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New Titles - books at the library

Reviews 4UbyU 2007

Dragon Horse By Peter Ward

Reviewed by Cameron, Riccarton High School

An awesome book and a guaranteed good read for anyone even that is even slightly the fantasy type.
This book is based around two teenage boys, Rokshan and An Lushan, in ancient China, with a very rich father. When their uncle disobeys the Emperor, their father gets taken away for treason. This leads to An Lushan travelling away to try and find a way to free his father, and Rokshan follows another path…

An Lushan goes with his friend to try and help her nation from losing all it loves, but near the end of his journey he is split up from his party and makes a mysterious discovery.
Rokshan is in charge of looking after father, but is convinced his destiny is set when a storyteller comes to town. He leaves town with his father's friend and meets up with the strangest person…

A breathtaking and emotional book. I was drawn to it almost straight away. This book doesn’t come out until January 2008, so I will be eagerly anticipating what kind of feedback it gets from others. It is quite a big book and starts off slow but takes a turn for the better if you stick it through.

December 2007

The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson

Reviewed by Sam, 14, Riccarton High School.The Secret Countess

This is an AMAZING book!
I really loved the whole historical view of it.
The things that Anna, a young girl from Russia has to go through – from being a princess to a servant, are just unbelievable.
But yes girls … It still has a bit of a love twist when she falls in love with a young man named Earl.
I’d better not tell you any more but, if you like drama, romance and determination in a book, you should definitely read this!!!!

November 2007

DuetDuet by David Hill

Reviewed by Caitlin, Riccarton High School

Duet is an amazing book.
David Hill can really capture the emotions of people going through tough situations.
Through the eyes of the tough Callum, who would never dream of playing in the symphony orchestra if it weren't for Paige, we get to experience what happens when life spirals out of control. And sweet innocent Paige, who lives through her flute, always swore she would never be like her mother.
But when you fall in love much is forgotten...

November 2007

Leaper Lane by Stephen Measday & Paul Sironen

Reviewed by Cameron

A good book and a pretty good read for all sporty book lovers.

Leaper Lane is all about Jack (or Leaper), an 11 yr old  who plays AFL. His parents have just split up and he has moved with his mother to North Ryde. But there is a problem - nobody plays AFL in North Ryde.

Leaper finds himself with a friend on the first day of school, Tania Brookes, the daughter of the president of the local rugby league team. He goes along to a league practice and finds out he enjoys it, so he takes up the local team.

This book was a pretty good book. These kind of books aren’t usually my type but I did enjoy it. This book is 200 pages of unpredictable fun. It may be relatively short but I think it’s worth reading.

July 2007

Hideout by Lorraine Orman

Reviewed by Emma

This was a really great book to read because it is set in NZ you can easily relate to the setting and life that the two girls lead. Hideout is quite a sad story it would have been hard for Roz to make the decision to run away with her sister even if it was for their safety. Overall this is a totally amazing book and great for anyone of any age to read.

May 2007

Sea Dreamer by Elizabeth Pulford

Reviewed by Emma

I wasn't sure if i really liked this book it was kind of hard to follow in some parts and boring in others. Also it doesn't seem to go anywhere and you can easily predict what is about to happen. So overall I haved mixed feelings about this book but it is a good read.

May 2007

Losing It by Sandy Mckay

Reviewed by Sharon

I've been reading 'Losing It' by Sandy Mckay. It is about 15yr old Jo Morrison, who is in hospital for being anorexic.

The whole book is lots of descriptive letters to best friend, Issy, brother Matt, Dad and Mum. There is also an occasional diary entry. Because of her crisis point condition she is not allowed to leave her room, or take phone calls or have visitors or wash her hair until she puts on some weight.

Jo's letters and diary entries give a very clear insight into her so-called "stink" life. Her friend Issy has a critical role to play in her keeping her sanity through it all, by keeping in touch by letter. Issy writes cheerfully and keeps her in touch with her real life. We discover what it is in her past that has brought Jo to the desperate state she is in.

There is the odd swear word in this very interesting book. I would give it 7/10.

At the start of the book I thought it was confusing and a bit boring but then once you get into the book it gets much more understandable and much easier to read. I would think that mainly girls aged 12+ would want to read this book.

