Dunedin Public Libraries | Kā Kete Wānaka o Ōtepoti — Nov 1, 2024
Let's Read!
Nau mai, haere mai, tautimai!
Registrations open on December 1st for our City of Reader’s Summer Reading Programme. Sign up online or at your local library and pick up your Summer Reading pack. Set a goal and record in your activity booklet details of all the things you’ve read over summer. When you reach your goal get it signed off by a librarian by the 4th February. All readers who sign off go into the grand draw for some cool prizes which will be drawn on the 16th Feb.
Year on year the publishing world goes a little mad on Christmas stories. Here are some of the classics that are worth revisiting.
Continued Sense of Wonder, which is an open event for adults who enjoy reading books written for young people, will be discussing Christmas books on Wednesday, November 20 at 7pm. Come along and bring your favourite Christmas story to share and learn about other books that celebrate Christmas.
There is nothing new about the Christmas publishing business. According to the movie The Man Who Invented Christmas available on DVD from the library, cash-strapped Charles Dickens stumbled upon the idea of publishing a Christmas themed story. This became A Christmas Carol, first published in 1843. The library has several editions, with a variety of illustrators, of this haunting tale, including in the Charles Dickens Collection in the Heritage Room.
Another 19th Century American writer, Louisa May Alcott, produced one of the most moving portrayals of a family Christmas day published in 1868 in Little Women.
Other classic Christmas books you might like to revisit this year are:
For a Christmas story with a Christmas message look for Barbara Robinson's 1972 novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever which is being released as a film in November 2024. Read the book before watching the film!
