5 new books to help you make/craft/grow/cook in the holidays

List by Danielle

'Having a two-year-old is like having a blender that you don't have the top for.'

~ Jerry Seinfeld

School holidays are coming up fast, guys, and the weather's finally starting to show the odd dry patch. Here is a taster of the latest books for kid-friendly activities from the New Titles list, but there are plenty more where these come from (jump on the catalogue and browse through books on cooking, games, gardening and crafting with kids). Get a shot of fresh inspiration these holidays, from simple and delicious recipes and ideas for stuff to make and do and grow and go outside and muck around with, to books that will make you laugh and say yes, SO TRUE, how awesome that it's not just my family that does that (recent fave: Katie Workman's Mom 100 Cookbook, just hilarious and very recognisable).

5 books full to the brim with Christmas craft projects for kids.

List by Tosca

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."
- Roy L. Smith

As a kid, my mum always had a roll of butcher paper, a container of crayons, colouring pencils, felts, various craft supplies and books full of craft ideas for all sorts of occasions. She would often tell us they were for rainy day activities and, seeing as how we lived in Wellington, there was certainly no shortage of those. Mum has always preferred homemade presents over store bought ones and, over the years, it's something I've been a bit wary about. I find it easier to to buy something than agonise over making something. Weirdly now, as an adult (or a pseudo-adult, anyway), I've found that it's something I'd like to go back to. So for those of you with children (sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren) who're hoping to find some craft ideas to work on, look no further: 5 books full to the brim with Christmas craft projects for kids! (Although we do have screeds more titles if you need more ideas - I'm never sure in this instance whether 'less is more' or not).

Last seen standing still...

Top 5 photos I took using tips/tricks I learnt from a kids book
List by Tosca

"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera."
- Lewis Hine

I don't enjoy posing for photos. I never have. Flip through our family photo albums and you'd be hard pressed to find me there. I could care less about myself that way. Put a camera in my hands, though, and it's a different story. My fascination with photography isn't a new one. I like to think of it as more...rekindled. Something about being behind a camera, being able to provide some visual commentary about life, makes me appreciate how intrinsically beautiful everything is. No matter how seemingly random. A week or so ago I used tips from a pet photography book on my nephews instead. (Thankfully, they are still talking to me). I decided, after writing up that post, that I'd like to explore some more photography books, only this time from the kids area. The book I finally decided to bring home with me is Digital Photography: Point, Click, and Create Cool Digital Effects by Alan Buckingham (2005). Curiosity made me pick a book that was published some 6 years ago. Sure, the clothes and hair are a little dated, but the tips hold as true today as they would have then. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so, armed with nothing more than my iPhone 4S and four photo apps (instagram, Pixlromatic, Snapseed and Mosaiq), I took Buckingham's book for a test drive. The results, in no particular order, are below. As is a slideshow of extra photos that I didn't use in this post.

Top 5 kids' cookbooks I couldn't walk past

List by Tosca

There is no love sincerer than the love of food."
- George Bernard Shaw in Man and Superman

Once upon a time, Mr. 14 and Mr. 12 and I used to bake a lot. Then, after a day that ended in pony cookies with legs missing and tears and shortbread dough up the wall (don't ask - we still don't talk about that day 7 years later) we never spent time cooking together again. Mr. 7, on the other hand, LOVES it. For some reason, we get along okay in the kitchen. Admittedly, he complains that I don't let him do more on his own but, other than that, he doesn't mind my 'thing' for order/symmetry/even numbers and I don't mind that he talks nineteen to the dozen (apparently without needing to breathe). I was downstairs in Manukau Library picking up a couple of requests and had a sudden brainwave to raid their children's cookbooks section - 641.5 - and came away with the following books/recipes that I think Kalani and I could do together. Bon appetit :)

Top 5 things I hope Mr. 7 gets out of Keri Smith's book

List by Tosca and all about the book How to be an explorer of the world : portable life museum by Keri Smith

"WARNING: To whoever has just picked up this book. If you find that you are unable to use your imagination, you should put this book back immediately. It is not for you. In this book you will be repeatedly asked to... suspend your disbelief, complete tasks that make you feel a bit strange, look at the world in ways that make you think differently, conduct experiments on a regular basis, and see inanimate objects as alive."
- Back of book How to be an explorer of the world : portable life museum by Keri Smith

