Finding Violet Park

The main character is 15,he has a single mum called Nick and his Dad has ran away and nobodys has seen him since.He has a younger brother Jed and an older sister Mercy.
He need a cab and he meets a lady called Violet Park, she is dead in an urn.The boy thought she was trying to talk to him.
He brings her back to his Grannys house and finds out some stuff about her, he thinks his dad and Violet have a sort of similarity.
I think it is a mysterious book that is good when you know whats going on.
I recommend this book to boys and girls from ages 10+

hj

Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids' main characters are a man called Bill, a woman named Josella and a girl called Susan.  The story is set in London.  There is a meteor strike which the whole world steps out of their house to watch which turns these triffids (a normal plant) into man eaters and the entire world blind.  There were a few people who did not see the meteor shower and they retained their sight; some of these were Bill, Josella and Susan.
The story is about how these three individuals try to eliminate the triffids as well as getting on with their lives.
I think that the book is a reasonably good read.  I felt it was slow to get going but by the end all the pieces seem to come back together.  I am not usually a science-fiction reader and I felt it hard to picture the scene.  Most people of my age would like this book and as it is a unique idea I can see why it has sold so many copies over the years.
JH

hatchet by Gary Paulsen

The survival adventures of  Brian Robeson who is 13-years-old and he has to survive the Canadian wilderness alone with just a hatchet to start with. It all started when he is travelling to Canada from New York on a small plane as he was visiting his father since his parents have spilt up. something then happens to the pilot and he goes badly off course.
Through out this book it is just him, the hatchet and the Canadian Wilderness, you would be suprised with all the things you could do wirth a hatchet and a mother natures trash
I would recomend this book to anyone who likes survival.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWMfhEQsOsI&feature=related
:) wu

1984

1984, by George Orwell was published in 1948 and is about what Orwell thought the world would be like in 1984, thwe world is split into three continents. The main charachter lives in Oceana, where there is a dictatorship ruled by this worshipped figure called Big Brother, the head of the english socialism party usually just reffered to as the party. There is Doublethink, which is the ability to hold two contradicting thoughts, newspeak which is the language that the world uses which is basically a much more limeted version of english, which the party gives out to limit the thoughts of the proles which are the poor people that make up 80% of the population. There is also the thought police, which can read peoples thoughts by their faces and if any one has any thoughts against the party, they make them falsely confess and then brutally murder them. The whole world lives in fear. Winston is in his late thirties and works fore nthe party editing documents that say the wrong thing and make the party look wrong. He is using doublethink and loivers and hates the party. He then fi0nds a woman thsatc agrees with him and they love eachother and have an interesting relationship.

It is written really well and i would recomend it to someone like maybe kit.

The Decleration-Gemma Malley

Imagine a world where people live for ever, sounds good? Well its not, people can't have children and any children who are born are called Surpluses, they are taken to Surplus Halls they are like a cross between a prison and a orphanage. The story follows a surplus called Anna who was taken by the Surplus catchers at the age of two. The story takes up when Anna is fourteen and a Prefect at her Surplus Hall. A boy called Peter arrives who is the same age as her but he had grown up on the outside he had been taught to question longetivity (the drug that enables people to live forever). Soon peter hatches a plan to escape. Will they Escape or will they get caught by the Catchers?
CH

Bog Child

Bog child is a great book. I think that it conveys a great message of dealing with things and strength in human character and how everyone can get through anything if they keep their head high and carry on. Fergus (the main character) finds a dead body in the bog and it turns out that the body dates back to AD 80. Fergus keeps having dreams about this 'bog child' and the mystery of her death slowly unfolds to him. Her life corresponded very much with his in the hard time he has endured. This reminds me very much of 'Kit's Wilderness' in which Kit keeps having dreams ad illusions about a historic Ice Age character named 'Lak'.
This book is written with amazing skill and I could not re-write it if I tried. In my eyes, Bog Child is the best example of the saying 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'. When I first picked up bog child, I was quite
dis-hearted due to the boring, David Almond style of cover. ( A writer who I am not particulary fond of but can understand how one might enjoy his books). I would recommend this book to Charlie Henderson of all the people in year 8 but think that it is a classic and everyone, however old, should read it. I really enjoyed this book and hope you will too!


