November Reviews from St Kilda

Genius: the game by Leopoldo Gout, Review by Aarev

Its about three kids in a club called lodge and they are all geniuses. Tunde is an engineer from a little village in Nigeria, Painted Wolf can log criminal activity to give evidence to the police from anywhere and Rex is a hacker. They get invited to a game which is set up by India’s youngest CEO. They have to find out about a butterfly that keeps appearing on the screen…

Rated: 4.9/5 "I really liked it, except I would have liked a fourth character. I don’t like it when there are three characters, there could have been another engineer or coder."

 Loki: Where mischief lies by Mackenzi Lee, Review by Jaxon

Loki is the god of mischief in Norse mythology. Loki and his brother Thor are competing to be king of Asgard when Odin has died. It’s most likely going to be Thor who wins because he’s the warrior and Loki is the sorcerer. Loki is a sorcerer and everyone fears him because they fear magic. He’s super powerful because he’s a god. He’s on Earth at the part I’m up to – there are nine realms in Norse mythology. He’s on Earth as a god, with regular humans in Victorian times. He has to find a secret company called Sharp which is devoted to finding gods…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “This is based off of real Norse mythology, I’m finding it really interesting”

Black Emu: A truer history by BrucePascoe, review by Atticus

About Aboriginal culture and what they did for a living before other people came. It’s about their agriculture like how the use fire, find food and what they ate and how they survived. There were lots of these comments from diary entries of a settler about them that were not true. It also talks about how they were abused during settlement. There’s another book that’s more for adults that doesn’t have the pictures and is more of a chapter book.

Rated: 5/5 reallys "I like learning about past times”

George's secret key to the universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking, Review by Jasmine

It’s about a boy called George. He lives next to his friend Annie and her dad and they have this weird magical computer called the Cosmos. It upgrades from a baby to a teenager. The computer opens up and shows them a door into the universe, and they go back in time to the Big Bang. They have a book on the Big Bang. They send a rover to Mars, but the rover just starts going in circles. So Annie and George and their annoying friend who Annie hates because he bit her Emmet, sneak off into space without telling Annie’s dad to fix the rover. Annie gets a weird message from an alien planet saying if you don’t come here we’ll destroy earth…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “super cool, it has lots of facts about space”

The dragon prophecy by Geronimo Stilton, Review by Inez

It's about Geronimo, who travels to a land in his dream. The leader of silver dragons had to keep guard over a dragon egg and it was lost, if that egg is destroyed the balance of the Kingdom of Fantasy would be broken, so Geronimo must find it…

Rated: 5/5 “it’s really good”

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Review by Aryana

It’s about these five teenagers who go into detention. All of them were framed to get detention. There’s this teacher Mr Avery, and if you go into his class with a phone you are doomed because you will automatically get detention. Because he checks bags. Someone frames them by putting phones into all of their bags. There’s the prom queen princess Abby, a jock Cooper, a geek Brian, a criminal Nate and a reporter, Simon. Simon is a reporter who writes about the big secrets of the people at school. They all go into detention and try to convince Avery that their phones are actually in their bags and not the ones he caught them carrying earlier. When Avery leaves the room, one of the five gets murdered. The remaining four are now suspects and must convince the police and each other that they are innocent…

Rated: 5/5 reallys “really good”

Middle school: how I survived bullies, broccoli and snake hill by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, Review by Sonia

It’s about a boy called Rafe and he has a sister called Georgia. He thinks that she’s really smart. They go to Summer camp, and the girls and boys are separated. On the girls side there’s this hill called Snake Hill and on the boy’s side There’s Anthill. There’s a whole bunch of bullies on the boys side. The cafeteria is just picnic in a circle with no roof. Rafe makes a lot of friends.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys  "It’s a good book so far"

Stardust and the daredevil ponies by Stacy Gregg, Review by Zara 

It’s about a girl called Izzy, she has gotten her dream job handling horses on a TV show. The horses are palominos. It’s about more than horses though…

Rated: 4/5 Reallys “It was good but it could have had more action”

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, Review by Safia

There’s three farmers and a fox that has children. Every day the dad fox gets chickens from each of their farms. Soon the farmers get sick of this and try to trap him. He runs back home but they set another trap. They’re underground. Foxes don’t have to eat for a long time, they set a trap right outside their home. They dig a hole in but the foxes are really fast diggers…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys

September Reviews from St Kilda

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, Review by Arianna

It’s about this girls she’s got high intelligence, she thinks of everything really logically it’s some kind of disorder. So at the moment I’m only up to the part where she is telling you what she’s interested in and her life up until then and then her parents die just when she’s starting at high school. She gets stressed when people use expressions that doesn’t understand, and she uses counting by seven as a way to manage it.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "I’m giving it 5 out of five because I find how she views the world and the problems she is going to face quite interesting"

Thea Stilton and the prince's emerald by Geronimo Stilton, Review by Sonia

It’s about these five sisters and they go to India. These monkeys steal everything that’s shiny. They go to this market.

