Last updated 10:45, Thursday, 31 July 2008

Books with Julie Morgan

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Lynn Broatch has fun with her son and daughter Alan and Amber Mossop during the Library's Open Day

THE long holidays are upon us, and Copeland’s libraries are doing their bit to help combat boredom when the weather is a bit rubbish and your children are (literally) climbing the walls.
Here is a list of activities, for youngsters aged 11 and under, to occupy them during what looks set to be the August rainy season!
MONDAY AUGUST 4: Frizington library, glide along, 2-3--3.30pm, 5-9 years; Tuesday August 5, Seascale, ping pong, 10-11am, 4-11 years; Cleator Moor, glide along, 11am-noon, 5-9 years; Distington, eat to win, 2-3pm, 8-11 years; Millom, ping pong 2-3pm, 4-11 years.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 6: Whitehaven library, Roman Army Manoeuvres, 1-2pm, 7-11 years; Hensingham, glide along, 2.30-3.30pm, 5-9 years.
THURSDAY AUGUST 7, Egremont, go batty, 11am-noon, 5-9 years; Whitehaven, under 5s drop-in, 2-3pm;
FRIDAY AUGUST 8, St Bees, eat to win, 10-11am, 4-11 years.
TUESDAY AUGUST 12, Seascale, five a day, 10-11am, 4-11 years; Cleator Moor, go batty, 11am-noon, 5-9 years; Whitehaven, multi-sports, 2-3pm, 5-7 years; Distington, mini olympics, 2-3pm, 4-7 years; Millom, five a day, 2-3pm, 4-11 years.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 13, Hensingham, go batty, 2.30-3.30pm, 5-9 years;
THURSDAY AUGUST 14, Egremont, cuppa catch, 11am-noon, 5-9 years; Whitehaven, under 5s drop-in, 2-3pm; Kells, board games, 2.30-3.30pm, 4-11 years.
FRIDAY AUGUST 15, Mirehouse, board games, 2.30-3.30pm, 4-11 years;
MONDAY AUGUST 18, Gosforth, reading club and summer crafts, 10.30-11.30am, 8-11 years.
TUESDAY AUGUST 19, Cleator Moor, cuppa catch, 11am-noon, 5-9 years; Whitehaven, multi-sports, 2-3pm, 8-11 years; Distington, catcha, 2-3pm, 8-11 years.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 20, Hensingham, cuppa catch, 2.30-3.30pm, 5-9 years;
THURSDAY AUGUST 21, Whitehaven, under 5s drop-in 2-3pm;
FRIDAY AUGUST 22, St Bees, board games, 2.30-3.30pm, 4-11 years;
THURSDAY AUGUST 28, Whitehaven, under-5s drop-in, 2-3pm.

Not too late to join the book race
THIS year’s Summer Reading Challenge: Team Read is now well under way – but there is still plenty of time for youngsters to complete the task.
Read at least six books from a huge selection, gathering gold, silver and bronze stickers along the way, and at the end of the summer everyone who completes the Team Read will receive a boot bag, certificate and medal. The event finishes on Sunday September 7.
Here are a selection of reviews, by children’s librarian Kathryn Flagner, for some of the books kids can check out:
Anyone for Tennis by Shane McG. For his seventh birthday Tom Foley is given a tennis racket, but who plays tennis? He asks everyone he can think of this question, but gets no answer. Then his father takes him for a ride out in the car and Tom makes a surprising discovery. This is a nicely illustrated picture book with cartoon type drawings. The clues in the pictures will enable the children sharing it to guess who plays tennis before Tom finds out.
You Can do it Lola by Lindsey Gardiner. Lola is a dog who loves food treats, cakes, chocolate, cheese, at any time of the day or night. Then her owner, Marcie, realises Lola can’t run as fast as she used to, so decides it is time for Lola to get fit.
This picture book shows very young children the importance of eating healthy food and exercising.
Handa’s Surprising Day by Eileen Browne. Handa sets off from her own African village to visit her friend in the neighbouring village. She takes with her a bowl of different fruits, but by the time she gets to her friends house they have all been replaced by Tangerines. This chapter book has been developed from the popular picture book “Handa’s Surprise” by the same author. The familiarity will make it appealing to children just beginning to read independently, whilst the story of Handa’s journey home will bring a new surprise.
Freestyle Football Tricks by Sean D’Arcy. This book shows how to do some of the footballing tricks performed by the likes of Ronaldo. It gives step-by-step photographic instructions to perform the tricks and increase skills levels.

