During Chinese Language Week we get to see what the talented students at the PN Chinese School students have been up to! Come and check out their exhibition which highlights what they have been working on this year. Sunday 22 September, First Floor, Central Library.
New Zealand Chinese Language Week seeks to bridge the cultural and linguistic knowledge gap between China and New Zealand by delivering fun and practical initiatives that assist Kiwis to learn Chinese. The book published especially for the week this year is The Little Kiwi’s Matariki. This is a trilingual picture book about the Māori New Year and is in Mandarin Chinese, Te Reo Māori, and English!
Great ready for the week with resources at the library and online through the library!
The What’s On page on the City Library website has had a bit of a refresh.
Now you can filter by Location, Age Range or Category to find activities. Also, you can switch between Tile View or Calendar View.
If you’re in Calendar View you can even print out your selection, so you can stick it on your fridge and have your very own customised calendar of Library activities!
Have a browse of the site, and just ask a librarian if you have any questions.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori runs from Sep 14 – 21, and this year you have the chance to win a pukatuhi – notebook if you visit the Central Library’s Reo Space over the days Monday 16 – Friday 20.
⭐The Reo Space will be on the Second Floor.
You can get a pukatuhi by:
👉coming to karakia in the morning at 9:00am, or just before closing at 4:55 Mon, Fri or 5:55 Tues, Wed, Thurs;
👉or joining an activity that is happening over the week;
👉or coming and introducing yourself to our lovely staff that will be situated in the Reo Space.
Use these prompts:
Ko wai koe? Who are you? Ko _____ tōku ingoa – My name is ______ .
Nō hea koe? Where are you from? Nō _______ ahau – I am from _______ .
It’s great to see more musicians using te reo Māori in their songs, and those songs getting more recognition these days. To celebrate Mahuru Māori 2024, here are three tracks in different genres.
Mokotron (Ngāti Hine) uses some bass-heavy electronica, and an outstanding animated video by animator Simon Ward and visual artist James Paratii Lainchbury, as vehicles to carry the lyrics, which relate to the idea that: “An ōhākī is a deathbed speech, it can contain prophecy, the passing of the mantle of leadership, exhortations to the living, promises for the future. What ōhākī did [Queen] Elizabeth make?Before Kawiti died he prophesied in his ōhākī that his descendants should wait till a time when the sandfly nipped at the pages of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and at that time the people would rise up.“
The band Kiko have already released several great songs (you might recall Ka Puta from a few years ago). Now they have a new track out called Haurua. Here’s the kaupapa behind it, from the NZ Music Commission website:
Made up of Rewi McLay (Ngāti Kahu/Ngāti Hine), Lukas Wharekura (Ngāti Kahungunu), Kara Gordon (Ngāi Te Rangi), Phillip Peters (Whānau a Apanui and Rangitāne) and Windon Bradfield – KIKO’s new single ‘Haurua’ explores the complexities of identity and growing up half-caste – with one foot in te ao Māori, and the other in the Western world. “It’s a thin line where two worlds meet,” says lead vocalist and guitarist Rewi. “‘Haurua’ is about the journey of pursuing one’s identity and navigating those worlds.”
And now it’s time for some hip-hop, from Rei. The song Toitū is about, well, all things which endure: Te Tiriti, the heart, the land, the iwi. Full lyrics are in the description of the video on YouTube.
A tale of strong emotional bonds exploring concepts of family, identity and belonging.
Siblings Fen and Rey have been brought up in foster care after being found in the woods as babies, seemingly protected by foxes. Times are sometimes tough, and though their home is a happy one, warmed with love and laughter, a void dwells in them both. They know nothing of their past and long to find their mother. Fen and Rey reside in a liminal space, neither fully connected to their past or present, a feeling enabled by this constant need to know where they came from. To make peace with their sense of loss and abandonment they tell each other elaborate stories, adventures of their mother, rationalizing why they were left and why she remains outside their lives.
As questions increasingly fracture their stories, Fen begins to see moments of orange, a fox perhaps, which the children sense as a messenger from their mother. Fen and Rey eventually follow the shape, risking all, in the hope it will lead them to her and to the many answers they seek. Their plight takes them on a cryptic and often dangerous journey marked by doubts, disappointments, and fragments of hope.
Katya Balen has written a beautiful, always moving, often heartbreaking story of hope, love, and acceptance. Her lyrical writing style imbues depth, sensitivity and wonder into the narrative, creating a remarkable, emotional, and immersive reading experience. Highly recommended for readers aged 9+. Katya Balen’s book October, October won the 2022 Yoto Carnegie Medal.
Foxlight can be found in the Children’s area in the Animals – Fiction collection.
Clever Crow by Chris Butterworth Illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill
An exquisite book on a most intriguing family of birds.
From the brief blurb I read about ‘Clever Crow’, I sensed the book held all the promise of being a fascinating addition to the library’s Children’s collection. And I was not disappointed.
Short snippets provide curious, and perhaps little-known, facts about crows. Among other wonders, we learn of their intelligence, aerobatics (or lack of), habitat, playfulness, and song, or again, lack of as they tend to ‘caw’ rather than sing. We are left in no doubt that they are astonishing creatures. These wonderful insights are all set within the stunning mixed-media artwork of Olivia Lomenech Gill, who also illustrated J. K. Rowling’s ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. Together the text and illustrations celebrate the crow, illuminating the subject beyond what either could do alone. This is an exquisite book on a most intriguing family of birds that will captivate young and old.
This book can be found in the Children’s area in the Picture Book collection.
Kay
Content Development Librarian: Children’s and Young Adult
First Voice is a celebration of writing by Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School (PNINS) students from non-English speaking backgrounds. The First Voice programme was initiated in 2000 by Anne Sommerville at Massey University, and involved various schools. In 2002 former PNINS ESOL teacher Barb Drake picked up the programme, and in 2023 PNINS ESOL teacher Steph Bunny took over the reins.
This year in May, 57 PNINS students participated in the annual First Voice workshop. Here they drafted a piece of writing about ‘Cultural Cuisine’ in their heritage language. They met multilingual community mentors who were there to tautoko the students with the process. The collection of writing was then made into the First Voice 2024 book.
At the end of August, PNINS students held a special Multicultural Celebration to highlight the diverse cultures at the school. The presentation included traditional clothing, dances, games, foods and customs. The celebration was also the book launch, where the cover design was revealed. This year the winning design was by Jiyu Kim. All students involved with First Voice received their very own book to keep!
The 26 languages in this year’s book are Afrikaans, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Dutch, French, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Igbo, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Munukutuba, Naija, Nepali, Punjabi, Shona, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Tuvaluan and Urdu.
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