Rated: 4.5/5 Reallys

Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillip Pearce, Review by Vickie

There’s a boy who lives in a garden and he’s trying to get through a door. He unlatches the latch and magically goes through and sees this gardener but it’s like he’s invisible. At night there is this big storm…

Rated: 4/5 Reallys  "It’s interesting but when he goes through the door but nothing much happens"

Wings of fire: winter turning by Tui T. Sutherland, Review by Aarev

About a dragon of course, an ice dragon called Winter. He finds his brother Hailstorm has been magically turned into a sky dragon and when you put on the necklace, you instantly turn and have all of these thoughts of being really loyal to Queen Scarlet and of being a Skyling, when you take the necklace off, the dragon scales melt off and turn into hail stones. Winter and his friends Moon and Kinkajou find out it's actually Hailstorm, Winter and Hailstorm fly back to the Snow Palace. Hailstorm had been missing for three years so now Winter is on the top so they undergo the dragon trials- Hailstorm versus Winter. They go into the cave and fight with these diamond ice spears, but the don’t fight, they stab Fury, a very old animus dragon and a Foe Slayer. Hailstorm is about to kill Winter when…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "Really good. I like how it’s a series."

Spelling Superstar Sally by Yvette Poshoglian, Review by Safia

It’s about Ella and Olivia who love to watch Spelling Superstar on TV. When their teacher gets a note that he can choose anyone in his class to go on the show,…

Rated: 4/5 Reallys "Really good"

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams, Review by Jaxon 

This is a really amazing book. It looks pretty childish but it’s really not. Basically this guy is on Earth, and a 200 hundred year old alien that knows Earth is about to get vaporized. So they get a hitchhike from a ship because the cooks are really nice. But then the alien race trying to destroy Earth, the vogens try to destroy them. They try to flush them out through an air lock but then because of the improbability drive this stolen spaceship comes out of nowhere and saves them in a nothingness of a second. Basically it can go everywhere in a nothingness of a second so they get on there. But then really improbable things start happening, like the guy from earth, his limbs start twisting and he begins to lose them. His partner from Earth, the alien Ford Prefect? Starts turning into a penguin. Arthur says ‘Ford, you’re turning into a penguin, stop it’ and since it’s still in the improbable zone, tries to go an shut the door, becuas these furry little hands trying to get through. He says ‘Ford, there’s an infinite number of monkeys trying to show the script they worked out for Hamlet’ basically the improbability guide transports them to the most improbable places. It’s basically a myth, a legend, to a planet that creates planet. You also find out the answer to the ultimate question, the meaning of life….

Rated: 42/5 Reallys "The best book to ever exist in the entire universe – or should I say galaxy."

Awful Auntie by David Walliams, Review by Zara

There’s a girl called Stella she’s the heir to Saxby Hall. Her evil aunt Alberta stole a rare owl from a nest and smokes from a pipe. Alberta wraps her all around ina necessary bandage, because she kills her parents by poisonous plant seeds. Stella has to try and escape but her aunt finds her, when she reaches the gates, the owl catches her in her beak and takes her back, she gets locked into the cellar. She cried and the hears a voice from inside the wall…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "Alberta is really mean which I love""

August Reviews from St Kilda

Whisper by Lynette Noni, Review by Aryana

It’s about this girl in prison who undergoes this treatment every day which breaks her. She doesn’t talk because of some incident that happens, and she keeps calling herself a monster…

The way the author describes the white walls, bleached colours and one rug that she has is a little creepy and makes you feel scared for her and wonder why she is there.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys

Smarty Cat by Bruce Dawe, Review by Jasmine

It’s about this family called the Dim Witties. One day they are watching this question show called the Piccadilies and their cat gets to go on the show and he does really well until the dog shows up…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “Super funny, he eats waffles and whipped cream for breakfast”

Last 13 by James Phelan, Review by Aarev

It’s about a guy called Sam, he’s this guy who dreams in class. His favourite teacher, Tobias, travels with him from his first school to his second school. He has nightmares of a man who shoots flames out of his arms and threatens to burn down the whole city. He doesn’t know about the secret school and the other dreamers…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “I like action and adventure”

Wolf Girl by Anh Do, Review by Sonia

It’s about a girl called Gwen who ends up living in the forest after everyone in her city tries to flee and she gets separated from her family. But she’s not alone, she’s living with a band of animals.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “I really like adventure and Anh Do is one of my favourites.”

