Review – Wildthorn by Elizabeth Eagland

This is the best teenage novel I have read for ages! Louisa Cosgrove is not like other girls in Victorian England. She is fiercely ambitious and wants more than anything to become a doctor like her father. Her father encourages her in this but when he dies Louisa faces tough opposition to her plans from her family.

Disaster strikes when Louisa is betrayed and committed to a lunatic asylum. Who has placed her there? Will she ever convince the doctors that she is not mad? This is an excellent book about daring to be different from the norm. Louisa’s plight becomes all the more poignant when you realise that women in Victorian England were shut up in asylums, very often for no reason at all. I would definitely recommend this to Y9+ students.

Year 7 Book Club Recommend

The Year 7 Book Club recommended the following books this week

Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Lost in the snow by Holly Webb and Sophy Williams

Mates, dates series by Cathy Hopkins

Charlie and the chocolate factory by Roald Dahl

Vampirates by Justin Somper

Raven’s gate by Anthony Horowitz

Freezetag by Caroline B. Cooney

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

The animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann

Review – Percy Jackson and the Lightening Theif by Rick Riordan

 

Percy Jackson thinks he is a normal boy. Strange things do sometimes happen to him but that is just a coincidence right? Wrong! Percy, it turns out is actually the son of the Greek god Poseidan and many monsters wish to track him down and destroy him! No sooner has Percy got his head around these startling facts than he is sent on a quest to bring back Zeus’s stolen lightening bolt from the underworld. A very exciting and enjoyable fantasy and adventure.

Review – Love Aubrey by Suzanne M. LaFleur

This is a wonderful book. At the beginning of the story we find Aubrey, an 11-year-old girl left home alone. Her mother has gone away and we are not sure at first what has happened to her father and sister. Aubrey is soon rescued by her Grandmother who takes her to live with her in Vermont. We soon discover that something terrible has happened to Aubrey’s family, something that it will take a lot of strength to get other. With the help of Gram and her new friend Bridget, Aubrey slowly starts to gain the strength she needs to move forward. A very sad but ultimately heartwarming book that I would definitely recommend.

Review – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Set in the future in a land that was once the USA, this is the story of Katsiss who is chosen to appear in the reality TV show “The Hunger Games”. The big difference between this and our TV shows is that in the Hunger Games contestants must fight to the death to survive! At first I thought this book was a bit far fetched but I soon started to really enjoy it. Towards the end of the book I couldn’t put it down as I was desperate to discover whether Katsiss and her friend Peter both survived.

Review – City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

This is the final novel in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments trilogy and if you haven’t read the others then I would definitely recommend them.

The Mortal Instruments books are about a race of secret demon hunters called Shadow Hunters and their battles with Valentine an evil  former Shadow Hunter.

This book sees the action transferred from New York to the Shadow Hunter’s home country of Idris and sees Clary, Jace and the others gearing up for one final battle with Valentine.

A fantastic fantasy with enough adventure, battles and romance to appeal to boys and girls alike.

Review – A beginner’s guide to acting English by Shappi Khorsandi

I read this autobiography over the summer and absolutely loved it! I am definitely going to buy a copy for the library because I can think of quite a few of my upper school students who would really enjoy it.

Written by comedian Shappi Khorsandi, this is the true story of her childhood in Iran and her family’s exile to England. When Shappi’s dad takes a job in London the family think they will soon be moving back to Iran but then the Revolution happens. The Khorsandi family are no longer welcome in Iran and must get used to living in England. Shappi and her brother struggle to adapt at first but soon find themselves fitting in better than their parents. The book is sometimes moving, sometimes funny but always enjoyable.

Review – Dreams from my father by Barack Obama

This is Barack Obama’s autobiography and it is a great read. In his own words, he describes his childhood in Hawaii and what it was like growing up black in the United States. He also describes his difficult relationship with his father whom be barely knew and the joy and challenges of getting to know his African family. I read this book very quickly and could not put it down, it was inspirational and moving. I know that some older students in school have already read and enjoyed this and I would definitely encourage others to do so.

Year 7 Book Prize Winner Announced!

All this term my Year 7 book club have been reading books from a shortlist they selected themselves. In order to appear on the list the books had to be ones they had read and enjoyed during the past two years. The shortlisted books were,

“The boy in striped pyjamas” by John Boyne

“Coraline” by Neil Gaiman

“Tunnels” by Roderick Gordon

“Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer

“Holes” by Louis Sacher

“The bad beginning” by Lemony Snicket

“Wild Magic” by Cat Weatherill

I was sure that Twilight would win but the suprise winner was…

“Wild magic

This is sort of the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn with a few differences! My group all loved it and said they voted for it because it was a book not many people had heard of and it deserved more publicity!

Review – Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera

This is a fantastic book! Khalid, a 15 year old Muslim boy from Rochdale visits Pakistan with his family shortly after the 9/11 attacks take place. Whilst there, Khalid accidentally gets caught up in a demonstration and soon finds himself arrested on suspicion of being a terrorist. The story is truly terrifying as no one believes that Khalid is innocent or even that he is still a teenager. From terrible prisons in Pakistan and Afghanistan Khalid ends up in Guantanamo Bay where he is held without trial. What happens to Khalid is frightening and sometimes upsetting but somehow he manages to hold on to his memories of his family and this keeps him going through the dark days.

This is a powerful novel which will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. I definitely recommend it.