By Joe Ingram

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the galaxy

one day the earth is blown up to make way for a new hyperspace bypass and arthur dent survives he gets taken away by a man called ford they hitch hike on a space ship and they get discovered. They get thrown out the ship into space and just before they die another ship picks them up they visit a planet called Margarethean which has supposadley been dead for 5 million years, on this planet the make other planets and they made the original earth but they are not dead they are just sleeping and that they are planning to build a second earth.
i liked this book because there are scenes of suspenseand some scenes of action.
H.S
this book is written by Douglas Adams.

BLADE Playing Dead by Tim bowler

BLADE Playing Dead is about a 14 year old kid and as far as you know has no family.He speaks of how he has a dark past and wss known as blade.Blade has tried to escape his past by moving to the city where he lives in peoples houses when there away and stays in the shadows to stay out of trouble.At the beginning of the book he is aware of being followed and ends being beat up by a group of 16 year old girls.After this event he ends up being taken in by a simpathetic old woman. Blade notices things wrong about the house and eventualy the house is raided by a group of thugs.He runs of after hearing gunshots and hides in a house who's owners where o holiday.the next day he goes back to the hows fearful of discovering the worst buts finds something else. After this he is on the run from the thugs who where chasing him from his past with the girl who along with him had been accused of killing the dead girl found at the house.Blade decides to come out of hiding from his past (playing Dead) and to fight.The book is a sort of story set up and ends on a cliff hangar to leave the plots of the next books open.

The day of the triffids by john wyndham

This book is about a meteor strike that happens and turns triffids evil and man eaters.  also if that wasnty bad enough the meteor strike turned everyone who saw the meteors blind.  the story is about two people who were either sleeping (josella) or has his eyes wrapped in bandages due to a triffid sting (bill).
I thought that this book was quite good but i thought that it was quite slow. 

jh 

The Road of Bones

Anne Fine


This is a book for ages 11 up, boys and girls.
The book takes place during the Russian Revolution, a misarable time in their history.
The book is about a 12 year old boy named Yuri. Yuri lives with his Mum, Dad and Grandmother in a city.
It describes the unfairness and the brutality of Dictatorship. People are sat at home fearing that anything they say against the leaders will be heard by a neighbour and they will DISAPPEAR.
Yuri's school closes and he is forced to work at a building site, supllying bricks to a worker, it is a dangerous job and one day his best friend is killed by bricks falling on his head. Later when he is on a break they are joking about their leaders but Yuri took it too far he is fored to run away from the City and catches a train away. He stops at a cottage after stumbling across a man and pretends he was sent by the Commisar to fix the roof. He finds out there that people are treated just as badly in their province than he was in his. The old pairs grandson's village had been evcuated but he was left their whilst having a fit.
Yuri works on a farm afterwards, where there is lots of food but is caught by the police and is sentenced too 10 years hard labour. Yuri gets out of working in the mines (which are deadly) by telling a guard that he is a woodcutter. Yuri works as a woodsman for about two years, in which he longs to escape and taste freedom, however the prison is in the middle of knowhere and the watchtowers can see for miles.

Turbulence By Jan Mark

Turbulence is about a life of a typical teenage girl, but the said cannot be said for her family and friends. Clare, the main character is telling the story from her own view. She has watched a lot of Western with her Dad and a lot of Zombie Films with her Gran. her brother is just getting to the age where he just doesn't want to be around, taking drugs, and partying. Her little sister Rosie has had a reputation for stirring things up, and now she's really getting into it. When a new couple move in down the road, Mum invites them to diner and then very Lady on the block is charmed by this new man - Sandor. Then things get twisted, everybody is involved with the inevitable divorce of the new couple. Clare life is turned around, and Dad, her favourite person ever, gets cranky, well, it's like going the movies!!!

I would rate this book about 5/10 because the plot and story line doesn't really have any twists in it. at times it got a bit boring, but at times it was still a bit funny! I wouldn't recommend this as a casual book because it didn't really get me wanting to turn the page!

WOLF CRY

Wolf Cry by Julia Golding is a book about different tribes.

