This week’s Free Book Friday is another Michael Morpurgo lucky dip. If you win you’ll get two great books by Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse, An Elephant in the Garden and Shadow, as well as many more.
To get in the draw just enter your details in the form below and tell us: What is your favourite Michael Morpurgo story?
Competition closes Sunday 3 June.
See below for terms and conditions 
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If you’re a huge fan of the Eragon series you’ll probably be jumping up and down with excitement right now. Christopher Paolini, author of the Eragon series, is touring New Zealand in June. Christopher will be in Christchurch on Saturday 30 June and you can meet him in person at the Armageddon Expo at Addington Raceway.
If you’ve never been to the Armageddon Expo before it’s two days of movie screenings, animation screenings, eating challenges, Dragonball Z contests, autograph signings and much more. For more information check out the Armageddon Expo website – http://www.armageddonexpo.com/nz/
One of the funniest authors around, Andy Griffiths is coming to Christchurch for some school visits in May. If you’re not lucky enough to go to one of the schools he’ll be visiting you can come and meet him in person and get your books signed at The Children’s Bookshop (227 Blenheim Road) on Sunday 6 May, from 1:30-2:30pm.
Andy is the author of the ‘Just’ books, including Just Disgusting, Just Annoying, and his latest book, Just Doomed, as well as the Zombie Bums From Uranus series.
You can reserve Andy’s latest book, Just Doomed, at the library now.
The 2012 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Festival runs from 7-16 May, 2012 and celebrates the books that are finalists in the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.
We have some great events planned in Canterbury to celebrate the finalist books, including a competition that you can enter to win book vouchers. You can download the Canterbury Programme for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Festival and the entry form for the Canterbury Festival competition, Who’s Your Remarkable Kiwi right here.
New Zealand Post Children’s Book Festival – Canterbury Programme
Tell us about a remarkable Kiwi in your life. They could be your mum, dad, grandparents, teacher or anyone else you know.
Terms and conditions:
You can drop your entry into Shirley Library or send to: Zac Harding, Shirley Library, 36 Marshland Road, Christchurch 8061.
I’m very excited to be your Star Author for the month. (Well, who wouldn’t be? Doesn’t everyone want to be a star from time to time? And yes, I did get to be a star on a Hollywood Red Carpet once with my friend Nim, though I’ll tell you more about that later . For now, here’s the Red Carpet video of what a true Hollywood star and I think about reading: Wendy Orr and Jodie Foster MS Readathon CSA
Although I’ve never been to New Zealand, I have a dog-walking friend who’s from Christchurch, and every time we walk the dogs together I learn a bit more about it, and especially on how her family and friends are coping after the earthquake. I think that’s why I feel so proud and excited to be on your blog, and it’s making me even more determined to get across there one day!
Books, reading and writing 
have always been a huge part of my life.
You know when people ask you where you read, or when you read? Anywhere and all the time, is my answer. At breakfast, when I’m brushing my teeth, when I’m waiting somewhere… 
By the way, what’s the craziest place you’ve ever read a book?
March is the month that we celebrate New Zealand books, authors and illustrators. It’s New Zealand Book Month – and we’ll have some special events and competitions to celebrate our fantastic authors and illustrators. Stay tuned for:
There are also lots of other cool events happening in our libraries. Find out more about our events on the library website.
Our fantastic Star Author this month is Philip Caveney. Philip has written books in a couple of different series, including the Sebastian Darke and Alex Devlin series. His latest series is the Movie Maniacs series, and the first book is called Night on Terror Island.
You can win a copy of Night on Terror Island in our February Star Author Competition. Night on Terror Island is about a couple of kids who find themselves stuck in a movie, so we want you to tell us: If you could be trapped in a movie which one would you choose? To get in the draw leave a comment on this post with your answer, your name and email address (so that we can contact you if you win). Competition closes Monday 27th February, 2012.
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Check our events, news and stuff for learning and fun on the library website.
Join the Summertime Reading Club in 2011. This very popular summer activity runs from 16 December until 20 January 2012.
Simply read six books of your choice — fiction or non-fiction — and get an adult to register your reading online. The first 500 entries get a prize pack. You also go in the draw for more prizes and an iPod Touch©.
Print out the reading log [101KB PDF] or get one from your local library or the Summertimes booklet.For more information check out the Summertime Reading Club page on the library website.
One of my favourite series is the Billionaire Trilogy by Richard Newsome. They follow the adventures of Gerald, Sam and Ruby as they uncover the truth about Gerald’s family. You can read all about the three books in the trilogy, The Billionaire’s Curse, The Emerald Casket and The Mask of Destiny here on the blog. Richard Newsome is coming to Christchurch this Friday (25th November) and you can meet him and get his books signed.
Richard Newsome will be at The Children’s Bookshop, 227 Blenheim Square at 4pm on Friday 25th November.
