William Kostakis
William Kostakis is a young Australian author, who at the age of 17 scored a publishing contract! Yep that’s right! 17!!!
So do you have a passion for writing? Are you aged between 12 – 16? Come along to our special events to find out all about the publishing industry – from someone who really knows!!!
First event is tonight 4.30pm to 6pm at Southport Branch Library - get in quick!!
Next event is at Nerang Branch Library on 11 February 4.30pm to 6pm!!
Some great ideas from Joyo (library staff) were sent through recently… THANKS Joyo!
Do ebooks provide the same leisure and entertainment value as the printed word? Do they provide the same level of satisfaction? Today people connect with others via many different forms of media/technology. Does reading electronically flow on from this way of connecting and being informed or is the companionship of the physical book more of a magnet?
After all a large percentage of socialising is conducted remotely so why not read remotely? I know I would miss the action of flipping from front cover to blurb on the back and any maps/diagrams/family trees inside the front cover. While convenience and accessibility are some of the benefits of ebooks, paper based books provide a refuge from the electronic world – a time to tune out from ‘life noise’.
What do you think?
We’ve all heard the saying. “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover”
Of course sometimes it’s often an analogy for “You can’t judge what a person is like by the way they look”
But, having said that……… Why not? I like looking at the cover of the book and it usually says a little about what the book is like. I’m going to choose a book and read the blurb of the book that I like the cover of, not some boring cover art that I don’t like. I would rather there be no artwork at all than something that looks like yuk!
But what about the great books and the popular books. Take the Twilight series, some of the most popular books around but let’s be honest couldn’t some one come up with better artwork here?
I really like the saying ” A picture tells a thousand words”, and belive that the illustrator can capture the general idea or characters and convey that through good cover art.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who likes pretty pictures. What are your thoughts?
Has anyone got any favorite book illustrators or illustrations?
Catmad was one of our first bloggers in 2008, – a great post about Christmas ideas. I contacted Catmad about answering some of my silly questions – and I was lucky to get some funny responses…. THANKS CATMAD!!!
If you ruled the world for one day what would you do? Make everyone sit on their bottoms and feed them.
Favourite jellybean flavour? White
Favourite book as a child? The kittens who lost their mittens
Favourite dance move? Time Warp
Favourite book as an adult? Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck
Favourite area to browse in the library? 746 and 747 (Can anyone guess what is in this area of the Non-fiction collection??)
List your top 3 hobbies. Re-decorating, watching a good dvd, walking on the beach
Favourite food for the movies? Skinny chai latte
Favourite character in a book or movie? (Why) Jane Eyre her strength or belief in herself
Favourite ice-cream flavour (or mix-in)? Vanilla but don’t like ice cream
Favourite fizzy drink? Tonic water
Favourite tv series? North & South
Favourite Aussie landmark/vacation place? Not sure haven’t seen enough yet.
Favourite band/group? Coldplay
Favourite sports star? Pat Rafter – he is so generous of spirit and down to earth
What do you like to do on your holidays? As little as possible
What is your favourite Christmas memory? Receiving a bride doll when I was about 6
Who is your hero or role model? My mum- she was awesome
So the summer holidays are almost over… you have spent your time relaxing and enjoying the great outdoors. Now you have to put on your school uniform and spend your days in the classroom… but is it really all that bad?? What interesting events are coming up for this school year? Do you have a big excursion to a National Park? Are you finally going on school camp?? Are you going to audition for the school musical or play? Do you get to study subjects that you have been waiting years to be in the right grade to study? Tell us what you can’t wait to do at school this year!!
As for us, we go straight from school holiday fun and activities to getting ready for storytimes and the next holiday plans!! Can’t wait!! 
Who did you see, what did you see and were you hot? The last question is a given, I was just being cheeky. I would have loved to have seen Rise Against and Dizzee Rascal, but I couldn’t justify the big $150 ticket price to see two artists I have already seen. Please tell me your favourite bands of the day! I am desperate to know!