It is a book about The Vikings who live on Bjarkoy island and The Vikings who are planning to rebel against Harald. Sulke, the leader of the viking rebels has planned to attack Bjarkoy island while Othere, the leader of The Vikings of Bjarkoy island is away and has left his son Toki in command. The book is all about this fight between then which lasts a very long time and includes a few mishaps along the way.

I would definitely reccomend this book to everyone within the ages of 10-14.

Sam Crossman

The secret life of bees

The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
This book is about a teenager called Lily who is fourteen believing she had killed her mother. She is trying to figure out what happened she thought she killed her mother in a car accident then her father(T-Ray) tells her, that her mother left them she just dosen't know what to belive. When her father went outside she ran upstairs, went into the attic and found this old shoe box inside was two pictures and a pair of glovees, they were her mothers. She took them, knowing her father would realise they were gone so she dicided to hide them out in the woods so late on night she ran into the woods, dug a hole shallow enough so she could go out every night after her father went to bed and jusst think of her mother. One night when she went outside she fell asleep and her father found her, he took her back inside and her father was so angery he smashed up glass, put it on the floor and made Lily neel on it for hours.
Lily only has two friends a black servant called Rosaleen who her father hates and a bunch of bees. The reasonwhy the books called what it is, is because she is the only one who gets to see the bees, at night they are their and in the morning they are gone.

It was Lilys Birthday so Rosaleen dicided to take her to the shops, soon later Rosaleen gets caught for shoplifting and they both get ended up in a cell. Lily's fatherbails her out and leaves Rosaleen knowing whats going to happen to her.

The secret life of bees trailer.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/secret_life_of_bees/trailers/

Soon later Rosaleen gets on but her father dies. She and
Rosaleen start traveling to virgina but the can't afford a train ticket,
they end living with a living famity when something terrible happens.

On the cover it says its a 'Number One Bestseller' and I can see why.

H. Browne

Sorry

 Posted in wrong section. Please delete.

The 39 steps

The 39 steps is a thrilling detective plot based around a man called Hannay who gets sucked into a plot to steal top sectret miltary tactics to help the germans when war breaks out and attemps to stop it. It starts of with an american begging for help. Who has a pocket book with lots of mysteries in which help him end the plot for the infomation.It also envolves high speed races which just increases the drama. This book can be good for all ages above 7 and for boys and girls

Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines is set several millennia in the future in a time called the "Traction Era".The world was ripped apart after something called the "Sixty Minute War" which was some sort of nuclear war. All settlements are moving but they do more than that, villages are eaten by towns, towns are eaten by larger towns and the larger towns are eaten by cities. The main character, Tom, is a third class apprentice for the Historians of London, and his life is about to change completely. Onee day, after London has made it's first catch in decades he has to go on gut duty to find any Historical artifacts from the eaten town, for example "Old Tech" meaning our technology because as far as I can tell all our technology was lost after the "Sixty Minute War",And his supervisor is his hero Valentine, the head historian of London who is said to have been on many adventures and found many wonderful things.When they are looking for artifacts they run into some people who lived on the town and one of them attempts to stab Valentine, She only fails because Tom stops her just in time. She flees and Tom chases her through the gut and in the end she faces him and Tom finds out her name is Hester Shaw, and then she jumps off London into the "Out Country" (which is the dried up bed of the North Sea. When Valentine catches up and learns that Tom knows who the girl was he pushes him off too. But Neither Tom nor Hester die and the book is about them trying to get back to London and Tom helping Hester with her problems. Meanwhile the Mayor of London has big plans, very big, which in an ancient "Sixty Minute War" weapon called MEDUSA and the last static settlements on earth. It is an absolute MUST READ and is impossible to find boring due to the fast plot development. I would recommend it to ages 10 and think it is one of the most ingenius story lines ever.