For those of you who can’t be there we’ll be giving away a signed set of the three books in the Billionaire Trilogy next week right here on the blog.
If you’ve ever been to Science Alive, you will know that science can be heaps of fun. Now Science Alive is bringing their mad scientist skills to Christchurch City Libraries!
Every day after school, Science Alive is presenting a free, fun programme. You don’t even need to book, just turn up, ready to be amazed, shocked, and possibly grossed out.
Check out our events calendar to find out where and when …
And why not read some books about shocking science …
In this video, Jimmy Kahuna sings a wee song of hope and resilience a year on from the start of the Christchurch earthquakes.
This is a very cool remake of Scribe’s hit, Not Many. For those of you who don’t know Scribe, he’s a rapper from Christchurch and you can get his CDs from the library. It came from an idea from the Bank of New Zealand staff who wanted to do something to honour the people of Christchurch. You can buy the song on iTunes and all the proceeds are going to Plunket Christchurch.
Chapter 2: Lucky laces
‘Mum!’ yelled Sprigs. ‘One of my lucky boot laces just snapped.’
‘Snap back at it,’ said his mother.
‘That’s not funny!’ said Sprigs.
‘I thought it was,’ his mother said. ‘Go and find another lace then,’ she suggested.
‘I’ve looked,’ said Sprigs frantically. ‘There aren’t any spares.’
‘Take one of the laces out of your school shoes,’ his mum said.
‘They’re not the right sort. They’re much too short!’
Sprigs’s mum sighed and glanced at her watch. ‘I’ll get the car. If we leave straight away we should have time to stop off at the mall to buy a new pair.’
Sprigs looked unsure. ‘What if new ones bring me bad luck?’ he said.
‘Don’t be so superstitious,’ said his mother.
‘I can’t help it,’ said Sprigs. ‘These laces have taken us right to the Grand Final of the Junior Home World Cup. It could be disastrous for us if they miss the game.’
Sprigs’s mum raised her eyebrows. ‘Get real,’ she said.
Sprigs took no notice. Instead, he poked the broken lace into the turned-over top of one of his rugby socks. ‘There,’ he told it. ‘Now you’ll still be able to help us win the game.’
‘My son who talks to bootlaces,’ sighed Sprigs’ mum.
With only 3 weeks to go until the Rugby World Cup kicks off, we want to share some rugby reads with you. If you love rugby and reading, then these books are for you. This week’s Rugby Read is Sitting on the Fence by Christchurch author, Bill Nagelkerke.
It is 1981 and Martin senses big trouble brewing at home. The South African rugby team has been invited to tour New Zealand. Martin’s sister, Sarah, is out to stop the tour in protest against South Africa’s racist apartheid system. His rugby-mad dad is equally determined that the tour should go ahead. Martin wishes the whole thing would simply go away.
“You just fence-sit like a dumb bunny,” Sarah tells him. But Martin would just rather not take sides.
Then a new school leads to a new friendship, and Martin is faced with a choice. He can walk away, or he can become involved in something that will end up being bigger than anybody could have predicted. The story is based on the Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand in 1981 when the nation was divided between pro and anti tour supporters.
Recommended for 9+
The school holidays are only a week and a half away and I’m sure you’re all looking forward to having some time to relax and have some fun. One of the best things about the Winter school holidays is KidsFest because there’s so much going on and so many cool things you can do, from playing different sports and experimenting with science to watching a play or learning how to cook.
This year’s theme is Community, so get out and have fun in your community at some of the cool events that are planned. Here are just a few of the highlights:
KidsFest is on in Christchurch from 16-30 July. Have a look at the KidsFest website to find out what’s on our pick up a brochure from your library.
Are you going to any KidsFest events? We’d like to know what you’re looking forward to.
Last week's winning photo, found by Saoirse
This week’s category – Christchurch City Scenes
There are two really cool activities that you could do as a family this weekend – the Jellie Park New Years Pool Party or visit the Ron Mueck exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery.
Hi, my name is Thomas and I’m 10 years old.
My favourite foods are mostly hotdogs & my hobbies are soccer & runescape. My interests are definitely: Music, soccer, online gaming and eating hotdogs.
I reckon kids should be able to get jobs at any age like working at McDonalds and stuff!
About 19 days ago, Christchurch had a quake and I WAS IN IT! But the good thing is that my family and I were ok.
I went to Avonside the other day to see what was wrong with it and the roads were flooded, with cracks in the roads, Bridges were twisted and even a petrol station had been lifted up. In town there were buildings demolished as well.
The earthquake didn’t really hit near my area, so I don’t really have any damage. Though I do have a dip in my hall door frame, but that’s about it. It came so unexpectedly, my lights were flickering, my bed was shaking, my drawers were rumbling and it was my first time in an earthquake. How scary!
I read adventurous books and when I’m older I want to be a story writer. I may only be 10 years old, but I have already started writing books myself.
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