Back to School? - Homework Help is at hand Find out where your nearest Homework Help session is, browse our A-Z of useful Homework websites or check out our Hot Topics factsheets on Global Warming and London 2012. For all this and more, visit the Homework Help webpages.

Dead men tell no tales...or do they ? Did you join in with our day of pirate fun in Central Library? Young people spent the day following clues around the library to solve the mystery and find the treasure. On the way they got to find out about real pirates from some of the old books in the library. Have a look at the photographs from the day.

Win family tickets for Finding Nemo! - Closing date 13 September We have a number of family tickets to give away for a Disney on Ice show in November 2008 at the National Indoor Arena. All you have to do is take out 8 children's books on any one visit on your children's ticket and your name will be entered for the prize draw. Find out more about our Finding Nemo competition.

Team Read - Reading Challenge - until 13 September There is still some time left to Go for Gold! Collect stickers each time you read a book to go with your 'moving image' membership card and fold-out poster. Read you way through bronze and silver levels to get your gold medal! (you can read any books you like ). Team Read runs until 13 September.

Are you a musician or a poet? Monthly Open Mic sessions at Sutton Library Your big opportunity! Sutton Library is hosting monthly Open Mic sessions (last Saturday of the month, 10.30am) for young acoustic musicians and poets. Come along and perform in a welcoming and encouraging atmosphere and be inspired by your fellow performers.

Birmingham's Young Poet Laureate can be booked to perform at your event! Our current Young Laureate is Matt Windle. Matt is a boxer and an athlete as well as a poet and wants to get more young people interested in poetry. You can commission Matt to write a poem to read at special events using our online booking form. Find out more about Matt and how to book. You can also read the new poems Matt has written.

Football in Birmingham Libraries! Join in the fun Check out our online footie fun with games and activities, our Football Fever booklist, World Cup Quiz and facts and figures on Euro 2008 - visit our Football Activities online webpage now! Plus - find out about the Premier League Reading Stars scheme and read about the children from Ward End library who visited the Blues ground. You can see some photos of them meeting footballer Martin Taylor and author Tom Palmer and even read their match reports!

Reading the game... Young Libraries Recommends... The Penalty by Mal Peet. To celebrate the National Year of Reading, we are featuring some of our favourite books on the young libraries website. Our latest choice is a mystery story about football, corruption, murder and the occult by a former Carnegie winner. Find out about The Penalty and how to reserve it for free online.

Looking for new friends? Join a Teenage Reading Group! Are you aged 11-16? Would you like to meet some new friends? Do you like reading magazines, books, graphic novels or poetry? Then find out where your nearest Teenage Reading Group meets. We also have reading groups for older young people and for adults.

Tell us which books YOU would like to read Have we got your favourite books and magazines in your local library? If not, why not suggest which books we should buy? Fill in our quick online form at Books 4 U and you could win a book token! Or join in our online magazine survey.

Online fun and games for pre-school children Looking for something new to entertain your toddler? Why not check out our selection of websites featuring favourite story book characters such as Maisy Mouse, Thomas the Tank Engine and Spot. Play simple games or print out colouring and activity sheets. You can even print your own party invitations or send an e-birthday card to grandma! They're easy to use and lots of fun.

Listen to your favourite books on CD All Birmingham Libraries now have even bigger and better collections of stories on CD for you to borrow for free! You can listen to loads of your favourites including Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries, Philip Pullman's Northern Lights, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl and of course J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter.

GCSE Survival Guide For GCSE students, Central Library has all the help you need including free internet access, space to study, revision guides and past exam papers. Our Homework pages also give details of your nearest Homework Support sessions across the city, A-Z of Homework websites, SmartPass Audio Guides and more.

Stop Bullying! Our Stop Bullying webpage contains a useful booklist full of stories about how children and young people can deal with bullying. It includes pictures books, novels for teenagers and non-fiction and there are also lots of useful links to find help online. Plus; check out Poems Against Bullying, written by a local school for National Anti-Bullying week and previously displayed in Spring Hill Library.

Carnegie and Greenaway 2008 children's book awards announced! These prestigious awards were announced on 26 June 2008. The winner of the Carnegie award for an outstanding children's book was Philip Reeve for Here Lies Arthur and the Greenaway award for illustration was won by Emily Gravett for Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears. Find out more or reserve the books online and collect them from a library of your choice.

Key Stage 3 Dares book award - We have a winner! Looking for JJ has been voted the best book in this year's Key Stage 3 Dares Book Award. If you haven't already read it, you can order Looking for JJ or any of the other books in the award (and some CD or tape versions) online FREE and pick them up from your nearest library.

The Liberty Box The A Shared History, A Shared Future project celebrated 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade. Schools and community based groups explored the ways in which slavery in all its forms throughout history has operated, and how it relates to our lives in Birmingham. A new resource resulting from the project The Liberty Box is now available through Birmingham Libraries.

World Book Day March 6 was World Book Day. Thousands of children throughout the country were given book tokens through their school to spend on the new special World Book Day titles and lots of libraries ran book-themed activities. You can still join in the fun with some fantastic online games and activities on the World Book Day website and Stories from the Web.

Holocaust Memorial Day - New poem from our Young Poet Laureate Each year we remember the holocaust on the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Birmingham Young Poet Laureate, Matt Windle, has written a special poem The Gravestone in commemoration. You can also read poems from our two previous poets laureate, Helen Monks and Jennifer Brough. Our Holocaust Memorial Day booklist for young people has lots more information on the subject.

Urban Art at Birmingham Central Library A group of young people from St Basils designed and painted a stunning piece of graphic art outside Central Library with the help of artist David Brown. In September 2007, the grafitti style artwork was shortlisted for the prestigious Love Libraries Award. Have a look at some photographs of the artwork and find out more about the young people involved.