New books to get excited about

New books in the library - Term Two 

Here's an overview of some of the new books that arrived in the library last term. There are so many great titles and a real mix of genres and themes. All are 4-5 star reads in our opinion - and we highly recommend them.  

Keep your eye out for regular blog posts that feature our wonderful new books.  

 

A joyful story of misfit travellers 

  

      Chasing Vermeer - features some very clever kids solving an art crime that has remained undetected for decades. Coded puzzles that must be solved are included in the story.

                                             

Katherine Rundell, author of The Explorers and
The Wolf-Wilder, nails it again in her
latest children's
novel.





Nowhere is a dry and dusty town in Arizona.This realistic adventure is a mix of Holes & the movie 'Stand by Me'. 
Simply perfect storytelling.




This story puts children in charge - empowering them to make a difference. Exciting action adventure - an alternative for students who love the CHERUB series.




A marvelous fantasy in a modern Narnia - like setting
💗 

Senior College Reading: 

Fabulous teen fiction - 5 Star recommendations.

New books in the Primary library:

         

             

Ask the librarians to help you find these great books - if they're not on the shelves you can reserve them at the library desk.

                       We💖reading for pleasure. 

  

                                                

                                                          

We're Back!

It's so good to be back in the library. It was incredibly quiet without any students around and only a skeleton staff on the campus during Level 3 restrictions. However, it was a great feeling to be back in the shelves again, organising the items we had been working on over lockdown, and having access to our book collections once more. It is a pretty cool and unique thing when your school principal deems the library staff 'essential services' and calls you back in to the workplace. 

Book Parcels 

Our plan was to get books out to our school community families who were still in lockdown at home - using our own library version of 'click and collect'. I remembered an idea I had used when making up Christmas holiday reading parcels and quickly made up an online sign-up form that was sent home to all families. After overcoming a slight techno hitch (note to self: always check the links before sending off the email!) students of all ages started signing up with great enthusiasm. It was so much fun hand-selecting recommended reading for the parcels going home. Sixty eight parcels were sent out over the two week period we ran this promotion. The quirky questions and feedback that returned to us, encouraged our efforts and made the project very rewarding. 

                                            

eBooks and eAudio

Our eBook platform was set up just a couple of weeks before we all went into lockdown. Usually educating students about how and where to access such online collections takes quite a bit of promotion. However, the unique conditions imposed by lockdown saw students and parents discovering the delights of eBook and eAudio without any advance explanation! 

The borrowing stats on both the primary and college eBook platforms have been extraordinary. Twice during the first months we hit our maximum number of loans when students borrowed over 350 books per month! Since returning to school in level 2 the stats have of course dropped, but remain steady.

I could not have dreamed of a more incredible uptake of these wonderful collections. Download the ePlatform app and start browsing the collections  found there. 

Download the ePlatform App for easy access to the Pinehurst Primary & Pinehurst College ePlatforms!

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Welcome to the year 2020

I began writing this blog at the beginning of 2020. My original post, which has been sitting in draft form since the end of February, started with a statement about how surreal and extremely science-fiction-y the year 'Twenty twenty' sounded. 

Wow! Look where we find ourselves right now - in one of the most unsettling, surreal and devastating moments of our century. At the time of writing my draft post, not one of us could have predicted that by March 26th, New Zealand would be on pandemic lockdown, Level 4 - instructed by our government to stay home and restrict all non-essential travel. It was at this point some us began to regret having read all those dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels!

Now we find ourselves in week four of our lockdown experience. In New Zealand we are so fortunate that our government decided to 'go hard and go early' with protective lockdown measures. Our infection numbers are now steadily dropping - moving into Level 3 measures is within sight.     

March 2020 unleashed a strange new normal. All the plans we thought we had in place have been put on hold. We've all had to learn new ways to do our work. Previous to COVID-19, we at Pinehurst, leapt into the the new year with the opening of our very beautiful, brand new library; a fabulous new space for students and staff to enjoy. Like many parts of our lives, she remains, serenely awaiting our return.

So, in light of these new starts, creating a blog for our library seems even more important. This virtual arm of our library services will feature book recommendations, resources for teachers and display features from around the library. The 'On The Pinehurst Bookshelves' blog will be a repository and reference point for all things literary and library related.