 12 weeks.  Babies can be aged from 6 weeks right up to one year old. It isn't only mums that can bring their baby; dads, grandparents or childminders etc are all welcome. I've been to some sessions run in other venues and it really is a great way to bond with your baby and to help them with their development.  If you care for a young baby we hope to see you there, and if not then please pass the message on to someone who has.

We're now opening the doors to the Central Library in Scunthorpe earlier on weekday mornings.  From today we are open half an hour earlier Monday to Friday.  This means that we now open at 9am six days a week (Monday to Saturday).  Our closing times are still the same, giving you an extra two and a half hours a week to use the library.

Our new Central Library opening hours are

• Monday 9am to 7pm
• Tuesday 9am to 5pm
• Wednesday 9am to 7pm
• Thursday 9am to 5pm
• Friday 9am to 5pm
• Saturday 9am to 4.30pm

Manga ReCon is back at the Central Library in Scunthorpe on 15 April, from 6pm to 8pm.  Tickets on sale from the Central Library.  Don't miss out!

Just thought some of you might be interested in the this event coming up soon in Barton.  Edward Fox is starring in An Evening with Anthony Trollope at the Ropery Hall in Barton on Friday 12th March.  Tickets cost £15 in advance (£17 on the door) and are available from the Ropewalk.  Call 01652 660380 for more details.

I’ve just spent an absolutely brilliant morning at Huntcliff School listening to author Johnny O’Brien talk to year 7 and 8 pupils about his new book. It was part of the Bounce into Books Festival, a joint venture with local libraries and Bounce Marketing to bring children’s authors to the region. Here in North Lincolnshire Julie Irwin (JD Irwin – Edwin Spencer: Mission Improbable) had primary pupils in Crowle and Scunthorpe enthralled on Monday when she talked about her new book. Then today Johnny O’Brien spent the morning at Huntcliff School before going to Baysgarth School this afternoon. His book is a time-travel adventure set during the World War 1, and he’d brought along some of the wartime relics that had belonged to his grandfather and been a prompt for the book. It was brilliant to see the pupils hanging on his every word, examining the war medals and telescope that he’d brought along, and even trying on his grandfather’s kilt! They were so keen to ask him questions and to get a signed copy of his book that the session overran, so hopefully Johnny had time for lunch before this afternoon’s session!

It's National Storytelling Week this week. So what better reason to get the family together for some good old-fashioned storytelling around a cosy fire.  If you prefer to read from a book then even though you may have missed our children's storytime at Brigg Library yesterday you can still join us at Kirton Library from 2pm to 3pm on Friday to share some stories.  And if you can't make that then there are still loads of great books for reading aloud to borrow from your local library.  I love books that you can really put some expression into, and practice loads of different voices.  Farmer Duck is one of my favourites for reading aloud (lots of animal noises for everyone to join in with) and The Advertures of Bert is another great one.  If you know of a really good book to read aloud why not share it with us.

It's all systems go as we move towards installing the first self-service machine in North Lincolnshire Libraries.  We've been having some planning sessions to make sure that everything will go smoothly and we are starting to get ready to move things around at Barton, Brigg, Ashby and the Central Library.  It's getting quite exciting, so watch this space!

For those of you who like crime novels you might like this events taking place in Barnsley on 30th January.

Barnsley Central Library will be hosting  a  celebration of crime reading and writing on Saturday January 30^th.from 10.00 am until 4.15pm.

 Five leading crime writers, all published by Faber and Faber, will be taking part in panel discussions and holding morning and afternoon workshops. There will be a Readers Fair during the lunch break and ample time will be provided during the day for book sales and signings.

Tickets for this unique Readers Day cost £5 per person , which includes morning and afternoon refreshments - lunch is NOT provided - you may bring your own or buy a snack in the library's Full Stop café.

Councillor Roy Miller.... said " Barnsley Libraries are delighted to have been chosen to host this Readers Day , which will offer local people  the opportunity to listen to authors and  meet other readers .We are confident that it will prove to be £5 well spent!"

 For further information  or to book a place- pick up a leaflet at your local library or contact Jill Craven, Reader Development Officer, on 01226 773921 ( e mail JillCraven@barnsley.gov.uk)

Well 2010 is here and it's a busy year in North Lincolnshire Libraries.  We have a new online resource for you called Theory Test Pro where you can practice for your driving theory test, full details are on our website www.northlincs.gov.uk/libraries - just click on the Online Reading Room.

The Library Catalogue is bigger and better than ever with reviews, more functionality and links to Amazon.

There are new express self-service kiosks coming to four of our libraries, letting you beat the queues, whilst for those of you who need help the staff will have more time to spend with you.

We are planning lots of events for the coming months - details will be posted in the events calendar shortly.

In the meantime I have revived our Question of the Month feature - follow the link on the right and vote now!

That's all for now - happy reading!