St Kilda's reviews for November

The rabbits by John Marsden, illustrated by Shaun Tan - reviewed by Netta

This is a really good bed time story, but it’s not just a bed time story. It’s about the First Fleet. There is a lot to find through the pictures which isn’t written.

Rated:  5/5 reallys

Soulprint by Megan Miranda - reviewed by Henrietta

It’s basically this world where, when someone dies, their soul gets printed onto a child. People worry that children whose soul prints come from murderers and criminals may carry on the same behaviour, so those kids get locked up. They lock up this girl Alina, who was printed by a famous murderer lady. At eighteen, she’s broken out of her confinement by this guy. They have to cut out a tracker device and go to a safe house that the woman who printed on Alina owned. It turns out that the guy got her out because he wanted to find out the coordinates to a safe in the house. All of the woman’s money was left to Alina. This dude is really evil. In the safe, they find coordinates made out of money. A lot goes on - there’s blackmailing, life-saving, school break-and-entering and romance.
"Well written, clear, emotionally powerful."

Rated:  4/5 reallys - " 'cos it was amazing!"

And then there were none by Agatha Christie - reviewed by Louise

It’s about these ten characters. Eight are invited to a resort on a remote island, owned by a rich old couple. They get there and have a party and chat and stuff and then a recording begins to play. It says that they were all there because they had killed someone and this was their punishment. They all really freak out then, as the recording lists all of the killings, but without saying who did them. The maid, who had been having trouble sleeping, collapses and dies. Another man dies that night from choking. There is a poem which prophesizes each death, along with ten little statues on the dining table. As soon as someone died a statue would disappear!

Rated:  5/5 reallys - “Because it was so well written, so well put together. And it’s got a great ending!”

Fire will fall by Carol Plum-Ucci - reviewed by Olivia

It’s about a girl whose family is quite religiously Christian. Her and her dad aren’t as religious as the rest of the family. Their religion is very strict and exclusive. They aren’t even allowed to eat food that “Outsiders” (people outside of their religion) touched or made unless they boil it first. She manages to make elders grumpy with her projects, and her dad is always getting in trouble with them too, because he asks too many questions in church. The elders think he is a bad influence on her. When she talks to an outsider boy she gets in trouble with the principle. Then her dad gets expelled from the church. He is shunned, which is when no one will speak to you. So she can’t talk to her dad. Now they have to go and live with her Grandpa, who doesn’t seem to be telling her the whole truth…

Rated:  3/5 reallys - "I really like the story but the writing was a bit too simple."

Feed by M. T. Anderson - reviewed by Jackson

It’s about a world in the near future where people have microchips planted in their brains. The chip feeds ads directly into their minds, like a Siri for your brain. People are called units. One day this group of teenagers are at this anti-gravity bounce place on the moon. They meet a girl who only got a chip inserted at seven because her parents couldn’t afford one when she was born. They’re thought of as an important luxury thing to have. While on the moon a hacker corrupts their chips and they all begin speaking gibberish. After that one of the girls finds out her chip has a virus, which leads to her losing control of her chip. Most of the book is about fighting against the feed, which is trying to give them certain personalities so that they buy things from companies the chip feed supports.

Rated:  4/5 reallys -  “Could have been better, the same thing kept on happening.”