Ghost Boy by Felicity Pulman (JoonSu)

Ghost boy is a novel which is set in Quarantine Station in Sydney, Australia.There are two main characters Fred(usually called Froggy) and Thaddeus(usually called Tad).

After Froggy's family has moved to Sydney, Froggy keeps expriencing nightmare of drowning. One day, his dream comes true and Fred meets the 'ghost' Tad. It was also when diseases were so common in Sydney and people were dying out. Froggy realises that the future relies on the understanding of the past.

The problem at the start is Froggy and Tad do not trust each other.And there is a new character introduced-Cassie. As the time goes, they start to trust each other and start to solve the secrets of the family treasure. They will only be set free if they solve the secret. Tad was exiled when Sydney was griped by a smallpox outbreak.

This book was intersting because it involves the unknown part of the nature.It has an element of the supernatural.Also the story contains historical facts. The language is simple and easy to understand. I think this book is worth reading.

Eveline by James Joyce (Hayley)

Eveline by James Joyce

This is a short story which was about a girl called Eveline and her decision to leave or stay in the environment she is living in. Eveline's life was not as easy as others. It was hard and difficult and she faced violence from her father from when she was young. The father did abuse her physically but Eveline was a victim of emotional abuse. After her mother's death, he would emotionally blackmail her and say what he would do to her is only for her dead mother's sake. All the money she earned, she gave it to her father but her father would not give his money to her saying he won't give his hard-earned money to spend. The only times he gave money to her was when he wanted her to buy dinner for him. But a chance came for her to leave this kind of life and move into a new environment, when her boyfriend, Frank asked to move with him overseas but when the decision came for her to leave or stay "she did not find it a wholly undesirable life." When it was time for her to leave, she left only Frank to leave and "gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition," and she was reluctant to travel. She decided to stay where she was, even with the negative actions she has to face from her father.

In this story, I recognized that even with a family that may be horrible and where you have complications, you still may have the heart of caring for them and not wanting to leave them, but this may be due to other reasons, such as in this story, Eveline was thinking of her mother who past away, but also her father.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (JoonSu)

Title: A Christmas Carol

Author: Charles Dickens



A fantasy story A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens clearly shows the theme of how enemies can become friends after an incident, which also refers to a person hating something turning out to liking it. An interesting character in the film is Ebenezer Scrooge. He is interesting, because the theme is shown through the events which are related to him.



The theme is shown when Scrooge hates people who greets him with ‘Merry Christmas’. Scrooge, an old man suffering poverty, was working in his office. Suddenly, his nephew swung the door open, and shouted, ‘Merry Christmas’, but Scrooge told him to leave him alone. ‘What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer…’, he said. This shows that Scrooge believes that Christmas is his enemy which is destroying his life and boosting his poverty. Through this idea, I learnt that joyful events, such as Christmas or Easter may not be joyful for everyone.



Another part which shows the theme is when he greets everyone with ‘Merry Christmas’ at the end of the story. The three ghosts, who had shown Scrooge his past, present and future, taught him a valuable lesson of, how he should not live too thrifty, but sharing, especially on joyful days, such as Christmas. ‘I’ll give you money and if you buy me a turkey, I will give you 1 shilling. If you buy me the turkey in 5 minutes, I’ll give you 5 shillings.’ This quote shows that he had begun to share. Another quote showing this idea is when he says to Bob, his worker, ‘You’re late, you seem lazier. So, I’m planning to give you a raise’. Through this part, I have learnt that through a valuable lesson, people’s personalities can change 180 degrees.



Through this book, I learnt that when we share, we also share the happiness. I hope I can be happy by sharing, and other people to know this fact.

Marley & Me by John Grogan (Hayley)

This book, Marley & Me is a true story about the life of a Labrador called Marley and his owners. It is told by John Grogan who is in reality, Marley's owner and is the author of the book. John and his wife Jenny decided to adopt a labrador puppy as they wanted to be sure they could take care of a baby - it was a practice of taking care of a baby but instead first with a puppy. It wasn't so easy looking after Marley though because of his mischief and adventures he got up to. He was quite a handful to his owners. He was even kicked out of dog school due to his disobedience. John stated him as "the world's worst dog" but this has two meanings, where Marley did get up to some trouble, he still was a dog that was lovable and gave happiness to the family.

Overall, this book was fun but emotional at times and really supported the idea of love, friendship and loyalty. I would recommend this book to everyone as it's not a book just for dog-lovers.

indwelling (reviewed by Isaac Lester)

Assassin's (reviewed by Isaac Lester)

is it right to kill Satan's hit man? Would it help God's work? This installment in the Left Behind series picks up with Rayford Steele--"believer" and international fugitive--as he struggles with a plan to assassinate Antichrist Nicolae Carpathia. Meanwhile, Carpathia has been busy rebuilding roads, airports, and a cellular/solar satellite phone system--all designed to help him become supreme ruler of the world--and even claim himself to be God. We also find ace reporter Buck Williams anonymously preaching to the masses of believers and converts through his cyberspace magazine The Truth. All the believers in the safe house, including Buck, Doc, Chloe, and Tsion, are suspicious of Hattie--former mistress of Carpathia--who claims to be a believer but may have already compromised their secret location when she tried to buy her way to Europe months before.

Fans of the series won't be disappointed. Jenkins's signature writing is at full force. Readers can count on a suspenseful plot, imaginative futuristic thinking, and familiar characters, all of which appear in the opening pages and are sustained until the last cliffhanger scene when God unleashes another earth-shattering disaster.

Apollyon (reviewed by Isaac Lester)

Apollyon is another suspenseful chronicle of those left behind after the rapture of the saved. As the book opens, Hattie Durham, the former airline attendant and mistress of the antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia, is wracked with confusion about what to do with her illegitimate child, whose birth date is coming due. Rayford Steele, the airline pilot who flies Carpathia's plane, is ambivalent about the mounting evidence that his late wife, Amanda, may have been a false believer. Buck, the ace newspaper reporter, and Chloe, his wife, are debating whether to have a child when the future of the world is so uncertain. And all of the world's thousands of believers are gathering in Jerusalem for a stadium rally, which will lead to a showdown with Nicolae Carpathia. Believers are increasingly relying on the Internet for underground communication, and most of them are becoming more and more tempted by violence as a way of battling the forces of evil overtaking the world. But demon locusts are shortly dispatched as a divine plague to attack those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads; this buys the believers a little bit of time to solve their respective personal crises, all of which end in ways that will keep you riveted until the last page.