The other day I found what I think is the best kids nonfiction book to end all best kids nonfiction books. (At least until the next one comes along that I love times infinity). What book? How to be an explorer of the world : portable life museum by Keri Smith. Why? Because it is awesomeness personified. This is the kind of book I have been looking for/praying for/waiting for. I'm going to use it as a way to get Mr. 7 off the sofa, out of the house and into the big, scary outside world. Sometimes I believe he isn't curious enough. Other times he's too adventurous by half. In this age of instant gratification where an answer to everything is an app's distance away (or a Google search's distance away) I worry that he will lose the sense of curiosity and wonder that he used to have when he was five. I feel sometimes that he has become slightly jaded and cynical and I want him back the way he used to be, back to that time when every little thing was new and exciting and surprising. I want him to live a life outside of the interwebs and Sky TV, and to know that sometimes the best way of getting answers is to live the journey of finding them for yourself. Sounds somewhat existential, fluffy and frou frou? I did vaguely think so...and then three things happened: 1) I read the blurb for this book and 2) I took it home and discussed it with Mr. 7 and 3) he wanted to try some of the activities straight away. He even asked me for a few things to help out, namely a digicam, an extension on his half-hour daily computer time and permission to start a blog to put up his 'doings' (as he called them). The digicam is not a problem. He's 7 so I figure a cheap little cam is an easy enough thing to purchase and, should he develop an interest in photography, it's a great starting point and then, when he's a little older, we'll buy him something better. Extending his daily allotment of computer time...I'm not so sure about that. His theory is that he still needs computer time for 'play' and that it shouldn't be confused with 'experimenting.' My response to that is perhaps he should learn to use what time he does get a little more wisely, and I think now is as good a time as any for him to learn that sometimes 'experimenting' IS 'play.' Currently, it's a stalemate, and we'll have to talk about that a little more. The third request - permission to start a blog - that's not so easy. A lot of places have age restrictions and, really, that's fair enough. I'm currently considering a couple of alternatives: 1) that we use my personal blog to post his findings (which I don't like the idea of and neither does he) or 2) somehow I incorporate them in to our Top 5 blog as a kind of a guest post (something along the lines of 5 things he thought of/discovered/enjoyed about particular activities he chooses). I had initially envisioned a scrapbook full of his findings. He sees it as having a place online, as well. Maybe we're both right. Maybe we're both wrong. Maybe the best option will be somewhere in between the two. Either way I am OH SO HAPPY that he's excited about trying this book on for size. Rain permitting we're going to start this weekend. And fit in a side trip to the Auckland Art Gallery (which re-opens this weekend). So, what do I want him to get out of this book?

5 books that helped me explain ANZAC Day to Mr 12 and Mr 13

List by Tosca

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
- For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

I've taken part in a few dawn parades and ANZAC memorial services over the years and have read numerous books about life back then but it has always seemed as if it were all one step removed. I have felt such overwhelming sadness for so many lives lost, thinking that these soldiers were young and brave and foolhardy and probably oh so very scared. As much as I have understood why we remember such a time, I have never really felt it. At least, not until this year. Whether it's age, frame of mind or the company I had at the time, I'm not sure. I have always found it quite hard to know how to describe ANZAC Day to the nephews and I've often thought that I do it a disservice when I recite the timeline in such a dry matter-of-fact way with no actual feeling for the people involved. The 'how' and the 'who' seems easily enough said, but trying to explain what motivated soldiers to enlist - going off to war, far from family, fighting, unaware if they were going to live or die that day, the next day, the day after... - that's not so easy to do. I've no idea how much of it all my nephews truly understood beforehand and, unlike many friends and acquaintances, we have no personal knowledge of any family members who fought in the war, so other than a general sense of empathy and sadness it often seems like they (we?) view it rather objectively. This year, in an effort to be able to answer any questions they might possibly have about ANZAC Day, I raided our collections for a mix of books that would, hopefully, help explain the day itself in particular, and the war in general. I rounded up a whole heap and, with the nephews, spent a long time going through each title (where Mr 7's input was very much missed). By the end, Mr 12 and Mr 13 were rather subdued and reflective and (maybe?) somewhat wiser. Unfortunately, we couldn't spend the day together this year as the boys would be with the grandparents in Taipa, so we've made a date to take part in our local memorial service in 2012, an activity we've never done together. We don't profess that these are the top 5 of everything we have on this topic, but they are certainly 5 resources that helped.

