Halloween treats

Whether you love Halloween, hate it, or choose to ignore it, it's a great excuse to share a spooky story or two. Here's some of the favourites at my house at the moment.

A Dark, Dark Tale by Ruth Brown
The repetition makes this book extra spooky, as you follow along with the dark, dark journey. With a great, unexpected ending.








Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes and Stephen Michael King
Honour Book in the 2015 CBCA  Book of the Year: Early Childhood
A lovely story about friendship and adversity. Watch Chanelle Sheehan read it in the Story Box Library (you will need to log in with your library card number first).



Emu's Halloween by Anne Mangan, illustrated by David Cornish
An Australian take on Halloween, with a bit of stress from Emu that it might not be scary enough.








My Dead Bunny by Sigi Cohen, illustrated by James Foley
Notable in the 2016 CBCA Picture Book of the Year
This one is for older readers, about a bunny who comes back from the dead. Watch James Foley read it in the Story Box Library (log in with your library card number).


These books, and more, are available at the library. Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website to find them!

What are your favourite spooky stories to share?

EXPECTO PATRONUM!



WARNER BROS. PICTURES/ Album / Universal Images Group

Think of your happiest memory you can. Now... are you a dragon or a dragonfly, a ferret or a falcon? J.K. Rowling's latest addition to Pottermore (the digital heart of the wizarding world) allows members to complete a quiz (written by Rowling herself) which reveals your Patronus!


As Professor Lupin tells Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban, the Patronus is ‘a kind of Anti-Dementor – a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the Dementor.’ It’s also ‘a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive – but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can’t hurt it.’


Rowling's Patronus is a Heron and the Library got a Owl which we thought was very fitting. Have you read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child yet? Place a hold and stay in the wizarding world just a little longer.

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

How to get Brad Pitt whispering in your ear

First of all, you could try asking Angelina. But if that doesn’t work, try an Audiobook. Yes, Brad Pitt is one of the many famous voices narrating much loved titles (which we’ll get to in a bit). First things first: is listening to an audiobook cheating? Apparently not, according to a recent article published in NYmag  'As far as your brain is concerned, Audio books are not 'cheating' ' . A great article to read that swiftly dispels the anti-audio opinion held by some resistant readers. 

Justin Guariglia / National Geographic Society / Universal Images Group

Whilst podcasts are the new cool, the humble Audio Book is still copping some flak. No more says Newcastle Library! The way we consume literature is changing and audio has come a long way from the nauseating narrators on cassette tape. You can now sun bake on the beach whilst Brad Pitt reads you Cormac McCarthy or take a walk whilst immersing yourself into the mind of the artist with Patti Smith. 

Have a road trip with the kids planned? Listen to Kate Winslet read Blyton's The Folk of the Faraway Tree or dive back into the wonderful world of Roald Dahl. Finding it hard to sleep? Stephen Fry can tuck you in with some Harry Potter. Of course if you'd prefer a giggle, Bossy Pants by Tina Fey is a top pick or William McInnes reading his book Holidays; a warm and funny celebration of Australia's favourite passtime. Perhaps you prefer a cult classic? Why not try Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem narrated by Diane Keaton.

With an ever expanding catalogue filled with wonderful Audio Book titles Newcastle Library's Audio collection has never been easier to access. Whether you want to listen on CD in the car, phone, or tablet, Audio Books are at your fingertips and all you need is your library card. Visit our eLibrary to get started or drop into any of our branches with your device and we can set you up!



Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

#Moonhack

Newcastle Library know's every kid in Australia has the ability to code so we are encouraging all our youngest patrons to give it a go! Code Club Australia is getting little Australians ready for tomorrow, Wednesday 20th of July to set a world record of getting the most number of children coding at once during the night of a full moon!

There will be two activities to chose from: one in Scratch and one in Python. Jump on over to https://codeclubau.org/moonhack and sign up. Keep an the Library's Whats On calendar for future coding programs.

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Super School Holiday Ideas

In addition to the excellent activities running in the holidays, we have brilliant books, movies and music to keep the kids busy!

Fancy a crafty afternoon? Click here to see the range of activity books filled with great ideas for kids of all ages.

In the mood for a movie? Browse the children's DVD collection in the catalogue.