By Kit Livsey

GUANTANAMO BOY Book review

Amazing. I was glued to this book although a bit slow getting going it soon picked up the pace. Very interesting in that it makes you think about the goings on described in the book.  It could be true or a pack of lies. I say this because Guantanamo Bay is real and was used as a prison. The things that they did to the prisoners could be true or false. The book's blurb is very powerful - "Innocent until proven guilty? Not here you're not".  This again could be true or false. Khalid is the main character and is brilliantly described by the author, so much so you feel like you are there with him. The book describes everything very well. So you really get a sense of the people and the place. I found it really interesting because he grows up during the course of the book. His description of the soldiers is sometimes comical. This book is a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I would reccomend to 11+ because of  the content. It left me feeling quite humble.





                                                                       

The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World is quite an old fashioned book, written in the 1900's. The story starts with Edward Malone trying to charm his friend Gladys in to dating him, but she tells him that he's a very decent chap but lacks any excitement.
Edward works for the "Daily Gazette" newspaper as a journalist and his boss, Mr. McArdle, asks him to find out about Professor Challenger, a zoologist, known for his violence and lying. Edward rises to the challenge. He attends one of Prof. Challengers lectures and ends up being selected to go on a trip with him to the Amazon along with Lord John Roxton, a very athletic man.
After a number of meetings, Prof.Challenger, Prof.Summerlee, Lord Roxton and Edward set off on a liner to Brazil. They travel by canoe through the jungle and have many adventures. Their aim is to reach the plateau, which is difficult but they manage to do so by climing a pinnacle and felling a tree. However, one of the helpers then dislodges the tree and they are stranded!
They have many adventures on the plateau, running away from enormous Iguanadoms(dinosaurs), attacked by pterodactyls and chased by half humans! The plateau is also home to a volcano. They all find this very exciting because they are explorers, but they come close to death on many occasions.They discover a number of new animals and Edward keeps a diary. Their aim now is to escape from the plateau alive and show the evidence of the creatures they have found to the other Professors. They ape men help them escape from one of their caves.
They return as heroes and Professor Challenger gives a lecture on their findings. At first no one is convinced of their findings but then Edward produces a pterodactyl which he captured from the Lost World and everyone cheers!

Edward rushes to see Gladys, but she is now married to a boring man. The story ends with the four explorers having dinner and Lord Roxton produces a valuable diamond which he found in the volcano. They have dicovered a massive fortune, which only the four of them know about.
OD

Once - Morris Gleitzman

Once is about an orphan who gets given a whole carrot and thinks that its sign that his parents are coming back because aren't dead just Jews. Its not so he leaves to try and find his parents.
He saves a girl called Zelda from a burning house on his way.
They -Felix and Zelda- see a big group of people walking to the city and they get captured and told to walk with them.
when they get to the city they escape with a man called Barney.
They get to a cellar where there are them and about six oter kids.
One day Felix sees Barney going out of the cellar and asks to go to so he can try and find his parents.
It turns out Barney is a dentist.
Zelda gets ill and so Felix g to find asprin. When the Germans find the cellar.
They get taken to a train station to go to a death camp do they escape or not??????

Uncle Toms Cabin

Uncle Toms cabin is written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and is a story set in the times of slavery and about the tradings of the slave traders.
     Mr Shelby is a kindly man who lives in Kentucky. His wife is a christian woman and does not believe in slave tradings. The couple treat their slaves with respect but when Mr Shelby is forced into selling his wife's maid's, four year old  who she is completely devoted to, Eliza runs away with her son and trys to follow her husband's footsteps to Canada. But she is closely chased by three slave traders who want her and her son.
    I did not enjoy this book because it had a lot of words that I did not understand, therefore I think that this is an adults book, rather than a childs.
By Matilda Martin

Wilderness By Roddy Doyle

Wilderness is a adventure book about 2 boys Johnny and Tom who live in a rough family as thier Step Sister Grainne hates thier Dad. He got re-married and she was very upset and as a result the boys and thier Mum have to flee the country to Finland to go on an Adventure holiday. Without the boys knowing Grainne's real Mum is on her way to the house from living 11 years in NY. The boys are having the time of thier lives until thier Mum's sled doesn't arrive home one time, and they realise she may be stuck out there to freeze in the vast Frozen North and it is thier destiny to find and rescue her. This is an outstanding book and is a great read for any age. I recommend it to any one who LOVES an Adventure book. I rate this book a 8/10 as there could have been more dialogue between Grainne and her Mum.