Top 5 books for children wanting to know more about World War One

List by Sonia

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
~Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, from 'In Flanders fields'

Sonia works at Te Matariki Clendon Library, and has reviewed a number of kids and teens books for the (ex) Manukau Libraries website, with a particular focus on the topic of war. Below is a selection from her reviews, which may give you some ideas about where to start if you've got kids around who are interested in learning more about World War One, and what it might have been like to be at the front.

Click here to browse through the rest of Sonia's reviews, which include highly recommended titles such as John Boyne's The boy in the striped pyjamas, Melanie Drewery's Papa's Island and Jane Mitchell's Chalkline.

Top 5 books I would have appreciated as a young girl had my mum let me go crazy and redecorate my shared bedroom

List by Tosca

"I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."
- Anna Quindlen

At ten, though, I didn't want more bookshelves. Now I do but then? Then I wanted to be able to chuck paint on my walls a-la Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime' and call it art. I wanted to be able to make tacky doorway beads and snow globes and put splotches on my bedroom furniture. In short, I wanted to be able to put some part of my still-forming personality on the room and know that I belonged there. This quick and simple post is for the ten year old girl in all of us who wishes she had been able to redecorate her room more often. Can you tell that I feel my personal development as a child was thwarted by parental common sense? Oh, those crazy, crazy parents, making decisions for us! With hindsight (because we're all wise after the event) it was probably a good call. It's never easy sharing a bedroom with a sibling - most days we drew battle lines down the middle of the room avowing death to whomsoever put a toe across the line first - so I do wonder if mum said no to redecorating because one or the other of us would've tried to obliterate any trace of the other's individuality. Maybe she did know what she was doing, after all. Had we been allowed to do so, though, I would have loved having these books available to me in all their kitschy pva sticky glue glory! Although there's nothing says I can't employ a few of these tricks even now, at 35... This list of books also makes for great school holiday craft ideas for young girls wanting to brighten up their living spaces.

5 books with Easter craft ideas

List by Tosca

"Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless."
- Charles M. Crowe

Every year my siblings and I put together a day of Easter activities that involves a storytime, a couple of craft projects, a cooking session and then ends with our annual Easter egg hunt using multiple houses, clue cards, incentives, a quiz and a puzzle map. Our Easter day of celebration and remembrance came about accidentally when, a few years back, my nephews asked if they could have an Easter egg hunt. I remembered that mum used to set up egg hunts and craft activities for us as children and I wanted the boys to have that, too. I just wasn't sure if I could pull it off successfully. More importantly, my siblings decided that if we were going to do this we were going to do it well and use it as a chance to teach the boys about the actual meaning of Easter - that it wasn't all about chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. I'm not particularly religious (in spite of dad's family being Mormon and mum's being Anglican) but it didn't seem right to let them celebrate without understanding how it came about. We requested anything and everything containing information about Easter - no matter how small the info - that would, hopefully, give us ideas for how to plan out the day. Somehow or other (and I'm not sure I was there for the vote, in fact, I don't even know if there *was* a vote) it was decided that I would deliver the programme. Each year I review our library resources and try out new crafts, new story versions etc. which is why you have the (somewhat dubious) pleasure of reading this post! (This is the part where you look amazed at my skill and cunning...). This year, thinking things were going ahead as normal, I requested a variety of titles (my apologies to Manukau Library whose request shelves are overflowing with my holds - I'd look shamefaced but we all know I have no shame when it comes to books and this blog) only to learn that we won't be doing anything. Mr 7 and his mother (one of my many siblings) are moving to Wellington indefinitely (I'm desolate - who will I watch Doctor Who re-runs with?) and Mr 12 and Mr 13 have announced that they are too old for Easter, thank you very much. So, there you go. I've been stood up ahead of time. Their loss is (hopefully) your gain! I make no definitive claim that these books are the best of the best - they are, simply, 5 books with Easter craft ideas.

