On Netflix - To All the Boys I've Loved Before

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at
once?

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Every Day - Now in the Cinema

Every Day by David Leviathan

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day. [Goodreads.com]

Student book reviews

Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl is about a girl named Cath going to college. She and her twin had always shared everything, they were a packed deal, but when they got to college it all changes.

Why I picked it up: My mum gave it to me as a present.

Why I finished it: It was really hard to put down. It always had me hooked.

I'd recommend it to: Anyone who is up for a book filed with love, adventure and fan fiction.

I rate it:


Year 8 student

Time Traveling with a Hamster

by Ross Welford


This book is about a kid named Al Chaudhury who lives with his mum, step-dad and step-sister. On his 12th birthday he gets a letter from his dead dad to go back in time to save him. Now Al, and his pet hamster, have to travel back and forward in time to save Al's dad.

Why I picked it up: My teacher recommended it to me.

I'd recommend it to: People who like adventure books

I rate it:


Emily Hurst (7 Carroll)

Book Trailer: Extraordinary Means

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

If you love John Green books, try this.

Lane has been diagnosed with a new strain of tuberculosis that is totally drug resistant. TB is a lung disease that is pretty much a death sentence. Kids with the disease are sent to special country homes to recover with rest and fresh air. Sometimes people go home. Usually they don't.

Lane thinks that his life is over when he is sent to Latham house. But when he gets there he meets Sadie and her friends - a group of troublemakers that are determined not to measure their lives by their health charts. They will sneak phones into their rooms and steal internet time, and sneak into town for coffee just to feel normal.

But how real can love be when life seems so temporary?

Mrs Kelleher rates this read 3 1/2 stars

Book Trailer: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.


That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.
[Blurb from Goodreads.com]

World Autism Awareness Day

What better way to learn more about how an Autistic person thinks than by reading a book from his/her point of view?

Perhaps it is time for a feel good story full of laughs, but not at the expense of the main character Don, who may or many not have Aspergers Syndrome (and therefore be on the Autism spectrum).

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simison

Don Tillman, a socially awkward, logical, professor of genetics. Becoming aware that, statistically, married men are happier and live longer, Don has decided to get married. He just needs to find the right woman. So he embarks on The Wife Project - an orderly, evidence-based search for the perfect mate. He will start by using questionnaires to weed out unsuitable candidates (those that smoke, that are illogical and habitually run late), before dating those that make the short list.

Enter Rosie: spontaneous, fiery, and not what Don is looking for. But she is also fun to be around, and she want his help. Perhaps love is not something that can be approached with logic?

'Sheldon Cooper with a big heart'

Mrs Kelleher rates this read 4 stars.

Read a Romance for Valentine's Day

Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

She is a modern girl. Technology is her world. He is not. In fact, he is Amish. That means he has grown up with no technology. No mobile phones, no cars, no electricity. How could they ever make it work?

They met, and fell in love in a sleepy farming community. Rode horses together, and ended up in each other's arms. It felt like it should last forever.....

"In the back of my mind, I had hoped spending more time with Rose might dampen my interest in her. After all, it would be much easier if I fell for a pretty Amish girl. Only, it has the opposite effect on me. It would take all of my strength to resist Rose now - if I even could.
I realised I couldn't say goodbye to her. Rebelliousness gripped my soul, and I stole a glance at Rose. My heart raced when her eyes met mine.
In that instant, I knew she belonged with me."

What is forbidden is not so easily forgotten.

Mrs Stephenson rates this read 4 stars.