Thursday, 20 October 2011

Gone is a book about kids under the age of 15 that have been trapped in a bubble thing that is impossible to Get out off. The main character of this book is called Sam.
Some of the people in this book such as Sam have developed strange powers due to nuclear exposure.Sam has the ability to shoot a lift beam out of his palms. After a couple of days of mayhem a few kids come from a boarding school forbad children to the tow called period beach and say they have a system to keep period beach from burning down or murder. So this boy Caine takes over and has a ration system for food. Caine is also a freak as they are called but he has the power o telekinesis but he wants to be the most powerful freak in perido beach. So he gets all the freaks and works out that most of there powers are focused through there palms so cements there hands in a big block. Then Sam decides that caine is being unfair and that the law enforcer drake Mersin is out of control so he fights Caine and his people and wins.

driven to distraction

driven to distraction is a book about cars and veracious other subjects like one thinking about Stephen Fry as prime minster and other useless facts. this book is very open minded and has many different subjects.

I would rate this book 9/10 but it is very confudderling and very funny.

HW   

Web by John Wyndham



This is John Wyndhams last book. It was only discovered ten years after he died.

In Web a rich aristocrat Sir Fox, has bought an island and has made a program to establish a Utopian society on it. However, when they explore the island, they find it is ruled by vast colonies of ultra-evolved spiders, who hunt in intelligent packs and are capable of killing humans. They try to fight them off, but when the local tribe who live on a nearby island break through their defences and let the spidres in, there are only two survivors. Theygo on a mission to discover where these spidres came from, who the tribe is and how they can survive.

This is an excellent book, and i recommend it to anyone who likes gore, mystery and other john Wyndham books. 10/10   L.B

War Horse

War Horse is a very moving book about a  horse called Joey and a boy called Albert.The book is written as if you were the horse. Joey is bought at the market by Alberts drunk father. At this stage Joey is only about 6 months old.They take Joey home and put him in the Stable next to Zoey who is a very old horse. Albert is given the task of looking after Joey and does so. He tells Joey he will never leave him. Joey and Zoey learn to plough. The war starts and Albert is told by his father that Joey must be sold to a Captain. Captain Nicholls buys Joey to take to war. Joey is taken to France to be riden into battle by Captain Nicholls. Joey is riden into war but Captain Nicholls gets blown of the horse but Joey is ok. Captain Nicholls was accompanied by Captain Jamie Stewart who was riding Topthorn was ok  but Topthorn and Joey got captured by the Germans.

Joey and Topthorn are put to work taking Germanss back from the front line who are injured and were led by a German officer who had before been a butcher called Friedrich who was a nice man. They stayed on a farm owned by a old frenchman and his grand-daughter Emily. Emily loved Joey and Topthorn and looked after them. Eventually the German soldiers had to move away as the front line moved and gave Topthorn and Joey to her Grandfather.  The two horses lived happily for a whole summer before the front moved back and they were taken against Emily and her Grandfathers will to help pull the guns. This was extremely hard work and many of the horses pulling the guns died.
Eventually even the very strong Topthorn fell ill and died.

During a bombardment Joey was frightened by an explosion and ran away but got caught in no-mans land and stuck in barbed wire. Both the German and the English front line's heard him whinny and one man from each trench holding a white flag crawled out of the trench and met by Joey. The two men spoke, one a tiny little welshman and the other an old German. The men exchanged conversation and finally came to a conclusion. They would flip a coin. The German tossed it up in the air and as it came down the welshman called "HEADS". Heads it was. The two men shook hands told each other good luck then Joey got led back to the English trench whilst the German walked slowly back to his.

Joey is then taken to the vetinary where Albert and Joey were reunited. Albert was holding Joey's head whilst him and his friend David were talking about how one day a horse would turn up with a white mark on both legs and as David is hosing him down he realises that this horse has just that and Albert realises that its Joey. They feed Joey and he gets back to full health but soon after Joey gets LockJaw. David and Albert persuade the Major not to kill Joey adn once more Albert and David get him back to full health. Joey, Albert and  David get sent back to war, Joey once more pulling carts of the wounded but  David on the other hand gets killed just a few days before the end of the war. Albert survives.

With the end of the war the regiment is told it must return to England but there is no room for the Horses and therefore the Major in charge of the vetinary has to organise and auction. Despite all the regiment pleading including the saergant major pleading to the major Joey must be put up on auction. Although they are not allowed to the regiment collect as much money as they can afford and the saergant major bids for Joey, but he is out bid by one of the the frenchman at the auction who is buying the horses for meat. At the last minute an old man at the back of the crowd outbids the butcher from Cambray.

