Christchurch City Libraries blog hosts a series of regular podcasts from New Zealand’s only specialist human rights radio show Speak up – Kōrerotia. This show is created by Sally Carlton.
The latest episode deals with youth suicide. New Zealand has high rates of youth suicide, especially among Māori and Pasifika populations.
Part I: Sir Peter Gluckman (Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor)
Youth suicide statistics in NZ and elsewhere; possible reasons; the importance of providing supportive contexts for young people.
Parts II and III: Jackie Burrows and Tanith Petersen (He Waka Tapu) and Wesley Mauafu (PYLAT – Pacific Youth Leadership and Transformation). Possible reasons; situation among different ethnic groups; situation in post-earthquake Christchurch and Elements for youth suicide prevention initiatives – sport, music, support, etc.
National Youth Week 2017 is 26 May – 4 June 2017 and this year’s theme is “Our voices count, count our voices”.
Events at Christchurch City Libraries during Youth Week
Linwood College Showcase Concert – Part of New Zealand Music Month Thursday 25 May 5pm to 7pm
Linwood Library at Eastgate
This concert will feature cultural groups, the Linwood College jazz band, some rock bands and acoustic solos and duos.
Youth Week FIFA 17 PS4 Gaming Tournament at Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre Saturday 27 May 11am to 4pm
Have you got what it takes to become the Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre champion? Sign up to win a prize voucher, trophy and eternal bragging rights! Free to enter, just ask a librarian in the library at Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre. Open for ages 10-16.
Places are limited so be sure to sign up in advance.
Magic: the Gathering Saturday 3 June 1pm to 4pm
Bring your Magic: The Gathering decks to Shirley Library! Come along to play, swap cards or hang out. Snacks provided! Ages 8 – 18 (Magic: the Gathering is on the first Saturday every month)
Free Creative writing sessions on Wednesdays 4:00PM – 5:45PM (term time) at Linwood Library at Eastgate. Group leader Jennifer works with group members to craft, create and develop their own work.
Christchurch City Libraries also works in schools, intermediate and high schools, with youth on exciting programmes like Photoshop and film-making. Explore what’s on offer at our Learning Centres.
Read about our recent youth related events
Comics Day Workshop at Linwood Library
Elijah Lopez, Jed Uy, and Ryan Green running a Graphic Novel & Comic Drawing Workshop at Linwood Library, 6 May 2017
Spider senses were tingling, Avengers were assembling and the flame was on at Linwood recently. Linwood Library at Eastgate put the ‘Kapow” into International Free Comic Book Day on Saturday 6 May with a Graphic Novel & Comic drawing workshop. With skills in Manga, digital software — and as published graphic novelists —presenters Elijah Lopez, Jed Uy, and Ryan Green shared some of the basic tips and tricks to their craft, as well demonstrating how the process works in practice.
The 30 attendees then had time to put the new skills into practice, with the assistance from the presenters. Based on the enthusiastic conversations and number of connections being made, ‘By Odins beard’ this Saturday event was an occasion where all who entered triumphed.
Flash Fiction Writing Workshop at Fendalton Library
And …on Friday the 28 of April, Fendalton Library hosted a Flash Fiction writing event for young adults, aged 10-18. Students learned how to write short standalone stories with emotional punch.
Activities were light and fun with chocolate rewards for awesome answers to
our questions. We encouraged creative thinking by examining emotive words
and brainstorming characters, situations and plots that might evoke the
chosen emotions. Students were welcome to share or not as they wished. At
the end of the session, students had the opportunity to simply write, shaping
their ideas into the beginning of a story. Everyone enjoyed the workshop and said they had learned something new.
Come chill out in our Young Adult spaces throughout the library network
Young Adult area, Lyttelton LibraryFunky artwork in the Young Adult area, Linwood Library at EastgateGame stations, Linwood Library at EastgateYA section, New Brighton LibraryYouth area, Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre
The Burnham school team. This team did not compete in any of the events, but gave a fine exhibition with the manual engine. The Canterbury times, 6 Mar. 1901, p. 34
Storytime at the Library
Storytime at the children’s section of the Canterbury Public Library still has lots of appeal with city youngsters during the school holidays. Here Margaret McPherson (Children’s Librarian) reads to a group. Appeared in the Christchurch Star Home edition 13 May 1968 page 3.
