Welcome
Daffodils and bumblebees start to appear in local parks and along roadsides, the fields are leaping with life, and all the while Leeds Libraries offer swashbuckling adventures, magical moving pictures and always a bounty of brilliant books!
Free Family Events this Easter Holiday
 Fidget Theatre presents... Pirate Bonnie
Bonnie is a girl with fire in her belly. A fire fuelled by the tall tales about legendary pirates and their swashbuckling adventures. Pirates who voyage to lands over the horizon with questions to be answered and treasures to be found.
Bonnie invites you to step on board, feel the rush of wind in the sails as she recounts the tales and sings to songs of pirates of old. She was born to rule the waves and hunt for treasure but on this latest quest, she knows she must write her own legend; The Adventures of Pirate Bonnie.
Free event recommended for children aged 3-7. Follow this link to find your nearest event and free tickets: Fidget Theatre Presents... Pirate Bonnie | Leeds Inspired
Let's Set Sail!
Join us on a Lego adventure where we'll be taking inspiration from Fidget Theatre's tour of Pirate Bonnie and remembering famous pirates throughout history. We'll also be building ships on wheels, designing main sails and testing if a blast of wind will send them on their journey.
Free event recommended for children aged 5+. Follow this link to find your nearest event and free tickets: Let's Set Sail! | Leeds Inspired
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Animation Stations
Did you know that the first ever film was made in Leeds by the pioneering inventor and photographer Louis Le Prince? Follow in his footsteps and try out old and new animation techniques, make your own short film, and become part of Leeds filmmaking history!
Free family-friendly event recommended for children aged 7+. Follow this link to find your nearest event and free tickets: Animation Stations | Leeds Inspired
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Louis Le Prince Activity Sheet
And look out for our brand new Louis Le Prince-themed activity sheet, available in all our libraries. It features exclusive illustrations by children's author Chris Mould as well as an image to colour in, a spot-the-difference puzzle, anagrams to unscramble and a storytelling challenge. Two young authors who complete the challenge will be selected and will receive a brilliant book bundle, so make sure you grab an activity sheet in your local library!
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Healthy Holidays
We still have a number of spaces left on our fantastic Healthy Holiday programme, running over the Easter school holiday in select Community Hubs & Libraries.
Take part in lots of different activities from arts and crafts to music and dance to theatre and poetry, as well as some brilliant trips to Planet Ice and LS-TEN. This programme is suitable for children and young people aged 5-14 who receive free school meals. Places are available on a first come, first served basis.
Follow this link to register: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/GAGK81/
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Regular Family Clubs
Be part of a regular club where you can meet new friends, get creative and explore books and stories in a whole new way. See below for more details.
Lego Club
Join us at our monthly Lego Club where we'll be building and constructing creations based on best-loved children's books, featuring a different theme each month. Taking place at various venues and different dates
Recommended for children aged 5+. Follow this link to find your nearest club and free tickets: Lego Club | Leeds Inspired
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Code Club
Start your coding adventure with Leeds Libraries!
You will discover our easy-to-follow projects which will help you to learn a variety of coding languages by making games, robots, animations, and websites in a supportive environment.
Recommended for children aged 9-13. Follow this link to find your nearest club and free tickets: Code Clubs at Leeds Libraries | Leeds Inspired
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Pre-birth Black & White Baby Book Making Workshop
Make a high contrast book for your newborn, meet other parents to be and have fun creating in a relaxed and supportive environment. No skills or experience required!
High contrast images can really engage newborn babies when their eyesight is still developing, so these can be used to encourage and support shared reading.
This session is free to all soon-to-be parents but due to the use of hot and sharp objects will not be suitable for children.
To find out more and to book a place, follow this link: Pre-birth Black & White Baby Book Making Workshop | Leeds Inspired
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No need to shhhh!
In 8 of our libraries you can discover a beautiful and inviting Mini Playbox which is filled with open ended activities that can be easily recreated at home, and encourages early speech, language, communication and numeracy.
The Mini Playboxes have been developed in collaboration with Playful Anyway.
Follow this link to find out more: Mini Playboxes in Leeds Libraries | Leeds Inspired
We hope that the activities found within these Mini Playboxes will inspire you to recreate the activities at home or maybe even create new ones of your own!
Follow this link to some helpful videos by Playful Anywhere for some inspiration: Libraries Online Learning - Mini Playboxes
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Recommended Reads
Here are some outstanding titles recommended by The Reading Agency in recognition of Stephen Lawrence Day, April 22nd. Click on the book covers to reserve a copy and collect from your local library.
Omar, The Bees and Me encourages children to look after nature in local communities planting wild flowers to form bee corridors. Themes around cultural identity are also explored through Omar (a new boy from Syria) and Maisie's friendship. Offers an insight into international beekeeping and illustrated by award-winning picture-book maker Katie Cottle, creator of The Green Giant and The Blue Giant. Includes bee facts on endpapers and a recipe for honey cake on end page.
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Our Tower tells the story of two children living in a tower block, who embark on a magical adventure through which they learn to see the beauty of nature and the block where they live. This magical story follows three children living in a tower block, as they embark on a fantastical adventure which helps them see their home in a new light. A deeply personal story written by award-winning poet and Children's Laureate Joseph Coelho, drawn from his own experience growing up in a tower block and looking for adventure.
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With an introduction from bestselling author Sharna Jackson, Happy Here features stories and poems by 10 Black British authors for readers aged 7+. Exploring themes of joy, home and family through a wide range of genres and styles, each author has been paired with a different illustrator to spotlight Black British artistic talent.
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Kai, Orla and Zak grew up together, their days spent on the patch of wilderness in between their homes, a small green space in a sprawling grey city. Music, laughter and friendship bind them together and they have big plans for their future - until Kai's family suffers a huge loss. Trying to cope with his own grief, as well as watching it tear his family apart, Kai is drawn into a new and more dangerous crowd, until his dreams for the future are a distant memory.
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Leeds Libraries are a free; free to join, free to borrow books and no charges for the late return of books. If you're not already, you can join the library in seconds by following this link: Sign Up Online
What's on for Schools
The deadline approaches to register for the Leeds Book Awards
Schools in Leeds only have until March 31st to make sure their pupils can take part in the Leeds Book Awards. This year will be bigger and better than ever before.
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The book award project runs from Early Years right up to KS4, bringing children and young people of all ages together for a special celebration of reading for pleasure in Leeds.
This week we spoke to local councillors and our Leeds City Council Chief Executive Tom Riordan who gave their full support for the refreshed Book Awards and shared their favourite childhood book.
To find out more and see how your school can take part follow this link: Not long to register for the Leeds Book Awards 2023 | Leeds for Learning
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