No one knows who the old man is who has won Joey but the saergant thunder and major martin go and speak to him, the old man is Emilie's grandfather and he tells of how Emilie had died of a broken heart once Joey and Topthorn had left. The old man sells back Joey to Albert for just one English penny but makes him promise to love and care for Joey forever. Joey and Albert return to there village and parade through the streets, Albert marries his sweetheart and Joehy goes back to working on the land with his old friend Zoey.

I think this is an outstanding book and i would recommend reading. It is an extremely moving book epecially as it was based on a true story. I dont think it matters who you are but this is a great read.This book also shows how awful the war was and it was not only the men who got treated badly but the animals aswell. Even in the worst conditions some people show extraordinary kindness.

I wopuld give it a 10/10

F.A

Animal Farm

animal farm is about a farmer who is really mean to his animals and the animals had enough of him and they plot against him and they call for a meeting to get rid of him and the farmer dies and the pigs called snowball and nopolian asume control because they are smater than the other animals are upset and they revolt against the pigs and
 i wont tell you the rest
overall that book wasnt my cup of tea and i would rate it a 3/10.

Double Cross

Double Cross is the fourth book of the Noughts and Crosses sequence. You wouldn't really understand the book unless you read the first, second and third book in order, but I didn't read the third book (Checkmate) and I understood it. This is a brilliant book about two people called Callie and Toby, who have both lived in the same neighbourhood and in the same street all their lives. The area they live in is called Meadowview and is a very dangerous place to live in, but both Callie and Tobys' parents cannot afford to live anywhere else. Callies' dad was hanged for kidnapping Callies' mum Sephy before she was born, so Callie lives with her mum and grandmother. In Meadowview there are two gangs or sides, one of the gangs is called the Dowds and the other gang is called McAuleys. The two sides do not get along at all.

When Toby is asked to work for The McAuleys he says no, becasue he knows it would be a very bad idea to work for either the McAusleys or the Dowds. When Callie gets shot by one of the McAuleys he changes his mind and takes the offer of delivering packages for Mr McAuley. He knows this is the biggest mistake of his life but he wants to kill McAuley, so he must work for him and step by step get closer to McAuley. On top of all this Tobys sister is taking drugs, so he has troubles at home as well as with all the bad gangs that rule the world he lives in. Callie also has troubles, she does not know if her uncle Jude is alive or not, her uncle Jude was responsible for her grandmothers death and she hates him but is also terrified of him.
This was an amazing book, I really enjoyed it. I would give it a  8/10

Otty

The Escape, Henderson Boys Robert Muchamore

The escape is a great action book set with a family and an orphan boy.
The family are the Clarks there is the father and his two children Rose and Paul . The orphans boy is called Marc.
The escape is set in World War 2 and the orphanige gets bombed and Marc escapes on the orphaniges leader bike and steals some money and food. Marc is alone to wonder to the South of France.
Theres soo many important stuff i could say but it would be revieling it.
I will say a few things. Mr.Clarke is a spy that his kids dont know about and its a big change suddenly for the kids.
Germany are taking over Paris and thats why everyone goes South.
Will Marc and the Clarkes get to Soth-end France or will they get crushed by the Germans
There is alot of twists and turns which makes this book so good.
Its the first of the series.

I rate it 9/10 i recommend it mostly to boys.

JH

The Confession.

In 1998, Travis Boyette brutally assaulted and murdered Nicole Yarber, a high school cheerleader. He then watched open-mouthed as Donte Drumm, a black american football player, is arrested and convicted of murder, and is put on the death row.

Nine years on, and Travis is suffering from a brain tumor. With his health deteriorating, he decides to do the right thing, and confess. Travis meets a Keith Schroeder, a reverend living in Kansas, one week before Donte Drumms' execution.

Keith Schroeder now has a week to save Donte Drumms life.





This was my book of the summer. Its got suspense, twists and turns, I really enjoyed it. Its a very dark read, and quite controversal. Although its not a horror story, it isn't for the light hearted either.

Kiwi

Lord Loss by Darren Shan


Lord Loss is based around one family the Gradys the main character is called Grubbs Grady all the Gradys are addicted to playing chess to Grubbs this is just a hobby but he soon learns all about what chess really means in this family. He comes home one day to find the house in a mess and his parents and older sister Gret dead and in the house three demons who want him as well because I don,t want to spoil the book i'm not going to tell you much more.

