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.

Soul Harvest (reviewed by Isaac Lester)

Having survived the wrath of the Lamb--a global earthquake in the 21st month of the Tribulation--pilot Rayford Steele and reporter Buck Williams now embark on a journey of absorbing adventure and Christian triumph. Soul Harvest is book four in the enormously popular Left Behind series (seven books are planned in all), based on those who are left behind in the Rapture. Written with the same gripping pace of Tom Clancy and John Grisham (film rights have already been sold for the first two books), the authors take us to Iraq, America, underground shelters, and the bottom of the Tigris river as Steele and Williams search for loved ones. Meanwhile, biblical prophecies are fulfilled at every turn, including the great soul harvest. For many Christian followers, this series has become a tangible and thrilling testament to the Book of Revelations

Nicolae (reviewed by Isaac Lester)

It has been nearly two years since the mass disappearance, called the Rapture.

In Nicolae the saga continues as Rayford, his new wife, Amanda, and Buck and Chloe (now married) make it their mission to win as many people to Christ as possible. The seven-year tribulation is nearing the end of the first quarter, when prophecy says "the wrath of the Lamb" will be poured out upon the earth.

As the seven-year period hurtles toward the midpoint, the Tribulation Force faces conflict at every turn in their holy war against Nicolae Carpathia, the ruler of the new Global Community.

Rayford and Buck work directly for Carpathia, who knows of Rayford's true allegiance, but not of Buck's.

In Nicolae, the most explosive of the three books thus far, Rayford becomes the ears of the tribulation saints at the highest levels of the Carpathia regime. Meanwhile, Buck attempts a dramatic all-night rescue run from Israel through the Sinai that will hold you breathless to the end.

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (by Liam)

"Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all kinds of tell-tale signs. Mostly because they're nervous. By definition they're all first-timers." Jack Reacher studies his fellow passengers. Four are OK. The fifth isn't and Jack doesn't notice that he has just got himself into more than just a regular death on a subway.

Persuader by Lee Child (by Liam)

Jack Reacher, is a ex-MP who sets up an undercover operation with the FBI to rescue an agent investigating Zachary Beck, a reclusive tycoon believed to be a kingpin in the drug trade. It begins with Reacher rescues Beck's son from a staged kidnapping in order to get close to his father and discovers a connection between Beck and Quinn, a former army intelligence officer who tried to sell blueprints of a secret weapon to Iraq but was murdered before he could pull it off. Or so Reacher thinks, until he spots Quinn in the crowd at a concert in Boston. Now Jack has to find out the truth between these two men without being discovered himself.

Hunger Games written Suzanne Collins (Beth)

Hunger Games is the first book in a trilogy set in a post apocalyptic America. After thirteen districts revolt the Capital their punishment is that every year two young people from each district will compete in the Hunger Games. A fight to the death where only one can survive.

Katniss Everdeen is the female candidate for District Twelve and Peet Mella is the male candidate.

The End Of The Alphabet.

By Fleur Beale.

Ruby yarrow at the age of fourteen realises for most of her life that she has been treated like a dormat by her brother and family and even strangers.her brother who is really smart and always getting awards at school walks all over ruby and she lets him until she realises what is going on.she ends up standing up for herself and gets herself a job at the local store as a cleaner getting payed hardly anything.seeing as her name is yarrow her name is always last for everything which she hates.she sets herself a goal of learning a little bit of portugeese when babysitting for a little brothers friend,and also because of a school exchange with some portugeese students(she accomplishes this in the end.Ruby has a learning difficulty and is not very proud of it until one day someone confronts her and she finally gets some backbone.

The main chaacters in this book are of ruby herself who has the main role in the book and she has to work with her learning difficulty throughout the book.Another important person who had alot of impact in the book was her brother who was alot smarter than her.her mum was also important as throughout the book she did not really support ruby as she favoured rubys brother because he was more academically smart.

i really enjoyed this book because it showed how a person with a learning diffence does'nt need to be ashamed of it and in the end she learned that it was alot better if she waas more confindent.I also enjoyed it becaused it showed how people can change from having no backbone to getting alot of backbone.all because her friend told her she needed to stand up for herself and until then their friendshiop was over.

by Jess Maxtone

Hello

Clive Cussler Plague Ship (Theo)

The Oregon is a wolf in sheep's clothing piloted by captain Juan Cabrillo. Despite its dilapidated exterior which gives the impression that it will fall apart at the blink of an eye. It is in truth a ship at the very forefront of modern technology with several torpedo launchers and large rail guns fitted and is designed for action and investigation.

