Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Albert Park reviews for March

The London Eye mystery by Siobhan Dowd - reviewed by Alex

It's a story about this boy called Ted and he's got a disorder where he finds it hard to calculate everyday things like reading people's emotions, listening and concentrating. His brain is very complex and he remembers a lot. His sister is Kat and very annoying. Their cousin they've never met and their auntie come from Manhattan to see them in London. Salim's parents have split up and Salim goes on the London Eye but he doesn't come off...

Rated:  4 reallys - recommended for 9 and up - "easy to read but harder to understand."

Silas and the Winterbottoms by Stephen M. Giles - reviewed by Zoe

Silas has asked his two nieces and his nephew, Milo, to a retreat he owns. Underneath is a volcano. Milo was venturing in the caves when the volcano exploded and killed his parents. Silas has a crocodile called Thorne. Dr. Mangrove knew how to take old bodies and put them in new bodies and he tried to swap Silas into Milo's body. Silas locked Milo up with the crocodile and the girls rescued him. Silas dies and leaves a piece of paper saying Milo is the owner of Somerset House but he doesn't want it. Then they find Silas's wife's will and it says something different - that all three kids own Somerset House.

Rated:  5 reallys - recommended for age 10 and up.

The Seeress of Kell (final book in The Malloreon series) by David Eddings - reviewed by Caitlin

At the end of the last book they got the orb. All the characters are from the prophecy. In the final battle between child of light and child of dark, the seer has to choose. She chooses Orion, the child of light who becomes a god. In the end practically everyone gets married.

Rated:  5 reallys - recommended for 15 and up.

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows (the last book in the series) by J. K. Rowling - reviewed by Tiana

Harry's continuing the task that Dumbledore left him - to destroy the horcruxes. Harry, Ron and Hermione travel around to destroy them. Towards the end there's a famous scene called the battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort projected his voice to say "Give me Harry Potter" but the school protected him. In the end Harry Potter has to face Voldemort.

Rated:  Infinite reallys! - Tiana recommends the Pottermore website.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

St Kilda reviews for March

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."