Archive for the ‘Children and Young people’ Category

18
Jan
2011

An update from the Children’s team

In October last year, Patrick Stringer began homework help sessions called Grid Club every Tuesday’s from 5pm to 6pm at City Library. This has been a great success and we have regulars children along with newcomers at each session.

In December last year, we had a sparkling Wychwood Fairies event with children coming along dressed up and one lucky fairy won the beautiful book by Faye Durston. Due to popular demand, Faye is back at Gosforth Library on Friday 25 February from 11am to 12noon. Come along to meet Faye and enjoy taking part in a bit of fairy magic at the craft session. Suitable for children aged 6 and over. Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. To book phone 0191 2774100 or ask at any library.

It always feels a bit sad when you have to put all the Christmas decorations away and box them up for another year. However, that’s done now and the Children’s team are eagerly planning new events and author visits for a fun-packed 2011.

This year we are launching our ‘author of the month’ as a regular feature and we have chosen Giles Andreae for January. We’ve put a collection of his books on display on level 3 for you to have a look at. If you need any help choosing books please ask a member of staff who will be happy to assist.

Giles has written many books for the very young…

and for newly fluent readers.

Jenni Reay, our student volunteer, has been working on gathering a great list of authors for the coming year to suit all ages and tastes. Here’s what she has to say about Giles:

‘Giles Andreae has a talent for creating side splitting humour within four lines of text and he typically writes his books for under five’s in the format of short poems which are ideal for dipping in and out of with younger readers. Fun fact: Giles attended Eton College where he was best friends with David Cameron!’

Sadly, one of our best loved childrens’ authors, Dick King-Smith, has died, aged 88. He was author of ‘The Sheep-Pig’, the book that inspired the Oscar-winning film ‘Babe’. Dick sold over five million books in Britain. Reserve a book by Dick King-Smith.

We’re pleased to announce that we have subscribed to Clear Vision -  a UK postal lending library for mainstream children’s books with added Braille. The books all have Braille (or Moon), print and pictures making them suitable for visually-impaired and sighted children and adults to share.

If you would like to borrow Clear Vision books please contact 0191 2774100 and we will arrange for the books to be delivered to your nearest library. We can also obtain non-fiction books, books for teenagers, books if you are learning to read and books for the very young from Clear Vision. Welcome also to Chris Rutherford, a new member of the children’s team, who has started work on Clear Vision and will be as well as a new project in local schools.

Judy Zajac
Children and Young People Service Manager

Posted in Children and Young people, Children's Events, News, Staff blogs | Comments Off

24
Dec
2010

Meet our volunteer – Jenni

Who am I?
”My name is Jenni and I am a mature English Literature student from Newcastle University.”

Last book that I read?
”Beloved by Toni Morrison. A truly harrowing tale of a mother that will do anything to avoid her children going back to the slave past from which she has escaped.”

What am I doing?
”I am volunteering at Newcastle City library as part of my degree. I am looking through the collections of award winning books that we have here in the City Library and also in the branch libraries to try and create a full collection of Caldecott, Greenaway, Carnegie and Newberry award winning books. Once this is complete I am looking forward to helping promote these collections to readers. I think it would be really exciting to see the reactions to some of the older books from modern children.

I am also working in the City Library activity room, collating equipment, colouring sheets, activity and reading packs into easily accessible collections.

The most exciting aspect of this task is the unearthing of the ‘growing together’ collections which have been squirreled away since the library refurbishment. This collection is made up of packs of books which will help families support children through difficult time through books, an example of this is the ‘Feelings and Emotions’ pack that contains books such as – ‘I Like It When’ by Mary Murphy, ‘I Feel Angry’, ‘I Feel Jealous’, ‘I Feel Lonely’, ‘I Feel Frightened’ by Brian Moses and ‘Some Things are Scary’ by Florence Heide.

Other growing together packs include ‘How It Feels to Get Lost’, ‘How It Feels to be Bullied’, ‘New Baby’, ‘Divorce and Separation’ and ‘Going to Hospital and Feeling Unwell’. Hopefully these packs will be updated and available to use by the end of my time at the library.”

For more information about volunteering at Newcastle Libraries phone 0191 2774100 or email information@newcastle.gov.uk.

Posted in Children and Young people, News, Staff blogs | Comments Off

9
Sep
2010

Hello from the Children & Young People’s team

This summer we’ve been space hopping with the Summer Reading Challenge and the libraries have been jumping with craft activities, poets, authors, illustrators, magic shows and daleks. It’s not over yet! Children have got until 19 September before the Summer Reading Challenge ends and then we’ll do the prize draw at the end of September. The prizes are great – there’s a laptop, MP3 player or Disney tickets up for grabs. Just read 6 books or more and you’ll be entered into the prize draw. Ask a member of library staff for more information.

We have had a productive summer as over 30 young people volunteered to help with the Summer Reading Challenge. The children taking part really enjoyed other young peoples’ company which them focus on activities. The young volunteers really did make a difference to the sessions. One volunteer said she felt like she’d done two hours in the gym! Another comment was, ‘I find interacting with children easier and have learnt to think on my feet’.

The City Library will be hosting a celebration event for young volunteers on Saturday 25 September to say thank you personally. The Reading Agency, V Inspired and Starbucks will be attending together with Jo Colton, who kindly mentored young people over the summer.

We will be asking our volunteers to get involved in our next big project, The Big Juice Read. This is part of the Juice Festival, NewcastleGatesheads’ award-winning festival for children and young people from 20 – 31 October. Look out for 1,400 copies of Walking with Witches in venues and open-air locations across Newcastle during the Juice Festival and you’ll be able to mark where you find it on an online map.

We’re brimming with ideas for events and things to do throughout the year but we need to hear from you to help us shape our future programme, so please feel free to get in touch with your ideas.

If you work in a local school and you would like your pupils to see what we do then get in touch. Class visits are popular and can be arranged to include curriculum tie-ins and snapshots of library skills. To set up a visit to a library near you, please get in touch with your local library.

Finally, we love books! The children’s team have a wide knowledge of books and stories for all ages, so if you’re stuck for a story, please ask us. Drop in to the City Library for a story any Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday between 2pm – 2:30pm.

See you next month!

Judy Zajac
Children & Young People Service Manager

Posted in Children and Young people, News, Staff blogs | Comments Off