Te Whata Raki. Our cool new resource. Learn about some traditional stories, told through waiata, pictures and other web resources.
Kids. Christchurch City Libraries kids page is a safe gateway to internet learning, homework resources, new titles and other fun stuff.
The Source for kids. The Source is full of great resources for learning, fun and play. It’s free, and all you need is your library card and PIN. Great for indoor fun on rainy days.
Stuff for teens:
The Pulse te auaha is our site for 13 to 18 year olds. It has information for school and life.
Dr G is a service providing support and suggestions on health, sexual health and relationship issues, and it is run by some very clued up experts from Community and Public Health.
The Source for teens includes: Opposing Viewpoints Access to a rich resource for perspectives on major contentious social, political, and technological issues. Encyclopedia Britannica student An online encyclopedia covering all branches of knowledge for older students and adults.
Being a reluctant learner at school, I never had a lot of time for reading. I definitely wasn’t a fan of books with chapters. My parents were probably disgusted, especially as Dad was a librarian and Mum a primary school teacher. I hated reading with a passion, and once even tried sending my brother up to the teacher to do mine for me.
However, a fond memory I do have is one day I was sitting in my primary school classroom when a sparkly, spirited Margaret Mahy arrived wearing a rainbow coloured wig. This wonderful appearance naturally made me interested. Mahy’s fantastic, bubbly, character and amazing narrative won me over. Unlike most adults, she knew how to enter the world of children which made her truly unique.
A great picture book is multifaceted, complemented by illustrations and appeals to adults as much as they do children. Mahy’s books such as A Lion in the Meadow, The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate and The Spider in the Shower illustrate her wonderful imagination. Children can put themselves in the shoes of the characters in these stories.
Sitting at Margaret’s farewell, in Hagley Park Geo Dome, it did occur to me how important it is that teachers, parents and caregivers try to understand what is going on in the world of children. Sometimes, the story itself isn’t enough, it is how it is told. As the service went on with renowned New Zealand literary greats, such as Tessa Duder, Rosie Belton, Gavin Bishop and Kate De Goldi paying homage to this wonderful New Zealander, I loved the fact a little girl came back and forth to pat the guide dog of an attendee, you could hear children playing and birds chirping in Hagley Park and oddly enough I had a ladybird fly into the Dome and settle on me. I think Margaret would love knowing this occurred.
Mahy’s books will continue to be cherished by future generations of children nationally and internationally and no doubt reprinted. Check out her wonderful collection at Christchurch City Libraries. Interestingly, this reluctant reader is now a trained librarian.
Rest in peace Margaret, you will never be forgotten.
Are we downhearted? : girls merrily on their way to Phillipstown School on the day Christchurch schools reopened after five months due to the removal of restrictions on the assembly of children after the end of the infantile paralysis epidemic.
[1925]
I have written before about the newish trend of blogs becoming books. This trend is not ending, in fact if anything it is growing. Crafters seem to be particularly good at using this technique. The beauty of the blog/book scenario is that you get double the bang for your buck, in that you can read the book and then log onto the blog and get more recent updates and ideas.
To go with this publishing trend we also now have a rather nausea inducing term “Mommy bloggers” as this quote from Hand in Hand states:
Mommy bloggers are a hugely popular source of advice for parents on everything from discipline to which stores have the best deals. And one of the top trending topics is crafting with your kids. In this title, 20 superstar mommy bloggers share exclusive, photo-rich insights into their creative lives.
However, publishing blurbs aside these new books do look rather enticing.
Christchurch City Libraries blog hosts a series of regular podcasts from New Zealand’s only specialist human rights radio show Speak up – Kōrerotia. This show is created by Sally Carlton.
Christchurch City Libraries celebrates 
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 