The (almost) perfect puppy by Meredith Costain, Review by Safiya

It’s about a dog called Bob. He always eats the trash. One day he gets out of the house on his own, jumping a wall and crawling through a hole in the fence.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “It’s really funny”

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell, Reviewby Zara

There’s a plane crash. All of the kids who survived meet together and try to build a raft to go home. The youngest one Max picks his nose. Fred finds signs that there is someone else on the island…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “Not scary just interesting”

The enchanted flute by James Norcliffe, Review by Vicki

There is a girl called Becky who plays an enchanted flute that will only play certain notes. She meets Dr. Faunus and has to play for him. Becky gets lost in the enchanted forest…

Rated: 5/5 “An interesting adventure”

The last council: Amulet, book 4, by Kazui Kibuishi, Review by Nicholas

They take Emily to this floating island in the sky where the sky council and stone keeper are. She finds more stone keepers and when she is with the council the stone monster tries to take over her mind...

Rated: 5/5 “it’s a good book”

Great expectations by Charles Dickens,Review by Lachlan

This kid goes near a lake where there is a boat holding prisoners. Some prisoners escape and one threatens him in order to get food and something to break the shackles off of his feet.

Rated: 4/5 Reallys “I got a bit bored at the start but I’m still reading it”

June Reviews from St Kilda

Carnivorous carnival: a series of unfortunate events, book 9 by Lemony Snicket, Review by Jaxon.

It's about three siblings called Klaus, Sunny and Violet Baudelaire. They end up sneaking into the back of Count Olaf's car. He's trying to steal their fortune. So far they've gone through about seven guardians by this book. They put themselves in disguises and join a carnival show. Sunny is too little for the outfits so she dresses up as a wolf baby, because she has very sharp teeth. Violet and Klaus dress as conjoined twins. They get to know the carnival folk including a strongman and a contortionist. Then Count Olaf shows up with some very hungry lions...

 Rated: 5/5 The whole series is amazing

Drama by Raina Telgemeir, Review by Aarev

There's this girl in seventh grade. There's a school play on and she wants to sing in it, but her voice is sooo bad. She gets to be a set designer instead. The budget is really small because they over spent the year before. She plans to make working cannons, but all they can afford are confetti ones. She used to have two friends but she breaks up with them at the start.

It was kinda good because I'm not into action-packed super hero graphic novels. It's more for a person who likes drama!

Rated: 4/5 It's really good but not my taste.


Laugh your head off: Rodent pie and toenail tea by Sam Bring, Review by Sonia

This is a story in the collection. It's about a girl called Emma who sees an empty cafe, filled with dusty tables as she walks home from school. She sees a 'Staff Wanted' sign on the door and she keeps on going there to ask for a job but nobody is there. Finally one day a guy walks up to her and asks her if she wants the job.He hires her, saying she has to do all the cleaning. The place is riddled with rats. When she cleans it up, the people start coming.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys It talks about how to get a new job and stuff. It helps me to understand how that works.


The Stone Keeper: Amulet, Book 1 by Kazu Kibuishi, review by Aryana

It's about these three people, Nathan and Emil. Their mum and dad died recently, so they move to their grandfather's house. It's a been a bit of a wreck since he died. They go to their grandfather's room and there is an open book with a picture of a hand print on it and it appears to be glowing. She puts her hand on it and it reveals a necklace. Nathan thinks that's all it is but later that night they wake up to a tentacled creature...

Rated 5/5 Reallys "I just really liked it it's a graphic novel"

Hans in Luck: Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jakob Grimm, Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

It's about this guy called Hans who travels to work in the city and he doesn't know if the city people will be friendly. He trades for a horse, but it rears and he falls to the ground. When he wakes up there is a farmer with a pig and so he trades the horse for it, but it runs off, then there is a cow...

