Library News
This week was Book Week and we had a fabulous time celebrating stories and creativity! On Wednesday we welcomed Atamis Clutterbottom and Darby Keys from the Dunedin Steampunk Society, who spoke at assembly about what steampunk means to them and shared a bit about how they create their amazing clothes and accessories. I really enjoyed their passion and hearing about how they have made steampunk a part of their lives. They also lent us some gadgets and books to display in the library, which were much appreciated.
The library has been bustling with guessing games, a scavenger hunt, bookish crafts, and plenty of other literary conversations and activities. I loved seeing some of the costumes on Wednesday! Thanks so much to everyone who dressed up, asked thoughtful questions during assembly, played the games, and came into the library to craft and chat. It was a lovely week.
I will share a few steampunk books this week in case anyone would like to read more about it!
Audiobook of the Week:
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
“The great traction city London is on the move again. It has been lying low, skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, as its great mountain of metal lumbers along in hot pursuit of its quarry, the sinister plans it has harbored for years can finally start to unfold behind its soaring walls...Thaddeus Valentine, London's Head Historian and most famous archaeologist, and his daughter, Katherine, are down in The Gut when the young assassin with the black scarf strikes. Only the quick intervention of Tom, a lowly third-class apprentice, prevents Valentine from being stabbed in the heart. Madly racing after the fleeing girl, Tom suddenly glimpses her hideous face: scarred from forehead to jaw, nose a smashed stump, a single eye glaring back at him. "Look at what your Valentine did to me!" she screams. "Ask him! Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!" And with that she jumps down the waste chute to her death. Minutes later Tom finds himself tumbling down the same chute and stranded in the Out-Country, a sea of mud scored by the huge caterpillar tracks of cities like the one now steaming off over the horizon.In a stunning literary debut, Philip Reeve has created an unforgettable adventure story set in a dark and utterly original world fueled by Municipal Darwinism and betrayal.”
eBook of the Week:
The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
“When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a fullgrown man with one punch.... Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret. Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help-and finally be a part of something, finally fit in. But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on-even if it seems no one believes her.”
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Print Book of the Week:
Larklight by Philip Reeve
“In 1851 a mysterious visitor to Art Mumby's space home has plans for a calamity that will destroy not only the entire British Empire, but also the known universe. Can disaster be prevented with help from Art's irritating sister Myrtle, a few exotic space creatures, and an extraterrestrial pirate?”
This one would be wonderful for Year 7 and 8! It is the first in a series and is a rollicking adventure.
Happy Reading!
Carrie Bouffard