I thought it was really good and don't be put of if you don't like horror books its children horror I really liked it  8.5/10


The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein

The Hobbit is the prequel to one of the most well-known book trilogies of the whole writing world.
The story follows the life of the most important hobbit in the Shire (the living area of the hobbits - also known as Hobbiton), his name is Bilbo Baggins. He is disrupted one evening by 12 dwarves and a famous wizard - Gandalf. They all are charged with a mission to recover the stolen treasure from a Dragon called Smaug.

It is an eventful and captivating story when they are captured by Goblin's in the tunnels of the Misty Mountains, Bilbo has a nasty encounter with Gollum where Bilbo changes the story completely, they are almost roasted by Goblin fires and Wargs. They are rescued by Eagles and meet a friendly giant who can transform into other animals and things and is extremely good at taming animals. They are put on their way and meet Mirkwood but the Dwarves and Bilbo are given a nasty shock at the edge of Mirkwood. They almost starve through the wood and are locked up by Elves but escape to the smart thinking of Bilbo and are washed up at the Woodmen of the Long Lake. Thorin (one of the dwarves and was once heir to this land) bcomes King of the Long Lake while they are resting there. After a few days they begin their journey to the Desolation of Smaug which has been in their sights from the Long Lake.

There is a massive battle called the Battle of the Five Armies - the goblins and Wargs against the woodmen, elves, Gandalf and the dwarves, and Bilbo and his companions take lots of the treasure but many of them die.

This book was very good. I would rate it 8.5/10.






J.F

The Sound Of Laughter By Peter Kay

Peter Kay's autobigraphy is a hilarious book about the growing up and life of Peter Kay before he became famous and his journey to get there. He talks about how he got on at school and then how he went on to work at a factory driving fork lift trucks all day.He talks about how from an early age he was always known as the class clown and the work you have to put in to become as famous as he is now.

Overall I think this book is really, really funny and tells a great story about his life in a way that will keep you reading just because of the humour.i'd give it 8/10

An Idiot Abroad

An idiot abroad is a hilarious book about a very boring man called Karl Pilkington. He doesn't like travelling. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant force him to go to all the seven wonders of the world for and 'epic adventure'. Karl has to do dangerous activities, eat wierd foods and more. Ricky is costantly sending Karl texts purposly trying to use up his credit.

It was a very funny book i would rate it 9.5/10





MG

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Michael McIntyre Life and Laughing

This book is a very honest and very funny autobiography about Michael's life. His Dad was a comedian and when his Mum was pregnant a fortune teller told her that she was going to have a very successful son and that she felt like she was the virgin Mary, carrying a special son. His Dad was Canadian and his Mum was Hungarian. Michael's Granny has a really funny accent and threatens people with cutting them out of her will, or as she says 'vill'. Michael's Mum and Dad knew Kenny Everett (who was a big TV star in the eighties). And everyone at his primary school thought that Kenny Everett was his Dad, until it came to the parents sports day, Michael went form the most popular kid in school to the most unpopular kid in school. But when Michael was 12 his parents go a divorce and his Mum married a bulider and his Dad married an Amercian girl. On the whole I thought that this book was very fun to read and would recommend it to people who like comedy and autobioghraphys, I would give this 9/10.



CJC

I Am The Messenger

I Am The Messenger Is a book about an average guy called Ed Sullivan (Who I think lives in Australia, but it never tells us in the book) who one day is in a bank with his argumentative friend Marv, and a terrible gunman attempts a robbery. He forces Marv to give him his keys to his awful car. but when he runs out the building he drops his gun and carry's on running to the car. Ed has an adrenaline rush runs outside picks up the gun and shoots the attempted robber, but doesn't kill him. After the trial Ed receives an Ace of Diamonds with 3 addresses on it. He doesn't know what he has got himself into but seems to find his way to solve the problem, He then gets an ace of clubs with another three address's on it and then he gets an Ace of spades with three writers names on it and he has to work out the code, which turns out to be that each of the writers had one book which had the name of a street in the town. and then he gets an Ace of Hearts which has the address's of his three best friends Ritchie, Marv, and Audrey.(who he is madly in love with.) Ed's life turns around and so do all the people who he had on the address's of the cards.


 I really liked I am The Messenger because there are always lots of things happening and you are always trying to work out who is sending Ed the playing card. I would rate it 9/10!!

