Summer Reading Challenge

Derbyshire libraries would like to invite all children to take part in the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge, Marvellous Makers.

The challenge begins on Saturday 6^th July and ends on Saturday 7^th September.

This year’s Summer Reading Challenge is all about being creative.  Developed in partnership with Create, a leading charity bringing the creative arts to those who need it most, this year’s Challenge aims to fire up children’s imaginations and unleash storytelling and creativity through the power of reading.  

Derbyshire Libraries will be running many free activities to complement this year’s theme. Please ask at your local library or see Derbyshire Libraries’ social media for more information. You can also email ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk

As ever we hope as many of you as possible will want to join the challenge and read 6 or more books during the Summer Holidays. You can join at your local library. Those completing the challenge will receive a medal and certificate.

Derbyshire libraries wishes you all a very happy Summer and hope you have some Marvellous Making and brilliant reading.

Further information on the Summer Reading Challenge can be found here.

The Summer Reading Challenge is produced by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with libraries. Marvellous Makers illustrations by Natelle Quek and logo artwork by Lizzie Everard. All © The Reading Agency 2024.

July Activities for Families

We know that families are always looking for fun activities to take part in, so here's a selection of activities in libraries:

Friday 5th July - Home Educators Group - Ashbourne Library - 2-3pm - social activity for Home Educated Children & their parents - ring 01629 533950 for more info

Saturday 6th July - Elmer Treasure Hunt - Ashbourne Library - 10am-12noon - ring 01629 533950 for more info 

Saturday 6th July - Noisy, fun creative crafts! - Junk Modelling & musical instrument making - Heanor Library - 12-2 pm - all children must be accompanied by an adult - ring 01629 533795 for more info

Saturday 15th July - 3rd August - 120th Anniversary Book Mark Competition - Ilkeston Library - Pick up a template from Ilkeston Library to create your own bookmark design. Winners from each category will get a prize and see their bookmark printed and available in Ilkeston Library. The theme is “My Library My Town”. Age categories 4-7, 8-11, & 12-15 - ring 01629 533275 for more info

Thursday 25th July - Summer Reading Challenge Craft event - Ashbourne Library - 10am-11:30am - and every Thursday morning during the holidays - ring 01629 533950 for more info

Thursday 25th July - ‘Looking after your community’ drop in activities and crafts – paint your own stone and poster design, with other activities to follow - Holmewood Library - 3-5pm (Also Samba Sports on the MUGA at the back of the library all provided by Rykneld Homes). Free refreshments - bring your own picnic blanket/camp chair for the sports activities - for info email jessica.popplewell-barker@rykneldhomes.org.uk

Friday 26th July - Imagination Gaming - Dronfield Library - 10am-2pm - Bookable event - ring 01629 533450 for more info

Adult Events in July

A variety of events and health information for adults in libraries.

• Monday 1 July - PCSO drop in - Ashbourne Library - also 9 & 19 July. 3pm-4pm - chat with your local PCSO - ring 01629 533950
• Tuesday 2 July - Knit & Crochet & Chat - Glossop Library - 2pm-4pm - Drop in knitting & crochet group, every Tuesday - ring 01629 531199 for more info
• Wednesday 3 July - also 17 & 31July - Adult craft group - Heanor Library - 1-2pm - meet people, chat, join in with a variety of crafts or bring along your own - ring 01629 533795 for more info
• Tuesday 9 July - Live Life Better Derbyshire Body MOTs - Heanor Library - 10am-3:30pm - ring 01629 533795 for more info or 0800 085 2299 or 01629 538200
• Friday 19 July - Ilkeston Library -  Author presentation with Wayne Oxley local author and illustrator. 10.30-11.30am. Come along and find out about his 'Mentor series'. Free - Tickets from ICTAF - ring 01629 533275
• Monday 22 July - Free Blood Pressure Checks from Live Life Better Derbyshire - Etwall Library - 2.30-4.30pm - ring 01629 532633 for more info
• Saturday 20 July - Timeswap - Ashbourne Library - 10am-12pm - a chance to learn more about Timeswap - ring 01629 533950
• Thursday 25 July - Citizen's Advice drop in - Holmewood Library - 3-5pm  
• Chess Club - Drop in every other Wednesday - Glossop Library - 1:30-3:30pm - ring 01629 531199 for more info
• Ancestry Help - Chesterfield Library - book a session with our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer to help you to get started with your family history search or find that missing link. We offer free 45 minute sessions on Tuesday mornings. To book ring 01629 533444 or email chesterfield.library@derbyshire.gov.uk

