June Reviews from St Kilda

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma written by Trenton Lee Stewart, illustrated by Diana Sudyka, review by Jaxon

It's a story about a boy, he isn't a teenager yet, he's still pretty young. His name is Reynie. His parents die somehow and he goes to an orphanage and gets tutored by a lady. Right now she's teaching Reynie to speak Tamil. Then he sees an article in the paper which says: 'Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?' So they have to find the punk house. He's the only one who passes the first and second test to enter. The second test is near impossible, but Reynie realizes it's actually a puzzle and the answers can be found. Then he finds out he has to do a third test with everyone who completed the first and second tests in the other rounds. One is Kate. She didn't actually get the test right, but she helped a lady called type 2. She's very introverted, and when everyone was yelling about their kids not getting in, she creates a distraction and hides in a cupboard and makes it to the next round. George Washington abandoned his parents because they were so wealthy and mean and thought they might be better off without him. He was so distraught by this, that he ran home and got some hair remover. Constance is out the front of the house. She is a bit troublesome. One of the tests requires them to get to the other side of the room without walking on the squares. Kate does a trick that circus people do, rolling around on a bucket, Reynie just walks over- he realizes the floor is covered in rectangles, not squares. The fourth and last test is a maze....

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "It's a great book, I suggest reading it"  

Kira Dreaming: Pippa's Island by Belinda Murrell, review by Arianna

It's about these four friends and the main character Pippa. It's a whole series that I'm reading. In this one they have to do this concert and they have to sing a popular song.  Pippa isn't comfortable with it because she doesn't like to sing. They sing and they don't get through. Another group do, but at the last minute, one of the girls falls off the stage, because she doing cartwheels as part of a gymnastics routine. She broke her leg!

Rated: 4/5 Reallys "It's interesting but I would prefer it if it was more exciting"


Just Macbeth! by Andy Griffiths; Illustrated by Terry Denton, review by Lachlan

They have to do a project for school and try and base it on a wish. They get all these ingredients and mix up a bunch of stuff and then drink it. Andy gets to be Macbeth, Lisa is Lady Macbeth and Danny gets turned into Banquo, who is effectively Macbeth's best friend. Lisa wants to be queen, so she tells Andy to kill the King and Queen and take their places.

Rated: 4/5 Reallys "Not enough friction" 


Doll Bones by Holly Black; Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, review by Cailey

It's about these people who find this doll, she calls herself the queen. She sends them on quest and they try to find her lost powers, but then she turns...

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "I liked it because there was a lot of evil!"

Well done, Secret Seven by Enid Blyton, review by Zara

It's about seven people, who, because they are really hot in their den where they have secret meetings, they and make a tree house. They also have a dog named Scamper, and they make a pen for him. Once they're sitting in the tree they heard a voice, and they were scared because it was Jack's sister and Jack's sister is a horrid girl. They peered down and saw that it wasn't her, it was a little boy with an injured cat. George pushes Pam and makes her squeal, so the boy looks up through the branches and sees them...

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "I really liked it, the part with the police officer was interesting, -the best book ever!"

Hot Dog! by Anh Do; illustrated by Dan McGuiness

They walk to the friendship tree and they find this baby bird sitting on the ground. So they go on an adventure to find its mother. They meet all different type of bird, because they don't know who his bird mother actually is....

Rated: 3.5/5 Reallys "It was too short"


Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, review by Aarev

It's about this boy whose mum is missing presumed dead because of an explosion. He goes and stays with his uncle who lives in the Sword of Summer. But then he takes the sword out of the ice and dies -but it isn't over. He goes to Valhalla but without his weapon, which is very unusual, you usually get to keep them. He gets to do all of these cool things, he gets some friends and they help bust him out of there so he can actually go on his quest to save the world from the fire giant...