Rated: 3/5 Reallys "This story is a bit repetitive. I like the whole book overall though, my favourite so far is twelve dancing princesses"


Gangster Granny by David Walliams, Review by Cailey

It's about a boy called Ben. His parents are obsessed with Strictly Come Dancing and so he has to go to his grandma's house on Fridays. She plays Scrabble and he gets really bored. She also cooks him cabbage soup, but he pours it in the plants. He sneaks out the cookie jar and finds that it's full of gems and jewels. He gets suspicious and so he spies on her from the bushes. He sees her dressed up like a ninja...

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "It keeps you going and is really silly"

Kids who dare to be different by Ben Brooks, Review by Lauren

This book is about kids who dare to change the world but no one knows about them. The first story is about a girl who lives in a place that floods all the time, so she starts a mangrove planting program. Then there is a boy who didn't like the idea of ice skating but his mother made him try, and the minute he began he fell in love with it. Now he is training for the Olympics. He gets injured, but he doesn't give up.

Rated: 5/5  Reallys

Pax by Sara Pennypacker, Review by Alicia

There's this boy. He explains that when he was little he found baby foxes in a shed and only one  was alive. He rescues it and it live with him. When his family moves his dad tells him he has to leave Pax in the forest. He sneaks into find him but then he breaks his ankle.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys




Agatha Parrot and the mushroom boy by Kjartan Poskitt, Review by Jasmine 

Agatha has to look after 13 purple chickens and then one goes missing and they are all like 'oh my god!'

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "Really fun" 





Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Review by Lachlan

It's about this girl Stephanie, her uncle dies and she's taken to this house where she stays over night and there's this guy who wants the key. Skulduggery is a skeleton detective who wants to find out who killed him. There's a sorcerer and Stephanie opens the chest and finds a scepter. They want to bring back the faceless ones but the scepter gets destroyed.

Rated: 4/5 Reallys "The start is a bit boring but it gets better"

Nicholas again by Goscinny Rene, Review by Nick

Nick is a class clown and this guy Max tries to take his stuff. Then they have a fight. It's a draw and so they go fishing together.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "I really connected to all of it"

November Reviews from St Kilda

Genius: the game by Leopoldo Gout, Review by Aarev

Its about three kids in a club called lodge and they are all geniuses. Tunde is an engineer from a little village in Nigeria, Painted Wolf can log criminal activity to give evidence to the police from anywhere and Rex is a hacker. They get invited to a game which is set up by India’s youngest CEO. They have to find out about a butterfly that keeps appearing on the screen…

Rated: 4.9/5 "I really liked it, except I would have liked a fourth character. I don’t like it when there are three characters, there could have been another engineer or coder."

 Loki: Where mischief lies by Mackenzi Lee, Review by Jaxon

Loki is the god of mischief in Norse mythology. Loki and his brother Thor are competing to be king of Asgard when Odin has died. It’s most likely going to be Thor who wins because he’s the warrior and Loki is the sorcerer. Loki is a sorcerer and everyone fears him because they fear magic. He’s super powerful because he’s a god. He’s on Earth at the part I’m up to – there are nine realms in Norse mythology. He’s on Earth as a god, with regular humans in Victorian times. He has to find a secret company called Sharp which is devoted to finding gods…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “This is based off of real Norse mythology, I’m finding it really interesting”

Black Emu: A truer history by BrucePascoe, review by Atticus

About Aboriginal culture and what they did for a living before other people came. It’s about their agriculture like how the use fire, find food and what they ate and how they survived. There were lots of these comments from diary entries of a settler about them that were not true. It also talks about how they were abused during settlement. There’s another book that’s more for adults that doesn’t have the pictures and is more of a chapter book.

Rated: 5/5 reallys "I like learning about past times”

George's secret key to the universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking, Review by Jasmine

It’s about a boy called George. He lives next to his friend Annie and her dad and they have this weird magical computer called the Cosmos. It upgrades from a baby to a teenager. The computer opens up and shows them a door into the universe, and they go back in time to the Big Bang. They have a book on the Big Bang. They send a rover to Mars, but the rover just starts going in circles. So Annie and George and their annoying friend who Annie hates because he bit her Emmet, sneak off into space without telling Annie’s dad to fix the rover. Annie gets a weird message from an alien planet saying if you don’t come here we’ll destroy earth…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “super cool, it has lots of facts about space”

The dragon prophecy by Geronimo Stilton, Review by Inez

It's about Geronimo, who travels to a land in his dream. The leader of silver dragons had to keep guard over a dragon egg and it was lost, if that egg is destroyed the balance of the Kingdom of Fantasy would be broken, so Geronimo must find it…

