The Three Doors Trilogy – Emily Rodda

Emily Rodda has written a wonderful new series called The Three Doors Trilogy.

“Three magic Doors you here behold

Time to choose: Wood? Silver? Gold?

Listen to your inner voice

And you will make the wisest choice.”

Rye’s home is the walled city of Weld. His people have been living here safely and happily for a long time, but now the city is under attack. At night flying creatures, Skimmers, come out, attacking anything living. People are being killed and there is a great deal of destruction. Once darkness comes, all of the townspeople move indoors. They need to be very quiet or else the Skimmers will seek them out and attack. Their houses need to be protected. Any hole or opening in the house must be sealed each evening to prevent Skimmers getting in and attacking.

Nobody knows who the enemy is nor where it is.

The Warden of Weld asks for volunteers to find and destroy the Enemy. Rye’s brothers join those heroes who set out to discover the source of the Skimmers, but they, and many other young heroes, never return. Rye is too young to go, but his circumstances change and he feels he must go to find them. And so he finds himself in the chamber, looking at the three doors: gold, silver and wood.

Join Rye in his adventures in this first book of the series, The Golden Door. Waiting for you when you finish is the second book in the series, The Silver Door. If you’ve enjoyed reading other fantasy books by Emily Rodda, Rowan of Rin and the Deltora Quest, then you’re bound to enjoy this new series.

This first book has been shortlisted in the CBCA Book Awards for 2012. I’m sure it will find a great many readers. I can highly recommend this new series.

New sports books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s some new books in our Library just for those of you who love to know all the ins and outs of your footy team. Here’s two AFL books for you to browse through.

The AFL Prospectus is chock full of everything you needed to know about your team and all the opposing teams. Check out the data for each team, including all that vital knowledge on this season’s rookies. Lots of data is provided and analysed to give you insights to all manner of things. Have you ever wondered how far each team is travelling to their matches for instance? Well wonder no more. Just have a browse at this book.

Every team and player has been profiled, and this information might help you decide which way your footy tipping goes. There is information on the new rule changes and all the stats provided can help you decide who will be members in your 2012 Dream Team.

The AFL Record Season Guide 2012 is another book crammed with facts, history and information. You’ll find Collingwood player Dane Swan on the cover this year, keeping with the tradition of featuring the reigning Browlow medalist on the cover.

For those of you more interested in the NRL, then maybe take a look at this book. As with the AFL books this one gives you an insider’s look at the teams and players of the 2012 season. There’s commentary on each of the club’s, the positions each team member plays and looks at their strengths and weaknesses. There’s some information on past seasons and each of the club’s allocated draw is evaluated.

There’s lots more sports books in our Library. Have a browse on the shelves in the 796 section.

CBCA Short List 2012

The Children’s Book Council of Australia has recently released their shortlisted books for 2012. Here are the final six for each category.

Older Readers

Bauer, Michael Gerard – Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel
Condon, Bill – A Straight Line to my Heart
Dubosarsky, Ursula – The Golden Day
Gardner, Scot – The Dead I Know
McGahan, Andrew – Ship Kings: The Coming of the Whirlpool
Newton, Robert – When We Were Two

Younger Readers

Constable, Kate – Crow Country
Flanagan, John – Brotherband: The Outcasts
French, Jackie – Nanberry: Black Brother White
Green, Susan – The Truth About Verity Sparks
Rodda, Emily Ill. Craig Smith – Bungawitta
Rodda, Emily – The Golden Door

Early Childhood

Bland, Nick Ill. Freya Blackwood – The Runaway Hug
Hartnett, Sonya Ill. Lucia Masciullo – Come Down, Cat!
Honey, Elizabeth – That’s Not a Daffodil!
Jorgensen, Norman Ill. James Foley – The Last Viking
McKinlay, Meg Ill. Leila Rudge – No Bears
Quay, Emma – Rudie Nudie

Picture Book of the Year

(NOTE – Books in this section may be designed for older readers.)

Blackwood, Freya Text Libby Gleeson – Look, a Book!
Brooks, Ron Text Margaret Wild – The Dream of the Thylacine
Cool, Rebecca Text Glenda Millard – For All Creatures
Graham, Bob – A Bus Called Heaven
Rudge, Leila Text Meg McKinlay – No Bears
Whatley, Bruce Text Jackie French – Flood

Information Books

Do, Anh & Do, Suzanne Ill. Bruce Whatley – The Little Refugee
Lester, Alison & Tulloch, Coral – One Small Island: The Story of Macquarie Island
Queensland Art Gallery – Surrealism for Kids
Wignell, Edel Ill. Mark Jackson – Bilby Secrets
Wilkinson, Carole – Fromelles: Australia’s Bloodiest Day at War
Wheatley, Nadia (Ed) Ill. Ken Searle – Playground

Congratulations to all of those nominated for the short list. I can certainly see some books I’ve enjoyed there.