Another great thing about this book is that it is written in two halves between Grainne and her Mum, and the boys story out in Finland.

By Charlie Newman

The Bridge to Terabithia by Kathrine Paterson

 The Bridge to Terabithia

The book is about an emotional friendship between two friends called Leslie Jess, they discover a magical world hidden over a stream called Terabithia. The two of them make a castle there called Stronghold and pretend that there are enemies that try to attack thier magical land, but as the days go one bad things start to happe, but will one of them be able to cope?
by Hugo Bungey

Turbulence - alternative last chapter - By Zach Burrage.

Every day for a year I cycled down Addington Road, put a copy of The Times in the very low, small letterbox in 103 and then looked at 107 to see any signs of social life creeping back into existance. I had put the events of the past couple of weeks behind me, even though it still lasted in the neighbourhood for some time. When you saw to middle-aged women talking, half the time the chat would be about Sandor Harker:

Mum: Do you remember that Sandor Harker and his second divorce?

Penny: (hesitantly) Yes, that was such a fumble, he was such a jerk!

Mum: (agreeing) Yeah, he was so mean to Ali!(Even though both women had had inevitable crushes on Sandor at the time).

I still remember one day where I lokked up on the overhanging balcony of 107 and saw a very young girl half naked in the bedroom. She went away and then Sandor himself was at the window, waving to me. I nearly forgot to wave back because of the shock of seeing him so 'in it' after seeming to be depressed after Ali left him.
Time after time I visited Gran in her old citizens home, watching 'Zombie VS Werewolf', or 'Ali G- Alien style'.
Once I got back home to find the massive plate-ornament-china-thingy from the front room gone and Rosie cowaring under the stares. Burgulars had been striking all over town and they had finally come to us. Rosie told me that as soon as she heard banging against the door, she hid and prayed that the so called 'Pheadophiles' wouldn't find her. This sparked yet another row in our family- 'who put the idea of pheadophiles into Rosie's head, Jamze!!!' But the main thing was that Sandor Harker was now out of our lives, more or less, living the bed life with his partner Kerry down Addington Road at number 107, phone number 07500316394, and working at DDI next to Mum at the tills.(Like I said, more or less out of our lives.)


Now, 20 years on, you'll never believe where we all are now, not.

Me- Raising a family with my husband Jerry.

Mum- In the house, lazing about all day.

Dad- Watching westerns and working two shifts at MacDonalds.

Jamze-Jail after multiple drug abuse and alchol abuse.


Rosie- Studying law at Uni, the only subject siuted to her hobby, raising arguments.

and finally...

Gran-Cremated.

Just ordinary me in my unordinary world, taking the kids to school, washing up, thinking of everyday things and what next crime Jamze will pull to get put in jail for the 15th time.

Turbulence

By Jan Mark


 My first impression about Turbulence was that it was going to be really funny, getting into it, wanting to turn the page. It was not.

Turbulence is about a typical teenage girl, Clare, who lives with her not so typical family. She has a very boring, repetitive life. So much to the extent where she starts to predict conversations and events. Her problems start to arrive when Mum invites the Harkers the new couple to diner. Sandor, the husband, is very good with new people, especially women. After Sandor and Ali Sandor's wife, have a party, everyting kicks off. All the neighbours get involved in a rageing row betwwen Sandor and Ali. Practically every couple on the block is now having an argument about affairs and adultery - with Sandor Harker. As Clare get more and more involved, how she wonders, she discovers more and more about the Harkers. On top of all this, there are problems within her household.
Her Mum trys 'getting it on' with Sandor Harker.
Her Dad  starts watching lots more westerns and isolates himself with life.
Her Gran(who watches lots of Zombie and Horror films) is thrown into craze claiming Sandor and Ali are Vampires.
Her brother, Jamze, starts taking regular parties, and drugs.

And her sister Rosie has a massive fall out with the family.

Even with the moderatly funny jokes and wise cracks, i'd rate this book 5/10 and would not reccomend it to anyone as a casual book. This is because it doesn't make me want ot turn the page and it has no real twists included within the storyline.


ZB