Library staff members Lesley Conway and Pia Butcher run a radio show each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm on Eastern FM 98.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Tune in next Wednesday for a great show.
On today's show
Every Christmas we are asked in the library for some suggestions for presents of books for children and teenagers. Pia has compiled a list of some books which she found particularly enjoyable this year.
For the littlies, Ten Little fingers and ten little toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury is a delightful picture book . Very simple, lyrical and clever text with the gorgeous illustrations by Helen Oxenbury. A story that very quickly invites the reader to tickle the toes of their child and give three little kisses on the end of their nose. Another is Splat the cat by Rob Scotton, the perfect book for all those young ones heading off to school next year. Splat doesn't want to go to school. He tries every trick in the book to avoid it but in the end he must. When he gets to school he finds that it is a whole lot more fun than he ever imagined.
For older children (and in fact teenagers and adults who love puzzles) Enigma by Graeme Base is another very clever picture book by the award winning author/illustrator.The magic props belonging to the residents of the Retirement home for Elderly magicians have disappeared. The magic show will have to be cancelled. Enter Bertie Badger to save the day. He visits each resident in turn to find out what is missing and then hopefully locate it. As always there are lots of things to look for on each page and an enigma wheel at the end to help crack the secret code.
Finnikin of the rock by Melina Marchetta is a departure from Melina's previous novels for teenagers set in the contemporary world; this is a fantasy. The world of Lumatere is an exciting and dangerous one, a world that Finnikin must negotiate to locate the people of his country and to help rebuild it. Where the streets had a name by Randa Abdel Fattah is a story of today. We have heard a lot from the Israeli side of the conflict with Palestine. Now it is time to hear the opposing view. When her grandmother becomes dangerously ill, 13 year old Hayaat decides to enter the occupied territories to retrieve some of the soil from her Grandmother's homeland. Though only about 20 kilometers away, it is in the Israeli territory. It takes hours to move, with so many checkpoints. An amazing and thought provoking tale.
Picture books with a Christmas theme are especially enjoyable at this time of the year. Some new ones with an Australian theme are Russell's Christmas magic by Rob Scotton about Santa being stranded in Firefly Wood with a broken sleigh and Russell the sheep coming to his rescue. An amusing tale. An Aussie night before Christmas by Yvonne Morrison and Kilmeny Niland is a chance to see Santa in a whole new way as he delivers gifts in a rusty old ute wearing old thongs and stubbies. And Aussie jingle bells by Colin Buchanan, illustrated by Nick Bland is the tune of jingle bells with words with an Australian flavour! It even has a CD with it.
Music today was from the CD Carol of the drum, produced by the Royal Australian Navy Band.
---- Lesley
No comments:
Post a Comment