LibraryNews

Here’s a couple of titles from the Library’s collection that I hope will provide interesting holiday reading…

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 00:36:00 +0000

Collecting the 1950s by MadeleineMarsh

‘Marilyn Monroe, rock ‘n’ roll, televisions, Coca Cola, refrigerators, science fiction and teenagers all burst on to the scene in the 1950s, becoming icons of this brash, bold decade and marking the swing from post-war austerity to growing prosperity. Leading the way in design were new names such as Terence Conran in Britain, Charles and Ray Eames in North America, Christian Dior in France and Arne Jacobsen in

Denmark

, producing a wealth of ‘modern’ products, from high priced furniture to high street fashion. A distinctive 1950s ‘look’ soon developed that is enjoying a well deserved revival in popularity.

This book presents over 300 collectables – from classic chairs by Charles Eames to bright plastic tableware and Perspex handbags, often found in antiques shops, auction houses and even car boot sales.

There are sections on homestyle, fashion and leisure – a collector’s eye view of the 1950s, with essential collecting tips, and information on the trends of the period.’

To place this item on hold click here.

The artful parent by JeanVan’t Hul

‘Art making is a wonderful way for young children to tap into their imagination, deepen their creativity and explore new materials, all while strengthening their fine motor skills and developing self confidence. The artful parent has all the tools and information you need to encourage your children’s creativity through art. You’ll learn how to set up an art space, talk to children about their artwork, choose the best art supplies (without breaking the bank), repurpose and organise the piles of art created and even how to use art activities to soften everyday transitions. There are more than 60 engaging arts and crafts projects included that are accessible and developmentally appropriate for one to eight year olds. From bubble prints to musical chairs art, these activities allow children to explore materials, techniques and ideas as they grow more creative every day.

With activities for quiet times, action art for releasing energy and recipes for making your own art materials, this book is your guide for raising an artful family.’

To place this item on hold click here

Review: Quinoa for families By Rena Patten

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 02:50:00 +0000

Quinoa is the super food that every cook is talking about at the moment, it is easy to prepare, nutritious and delicious which why it is growing in popularity not only in Australia but all over the world.

This book has family favourite recipes with a quinoa twist which makes them tastier and healthier. Rena shows the different ways that quinoa can be used in your cooking she has shared new recipes as well as taking some old much loved favourites and re-created them using quinoa.

I have tried quite a few recipes from this book and would recommend it to anyone starting out with quinoa. Give this book a try, it is great and so far I haven’t had one flop.

If you would like to try some of these tasty recipes click here.

It's book week!

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 05:07:00 +0000

Every year the Children's book Council of Australia puts together a short list of amazing books for children and young adults, the winners have now been announced. All winning titles are available for loan just click on the book cover or title to go to our online catalogue.

Older readers book of the year 2013

Sea hearts by Margo Lanagan

Young readers Book of the year 2013

The children of the king by Sonya Hartnett

Early childhood book of the year 2013

The terrible suitcase by Emma Allen,
illustrations by Freya Blackwood

Picture book of the year 2013

The coat by Ron Brooks and Julie Hunt

Eve Pownall book of the year 2013

Tom the outback mailman by kristin Weidenback,
illustrations by Timothy Ide

To view the shortlisted books click here

Chocolat by Eric Lanlard

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 03:02:00 +0000

Seductive recipes for bakes, desserts, truffles and other treats.

As a young Pâtisserie chef, Eric was taught how to make chocolate and he went on to train as an apprentice chocolatier. He has since been fascinated with this ingredient, making it his mission to master the techniques of moulding, blending shaping and baking with chocolate.

Now you can share Eric’s passion as he reveals his tried-and-tested techniques with this new selection of chocolate-based recipes, from quick bakes, cakes and simple sauces, to show stopping party pieces and after-dinner treats, all with easy-to-follow methods and helpful tips.

If you’re having cravings, you should try making some Salted butter caramel cake or some chocolate and hazelnut brownies with the simple step by step recipes and delicious pictures to guide you.