Rated: 5/5 “it’s really good”

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Review by Aryana

It’s about these five teenagers who go into detention. All of them were framed to get detention. There’s this teacher Mr Avery, and if you go into his class with a phone you are doomed because you will automatically get detention. Because he checks bags. Someone frames them by putting phones into all of their bags. There’s the prom queen princess Abby, a jock Cooper, a geek Brian, a criminal Nate and a reporter, Simon. Simon is a reporter who writes about the big secrets of the people at school. They all go into detention and try to convince Avery that their phones are actually in their bags and not the ones he caught them carrying earlier. When Avery leaves the room, one of the five gets murdered. The remaining four are now suspects and must convince the police and each other that they are innocent…

Rated: 5/5 reallys “really good”

Middle school: how I survived bullies, broccoli and snake hill by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, Review by Sonia

It’s about a boy called Rafe and he has a sister called Georgia. He thinks that she’s really smart. They go to Summer camp, and the girls and boys are separated. On the girls side there’s this hill called Snake Hill and on the boy’s side There’s Anthill. There’s a whole bunch of bullies on the boys side. The cafeteria is just picnic in a circle with no roof. Rafe makes a lot of friends.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys  "It’s a good book so far"

Stardust and the daredevil ponies by Stacy Gregg, Review by Zara 

It’s about a girl called Izzy, she has gotten her dream job handling horses on a TV show. The horses are palominos. It’s about more than horses though…

Rated: 4/5 Reallys “It was good but it could have had more action”

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, Review by Safia

There’s three farmers and a fox that has children. Every day the dad fox gets chickens from each of their farms. Soon the farmers get sick of this and try to trap him. He runs back home but they set another trap. They’re underground. Foxes don’t have to eat for a long time, they set a trap right outside their home. They dig a hole in but the foxes are really fast diggers…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys

August Reviews from St Kilda

Whisper by Lynette Noni, Review by Aryana

It’s about this girl in prison who undergoes this treatment every day which breaks her. She doesn’t talk because of some incident that happens, and she keeps calling herself a monster…

The way the author describes the white walls, bleached colours and one rug that she has is a little creepy and makes you feel scared for her and wonder why she is there.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys

Smarty Cat by Bruce Dawe, Review by Jasmine

It’s about this family called the Dim Witties. One day they are watching this question show called the Piccadilies and their cat gets to go on the show and he does really well until the dog shows up…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “Super funny, he eats waffles and whipped cream for breakfast”

Last 13 by James Phelan, Review by Aarev

It’s about a guy called Sam, he’s this guy who dreams in class. His favourite teacher, Tobias, travels with him from his first school to his second school. He has nightmares of a man who shoots flames out of his arms and threatens to burn down the whole city. He doesn’t know about the secret school and the other dreamers…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “I like action and adventure”

Wolf Girl by Anh Do, Review by Sonia

It’s about a girl called Gwen who ends up living in the forest after everyone in her city tries to flee and she gets separated from her family. But she’s not alone, she’s living with a band of animals.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “I really like adventure and Anh Do is one of my favourites.”

The (almost) perfect puppy by Meredith Costain, Review by Safiya

It’s about a dog called Bob. He always eats the trash. One day he gets out of the house on his own, jumping a wall and crawling through a hole in the fence.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “It’s really funny”

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell, Reviewby Zara

There’s a plane crash. All of the kids who survived meet together and try to build a raft to go home. The youngest one Max picks his nose. Fred finds signs that there is someone else on the island…

Rated: 5/5 Reallys “Not scary just interesting”

The enchanted flute by James Norcliffe, Review by Vicki

There is a girl called Becky who plays an enchanted flute that will only play certain notes. She meets Dr. Faunus and has to play for him. Becky gets lost in the enchanted forest…

Rated: 5/5 “An interesting adventure”

The last council: Amulet, book 4, by Kazui Kibuishi, Review by Nicholas

They take Emily to this floating island in the sky where the sky council and stone keeper are. She finds more stone keepers and when she is with the council the stone monster tries to take over her mind...

Rated: 5/5 “it’s a good book”

Great expectations by Charles Dickens,Review by Lachlan

This kid goes near a lake where there is a boat holding prisoners. Some prisoners escape and one threatens him in order to get food and something to break the shackles off of his feet.

Rated: 4/5 Reallys “I got a bit bored at the start but I’m still reading it”