Art Exhibitions 

Ashbourne Library - U3A Photography Exhibition - all month - Tel 01629 533950

Chesterfield Library - Rebecca Elizabeth Draws - drop in during library opening hours in July. Tel 01629 533400

Hayfield Library - Art Exhibition by local artist Michael Ross - 8/07/24 – 9/08/24 - drop in during library opening hours. Tel 01629 533438.

(Rebecca Elizabeth Draws)

Lollies 2024

The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards 2024 (the Lollies) celebrates the best and funniest children’s books in the UK and Ireland, voted for by children. Voting is now open, for titles published in 2022. Why not choose your favourite titles from the shortlists in the various categories, here. The winner will be announced in December.

For further information, look here.

Yoto Carnegies 

The Yoto Carnegies were announced last week

For the first time, the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded to a Black British author, and the current Children’s Laureate - Joseph Coelho - for his “beautifully descriptive” novel in verse The Boy Lost in the Maze illustrated by Kate Milner.

The winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration is Aaron Becker for his “beautifully crafted” and “universal” wordless picture book The Tree and the River.

The winner of the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing is announced as Tia Fisher for her powerful debut novel told in verse, Crossing the Line.

Discover more about these fantastic winners here.

Minecraft Creative Challenges

With the Summer Reading Challenge taking its usual place as the most important part of any kid’s summer (100% FACT), we want to bring our popular Minecraft creative challenges back! Fitting in perfectly with the Marvellous Makers theme, we’ll be setting weekly creative challenges for all the gamers in your families on our social media pages, so keep an eye out for those as the summer rolls on.

Not got Minecraft? No problem! We’d love to see any designs created in Lego, or even sketched out to showcase the amazing creativity of children in Derbyshire. We can’t wait to see what comes our way 😊

Entries can be sent via email to ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk, or via direct message on social media. Look out for the first challenge on Sunday 23rd July!

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 

Peak Buildings, which houses Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, has been closed for the past year to carry out assessments on the building after dry rot was discovered. Unfortunately, the condition of the building means that the museum now needs to move out altogether and look for a new home.

While we’re looking for new premises, we’ll be delivering an interim service which will involve displays, events and activities in other venues within Buxton and further afield. We’re starting this summer with some exciting Family Fun activities in Buxton, including ‘Mermaids and Fabulous Creatures at Buxton Library on 22 August 10:30am-3:30pm, where you can drop in and make a world of underwater wonders.  Keep an eye on our social media to find out more!

Derbyshire Record Office

Records of Burials

A question we’re often asked at the Record Office is: how do I find out exactly where someone was buried? Unfortunately the answer to that isn’t straightforward. The parish burial registers we hold have useful information, such as the person’s name, age and the date of the burial, but they don’t tell you exactly where the person was buried. This was because the registers were concerned with the burial ceremony and not the interment - there was nowhere in the register to add the burial plot number.

So how do you find out where exactly someone was buried? It’s not always possible, but there are a few options to try. For some Derbyshire churchyards groups of volunteers have created transcripts of the headstones and plaques in the church; you can find these Memorial Inscriptions in our Local Studies section. There is also the National Burial Index, which can be viewed on Find My Past (for free at your local library!). For more suggestions and help, see our Cemetery Records Guide.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook.

(Entries in a burial register)

Derbyshire Adult Community Education

Supported learning courses for adults with a learning disability

Did you know DACES (Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service) have Supported Learning courses for people with a learning disability?

We are creating more courses for people with a learning disability to learn with us.

You can find out more about our Supported Learning here.

If you've got a suggestion, email cs.supportedlearning@derbyshire.gov.uk

PressReader

eBooks and eAudiobooks

Did you know that both eBooks and eAudiobooks can be borrowed via BorrowBox and these titles can also be found on our Library catalogue?

There are two other eAudiobook suppliers covering different authors and interests and to search for titles that are available to borrow check Libby and Ulibrary directly.