Brian Selznick

I have spent some time over the holidays exploring the books of Brian Selznik recently. He’s written The Invention of Hugo Cabret and more recently Wonderstruck. You might know Hugo Cabret because the film Hugo is based on this book. It’s a wonderful film and a great book.

In both books Selznick has created an amazing mix of picture book, graphic novel and film, resulting in books to treasure. The illustrations in Hugo Cabret are wonderful and you can see much of the story unfolding through these black and white illustrations. Along the way there are chapters of text which tell the reader more of the story. Blended together they tell us about Hugo and we can piece together the mystery that surrounds Hugo, the old man, a young girl and the automaton that Hugo is trying to restore.

Set in Paris, this is a book to read and explore, then read some more. If you can see the movie then do so. It’s wonderful.

Watch this video to hear how the author got his ideas for writing The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Head on over to the Hugo Cabret website for lots more information about the book too. It’s at http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm and there’s lots of things to explore there.

Selznick’s latest book is Wonderstruck. It’s structured in a very similar way to Hugo Cabret, in that there are chapters of text then chapters of black and white illustrations telling more about the story. There are two stories running along side each other here, one set in New York in 1927, the other in 1977. The story set in 1927 is told completely through illustration, whilst the 1977 story is told in text. Eventually the two stories come together.

As with Hugo Cabret, there is a website devoted to the book. You can find out heaps more about the story by visiting: http://www.wonderstruckthebook.com/

Have a look at this video to see more about Selnick’s ideas that led him to write this book.

 

Short story collections

Have you seen the short story collections in the Marcellin College Library?

Look on our library catalogue and do a search for “Short Stories” to find them.

What sorts of anthologies do we have?

Some are short story collections written by one author. You will find lots of short story collections in our Library by Roald Dahl and Paul Jennings. The ever popular Maurice Gleitzman has also written a short story collection titled “Give Peas a Chance”.

Other authors choose to write short stories around a particular genre. If you have a look through the catalogue you will find short story collections, based on Horror, by Anthony Horowitz. Other genres authors have written in include Mystery, Detective short stories, Fantasy, Sport and Ghost stories. If you love to read a particular genre it’s worthwhile investigating whether we have a short story collection on that genre.

Other collections might include lots of different genres. I love these because there’s bits of everything. You might like to have a look through some of the collections for these. Trust Me! is one.

Have a browse through some of the short story collections I will have on display. Who knows? You might find a new story by an author you love.

I’d like you to add a comment to let me know if you have found a great Short Story collection that you can recommend to others. Have you found a collection that has a story in it you have really enjoyed? Have you found a collection that has an author in it that you like? Let us know.

The Red Pyramid

One of my students kindly allowed me to show the Glogster poster he created on The Red Pyramid. It’s a great way to share your views on different books you read and I would encourage any of our students to have a go at creating them. If you have one you would like me to add to our blog I am more than happy to have a look at it. Please just send me your link. You can find Glogster by clicking here.

Here’s a screenshot of the Red Pyramid Glogster poster:

You can also have a look at Julian’s poster here. Clicking on “Show Full Size” will allow you to see it properly and you will find that you can scroll down to look at all of the information he has included. He’s even embedded a video for you to watch. Great work Julian and thank you for sharing.

You might also enjoy having a look at Rick Riordan’s website here.  You’ll find lots of information about the Kane Chronicles, including the first book in the series, The Red Pyramid. Rick’s site allows you to explore Egyptian history and there’s some great links to other Egyptian sites. Have a look at Riordan’s Percy Jackson series too.

I’ve noticed that Rick has a blog too, and you can preview his latest book in the Kane Chronicles which will be called The Serpent’s Shadow. The cover is there for you to have a look at and the book will be out early in May. Also announced there is a set of short stories set in Percy Jackson’s world. This collection will be titled The Demigod Diaries. It will be out mid August this year. Keep an eye on his blog for all Rick’s latest news.

Books to Movies

Just recently there have been a lot of teenaged fiction being made into film.

I have posted below about the new Conspiracy 365 series which is currently airing on Australian television.

Other great books made into movies include Red Dog, Eragon, War Horse, The Hunger Games, Tomorrow When the War Began, Hugo, Tintin and I am Number Four. What about the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings series? Classic books and movies.

                                                                         

How many of these newer books to movies have you read?

How many of these have you seen?

If you have read the book are you interested in seeing the film? Does seeing the film get you interested in reading the book?

Which versions of any of these, or others, do you prefer, the book or the movie? It’s always interested to see how people interpret our favourite books. Let me know what you think!