Holiday fun in volumes as youngsters pack library

Books are still popular, with young Northlanders spending their holidays at the library to hang out and read.

About 60 tweens and teens packed the Whangarei Central Library this week for Teens' Breakfast Club, a school holiday programme for young adults.

The programme, which is new this winter, gives intermediate and high school students a place to hang out, enjoy some crafts, grab a free breakfast, and get stuck into some books.

Libraries manager Paula Urlich said many times during the week the shelves were left empty after the crowds of teens had gone home and then had to be restocked.

"You'll see a lot of teens hanging around with books in their hands," said Ms Urlich. "Books are definitely popular."

Some of the most popular books are the ones that have recently been made into films.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green is at the top of Nielsen's NZ bestseller young-adult book list last week, and fans of the book weren't hard to find at the library yesterday.

"It's not a normal love story," said Emily Sheperd, 14.

Others were reading older series books for the first time and still find the magic in books.

"I'm reading Twilight at the moment," said Natalie Xu, 14. "It's a fun escape."

But some older teens are interested in more colourful reads.

Shane Jopling, 17, has only been to the programme for a few days but walks out with some new books to read each time.

"At the moment I am reading a lot of manga," he said.

"The library has been really cool, lots of stuff to do."

The programme lasted two hours each day but many teens decided to hang around after the crafts and food was packed up.

"A lot of them won't want to go," said librarian Robyn Kay. "We have a lot of them bringing their siblings and staying for the whole day."

As well as fuelling their imaginations, the teens can also fuel up on a free breakfast.

It is a new addition to the winter holiday programme and the library plans on carrying it on to future school holiday programmes.