Drama on and off the track in Beijing
THE BEIJING Olympics start on August 8. Even if you hate sport, the Olympics are unmissable simply for all the accompanying human drama.
If you want to know more about what is now deemed the world’s “biggest brand’’ here is a selection of books which offer an insight into this sporting phenomenon – the tears, heartbreak, notoriety, joy and iconic fame which can result from the dream of winning Olympic gold.
1) THE Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC by David Miller.
2) The Austerity Olympics: When the Games Came to London in 1948 by Janie Hampton.
3) Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games by Christopher A Shaw.
4) Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream by Guy Waters.
5) Before the Eyes of the World: The 1968 Olympic Games by Kevin B Witherspoon.
6) Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Mosocw Olympics Games by Tom Caraccioli and Jerry Caraccioli.
7) China’s Great Leap – The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges by Minky Worden.
8) The 1948 Olympics – How London Rescued the Games by Bob Phillips.
9) Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Response by Aaron J Klein.
10) Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to become the World’s Best Known Brand by Michael Payne.
WHITEHAVEN Library has also some great new sporting books. These include: Battling on the Bosphorus (a Skoda-powered cricket tour through Eastern Europe) by Angus Bell.
Arnie and Jack (Palmer and Nicklaus, golf’s greatest rivalry) by Ian O'Connor.
Jiu Jitsu for All by David Walker.
The Advanced Shotokan Karate Bible by Ashley P Martin.
New biographies include those by Lewis Hamilton, Frank Lampard, Joe Calzaghe and David Coulthard.

First chapter in  a new book club
ST BEGH’S Community Development Centre is setting up a book club starting on September 18 from 2-3.30pm.
The aim is to provide members, who enjoy books and reading, with a fun way to meet, chat and discuss a wide range of novels.
Whitehaven Library will be providing the books, but members will be encouraged to develop their own lists. For further information contact Elaine or Sharon on 852667

Drawing on our county for inspiration
LOOKING for a read close to home? Then check out some of the novels set in Cumbria which are available from the county’s libraries.
Plague Dogs by Richard Adams (two dogs escape from a research lab in the Lake District).
Famine of Horses, Season of Knives, Surfeit of Guns and Plague of Angels by P F Chisholm. Series of Elizabethan detective stories set in Carlisle.
The Coffin Trail (Oxford historian who escapes to a new life in the Lake District) and The Cipher Garden (A man is surprised by a hooded visitor while working in a garden at Old Sawrey) by Martin Edwards.
The Carhullan Army (from her prison cell, Sister tells of her journey to a commune beyond the Cumbria Fells) by Sarah Hall.
Coast to Coast (50-year-old Linda shuns her husband’s Rotary trip and walks from Yorkshire to St Bees) by Jan Minshull.
Daisy’s Secret (abandoned and rejected, Daisy is evacuated to Keswick at the start of the war) and The Girl from Poorhouse Lane (the slums of Kendal’s Poorhouse Lane are no place to bring up a child) by Freda Lightfoot.
John Dory (a middle-aged ice-cream salesman is obsessed with the exotic fish in Maryport) by John Murray.
Alongside books by the county’s more famous authors, Melvyn Bragg, Hunter Davies, and Margaret Forster.

Borrowers in with  a chance of a prize
DON’T forget to pick up your library loyalty card which is stamped each time you borrow an item. Once the card is stamped six times it goes into a quarterly prize draw. You can’t win it, if you ain’t in it!
Also, look out for more family quizzes in Copeland’s libraries with questions and prizes for all ages.

Toytown gives way to tinseltown
CELEBRITY gossip mags are kids’ favoured reads, according to a study.
Youngsters, as young as 11, are turning their backs on novels and classic literature say The Read Up, Fed Up survey which questioned 1,340 children.