The terrible thing that happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne - reviewed by Jackson
The Brockets are an average family except for one member, Barnaby, who is pretty average himself, except for one thing, he floats. Everywhere. He literally defies gravity. He has an older brother Henry and an older sister Melanie. To save him from constantly bumping his head his family nail mattresses from David Jones to the ceiling. His parents send him to a horrible school for strange children, but it ends up burning down.
The really sad part is when Barnaby and his mum go for a walk. His mum has him secured with a dog leash so he floats beside her. She decides to cut the leash and Barnaby is released away, up into the sky. Eventually he hits a balloon and is redirected to a city, where he meets many strange individuals, artists and even some nasty circus folk who whip him.
Baranaby is mostly scared and alone, at one point he eats a mouldy sandwich he finds in the sewers. Eventually his parents find him and take him to see a specialist; they think they can cure him!
But does Barnaby want to be cured?
Rated:
4/5 reallys - "It was well written with realistic language but the middle part spread out a bit too much."
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
- reviewed by Olivia
Insurgent is the second book in the
Divergent trilogy. There are five factions which all have different purposes. Tris is the main character and she is a member of Dauntless. Four is also a member of Dauntless. He is called Four because he only has four fears which you find out about in the first book.
There is a massive war between some of the factions, with some wanting to rule all the others. An evil woman called Janine from the faction called Erudite is trying to control Dauntless through the use of a special serum. If you’re shot you can take it out but it turns blue. If it infects you it can control you. Now Janine is threatening to force two infected Dauntless members to walk off of a balcony to their deaths every night until Dauntless surrenders…
Rated:
4/5 reallys
- "It was really, really well written. The words are chosen really well."
Pokémon : a Diamond and Pearl Adventure by Shigekatsu Ihara - reviewed by Oliver
Hareta is trying to face Team Galactica who are trying to steal Dialga, the Pokémon that controls time.
"I got this book, but it was hard to read because you have to read it right to left because it’s a Japanese book."
Sky Raiders (bk. 1, Five kingdoms) by Brandon Mull
- reviewed by Yuanquan
When Cole escapes from The Outskirts he becomes a sky raider scout. What they do is check out floating castles. His friend Dalton was the next one in line to become a scout before Cole came along. One day when Cole goes on a raid he gets stranded and meets some “shaper” slaves from The Outskirts.
Rated:
5/5 reallys - "really good!"
The school for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
- reviewed by Zoe
Once upon a time there was a young girl called Sophie. Sophie is very good looking and seems sweet. What she really wants more than anything is to be accepted into to The School for the Good. She wants to be a princess. If you’re good, you go to The School for the Good and become a princess or a fairy. If you’re bad, you go to The School for the Bad and become something bad, like a witch.
The schools are in the middle of the forest. You can try to reach them, but unless you’re a pupil you will find yourself exactly where you started. Not many children get accepted into either school. Only two kids every four years. Sophie desperately wants to be and leaves cookies outside her window to attract the scouts. In order to make herself look good, Sophie befriends the unsocial “freaky” girl Agatha, who she thinks will be taken for The School of the Bad.
Chosen students vanish from their bedrooms in the middle of the night, only to show up years later in fairy tale books. Sophie’s dad barricades her in her bedroom to stop her being chosen but it’s too late. Sophie and Agatha vanish. But there’s some kind of fluke! It’s Agatha that goes to the Good and Sophie that goes to the Bad…
Rated:
3/5 reallys - "It drags on a bit, but has really good twists and turns."
