December reviews from St Kilda

There were only 2 reviewers at St Kilda this month - but they reviewed 4 books between them!

The book of time series by guillarme prevost – all 3 volumes reviewed by Jack

The series is about a boy called Sam who finds out how to travel through time. Thoth statues and 7 coins allow you to travel through time.

In the 1^st book – The book of time - he travels to Iona where monks live in the time of the Vikings. He also travels to ancient Egypt and to the Battle of Flers in World War 1.

In the 2^nd book - The gate of days - he goes to Ancient Greece, Pompeii, and prehistoric times. Along the way he finds out his dad is trapped in the dungeon of Vlad Tepes (the model for Dracula).

Sam also finds a girl called Alicia who he had lived with until a couple of years ago. 

In the 3^rd book - A circle of gold - there is an amazing twist which I am not allowed to tell as it would spoil the story!

The last action in the whole story is a kiss – seriously(?!!)

Rated:  5 reallys (for the whole series)

Katie and the leprechaun by Katherine England - reviewed by Mikhalia

Katie has missed the school bus because she slept in. When this happens she always takes the shortcut through the park and through the trees. She has an accident and grazes her elbow. Something lands on her head – she looks up. She freaks out and looks at her elbow and the graze is completely gone.

There is a leprechaun who is invisible to most people, but not to Katie because she has green eyes. A lady walks past while Katie is talking to the leprechaun but it looks like she is talking to herself.

Rated:  4.5 reallys

December reviews from Albert Park

The field guide : the Spiderwick chronicles, bk. 1 by Tony DiTerlizzi - reviewed by Jo

Twins and their older sister move to an old house in the country. They discover a secret room with a chest and inside it a book which is a field guide to fairies, goblins and elves. This leads the children into all sorts of adventures.

Rated: 3.5/5 - "The book was a bit too short, I'd like it to be a bit longer!" Recommended for 6-9 year olds.

The third wheel : diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney - reviewed by Vincent

Greg is trying to find a date for an upcoming school dance.

Rated: 4/5 - "This is the 7th book in the series but it's not as funny as the earlier ones!"

The magician's nephew by C.S. Lewis - reviewed by Alex W.

Digory and Polly are two children who discover strange yellow and green rings in Digory's uncles' scientific laboratory. The rings are magical and can take you to different worlds.

Rated: 5/5 - "I loved it!"

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann - reviewed by Henry

Brother and sister, Bartholomew and Hettie, are known as the Peculiars as they have special powers. They build a robot that looks like a bird. In their society they are not allowed to be noticed or they will be hung. A mysterious, evil woman notices Bartholomew and takes him away.

Rated: 2/5 - "I didn't have anything else to read!"

Hands up! by Paul Magrs - reviewed by Alex G.

Jason lives with his dad who was a puppeteer. One day Jason steals a bat puppet. It turns out to be a bad puppet. It's name is Tolstoy. Jason's dad goes a bit mad and breaks all the puppets, and wees on them as well to try and stop Jason from becoming a puppeteer.

Rated: 4.5/5 - "Good, but it has it's ups and downs. The start was boring but it got better."

Five go adventuring again : Famous five by Enid Blyton - reviewed by Emma B.

It's about 4 kids and a dog. One of the girls isn't doing so well in school and has to have a tutor. The tutor is actually a thief and steals a scientific paper that their father is working on.

Rated: 2/5 - "I'm reading it on kindle and there are heaps of spelling mistakes and it makes it difficult to understand."

The shining by Stephen King - reviewed by Che

A family move into a hotel because the father gets a job as a caretaker there. But the hotel is evil because people have been killed there. The boy and mother escape but the dad freezes to death.

Rated: 10/5 - "It's really cool!" (it's also an adult book).