More information on eBooks and eAudiobooks can be found here.

Listening to eAudiobooks has never been more popular - why not download an app and find a title to enjoy.

Multi Use titles 

Every month we get a new selection of titles on our FREE BorrowBox app of both eBooks and eAudiobooks that can be taken out by multiple users at one time. These stay multi-use for 60 days, so if you have a book club and you're looking for your next title then one of these could be your next choice! 

You can find these titles on the main BorrowBox page, identified as a collection with 'No Waiting!' or 'Available Now!'

Titles available from July are:

In Ebook & Eaudio:

• Cold Red -Chris Ryan
• The Last Summer - Karen Swan
• Another Life - Kristin Hannah

In eBook only:

• The Lost Dressmaker of Paris - Suzanne Fortin

In eAudiobook only: 

• How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell
• None of This Is True - Lisa Jewell

New Adult Books

We’ve chosen to highlight three books published recently for you to enjoy. You can reserve them via our online catalogue.

The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins by Kristina Perez

When Martina Torres arrives in the glamorous and vibrant metropolis of Hong Kong, newly married to her high school sweetheart, the world seems to be her oyster. But looks can be deceiving. Adrift in a foreign city, with no job and no friends, Martina chafes in her new role as Expat Wife. But her luck changes when she meets Veronica Hawkins. Martina can hardly believe her fortune when she's taken under Veronica's wing and into her confidence. Veronica transforms Martina's life and then, shockingly, she dies. She disappears over the side of a yacht during a party attended by Hong Kong's most influential people, yet somehow there are no witnesses. Was it murder? Suicide? A terrible accident? What really happened to Veronica Hawkins?

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Thomas Hart and Grace Macauley are fellow worshippers at the Bethesda Baptist chapel in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits - torn between their commitment to religion and their desire for more. But their friendship is threatened by the arrival of love. Thomas falls for James Bower, who runs the local museum. Together they develop an obsession with the vanished nineteenth-century female astronomer Maria Veduva, said to haunt a nearby manor, and whose startling astronomical discoveries may never have been acknowledged. 
Meanwhile Grace meets Nathan, a fellow sixth former who represents a different, wilder kind of life. They are drawn passionately together, but quickly pulled apart, casting Grace into the wider world and far away from Thomas. In time, the mysteries of Aldleigh are revealed, bringing Thomas and Grace back to each other and to a richer understanding of love, of the nature of the world, and the sheer miracle of being alive.

D-Day the oral history by Garrett M Graff

On 6th June 1944, the Allied invasion began. In this definitive work, Garrett M Graff compiles hundreds of US, Canadian, UK, French and German voices to tell the full story of exactly how that historic day unfolded, in visceral detail. From paratroopers to fighter pilots to nurses, generals, French villagers, German Defenders to Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, this is the most intimate re-telling of D-Day published to date.

Children's Book Recommendations

One of our favourite things to do is recommend amazing children's books to you! This month we recommend you check out these titles:

The Chalice of the Gods - Rick Riordan

The original heroes from The Lightning Thief are reunited for their biggest challenge yet: getting Percy to college when the gods are standing in his way. After saving the world multiple times, Percy Jackson is hoping to have a normal senior year. Unfortunately, the gods aren't quite done with him. Percy will have to fulfil three quests in order to get the necessary three letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus for college. The first quest is to help Zeus's cup-bearer retrieve his goblet before it falls into the wrong hands. Can Percy, Grover, and Annabeth find it in time?

Wigglesbottom Primary: The Pirate Cat - Pamela Butchart (Author) & Becka Moor (Illustrator)

The strangest things happen at Wigglesbottom Primary! A cat decides to join year 2 on a school trip to the seaside and has a brilliant time - chasing seagulls, raiding picnics and sunbathing on the shore. But it's when it goes into the arcade that the trouble REALLY starts...

Yours from the Tower - Sally Nicholls

1896. Tirzah, Sophia and Polly are best friends who've left boarding school and gone back to very different lives. Polly is teaching in an orphanage. Sophia is looking for a rich husband at the London Season. And Tirzah is stuck acting as an unpaid companion to her grandmother. In a series of letters, they share their hopes, their frustrations, their dramas ... and their romances. Can these three very different young women find happiness?

You can reserve them via our online catalogue.

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