School holiday ideas for parents: 5 books chocker block full of ideas or activities you can do as a family

List by Tosca

"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.
- Bill Vaughan

This is true! As a child the best activities mum organised were the ones that cost next to nothing, usually ideas she'd gotten out of books. We forever had those 'Things to do on a rainy day' kind of books around the house. Considering my mum had eight children and seven of them were always underfoot, I don't know how she handled school holidays and stayed sane. I don't ever remember being idle, though. I have memories of mum arranging daily activities to keep us busy which is probably why now, as adults, we try to do the same with the nephews/niece. Every school holiday each of my sisters (and mum until she moved away - wait, was this *why* she moved away?) agrees to take the kids for a day and entertain them. How you choose to spend that time is wholly up to you. I tend to go one of two ways: throw money at it and take the kids to Kelly Tarlton's or the Auckland Zoo and ooh and aahh over creatures and generally run screaming through the grounds (you've probably seen me and didn't even realise it) OR put a bit of thought into it and draw up a day of activities and crafts. The last few years have seen the return of books that advocate retro family fun - the kind of fun we had as kids before technology took over: hopscotch, charades, magic tricks, gift-making, fishing, and so on. For the next few days leading up to the school holidays I'll be recommending books that will give you some great ideas for keeping the kids busy. Today's post is a collection of books that focus on crafts and activities you can do with dad, with mum or as a family. They're also books that I'll be using for my day with the kids. Wish me luck. I may need it.

5 things I never knew about animals until I read 'Why?' by Lila Prap

List by Tosca with lots and lots of fantastic animal links by Danielle

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."
- George Eliot

At least once a year Mr 7 and I take a visit to the zoo and we spend the whole day watching animals and talking about where they come from. It's a yearly trip we both look forward to. No matter how many times we've been, though, there's always so much more to learn about animals. While browsing the shelves downstairs in Manukau Library I came across a book that taught me five things I did not know about animals - Why by Lila Prap - that I shared with Mr 7 just last night seeing as how we're already planning our next visit. I'd imagine there are tonnes more facts I don't know about animals but this is certainly a great place to start and, even better, the facts aren't too technical. This post is little more than my chance to share five facts about animals I never knew until now.

About a year or so ago Danielle put together a fantastic top 5 list of 'Rumble in the Jungle' themed library resources for a school holiday programme. The resources are just as useful now as they were then which is why I've added them below. There's such a wide range of choices that we're sure you'll find something to enjoy.

Top 5 hardcover nonfiction bestsellers for March 10 according to NPR.org

List by NPR.org

"To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list."
- John Aikin

There are easier ways to choose books, I assure you! You can ask library staff - we don't bite, we're relatively friendly and, even better, we love to talk about books - or you can do what I do: try a variety of reputable websites for 'what to read next' ideas. In this instance, I visited NPR for a list of possible nonfiction reads. These days I'm mostly about fiction (and romance fiction at that) so I apologise to the non-romance readers among us who would prefer something with a little more literary weight. Et voilà! Here are the top 5 hardcover nonfiction bestsellers for March 10 according to NPR.org.

Honourable mention:

Life by Keith Richards with James Fox

Townie by Andrew Dubus III

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Autobiography of Mark Twain. Volume 1 by Mark Twain, Harriet Elinor Smith, Benjamin Griffin

The information : a history, a theory, a flood by James Gleick

5 books from Manukau Library that I hope will help explain earthquakes to a child and provide ideas for helping