Or if you're off on a road trip, maybe some music might keep them happy in the car!

Online activities for the kids include Busythings and Story Box Library.

If your looking for a good book, we have a great range of children's and young adult literature available. Some of our latest purchases include:

The Lego Movie

Meet Emmet: an ordinary LEGO mini-figurine who is mistakenly thought to be an extraordinary Master Builder. When he is recruited to join a quest stop evil tyrant Lord Business from gluing the universe together, Emmet and his friend Lucy must venture through various LEGO lands to save the world and creativity!

Bella and the Wandering House by Meg McKinlay

Bella is very surprised one morning to discover her house has moved in the night - not a lot, just a little. Her parents are too busy to notice, but even they can't pretend it's not happening when they wake up to find their house on the banks of a lake. Night after night the house moves and the family wakes to a new location. Unless Bella can solve the mystery, who knows where they'll end up?

Infinity Drake: The Forbidden City by John McNally

Humour and high-stakes combine in the action-packed Infinity Drake series. A BIG adventure with a tiny hero! Infinity Drake - Finn for short - is STILL only 9mm tall. But before his crazy scientist uncle can figure out a way to return him to his normal size, a new threat emerges on the other side of the world. Supreme villain, Kaparis, plans to release an army of self-replicating nano-bots - a hardware virus that will give him total control of global communications. Finn and his gang of bullet-sized heroes find themselves on a deadly mission: to stop the bot infection before it conquers mankind...

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Kids who code

Coding is a global education trend and it's on the rise. Digital literacy is fast becoming a foundation skill and has been described as the fourth literacy. Coding is the art of understanding the language of computers and telling a computer how to perform complex tasks. Once you understand the basics, the only limitations are that of your imagination. This is encouraging a whole generation to not just use technology but understand how it works and ultimately create it.

Encouraging your child to learn small lessons about coding is a wonderful investment in their education considering the rate of change in the tools and platforms that we use every day. Computational thinking teaches you how to tackle large problems by breaking them down into a sequence of smaller, more manageable problems. Coding not only teaches children about technology, it also teaches them how to think differently about any problem which supports academic subjects.

Children can so quickly absorb all these wonderful skills through exploration and play - the best way to learn! The library has recently purchased some new eBook titles available for kids wanting to get tech savvy :

- Coding for Kids for Dummies

- Digital Filmmaking for Kids for Dummies

- Minecraft Modding for Kids for Dummies

- Raspberry Pi for Kids for Dummies

- Scratch for Kids for Dummies

Want to learn more? Check out Code Club Australia - a network of coding clubs for Aussie kids 9-11 years. Also, watch this space for future programs related to coding and digital literacy in the library.

 Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Time's 100 Best Children's Books of All Time

There are some classic titles on TIME's 100 Best Children's Books of All Time.  Enjoy a flick through their slideshow and then search the library's catalogue to place a free hold on some of your favourites. There is also a young adult list to check out if you need some inspiration for any insatiable readers in your home. Great books never get old!

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Busy Things

Newcastle Library takes great care to provide our littlest members with high quality eResources which are fun to play with clear educational objectives - we love our new quirky world of Busythings and we know you'll love it too! Busythings is a world of playful fun with out of the ordinary characters and settings for ages three to seven. Never dull, it is instantly appealing to children and able to hold their attention. 

With over 150 activities to discover in the areas of literacy, numeracy, creative development and general knowledge, learning has never been so silly! Watch Cat and Dog retell your favourite fairy tales or count out the number of treats to give to Monkey before he eats them all! New activities are added every month so there's always something new to discover and children love being able to move between free play and structured learning. Home users can log in on a desktop computer, laptop or tablet using their library card; up to five devices can be used simultaneously. We know you'll have fun!

name, date Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

PK e-Magazine

Newcastle Library wants to introduce you to another great online resource for students and teachers. PK Magazine is an Australian digital magazine for primary kids that publishes creative works in writing, video, music, art sent in by kids all over Australia. You can read it on your computer, iPad or tablet; flick through the pages just like a magazine.

Find the link in the libraries e-Magazines collection and start reading book reviews by kids  - for kids, meet talented authors and illustrators, discover fun facts, and enter into awesome competitions. It's educational and great fun!

name, date Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.