Noughts & crosses-Malorie Blackman

Noughts and crosses it a book about racism, Sephy is black (cross) and Callum is white (nought) and they live in a world where crosses rule over noughts and noughts are lower class citizens.
Callums dad and brother keep going off from early in the morning to late at night, his sister is mad and eventually commits suicide and his mother cant cope with it all.
Sephys dad is one of the most important men in the country, her mother has a major drinking problem and her sister keeps telling her she never wants her to grow up.
the both think it cant get any worse and then the bomb explodes…
i thought this was a good book and i gave it 7/10 SS

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies
William Golding
A bunch of school boys end up stranded on an island after a catastrophic plane crash in which killing every adult and a few kids. These boys at first run around thinking it was all so good without anybody telling them what to do and what not to do. But they soon discovered this was not the case. A boy named Ralph was soon elected leader of the group of boys and everyone had there individual jobs and chores. During the night something came down from the top of the mountain to inspect what and who had landed on his or hers island. It must of been careless and was seen by a member of the group, a younger member of the group who told all the others and non of them believed him. Thing started to break up amongst the group and split into two groups, most in one and not many in the other.

Will the groups stay apart and orderly?
Will they mind each others business?
Will they ever be found???

   O.s

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Boys don't cry

Boys don't cry is a good book about a boy called Dante who is waiting for his exam results. But then his ex girlfriend turns up and she has a baby. Then she goes out to get some things but never comes back.
Dante is left with the baby and his brother and dad are out and are coming back soon. Dante is not sure if he should put the baby up for adoption or maybe give the baby to some foster parents. Then Dantes dad gets back and tells Dante he has no choice he will have to keep it. Dante has a hard decision to make.


I think his was a good book, i would rate it 7.5/10 C.H

Monday, 17 October 2011

Life & Laughter-by Michael McIntyre (his autobiography)

I thougt his storys were incredibly funny, especially the one about his grandmothers accent. His autobiography is, obviously, just his life told in a funny way. He also add how his parents broke up but he tells in a funny way. Also i like how he talks about other comedians and the DNA of a good gag. I liked the part when he couldn't wait to tell everyone that he hit the only volvo limousine and blame it on a guy who was having lunch.


I thought this was a very funny and slitly interesting. 8.5/10

MM

Checkmate

Checkmate is a sequel to Knife Edge and Noughts and Crosses.
This book is basically about Callie Rose's life. ( who is Sephy and Callum's daughter). She has quite a hard life because her Mum is black and her Dad was white. Sephy ( Callie's Mum) hasn't told Callie Rose anything about her father , just that he was killed in a car accident ( which isn't true ). When Callie Rose gets a lot older, she unexpectedly learns the truth about her father. She realises what kind of a world they lived in and what history her father created. Sephy then meets her Uncle, Jude McGregor. He is still angry about Callum's death and wants revenge. So Jude gets Callie Rose to do it for him ( this ends up, causing about 5 deaths , and a bomb)
Suddenly Callie Rose becomes caught up in everything, and she doesn't realise how hard it is to get out of it....

I gave this book an 8/10 because it is a really good sequel and it has a good storyline.

Daisy

Sunday, 16 October 2011

A Puppy Called Aero by Liam Creed.(Autobiography)

A Puppy called Aero is an Autobiography about Liam(The Author) When he was a young boy of about 4 years old his mother saw him in the garden pulling up all of the flowers in the flower bed. Since then he has been a troubled littly boy. He did not do as he was told, he would bully his older brother Matt, he would want all the attention and could not sit still. His mother tried so hard to find out what was wrong with him, because normally young boys will grow out of the naughty stage. All the doctors would not listen to him and he could not explain what he was going through.
His mum was doing some research on the computer to see if she could find something that matched Liam's problems and she came across ADHD. All the symtoms were the same, She took him to a doctor. This doctor was different from all the rest, he actually listened to Liam and asked his questions. He knew straight away that it was ADHD. Liam was then diagnosed with ADHD. That gave him some pills that would calm him down.And it worked. One thing that his mum noticed when she was looking on the internet it said that all the people with ADHD had a WOW FACTOR! When Liam's younger sister was born they realized what it was.He loved baby's and pets. He was so calm around them and so gentle. He especially likes changing her nappies and later on in the book you will see that he likes clearing dog poo.
At School he was a nuisance  and wanted all the attention. he never made friends because he would be so rude to them. But one day the headmaster asked Liam to his office which normally means a telling off but when he got in there he had something else to say.He wants to tell Liam about a project that Canine Partners was doing to help children with problems. They were to train dogs to help people in a wheelchair. Liam was 15 at the time and was not very sociable with other kids his age, especially girls.
When he got on the bus for the first day at Canine Partners . On the bus was 3 girls and a boy at the back on the bus. The boy is called Rob and was very interested to know everything about Liam. Liam did not know what was the problem with him. By the end of the bus journey through the country side he realized that Robs nickname is the volcano and Liam experience it at the end of the journey.
The leader of the project was called Nina from Australia. All the kids were introduced  to the dogs and Liam's dog is called Aero, a Labrodor Retriever . Their first task was to try to put the lead on the dog, This was harder then they all thought.The next task was to make the dog open the washing Machine and to answer the phone etc.... All the children didn't understand how this will effect them and how important it is to the disabled they are helping .
They all found it hard to socialise with each other, all the girls teased Liam about he moustache and Liam could not cope.
Liam's WOW FACTOR is pets and babies so he made a special bond with Aero. Aero started to trust and listen to Liam. They started to do the tasks very well. Nina was very impressed with Liam as they made great progress.
One day Rob and Liam were sent to London to see a Lady called Eileen who is in a wheelchair and has a dog from Canine Partners to help her. Liam was very excited to go to London because he had never been before.
When they got there they were overwhelmed by the tricks the dog 'Sailor' was doing. After this trip to London Liam was determined that he was going to make Aero the best dog for the person he was going to help. Aero and Liam were making even more progress.
The other problem with Liam was that he could not talk to girls, there was a girl in the corner shop on the way to school that Liam really likes. One day he plucked up the courage to talk to her.The start did not go well but he was not going to give up. They did end up going out with each other. Her name is Leanne and she loved dogs.They were perfect for each other.
Everyone could see a massive change in Liam, he was polite, listens to people and respects other people.

