book reviews

Book Review by Amy

wcl staff

The Magic Violin by Victor Kelleher.

The Magic Violin is about a boy who can’t play the violin properly and when he does the cat is sick on the floor, Dad slips on the cat’s sick and falls over, Mum screams and drops the baby in the sink, the baby screams back at her with a face full of dishwater and the dog bites the end of its tail off. But then the violin takes charge… The best part was when the baby was learning to swim and there was no worst part. I think that it was written for both girls and boys. I recommend it to five to nine year olds.

Book review by Amy from Karori BookBusters

Kids’ Review by Jordan

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Just Doomed by Andy Griffiths

Just Doomed is a funny and awesome book, especially the chapter “Just Nude”. If you don’t read the Just Series you should give it a go, even if you are not too sure. I have really enjoyed reading the Just Series. Another great chapter is “Andy’s Action Math Program” (don’t look on the TV just because it says “program”).
 
Review by Jordan of Hataitai
 
 

 

 

Top 10 for June

wcl staff

These are some of the most popular kids’ books reserved at Wellington City Libraries:

1. Geronimo Stilton 10: Geronimo Stilton Saves the Olympics,  Geronimo Stilton (new) – order now! Can Geronimo save the very first Olympics from the cheating Pirate Cats?

2. Mark of Athena, Rick Riordan (new) – order now! Book 3 in the Heroes of Olympus Series.

3. Guardian Angel, Robert Muchamore (new) – order now! The 2nd book in the Cherub Series.

4. Summer’s Dream, Cathy Cassidy (new) – order now! Part of the Chocolate Box Girls Series.

5. Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers, Dav Pilkey (new) – order now! Can Captain Underpants stop Tippy Tinkletrousers?

6. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio Auggie looks different to other kids. He has been home schooled until now. Join him as he braves bullies and makes new friends at his new school.

7. Big Book of Billie B. Brown, Sally Rippin (new) – order now! Another of Billie B. Brown’s exciting adventures.

8. LEGO Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu [3] : Rise of the Serpentine, Greg Farshtey (new) – order now! The latest in the Ninjago series.

9.  The Demigod Files, Rick Riordan Another book in the Heroes of Olympus Series.

10. Pokemon Black and White: Vol 6, Hidenori Kusaka (new) – order now! Contains adventures 18 through 20.

Johnsonville BookBuster Reviews

debbie

Check out what the Johnsonville BookBusters have been reading in the last month.

Hannah reviewed Malory Towers by Pamela Cox who has continued this series orginally written by Enid Blyton. In this book Felicity is the head girl and June is the sports captain. Together they discover something strange about the girl Alice. Why has she changed her name?

Satine has been reading Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. While Stanley was asleep a bulletin board fell on top of him and made him flat. In fact he is now only half an inch thick. This proves to be very useful when Stanley’s mother finds she has lost her wedding ring. They discover it down a drain pipe and because Stanley is so thin they are able to slide him down the drain pipe to rescue it.

Noah has been reading Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever. In this book there is a big blizzard and Greg is stuck inside with his family. He goes down into the basement and finds a doll from his mother’s childhood. A very strange doll called a Santa Scout.

Shavonne has been reading the Star Girl series. Star Girl lives in space at the Space Education and Action School. Along with her friends she travels around saving space one planet at a time. In this book  there are monster polar bears and purple water in outer space.

Holly has been reading Popular Clone. This story is about a boy called Fisher who is having a hard time at school and is bullied. He is also very clever and  high tech and he decides to make a clone of himself that can go to school in his place. His clone turns out to be a lot cooler than Fisher and ends up being kidnapped by Dr X.

Arianna had been reading King of Show and Tell by Abby Klein. It is about a boy called Freddy who has a big problem. He never has anything good to bring to show and tell. His best friend Robbie was able to bring in an alligator head. How can Freddy come up with something as cool as that?

Tawa BookBusters Reviews

debbie

Here are the latest and greatest reads from the Tawa BookBusters.

Jacob has been reading How Things Work. He explained to us how the book demonstrated how cogs worked. His example was if you turn the crank handle of a cog with 6 bolts which then turns a handle with 12 bolts it will take the smaller 12 bolt cog two revolutions to travel around the larger 6 blot clog once. He also like the model that explained how an elevator worked

 

Alicia and Natalie have both been reading Who is Hilda Hardmouth. Hilda is a hideous headteacher of the local school, but she really hates children. She likes to make up lots of rules and they all start with DONT. Look up Karen Wallace, the author of these books, for some other great titles by her.

 

Riley has been reading The Witches. It is about a boy called Bruno whose parents have died and he has gone to live with his grandmother. They go to stay in a hotel where they discover a room full of witches. You can tell when a person is a witch because they have blue tongues, a large nose, they are bald and have no toes. The witches end up turning Bruno into a mouse and Bruno (as a mouse) and his grandmother have to seal the potion away from the witches before they turn everyone into mice.

 

 

 

 

 

Jack has been reading Asterix and Obelix. It is about 2 warriors that are very strong and go out fighting. In the comic that Jack has been reading Asterix and Obelix had to go to Africa to get a person out of prison. They had to fight a whole army to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Owen has been reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. His favourite part was at the end of the book when Harry is standing in front of the mirror and the philosopher’s stone appeared in his pocket. He also enjoyed reading the parts that were in the Forbidden Forest. He is currently reading the next title in the series.

 

 

 

 

 

Bethnany has been reading The Suitcase Kid. Its about a girl called Andrea who has to cope with her parents divorce. She travels from parent to parent spending a week with each. She finds it very hard to decide which parent she wants to stay with.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Hayden has been reading from the Beast Quest series – Torgor the Minotaur. The main characters in the story are Tom and Elenna. In this story the minotaur throws a tree truck at Tom.

Fancy a mystery?

debbie

When Homer Pudding receives a mysterious note emblazoned with the letters L.O.S.T., he knows the moment he has been waiting for has arrived. It is time to meet the Society of Legends, Objects, Secrets and Treasures and become a true adventurer.

The problem is Homer has an opponent. They are both tasked with a dangerous quest and only the one who solves the clues and reaches the treasure first will be given membership to the society.

Along with Dog his best friend Homer travels from the sleepy goat fields of Milkydale to fantastical mansions and hidden islands to solve the clues.

Come along and join Homer on the adventure that Smells Like Treasure!

Kids’ Review by Amy

wcl staff

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl. 

Esio Trot is about a man who lives in a block of flats and he loves the woman (her name is Mrs Silver.) But Mrs Silver has all her love on her pet tortoise Alfie. But then Mr Hoppy (the man) plays a trick on Mrs Silver and suddenly she loves him as well and asks if he could come down to her flat and Mr Hoppy asks if he could marry her. She said yes. The best part was when Mrs Silver said he could marry her. The worst part was when Mr Hoppy played a trick on Mrs Silver. I recommend it to six, seven, eight or nine year olds, both boys and girls. Rating nine and a half stars out of ten.

Thanks for the review Amy!