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "it's got lots of adventure and action in it"

Geronimo Stilton and the Wizard's Wand by Geronimo Stilton, review by Sonia

It's the ninth book in The Kingdom of Fantasy. It's about Geronimo having a nice peaceful day, when this magical sleigh comes through his window. It takes him to The Kingdom of Fantasy. Once he gets there he finds that Queen Blossom has vanished. Then everyone calls Geronimo a knight and he's on a quest to find the missing queen. There are three magical items; a wand, a spell book full of spells and an invisible cloak.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "I liked it because it's really adventurous, and if you're still reading it you want to know what's going to happen next"

The Unicorn Quest by Kamilla Benko, review by Alicia

It's about this girl called Clare and her older sister. One day they find out that their great aunt has died and her fortune has been left to them. Part of it is a mansion. So they go and stay there for a whole summer. They find a ladder in a chimney place.

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "It's the best book I've ever read"

May Reviews from St Kilda

The Magician: The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott, Review by Jaxon

This is the second book in the series. So far what's happened is that Josh and Sophie have been awakened. This basically means that Sophie and Josh are "the twins of legend." Apparently they can combine their powers. Right now Sophie who has a silver aura, has been trained in air; the witch of Endor gave her all her memories so that Sophie knows everything, Saint-Germain taught her fire. He gave her a tattoo and when she presses her thumb on it, she can easily access her fire magic. Josh hasn't been trained in any elemental magic. The God of war has been cursed and his aura turned to stone by the witch of Endor. Even if he throws the stone off it will just regrow. Nicholas Flamel, the so-called immortal alchemist, is "protecting" them. But Sophie and Josh don't even really trust him.

Rated: 4.5/5 Reallys "A really good book. It's one of those cliff-hanger books, like you're in the room about to discover something and then the perspective suddenly changes, sometimes it's really anti-climactic. Hearing about the prophecy all the time is a bit repetitive for the reader."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling, Review by Zoe

I reckon it's a good book, but there's a bit too much talking in some parts. It's probably my least favourite book out of the series. When it gets going it keeps on building up until the last moment. At the moment I'm up to the part where everyone thinks that Harry is a liar. Currently he's in detention with Dolores Umbridge. Umbridge works for the Ministry of Magic. None of the students think her teaching methods are appropriate, for example she teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts but doesn't let them use their wands!

Rated: 4/5 Reallys "I like that it's very descriptive. Sometimes in the tense moments you really feel for the character."

Tilly and the Wild Goats by Joan Lingard, Review by Zara

It's about this girl called Tilly. Tilly thinks this woman who is their landlady wants to take their house because her nephew is coming to Australia and needs somewhere to live. So Tilly went to the next door neighbour William and they went out to hunt for houses. They go to a village through a shortcut. They find a really creepy house and in the attic, there's a ghost. The manager of the house never goes outside. Some people think he's 19 years old and some people think he's 90 years old and some people think he's the ghost!

Rated: 4/5 Reallys "I didn't really like the start with the billy goat"

The Angel Experiment: Maximum Ride by James Patterson, Review by Cailey

It's about these people who have wings that they try to hide from people. They have to go to the mountains so they can test them. The oldest person in the group, Max acts like a mum, because they have no mum or dad between them. When she was little they put a microchip in her arm. She's running away from people. She meets this little girl who was also being chased. She asks her to go home with her and she meets her mum. Her mum is a vet and she takes Max for an X-ray because her wing is broken. The others split up to hunt the monsters because they took the littlest girl in the group, Angel. The monsters work for the adults from the lab. Max comes up with a plan to bomb the lab... 

Rated: 5/5 Reallys "I like how you never know what is going to happen next"

The Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell, review by Ava

I really like this book because it was action packed the whole time and was really telling you the details. It actually felt like you were there experiencing the same things that Sarah was facing against. You could feel the character's emotions while reading it. It was like when you're reading a fairy tale where they invite you into the book. It felt magical. I really enjoyed the whole series, they are great books for bedtime. 

 Rated: 5/5 Reallys "An action packed book, it actually feels like you're there."