The big day has arrived, they have to show everyone all the tricks they have learnt it in the time at Canine Partners . Liam was so scared, he did not want to let anyone down especially Areo. (I won't tell you what happened)
Now the day came to say goodbye to Aero. Liam could not cope, they had made a special bond and Aero had saved him.
The end of the book made me cry, This book I would give a 10/10
Mairi Donaldson.

The Painted Man

The painted man is a great book about three characters Arlen,Leisha and Rojer . The book is set in medieval times.They are in a time were daemons rule the night slaying anything and everything and people believe there is no defence against these creatures. So, at night, people hide in the houses which are protect by magical Wards. These are a combination of symbols that stop daemons.
The story commences with Arlen as a 12 year old child. His father is weak and frightened by daemons. He's left with a choice of either saving his wife or seeking refuge back at a farm and he chose to seek refuge and that resulted in Arlen's mum dieing. Arlen is angry with his Dad and runs off into forest.
Leisha is a 13 year old at the start of the book and has inherited her mothers good looks. Her mother is a pretty lady but she is also rather mean horrible especially to her husband because she sleeps with other men. She does not deserve the kind and loving husband, a man called Arney. The daemaons attach the village where Leisha lives and many die. An old herb gatherer in the village needs help healing the wounderd and Leisha accidently volunteers.
Rojer, at the start he is a small boy of 3 who has bright red hair. His parents die and a jongler who is also a Coward, is with them when daemons attach. The Jongler runs away when the daemons brake in and kill his parents, just before his Mother dies, she hand Rojer over to the Jongler who is hiding in a cellar.Some of Rojers fingers are severed at that time.
They all set off on adventures of their own, but I'm not going to read it to you so read it yourself!!!

                                                                My thoughts

This is one of my favorite books, it is a must read. This book is quite long and is quite advanced. I love this book but if there was something I could change it would be...
To spend more time on Rojer.
To make the characters not grow up so fast.
And to make a movie of it!!!

                                                            
If you get into this book there is a sequal called The Dessert Spear



I would rate this book 100%

by Piersie giltinan

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

The Fear

this book is mainly about zombies and the basic storyline is if you were over 14 when the virus struck you would either die or turn into a zombie if you were under 14 then you would be fine.

this story starts off 5 days before the first book which makes it complicated and it does mix with the first book so it means you need to read the first book. this book starts with a weird intro of a zombie called the collector he is included in the other story's so again your going to need to go back. The basic storyline of this book is that Dognut,Marco,Al,Felix, Olivia, Finn and Courtney a couple of kids from a group of kids who are held up in the tower of London are going to try and find some friends who got split up from them when the side of London that they were on first got burned by a fire and so lots of kids were  trying to get across at the bridge and so they got split up. the first people they find are in the house of parliament this is because they travel by the river in a boat. they don't find any of their friends their so they move on to Buckingham palace where they find a guy called David in charge he tells them that one of their friends is here and he dosent know where the rest of there friends are whoever they do not realise that David is lieing to them to use them as his soldiers whowever one of the kids tell them there friends are at the museum. whoever on the way over to the museum they meet a certain zombie called the Collector he manages to kill one of their group a little girl called Olivia. they reach the museum finally and find out that more of their friends are here. when the group set out home they do not realise there being watched by the zombies what will happen you will have to read to find out.

I would rate this 9/10 it was a bit confusing at times but overall it is a good book.

S.H.