To get your hands on this book call into the library to borrow or to place a hold click here.

What is the solution for...

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 03:35:00 +0000

Answer: Playaway

This is an audio format which is pocket sized and very convenient if you are on the move. A wide range of books can be accessed in this format. You can enjoy your books while out walking or travelling, or while gardening or doing jobs in the house or....wherever!

Search the catalogue under ‘playaway’ to see what is available, browse the playaway collection in the audio section of the library or ask a staff member to assist you.

P.S. Ear buds and lanyons can be purchased at the library. One AAA battery is required to operate the playaway.

Merbein's great Australian vanilla slice triumph

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 06:52:00 +0000

Merbein's great Australian vanilla slice triumph is on again!

Saturday 17th August 2013

The Merbein Library is getting involved, with story times and craft activities for the kids. Come and join us, it’s free.

Story time sessions starting at:

9:30 am

10:00am

11:30am

1:00pm

1:30pm

Each storytime session will run for around 20 minutes.

A continuous craft activity, will be running throughout the day using the theme from Children’s book week,

’Read across the Universe'. We will be making rockets.

Reader Review: The elephant whisperer

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 01:37:00 +0000

The book I am currently reading is a heart warming biography by Lawrence Anthony who is a conservationist on a game reserve in Zululand in

South Africa

. The book is titled 'The Elephant Whisperer'.

Anthony was asked to take a rogue elephant herd onto his game reserve in order to effectively save their lives – if they stayed where they were, they would be shot. Although the reserve wasn't equipped, he agreed and a race against the clock began to ready the fencing and security on the game reserve to make a safe and welcoming home for the herd.

The story tells of the initial ‘breakouts’ of the herd and their gradual settling and eventual bonding with him. Even though they were still completely wild animals they brought their newborn babies to see him, gate-crashed a number of game lodge dinner parties and during a particularly terrifying fire led Anthony and his men to shelter at a nearby water hole.

I haven’t finished the book yet – but I'm hoping for a happy ending.

To place this item on hold Click here

School Holiday Activities July 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 04:45:00 +0000

Did someone say trivia night?

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 02:44:00 +0000

Staff Review : 'Not so big remodeling' and 'French parents don't give in'

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:27:00 +0000

Not so big remodelling by Sarah Susanka

In this book you will learn that with small, thoughtful changes the home you live in can be the home you love. Susanka, along with co-author Marc Vassallo, challenges conventional remodelling wisdom by offering solutions beyond mere square footage. Instead of thinking “bigger” with a vast addition, Susanka encourages us to think “better,” revealing a more sustainable process that evaluates existing space to determine your true remodelling needs.

Rather than gutting a kitchen, consider removing a wall to connect it to the surrounding spaces and create a more open floor plan. Instead of adding on a new family room, see how a modest “bump out” and a little interior reconfiguring can solve your space challenges in a more attractive and cost-effective way. “Not so big remodelling” guides your project with an architect’s eye so you get the most out of the home you love by tailoring it to fit the way you really live.

Click here to place item on hold.

French parents don’t give in by Pamela Druckerman

Parenting advice from “French Children Don’t Throw Food” now distilled into 100 short and easy tips, plus recipes and sample crèche menus.

Inside is how the French: Get their babies to sleep through the night, ensure their children enjoy a wide variety of foods, teach their kids good manners, make sure they have time for their partner, teach their children to be patient and manage to maintain their sense of chic.

Click here to place item on hold.

Do you have type 2 diabetes? Do you want to know more?

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 02:03:00 +0000

The Red Cliffs Library and Sunraysia Community Health Services are working together to bring you information sessions to help you better access information on type 2 diabetes as well as practical information about managing your type 2 diabetes.

The sessions will be run every Tuesday for four weeks in the Terry Anderson Room, Red Cliffs Library.

Session 1:
14^th of May from 10:00am - 11:30am.

What is diabetes?

Blood glucose monitoring and targets

Hypoglycaemia

Hyperglycaemia

Session 2:

21^stof May from 10:00am - 11:30am.