After a successful mission into Iranian waters, aimed to steal two $2000000 Russian torpedoes a cruise ship is discovered out in one of most the remote parts of sea on the planet. Strangely it has no traces of heat and is not moving, it is expected to be an abandoned ship. After a UAV surveys the vessel, pictures are taken and transmitted to the Oregon, these show that everyone on board is dead due to what looks like massive hemorrhaging. Does this have links to one of the crew members' son going missing, taken by a fundamentalist population control group. It seems quite likely. The cruise ship is scuttled, previously rigged to do so, they must investigate. Failure means massive economical upset and disaster on a global scale.

Plague ship is beautifully structured and written and is probably the book I have most enjoyed reading out of the vast numbers I have read. I strongly recommend it to those who enjoy books with many unknown answers throughout, books that make you think for the entirety of the experience and also those who enjoy action. This book is spectacularly well balanced. It is one of few books which manages to be quite action packed without being full of impossible stunts and unlikely escapes.

Please read it.

Tomorrow, when the war began. written by John Marsden. Reviewed by Kenadee

Tomorrow when the war began is a gripping story about war, love, friendship and loyalty.

The whole story starts off when the main character Ellie, who lives in Wirrawee, Australia, is bored one weekend and decides to get a group of friends together to go on a camping trip to Hell ( named so because of the depth of the 'hole' and also leading into Hell is the 'Satan Steps' so name well suited).

Ellie manages to get a decent enough group of people to come camping. She gets her dads truck and then drives everyone up the hill leading to the Satan steps. There is an old tale going around Wirrawee which says there was once an old hermit who murdered his son and wife and he took refuge in Hell. When Ellie and her friends arrive in Hell they set up camp and go to sleep, but in the night they hear a whole lot of planes going overhead which they just pass off as part of the yearly celebration what they dont know is that this isnt part of the celebration its actually an air raid. The next day they discuss it for a bit and then decide to go exploring through Hell which is where they find the hermits hut where they also find the news reports and letters proving him possibly innocent.

I highly recommend this book to any-one who likes books that keep you awake at night reading.

also this book would be highly suited for anyone over the age of 12.

This book is the first in a series of 8 and makes you want more and more

DRAMA! : The Four Dorothys - Paul Ruditis (Beth)

When you have a school full of the spawn of the a-list-celebrities and you have to put on a spring musicale what do you? The Wizard of Oz in multi cast form none the less. As the title suggests this story is dripping with drama and not just on the stage as Dorothys start dropping out of the musical.

This book is stylised in a form any true musical lover will thoroughly enjoy it, however, if you are not I recommend you do not put this on your must read list. There are many references to musicals including every title being named a show of some kind.

Paul Ruditis has chosen Bryan Stark to narrate this high school tale and he is probably the only one we meet through the story who is not totally obsessed with fame and money. Bryan introduces himself as a watcher of his life; an onlooker. In this way he is the perfect narrator. Bryan uses the story as sort of a diary of his life, one fact that is dealt with is that he is gay but is in the closet his secret will appeal to many readers: "None of my friends have announced to me that they're straight. Until they do that, I don't see much point in making some grand declaration of my own."

Although Bryan is written with some sort of flare it seems that the other characters fall flat in comparison. Ruditis uses many stereotypes and it is difficult to relate to any of them due to the 2 dimensional image we are given. One of these characters is the main heroine Sam who doesn't actually have enough money to attend the school but her mother teaches there so she gets in. Sure she has talent and wants to go far but it is the same old story we have read too many times.

As I said a true musical theatre lover could be able to look past the character flaws because the drama filled story echos what could be an over the top theatre show but I do not recommend it to any one who has no knowledge of the performing arts as the story line is flat and easily predictable and most of the characters are bland and boring.

Paper Towns - John Green (Beth)

Paper Towns is the tale of Quentin Jacobsen -Q to his friends - he has always been in love with his childhood friend Margo Roth Spiegelman. In their last year of high school Margo comes to Q's room in the middle of the night and takes him on an adventure before leaving without a trace in the morning. Q finds various clues that he has to solve before he can hopefully find his childhood sweet heart.

