Real Lives at Alkrington Library

For December and January, we have decided to feature something a bit different from our usual “Author of the Month” at Alkrington Library.

Instead of a single author, we are showcasing a selection of books, which we have called “Real Lives” – in other words, biographies and autobiographies. There are always lots of new titles published in this genre at this time of year.

How about Ant and Dec’s jointly written “Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story” or Vera Lynn’s “Some Sunny Day.” Maybe “Did You Like That?”, Don Haworth’s biography of steeplejack Fred Dibnah, is more your cup of tea?

If you usually read novels, why not have a change and take a look at our “Real Lives” selection? You might find that some lives are stranger and more exciting than fiction.!

Hans Christien Andersen Awards 2010

The award winning authors David Almond, and author/illustrator Michael Foreman have been nominated for the top prize in international children's literature. The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are given biennially to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature. The award is given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and David Almond and Michael Foreman have been nominated by the British Section.

The announcement of the winners will be made at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in March 2010 and the Awards will be presented
later that year at the IBBY World Congress in Santiago de Compostela.

David Almond came to prominence with the publication of "Skellig"(1998) which became a best selling book and later a play,
an opera and most recently a film. Many of his books and short stories are aimed at older children.

• David Almond's books in our libraries

Michael Foreman has written and illustrated more than 50 of his own books, in addition to illustrating more than 150 books by other
writers.

• Michael Foreman's books in our libraries

Table-Top Tournament

We celebrated the official opening of the Phoenix Centre on Saturday 14 November by organising a free table-top football tournament through a company called Goalden Events.

This appealed to all members of the family: sisters and brothers, mums and dads, grannies and granddads, uncles and aunties all took part. Katherine Kelly, who plays Becky on Coronation Street also joined in, as did the local Community Police.

Between tournaments visitors were encouraged to try a light-hearted quiz, to answer some of the questions you had to be sure to visit the library.

Look out for Goalden Events and your chance to compete in table football at the official opening of Darnhill Library on the 12 December!

Roald Dahl competition winners!

We have the winners for the "Create Your Own Roald Dahl Character" competition for children at Smallbridge Library!

Qudsia Choudry, age 10, is the winner with her Evil Snowman. Nicole Moore, age 11, is the runner-up with The Puzzler

Congratulations to Qudsia and Nicole, and to everybody who entered: we had a lot of fun looking at them all!