Introduction to healthy eating

Label reading, eating out, alcohol and modifying recipes

Session 3:

28^th of May from 10:00am - 11:30am.

Weight management

Physical activity

Medication and insulin

Interpreting results

Session 4:

4^th of June from 10:00am - 11:30am.

Sick day management

Diabetes complications and screening

Foot care

Driving recommendations

Please phone Sunraysia Community Health Services on

50 225 444 to make a booking.

At the Library there are a number of resources available that can help you manage and understand diabetes. Please click here to view and place holds on items.

High Road to reading - Barry Heard

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:35:00 +0000

In collaboration with the State Library of Victoria we will be hosting an author each month in April, May and June.

Our first guest will be Barry Heard. Barry is a Vietnam veteran and has written a memoir about his service in Vietnam and his battles with mental illness bought on by the effects of his service in Vietnam. Barry’s book, ‘Well done, those men’ has previously been selected for the Victorian Summer Read. It was also selected as the Victorian book in the National Year of Reading My Story collection.

Barry will be presenting two talks on Tuesday 16^th April at Merbein Library and Mildura Library. Merbein will have an afternoon session starting at 1.30pm in the small meeting room at the Merbein Community Hub. The Mildura session will be in the evening at Mildura Library from 7.30pm. Each talk goes for about an hour.

Click here to make a booking to attend one of these sessions.

Click here to place a hold on 'Well done, those men' by Barry Heard

Merbein Community Hub opening

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:50:00 +0000

Review - Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:59:00 +0000

He was no longer Jean Valjean, but No. 24601.

“Jean Valjean, an escaped convict, is determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are threatened by the relentless investigations of the dogged policemen Javert when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place.

It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty. Victor Hugo’s epic tale of injustice, heroism and love is a timeless classic, not to be missed.”

If you loved the movie and needed more, you should give the book a go… 1232 pages of pure French entertainment!

If you are yet to see it, maybe you should read it first. We all know the book is always better. This story is both a musical and literary phenomenon, so it worth adding it to your bucket list of books.

To place the book of Les Misérables on hold click here.

To place musical highlights from the motion picture on hold click here.

Have you read Carolyn Overington?

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 05:55:00 +0000

Carolyn Overington was born and raised in Victoria, over her 20 years working as a journalist Caroline has worked for the Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend and The Weekend Australian Magazine. She has also been a foreign correspondent based in New York. A lot of her recent journalistic work features articles about family breakdown, mental health issues, substance and human abuse, both physical and mental.

Her novels are written to make you question the abuses that we as a society make our children and others suffer that can have far reaching repercussions.

To date my personal favourite has been Ghost child, although all have been thought provoking.

If you would like reserve a copy of Ghost child click here

Blind date with a book this Valentines day.

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 05:52:00 +0000

Review: Black Spring by Alison Croggon

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:10:00 +0000

A stunning new novel by Alison Croggon, inspired by the Gothic classic Wuthering Heights.

'Black springs' can be found in the Young Adult section of the library, but is really one of those crossover novels that can be read and enjoyed by adults as well.

Click here to read about Australian author Alison Croggon and how she came to write Black Spring.

To read a full review click here.

5 reasons to read Black Spring by Alison Croggon: from the inside a dog website.

1. It's inspired by Wuthering Heights, so you get all the family drama and brooding northern English landscapes of a classic.

2. It is steeped in magic - set in an England where wizards rule and witches are killed as babies.

3. There is murder and mystery.

4. There are tragic, star-crossed lovers.

5. The cover. This picture doesn't do it justice - the girl on the cover has bright violet eyes that haunt you!

Click here to place Black Springs on hold.

If you would like to revisit 'Wuthering Heights' click here

Review – BZRK

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:14:00 +0000

BZRK by Michael Grant (Audio book)

A global war is raging. You can’t see it, but it’s happening all around you. Inside you. In the microscopic matrix where invisible armies will determine the future of mankind. Here, the ultimate battle is for sanity. Losing is not an option when a world of madness is at stake.

Welcome to the nano.