List by Tosca

I, along with the rest of the nation, have spent a good part of the last 24+ hours scouring the internet for snippets of news and updates about the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that affected Christchurch yesterday afternoon. It should not have been a surprise, then, that my nephew Kalani - or Mr. 7 as I call him - came home bursting with questions about earthquakes and volcanoes. And yet...it was. So we set some time aside last night to talk about what he knew about earthquakes already, what he'd been told by his teacher and what was actually happening in Christchurch right now. Thanks to numerous online news clips we were able to see how things really are. It left Kalani feeling anxious and concerned - he kept stroking the screen in sympathy - and led to his asking some very technical questions about how earthquakes happen. It left me feeling appalled and saddened and teary eyed. It also made me realise how unprepared I was to discuss seismology with a child and that if I expect him to understand anything about it I need to refresh my own knowledge. Thanks to Manukau Library I now have a selection of books to look over with Kalani that should, hopefully, answer a lot of questions. Last night I wasn't in a frame of mind to build on his initial questions and encourage him to think of ways in which he and I can help the people of Christchurch so tomorrow night that's what we're going to do - list ways we can help and then actually put them into action. I'd imagine it was a lot for a 7 year old mind to process just before bedtime - it was a lot for me to process and I'm 35 - and so it was a very sombre pyjama-clad boy who said to me: 'I'm glad I'm safe but I'm so very, very sorry for Christchurch.' So am I.

Ordinarily my lists proclaim themselves to be the 'Top 5' of anything and are, more often than not, tongue-in-cheek. Today, I'm simply listing 5 books that I'm hoping will tell me how to explain what happened and provide a 7 year old with some ideas for how we can help.

Otautahi: nga whakaaro aroha me nga inoi atu ki a koutou katoa.

Top 5 China in Your Hands

List by Annie

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."
- Hal Borland

It’s Chinese New Year – and how better to celebrate and acknowledge this event, than by reading some of these books set in China. Whether they’re historical or fantastic, they’re worth checking out.

Top 5 kids/teens books everyone should read

List by Annie

"If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book."
- Author unknown

‘Cos you know, they’re not just for kids. Books are written to connect with individuals, to tell a story, and not to tick boxes in a marketing department list (at least, they should be)…. These 5 books speak to the human condition – and, sometimes, you need a few years on you to hear them properly.

Top 5 kids' Christmas craft books

List by Tosca

"There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."
- Erma Bombeck in her memoir 'I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression'

My mum used to love it when my siblings and I would make the Christmas gifts and decorations ourselves. Whatever we made she loved: badly strung (and hung) popcorn chains, drunken-looking bows, partially-baked biscuits, wreaths with bits and bobs that randomly fell off, oddly shaped gel candles (that were heated too long before being poured or not heated long enough) and potpourri balls that shed dried flowers everywhere (to name a few). She never complained, though, and I think it was because she always felt that it all had so much more meaning when everything you wrapped, or hung on the tree, was something you'd put a little bit of effort and a lot of heart into. Mum was even more touched if your craft was ecofriendly. Over the years we've kinda stopped doing that. These days our creativity tends to find its outlet in other ways. For example, a couple of years ago we decided that for the adults we'd do Secret Santa and nobody was allowed to spend more than $10. The trick of it was to buy the recipient something they'd always desired. My baby brother (can you be a baby at 6"3?) ended up with a 1964 Ford Mustang convertible...as a toy car :) I do miss those days just a little and so this post is for my mum who taught me that 'homemade with love' is sometimes the icing on the cake. Or, you know, the star on the Christmas tree :)

Top 5 items I requested and took home but couldn't remember why I wanted to read/watch them when I got there so brought them back

"The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Do you request books like crazy just because? You know, you see the cover in the catalogue and go, 'Oohh, lookit the pretty, shiny,' and put it on hold? Do you read a review that pumps a book so brilliantly you think, 'Oohh, come to mama!' and then put it on hold? Does a friend recommend a book so well that you immediately say to yourself, 'Oohh, yeah, that sounds like me!' and then put it on hold? Sometimes it seems like I'm forever putting books on hold and then getting them home and going, 'Whoa - why did I want to read this again?' If this sounds like you, then honey, you're my kinda people ;)

Top 5 animal adventures for the school holidays

List by Danielle
"You know where you are?
You're in the jungle, baby!"
~ Guns N'Roses

Manukau Libraries' school holiday programme, 'Rumble in the Jungle', starts today and runs from July 5-16 2010. There are plenty of ways to take your kids on a virtual trip to the wild and wonderful jungle these holidays, so why not try a few of these ideas?