I am very excited about SOUNDWAVE 2010. I was luckily given a ticket for Christmas from a friend who loves screamo. (mental note:I will have to remember to pack earplugs) I am looking forward to the day and some of the quieter bands, like AFI, Placebo, Alexis on Fire, Reel Big Fish and Motion City Soundtrack. If you haven’t heard Motion City Soundtrack you are missing out! They are fab! (except for their last album) It’s going to be great!
Recently Nerang Branch Library had a visit from the Animal Welfare League QLD for a school holiday special event on Pet Welfare. We were lucky enough to have two special visitors that came with them, a kitten and a gorgeous golden retriever! It would have been nice to just be able to keep the little kitten, Auburn who was looking for a new home. Perhaps we could have made her a library cat!
1. Dewey: the small-town library cat who touched the world
You may have heard of a famous library cat called “Dewey” who was the resident library cat at a small-town library in Midwestern USA. He has a book written about him which you can check out here. Dewy died in 2006 at the age of 19 and his obituary was in hundreds of newspapers and also on the evening news. Spencer Library in Iowa, USA has a new library cat called “Page Turner” and you can read about him and Dewey here.
2. Browser, Pine River Public Library, Minnesota USA
Browser is a busy public library cat. He has his own newspaper column in the local paper and his own blog which you can check out here.
3. Nyx, Meadowdale Library, Richmond, Virginia USA
I think Nyx is a pretty cool cat. She is a blind library cat who was born without eyes but enchants anyone that meets her. She also has her own blog which you can see here and Nyx also tweets.
4. Jennie, Jennie Trent Dew Library, Goldthwaite, Texas USA
Jennie is also a popular cat in the town of Goldthwaite. Like Browser, Jennie also writes for the local newspaper, as well as having her own blog which you can find here.
5. Tober, Thorntown Public Library, Thorntown, Indiana USA
Last but not least is my favourite, Tober the cheeky, adventurous ginger cat from Indiana. He writes about his escapades in the library on his blog and has lots of photos. You can find him here on his blog.
These are just five of the funny and fabulous library cats out there. I am sure there are many more. You can read about some other literary felines in February 2010 edition of Cat Fancy.
Do you know any library cats? Or any shop cats?
In honour of Kate, our lovely blogger, who we don’t get to see to often now… I bring you her interview! Thanks Kate for keeping us amused with all your techno anecdotes, and keep blogging with us!! I know we would enjoy it
If you ruled the world for one day what would you do?!!Hmmm. Tricky! There are so many things that need doing. I reckon it would be something around access to the Internet. Give a laptop to every kid in the world, complete with limitless free wifi, maybe?
Favourite jellybean flavour?Lemon.
Favourite book as a child?I have two: one as a smaller child (Boris and Borsch by Anne Klein) and one as an early teen (Rilla of Ingleside, the last book in the Anne of Green Gables series). Oh, oh! And the whole Tomorrow series.
Favourite dance move?The invisibility move – the one that lets me dance, but no one see (because I am baaaad!).
Favourite book as an adult?Two again: The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Rilla of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery (yep, I still love it, and reread it at least once a year – I even bought my self a second copy cause my old one was falling apart). This is a tricky question though, because as I answer it, I think of all the others I love: Persuasion (Jane Austen), Tirra Lirra by the River (Jessica Anderson), True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey), Breaking Dawn (Stephanie Meyer – for shame!), Drowning Ruth (Christina Schwarz)… and the list goes on (I have a degree in literary studies – I read a LOT at uni!)
Favourite area to browse in the library?The picture book collection – I find stuff to take home and ready to my baby niece and nephew.
List your top 3 hobbies.Urmm. This is going to make me sound really lame! Sleeping in. Shopping. Aimlessly and endlessly trawling the web (especially good if it involves shopping).
Favourite food for the movies?Oooh, I love to go to the Gold Class cinemas and eat potato wedges.
Favourite character in a book or movie? (Why)Henry DeTamble in The Time Traveller’s Wife (the book). He’s a time travelling, super cool librarian. Need I say more?!
Favourite ice-cream flavour (or mix-in)?I’m boring. Vanilla – but preferably mixed up with strawberry topping.
Favourite fizzy drink?Coke. Oh how I love coke. In fact, I think I am somewhat addicted, and have been working very hard to change this.
