July reviews from Albert Park

How to train your dragon by Cressida Cowell - reviewed by Leticia

This is a really good book! It's about a boy called Hiccup who has fiery red hair. When he's little he fails at everything so everyone thinks he's a loser. He wants to get stronger so he can talk 'dragonese' (dragon language) but the law states that you cannot until you've proved to be strong. Hiccup owns a little dragon who has no teeth and is teeny tiny (another reason he gets picked on). A mean dragon called Green Death tries to eat Hiccup and he and his little dragon learn the hard way how to be heroes.

Rated:  5/5 - "I really like mythical creatures and it's awesome."

The clockwork three by Matthew Kirby - reviewed by Leticia

The main characters are Hannah who is a maid at a big hotel, Frederick an apprentice clock maker and Giuseppe who is a busker. The reason they all have to work even though they are children is because Hannah's father had a stroke and can't move, Frederick has no father and mother and is in an orphanage. Giuseppe is Italian - his parents died and his uncle left him in an orphanage too. Giuseppe finds a green violin which he uses to escape the orphanage. All their stories come together and they become friends and go on adventures together to find a treasure.

Rated:  4½/5 - "At times some paragraphs are boring, but it also did get exciting."

Boy by Roald Dahl - reviewed by Ambrose

The book is about himself (an autobiography) until he is about 20 years old. At the moment I'm reading the part where he's 7-9. There is an incident in the book about how he and his friends visit a candy shop everyday, he describes the owner as a 'scrawny hag' who doesn't like boys who visit the shop. The boys put a dead rat in one of the gob-stopper jars (the most popular lollies), so when she reaches in she gets a fright. The boys are punished for this. I think this has an influence on his stories.

Rated:  5/5 - "You want to keep reading it!"

Dog by Daniel Pennac - reviewed by Zoe

Dog used to live in a really bad home and the owner decides to put him in the rubbish bin. He escapes but then is caught by a dog catcher. A rude little girl adopts him and it turns out her whole family is rude so he escapes again. He wants to find his mistress who was kind so he goes and searches for her. A butcher adopts him and he is really nice but Dog leaves because he wants to keep on going.

Rated:  5/5 - "Interesting!"

Did I ever tell you how lucky you are? by Dr Seuss - reviewed by Hannah

There is an old man sitting on a cactus, he tells a little girl named Duckie how lucky she is because other people aren't as lucky as she is.

Rated:  5/5 - "tells you how lucky you are and never be sad about what you have."

The red pyramid by Rick Riordan - reviewed by Tiana

This is by the same author that wrote the Percy Jackson series. It's a bit like an Egyptian version of Percy Jackson.

Two kids, Sadie and Carter, have a bit of Egyptian pharaoh in them which makes them the most powerful children in the world. Their dad gets concealed in a tomb by Set, an evil god, and they have to try and save him.

The Red Pyramid refers to when Set built it the 3rd day of the last 5 days of the year to be completed on his birthday and then he will be able to take over the world.

Rated:  5/5 - "this is by one of my favourite authors."

The Happy Valley Mystery : Trixie Belden series by Kathryn Kenney - reviewed by Alex

Trixie has a club called the 'Bobwhites'. They go to Happy Valley farm which is two hours away by plane. The farm is owned by Trixie's uncle and his sheep are being stolen. The Bobwhites try to solve this mystery.

Rated:  4½/5 - "Sometimes gets a little bit boring because they chit-chat sometimes."