The vivid characters take the names of madmen because madness is their fate. They descend into the tiny places, down where the mites leap and the lymphocytes ooze and the spark of human reason fires like lightning from sizzling neurons. Down in the meat. One by one they join the fight. In the macro, in the nano, in both at once, they fight for life, liberty and the inalienable right to be crazy. BZRK is their method. BZRK is their battle cry. BZRK is their doom.

I was hooked listening to the audio version, read by Nico Evers-Swindell a

New Zealand

actor who gained international prominence for his portrayal of Prince William in the 2011 film William and Kate.

BZRK is an epic, ground-breaking new thriller from the author who gave us GONE … Writing just doesn’t get better than this.

Conceived as a multiplatform experience with the books only being one aspect of a bigger picture. Google BZRK and join the interactive on-line mystery.

For a slightly older readership than Grant’s Gone series, BZRK is suitable for 16+.

WARNING! Contains scenes of cruelty and violence.

Read Alert – Teenage Fiction

To place this item on hold click here.

This item is also available in book format click here to have a look.

Have you ever considered joining a Bookclub?

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 06:01:00 +0000

Our library staff Bookclub recently read and discussed this novel and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

"A moving tale of post-war friendship, love and books, The Guernsey Literaryand Potato Peel Society is a captivating and completely irresistible novel of enormous depth and heart.

It's 1946, and as Juliet Ashton sits at her desk in her Chelsea flat, she has writers' block. A writer of witty newspaper columns during the war, she can't think of what to write next. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - by chance he's acquired a book Juliet once owned - and, emboldened by their mutual love of books, they begin a correspondence.

Dawsey is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and it's not long before the rest of the members write to Juliet - including Isola, who makes home-made potions, Eben, the fisherman who loves Shakespeare, and Will Thisbee, rag-and-bone man and chef of the famous potato peel pie. As letters fly back and forth, Juliet comes to know the extraordinary personalities of the Society and their lives under the German occupation of the island. Entranced by their stories, Juliet decides to visit the island to meet them properly - and unwittingly turns her life upside down. Gloriously honest, enchanting and funny, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is sure to win your heart."

If you’re interested in joining an existing Bookclub, or forming one with a group of friends, please contact the Library for details on 5018 8350 or Click here.

Bookclubs are fun and we have a wonderful selection of titles for you to choose from.

Click here if you would like to place a hold on this item.

Review: At My French Table

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:25:00 +0000

At My French Table by Jane Webster.

At My French Table is a lovely book which tells the story of Jane Webster and her four children who move to Normandy in France to begin a new life. The story tells of their immersion in village life, learning a new language, customs and cuisine. They restore a chateau to its former glory which gives Jane the opportunity to realize her dream of establishing a local cookery school.
The book is filled with delightful photographs, recipes and stories of their time in Normandy in rural France.
If you would like to place a hold on 'At my French table' by Jane Webster click here.

Christmas storytime: Irymple

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:15:00 +0000

Christmas Baby Bounce, Toddler Time and Storytime

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Review: Where's the Meerkats?

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:21:00 +0000

As I sat down with my 10 year old the other night, I was lucky to join in with her latest book. She was reading "Where's the Meerkat?".

Get ready for hours of fun trying to spot a fun-loving family of meerkats as they go on a incredible, round the world adventure. We had to try and spot 10 cheeky meerkats in every picture. The meerkats visited places such as Paris, The pyramids, The great Wall of China and the great barrier reef. It really was fun trying to spot them. No more spotting "Where's Wally" instead it was "Where's the Meerkats".

If you would like to place a hold on 'Where's the Meerkat?' click here.

Out and about on the Mobile Library

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:56:00 +0000

Out and about on the Mobile library our drivers see some wonderful things. Just the other day, one of our drivers Deb was treated to an impromptu storytime from the students from the Werrimull PS when they came to visit the Library.

Irymple Library - Congratulations Chistine

noreply@blogger.com (Library News) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 04:10:00 +0000

Congratulations to Christine who is the lucky winner of the Irymple Library give away.

Christine has won a $50 gift voucher.