John Green writes a lovable, outsider but guy with a good heart very well and Quentin is easy to relate to and a great narrator through out the story. However Green's character that will most intrigue you will be Margo. The way she is introduced is very interesting as Green uses the clues to reveal more of the her slowly and you wont get the full picture until the end. Her character development has to be a key thread in the story that will keep you guessing who she really is.

One thing that is dealt with in the book that I feel every person should learn is that the way you think about someone isn't necessarily the way they actually are. It is brought up a number of times and challenges Quentin's view of the world around him.

For anyone who likes to read a book that makes them think and reevaluate the world that surrounds them I highly recommend this book no matter what gender you are but this book wouldn't be suitable for children under the ages of 13 as it deals with some themes that aren't appropriate for younger children.

Open- An Autobiography by Andre Agassi (reviewed by Julian Chu-Tan)

This book is aimed more at those out there who are fans or play tennis, but anyone who knows who Andre Agassi is will definitely enjoy this book. This book is not only about his many achievements in his life in tennis but it also describes his journey in discovering himself. This is the first time that he announced to the world that he actually hated tennis since he was a young child. He wanted to quit many times but he didn't know how to do anything else in life. He dropped out of school in the 9th grade (year 10). He returned home from his boarding school with a pink mohawk, and a stud in his ear. He hated his life, because tennis was his life. His father knew he was a born natural and that he was destined to play tennis. His father made his mobile out of tennis balls, when he was in around five years of age his father gave him a tennis racket and let him hit anything in the house as long as he used the racket.

In his whole career he has won eight Grand Slam singles championships tying him for seventh on the all time list, and he's the only man to win a "Golden Slam" - all four Grand Slam singles plus the Olympic Gold Medal. As founder of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, he has raised more than $85 million for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, and acclaimed school for underprivileged children in his hometown, Las Vegas. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Stefanie Graf, and their 2 children.

I had a great time reading this book and assure an enjoyable read to those who are fans of Andre Agassi or tennis. This book was truly inspiring and I think it will inspire many people in years to come.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Reviewed by Brian)

If you lose your purpose ... it's like you're broken.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret which entertained me with its unique use of illustration, often in the form of stop-motion, follows the story of Hugo Cabret, a boy who lived in Paris in the the 1930s. To fix his inheritance from his father, he steals toys from a toyshop of Georges Méliès, who has a mysterious past. Hugo's inheritance, a man-shaped automaton, is the reason he exists and he believes it will lead him to something good.

The author, Brian Selznick, is a well-known illustrator and this third book, the Invention of Hugo Cabret, made him a recognised writer. Despite receiving many awards for illustrating books by other authors, this was the only novel to received awards and win the deserved 'best book of the year' section of a number of magazines.

I loved the book and believe it is a rare book that 'everyone' will enjoy reading. Its rich description of Paris in 1930s and the fact that it is about Georges Méliès' real troubled life makes it very interesting. Georges Méliès was a magician and the first producer to use fantasy or un-real themes in a movie. "A Trip to the Moon" is his best known work. When World War One struck, his company went bankrupt and he became a toy maker who also sold toys, but never recovered from bankruptcy. Later in the book, Hugo fixes his father's automaton, which draws a scene from "A Trip to the Moon" where the rocket hits the eye of the Moon. Through this, Hugo finds out about Georges Méliès' past as a visionary movie maker and why he hates his family watching movies.

There are more things to love about the book, like the unique use of stop motion illustrations. which make you feel like you are watching a movie as you flip through the pages. A good example would be the opening scene of the book. The camera or view zooms from the moon, down to a train station in Paris in the 1930s. The shot moves through the crowd and ends up on Hugo. For most readers, this is a novel way of presenting visual information. The dark frame of the book adds more theatre-like atmosphere and the beautiful pencil-drawn illustrations got me so involved in the story that I could not put it down until I had finished.

The invention of Hugo Cabret is a truely unique book. The stunning drawings just suck you into the book, and the topic, the life of Georges Méliès, are fascinating. Brian Selznick's amazing storytelling and stop-motions are less surprising when we find that his ancestor, David O. Selznick, was the producer of "Gone with the Wind". Hugo Cabret is definitely worth 9/10 and is a must read for all ages.