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Reading, Wellington, and whatever else – teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

Tag: Review

Librarian’s Choice Best of 2008: Sam M’s Pick

Spud, by John van de Ruit

Book CoverI picked up this book recently, during my lunch hour, and found it near impossible to put down.

It’s 1990 and John ‘Spud’ Milton is a scholarship boy entering his first year at an elite boarding school in Durban, South Africa. Spud’s family consists of a high-maintenance mother, a mentally unstable father who fears the crumbling of apartheid and the impending release of Mandela will ruin the country, and Spud’s senile grandmother, Wombat. Though Spud is off to boarding school, he is unable to escape his dysfunctional family who visit him occassionally and to whom he returns every long weekend and holiday. At boarding school, Spud is thrust into a world of raging testosterone, bullying prefects, and the typical hi-jinks that act as a counterbalance to archaic institutionalism. Spud’s dorm group forms the Crazy Eight, a group of misfits and rebels who’s escapades and midnight swims become legend throughout the school. All the glorious mayhem inherent in coming of age is faithfully chronicled in Spud’s diary, which is the narrative device of the story.

Spud is written by John Van De Ruit, South African writer, actor, producer and playwright. Unshelved have done a little comic strip review as part of their Unshelved BookClub feature.

~ Sam M

Librarian’s Choice Best of 2008: Ben’s Pick

The Magician of Hoad, Margaret Mahy

A hero, an ageing magician, a farm boy, a noble daughter and a mad Prince all play a part in Margaret Mahy’s latest young adult novel. Eloquently written and at times quite poetic, The Magician of Hoad will have your imagination working overtime to keep up as this is definitely a hard book to put down.

~ Ben

Librarian’s Choice Best of 2008: Tom’s Pick

Dooley Takes the Fall by Norah McClintock

book coverOnly a few months out in the world after a three year sentence in a juvenile detention hall, Ryan Dooley comes across the body of a teenager while on his way home from work. Dooley wants nothing more than to keep his head down, stay out of trouble and get through the last year of high school in peace, but he does the right thing and calls the police.

But the dead boy turns out to be a fellow student who was known to have caused trouble for Dooley, and bit-by-bit evidence is mounting up pointing straight to him. The police aren’t likely to look elsewhere once they have an obvious suspect; his school has judged him guilty and just wants to get rid of him; and Dooley’s uncle – the only one who has given Dooley a break – is having a harder and harder time believing him. But Dooley isn’t going to take the fall without a fight…

This is an exciting, well-written ‘high-school noir’ mystery, in a similar vein to the movie Brick and the television series Veronica Mars, but with the added appeal of Dooley: a cool, hard-nosed, world-weary kid who, through all his misadventures, has the reader rooting for him.

~ Tom

Finn’s Quest

Finn’s Quest is a series by Eirlys Hunter about a boy named Finn who, in book 1, gets a Quest on his computer. He only gets 1 life during his 3 quests and he meets lots of friends during them.

In book 1, The Queen-Seekers, Finn is playing on a computer and sees a new game which gives him a quest to find the lost queen.

In book 2, Coldkeep Castle, Finn’s dad gets the quest and Finn has to go and save him. Finn is in the same country of book 1 but many years earlier in the events that caused the events in book 1.

In book 3, The Slave-Stealers, Finn gets his last and final quest to release slaves and “find Finn”, years after book 1.

Overall Finn’s Quest are good books though there are some errors in the books, but it is a good read and lots of people will enjoy this series.

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Tessa is a 16 year old girl dying from Cancer.  Doctors have told her she only has a few months left to live.  Determined to make the most of her short life, Tess embarks on a journey of personal discovery, completing a list of 10 things she wants to do before she dies.  Despite its sad theme, this novel is enlightening and surprisingly funny.  I really warmed to the characters and enjoyed following Tessa’s adventures with her friends.  I’d recommend Before I Die to anyone looking for something light and life-affirming to read.

If you enjoyed this, try Dear Zoe by Philip Beard.

SUBTXT review #1

Each week we will publish one of the reviews from last year’s SUBTXT reading programme. We received many, many excellent reviews – so many that we can post one weekly for several years to come!

 Sense and SensibilitySense And Sensibility
Jane Austen
373 pages

Theme: It’s basically a classic, old version of what they call ‘chick lit’, so it’s based around romance and scandal. The story starts when the Dashwood family are left wothout money when Mr. Dashwood, their husband and father, dies and leaves the entire family estate to his son from his first marriage who, influenced by his wife, takes basically all of it for himself. The Dashwood family move to a cottage on another relative’s property … 

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