April 2007

The Black Book Of Secrets by F. E. Higgins

Reviewed by Cameron Bradley

A very good but mysterious book. This book is set a long time ago, exactly when I’m not sure, and is about a boy called Ludlow Fitch. He was an adopted child to cruel foster parents. When they tried to pull his teeth out that was the last straw. He ran away from home.

The Black Book of Secrets is about, well, a black book of secrets. Joe, the “secret” pawnbroker, travels around poor villages and towns and pays people to confess their sins for his black book. Ludlow meets up with him and becomes his scribe in exchange for food, water and shelter.

This took me under a week to read, I found myself coming home after school and reading well into the night. I highly recommend this book if you are into mysterious books. Unfortunately, I there was only 1 wooden leg, so I don’t think there will be a book to follow.

April 2007

Kiss The Dust by Elizabeth Laird

Reviewed by Laura, Year 9

The book is about a girl called Tara who is thirteen at the start of this book. Tara is Kurdish and living in Iraq. Her Father is betrayed to the secret police, her family have to the travel to the mountains, but still they are not safe. Then they travel onto Iran where unfortunately they have to become refugees and live in a bug infested refugee camp.

I really enjoyed this book because it is based on true stories, all though Tara is completely made up. The story seemed so real that you think that you could almost be there, I could hardly put the book down. If you enjoyed the book called, A Little Piece Of Ground (awesome book) then you will love this book. I think that it would suit most ages from 10+.

I fully recommend this book to any type of book reader.

April 2007

Cover: Oakleaf Bearers by John FlanaganRanger’s Apprentice bk 4 - Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan

Reviewed by Cameron Bradley

A brilliant book and a must-read for all medieval book lovers.
The Ranger’s Apprentice series is all about Will, an orphan who lives in a medieval time and grows up in a king’s castle. His father was said to be a great warrior who died in battle so he longs to be a warrior but when the choosing comes he ends up a mysterious ranger’s apprentice (thus, Ranger’s Apprentice!)

At the end of the previous book, Icebound Land, Will and Princess Cassandra (travelling under the name Evanlyn) had just escaped slavery by the barbaric Skandians. They start off Oakleaf Bearers in an old cottage in the middle of a forest. During the rest of the book, Will reunites with his Ranger Master, Halt, and warrior friend from the castle orphanage, Horace. The action moves quickly in this book.

I found this book very hard to put down. This book is 300 pages of pure excitement. It may be relatively short but I guarantee a good read. I hope there are lots more books to come in this series.

March 2007

And Did Those Feet… by Ted Dawe

Reviewed by Matthew Plowman

A stunning and deliciously entertaining novel on a young boy who is trying to make sense of himself and his belonging to the world.

After his mother traumatically passed away, Sandy is left to live life with his mourning father in Auckland who barely notices his son on his busy, daily schedule. But then things really seem to start to go wrong! His father has got into a cycle of going off to the pub every night and drinking and a bit of a pizza rebellion has begun (not necessarily a bad thing of course) but to make matters worse, he is suspended from his school. Before the "city boy" knows it, he's off to stay with his aunt and uncle down in a farm in Taranaki where things are different for a city boy with not a trace of background of country lifestyle. Here life is very different, the tables, rooms, carpets, cutlery and the house itself are all hexagonal, milking the cows is taken place in the middle of the night and his aunt's and uncle's way of life are everything but similar to his own. Everything is new and confusing to understand and all the while something is creeping towards him that will switch is life round and change it forever!

An extraordinarily, magically realistic read with a light touch of humour adding to one of Ted Dawe's greatest books after a classic award winning novel known as "Thunder Road." It was just irresistible, nothing could stop me from reading it till the very last page!"

"And Did Those Feet…" shows the life of a story-based boy who no matter what pushes him back away from his destiny, there is always something that can allow him to move forward again. "No matter what leads you off course, there is always a way to get back on track again even with the many obstacles that suck you off the trail in life's journey," as this particular novel explains.

March 2007

And Did Those Feet… by Ted Dawe

Reviewed by Samantha Logue

I feel that this is a fantastic book for people who like reality and the way people react to the different situations in life. I really enjoyed this book not only because of the story line but also because of the good use of language features and insight. this book is about a boy who's mum dies and dad goes mad and his experiences through those times especially when he gets sent away to his Aunt and Uncle who live on a farm. this story is set in Auckland the author is Ted Dawe.

March 2007