Favourite tv series?So many! I am a pop culture princess! Right now, I’m watching (or eagerly awaiting the return of) Glee, Private Practice, Grey’s, Love My Way, Criminal Minds, Numbers, The Mentalist. Then there’s the reality tv (you’ve got me started now!): MasterChef, Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Wife Swap USA (I know, I know). And oh, how I miss Big Brother!
Favourite Aussie landmark/vacation place?Melbourne! Shoe shopping! Weeeee!
Favourite band/group?A solo act for me, and it’s a toss up between Alicia Keys and Sarah McLachlan.
Favourite sports star?Ew. Sport?! I am a very half-hearted Gold Coast United fan – I say half-hearted because I support them in principle, and if I had to watch sport, it would be football, but I’m really not that into it.
What do you like to do on your holidays?Catch up on what I don’t get time to do the rest of the time: read, cook gourmet meals, catch up with friends. I’d love to travel more, but the reality is I usually end up doing these things instead. A trip to Europe would be nice, though…
What is your favourite Christmas memory?My grandfather falling asleep, every year, the moment lunch was over, while the rest of us did the dishes. He ALWAYS woke up and offered to help about five minutes after we finished!
Who is your hero or role model?My sister. She is an amazing person. Plus, we share the same opinion on almost everything, which makes her perfect. 
Thanks Kate and visit us soon!!!
So, I had intentions of seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox at the Moonlight Cinema – had my tickets booked and paid for, picnic packed – and then it rained. Four weeks later, I have finally managed to see one of my highly anticipated films of 2009, albeit a little too late!
Fantastic Mr Fox is obviously a film adaptation of the Roald Dahl’s much beloved book of the same title. The director Wes Anderson, with the help of his brother Eric, used Dahl’s characters from the book and gave them life through personalised wardrobes, celebrity voices (including Meryl Streep, George Clooney and Bill Murray) and stop-motion animation. The result is beautiful, quirky and incredibly cool. You can see some of the masses of detail that must have been out into the creation of each character here.
The plot centers around Mr. Fox and his family, and their battle with three bully farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. There are a couple of very close calls for Mr. Fox, as well as an upsetting kidnapping, but with the smarts of his friends and family Mr. Fox manages to come out on top, quite literally.
This is one of those children’s movies that’s not really just for children. Yes, it is based on a novel aimed at kids, but there are jokes that will be picked up by teens and adults that smaller children will miss entirely. There really is something in it for everyone. But be quick: considering there’s currently only one screening of this film at most major cinemas on the Coast, this lovely film won’t be around on the big screen for too much longer.
We get some great comments from bloggers about our blog posts, so I thought “Why not interview these fabulous people as well!!” It is vital to know what would happen if one of your local librarians ruled the world for a day – don’t you think???
So here are the answers to Bindi’s great interview!!
If you ruled the world for one day what would you do?
End animal suffering. I don’t know how but I would endeavour.
Favourite jellybean flavour?
Classic red
Favourite book as a child?
Monty – The Runaway Mouse by Esta DeFossard. It’s a beautiful book about a mouse who runs away from home. Lovely real-life pictures that make me a bit sad. I think they used a dead mouse to tell the story. 
Favourite dance move?
The lasso. It makes me lolz.
Favourite book as an adult?
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
Favourite area to browse in the library?
Finance or travel.
List your top 3 hobbies.
Vegetable gardening, seeing live bands and studying Japanese.
Favourite food for the movies?
I don’t like to take food usually.
Favourite character in a book or movie? (Why)
I love Napoleon Dynamite because he shows such raw emotion.
Favourite ice-cream flavour (or mix-in)?
Mango, mmmmm.
Favourite fizzy drink?
Coca-Cola
Favourite tv series?
Seinfeld or Eastenders.
Favourite Aussie landmark/vacation place?
Winton – Western Queensland, so country.
Favourite band/group?
Rise Against
Favourite sports star?
Hmmmm, I’ve heard of sports, but I don’t know him.
What do you like to do on your holidays?
I like to relax and shop in second hand shops.
What is your favourite Christmas memory?
Being with my family and having a full stomach.
Who is your hero or role model?
My Mum because she is a wonderfully beautiful person!
