December reviews from Albert Park

Rattled! : Maxx Rumble Cricket, bk. 1 by Michael Wagner - reviewed by Flynn (aged 8)

The book is about a boy named Maxx Rumble and he is a tremendously good cricket player. He plays against a fantastic team and they have a superstar whose name is Happy. Happy is amazing at everything but Maxx Rumble hits him for a six, but it was lucky because then he drops the catch on the boundary, it is not an easy catch.

"I rate it a whopping FIVE out of FIVE because it is exciting and tense so that is why I rate it five out of five."

(And for the last book club for the year we enjoyed the yummiest lemon slice treats that Flynn and his dad made. Thanks Flynn!)

Katy by Jacqueline Wilson - reviewed by Zoe (aged 10)

It's about a 12 year old girl and her life. She is the eldest of six. Elsie, her stepsister and Katy quarrel all the time and she also argues with her stepmother Izzi. Halfway through the book Katy loses the use of her legs on a rope swing that collapses. Because of this Katy is not able to go to Wales. Finally, Katy is supposed to go to Springfield for high school but is unable to go for a while because she is in a wheelchair and they do not have a lift. Once she is at high school she is so disappointed because she is not in her friend Caroline's (Cecy) class and almost stops being her friend. She does have another friend she met in hospital named Dexter. But in the end she goes to Springfield and everything ends up okay.

"I rate it Five out of Five wheelchairs because it was interesting."

A waltz for Matilda by Jackie French - reviewed by Emma (aged 10)

This is about a girl who lives in the city with her mum and aunt but they both die. She goes to live with her father in the country, when she gets there her dad is surprised to see her. The owner of the land next door called Drinkwater (which is huge) wants their land. Mr Drinkwater tells them to get off the land but the father said he would rather die and jumps into the lake and gets caught in weeds and drowns.

People tell Matilda to sell her land but she says never and hires someone to help her. Mr Drinkwater's son James comes along and they fall in love but he goes off to war and dies. She has a friend called Tommy who is jealous of James. I have not finished the book yet ...

Rated: 5/5 - "Intriguing! Romantic and people die a lot."

Once upon a dork : Dork diaries, bk. 8 by Rachel Renee Russell - reviewed by Georgia (aged 10)

Nikki Maxwell has an enemy named MacKenzie Hollister who absolutely hates her. One day they play dodge ball for PE and MacKenzie decides to slam the ball on her face. When she wakes up she is surrounded by munchkins. Aaaaaagh! All her original friends turn into fairytale characters. She has to find a way to get back to normal. She finally finds a way out and everything returns to normal. MacKenzie gets detention and has to clean the toilets (for slamming the ball).

Rated: 4/5 - "It's okay because they copied the Wizard of Oz, Cinderella and pretty much everything else."

November reviews from Albert Park

Pennyroyal Academy by M.A.Larson - reviewed by Miranda

This book is about a girl (she doesn't have a name) who makes friends with a boy when they both arrive at the academy together. What I know so far (I haven't read it all) is that she is the odd one out at the academy because she grew up with dragons. The Academy's shield has 4 quarters on it and on each one is a princess, a knight, a dragon and a witch. Dragons and witches are sort of evil - but the girl grew up with dragons! At the academy she is given the name 'Evie'.

Rated: infinity/5 - "because the story is dramatic and imaginative and the crazy path it goes. I've no idea what is going to happen as I haven't finished it."

Dork diaries : Party time by Rachel Renee Russell - reviewed by Georgia

It's near Halloween and Nikki Maxwell's school is having a Halloween party. The principle asked for people to run it so Nikki and her friends put their hands up, unfortunately so did the CCP girls (they are mean girls). The CCP girls quit 2 days before the party and Nikki is panicking because she thinks they won't finish planning in time. Her crush Brandon tells her to 'calm down we can finish it!', and they do manage to finish everything. She has to host her little sister Brianna's party dressed as a rat, and it is the same day as the Halloween party. Nikki swaps parties so she can go to the Halloween party but doesn't realise her sister and friends have followed her to the school party and crashed it! The principle is angry and Mackenzie an annoying girl blames Nikki.

Rated:  5/5 - "So spectacular and it's like my life, but a bit worse and a bit better!"

Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt - reviewed by Charlie

This story is about a pig who comes to babysit three children. Nanny Piggins used to be in a circus, she thinks that chocolate is good for you and gives the children 2 bars of it for dinner! She does lots of weird stuff with the children such as hiring a sailing boat that she wants to sail to China. The boat gets caught in a storm and gets a hole in it so water leaks inside. Some Chinese people in a big boat see them and save them. They take them to China and then back home.

Rated:  4/5 - "because it was good."

Sleepovers by Jacqueline Wilson - reviewed by Zoe

It's about 5 girls who call themselves the Alphabet Club because of their names and they have sleepovers for their birthdays. Daisy from the group does not want to have one though because she has a disabled sister and she thinks the girls will be mean. At the sleepover Chloe is mean to Daisy and makes her watch a horror movie. Daisy's disabled sister starts making strange sounds because she can't talk and is in a wheelchair. Chloe gets nervous and wets her pants. The other girls don't talk to Chloe anymore because she is mean. And Daisy realises she is happy to have her disabled sister.

Rated:  4.9x3/5 - "it's very, very, very, very, very good ... but not great!"

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen - reviewed by Julia

This book is about a boy named Brian who is about 13 years old and he is going to visit his dad in a remote part of Canada. He is on a tiny single engine plane when the pilot has a heart attack and Brian has to land the plane in a lake. Brian spends 2 months in the bush, he makes a hut from pine trees, eats raspberries, fish and a bird. On the last day he decides to look in the plane and retrieves an emergency kit. There is dried food, a sleeping bag, matches and a transmitter. He makes a feast with the dried food and then a rescue helicopter finds him. It's really strange because at the end of the book it doesn't say whether he was happy to be found or not.

Rated:  4¾/5 - "I liked the story but it's not very entertaining as there isn't much action - I like books that have a lot of action in it."

Maxx Rumble Cricket : Maximum Maxx! by Michael Wagner - reviewed by Flynn

Maxx has a game coming up and he's not really practicing just playing games. Even though he doesn't practice he always wins (almost).

Rated:  5/5 - "Entertaining! I play cricket so I like it!"

Mad dogs (Cherub series) by Robert Muchamore - reviewed by Emma

This book is about a bunch of kids who are spies called Cherub. They are trained to be spies because nobody would suspect them of being one. James is always sent out on missions because he is so good. Some of the missions he is sent on involve drugs and terrorists (for example one involved an eco-terrorist group). James and another boy Michael have to join 2 gangs who are fighting one another and send the information to headquarters because the police need the info fast. The gangs do small robberies but then do a huge one at the airport. Because Cherub are involved with Mi5 the boys get out of being arrested. This book is not for younger readers, for example James has a girlfriend but he cheats on her a lot!

Rated:  5/5 - "I've read all of them! The only reason I heard about this book is because my mum is a podiatrist and one of her clients recommended it and they are really good."