 Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.
This week, Isla Hoskin (Year 8) reviews Lemony Snicket's grim classic A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning. This book was written by Lemony Snicket. I am pretty sure this book was set towards the olden days because of some of the words they used and how they described their birth parents' home. It is a fiction book which is quite dark and could be said to be a horror, because of some of the things these poor kids had to go through. I really liked this book, I found it very interesting and it was a page turner. The book's events were quite sad. I felt sympathetic towards them. They made the characters very clear and I really liked how they did a great description of each character. Violet was described as the leader of the children as she was the one who looked after Klaus and Sunny. She is a very smart and determined girl who does not let anything get in her way. Klaus was the leader of the siblings and I found him quite interesting because he found out most of his information on how law works and stuff by using his books. Sunny is just a very bitey baby. This book made what was going on very clear and I have a vivid memory of the events that happened. I really liked how at the end they left me on a cliff hanger making me want to jump right into the next book. My adrenaline was up when Violet was forced to get married. I liked how they also used problem solving throughout the book. The description in the book was great and I really felt like I was on a stage with Violet and Olaf. I give this book a five star rating! Keen to read? You can pick up a copy of A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning at the Frances Compton Library!
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Student Book Review: My Year in the Middle by Lila Quintero Weaver, reviewed by Lucy Gill (Year 8)3/15/2022  Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.
This week, Lucy Gill (Year 8) reviews new historical fiction novel My Year in the Middle by Lila Quintero Weaver. This book is historical fiction and it was published in 2020. It’s about a girl at a school that black and white children attended in Alabama during the integration of schools period in 1970. Girls 11-13 years of age are most likely to enjoy this book. Lu Olivera is the main character and she is into running. But that hasn’t always been her top interest. She recently discovered her passion for running track and that brings her to find a new friend, Belinda, who also shares her passion for running. The theme is to not always give up when something happens because it might change your life forever. The author wanted me to learn that black people in the USA have different lives to us and they go through different things that we don’t go through. My rating for this book is 5 stars out of 5. Keen to read? You can pick up a copy of My Year in the Middle at the Frances Compton Library!  Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.
This week, Cerisa Gu (Year 8) reviews As Good As Dead, the final book in the Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy by Holly Jackson. As Good As Dead is a mystery thriller novel written by Holly Jackson. It was published last year (2021) and is set in a fictional town in Buckinghamshire called Little Kilton. This book is the last in the trilogy of ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ (AGGGTM). ‘As Good As Dead’ continues Pip’s journey as a podcaster who uncovers the truth behind many missing and dead people, but this time, she’s the one who is about to go missing. Having received many threats, Pip, the main character, must find out how to save herself before it’s too late. The good thing is, Pip is smart, knows how to find clues and is experienced when it comes to crimes. She starts the book as a student who has graduated high school and is about to start university. Pip doubts many things in the beginning, including if legal justice really is fair, but by the end of the book, she is sure of most things and will take things into her own hands when the law doesn’t help. Overall, the main message of the book is that there isn’t always a definite good or bad, but a lot is grey, and left to the interpretation of yourself. I rate this book a ⅘ as it definitely kept me on my toes, but the ending was a little weak for me. People who are into crime, mystery and books with amazing plot twists should read this book, but I would recommend this to mature readers since there are violent scenes and the overall plot is quite scary. Anyone from Year 8 or above should read this book. Four stars. Keen to read? Pick up a copy of As Good As Dead at the Frances Compton Library! Student Book Review: Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan, reviewed by Aimee Bradley (Year 8)3/15/2022  Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.
This week, Aimee Bradley (Year 8) reviews Rick Riordan's Daughters of the Deep. Have you read a book called ‘Daughter of the Deep’ by Rick Riordan before? Well if you haven’t then read on… This book was published in 2021 and is about a girl called Ana and her class of 20 freshmen who go on a journey after their boarding school has crashed into the ocean after being shot by a torpedo. If you are aged between 10-15 years old and are interested in adventure and historical fiction then I think you will enjoy this book. It is set along the Californian coast. The main characters are Ana - a brave girl who excels at languages because she is in the house called Dolphin. She is a descendant of Captain Nemo. Gem - a very good fighter because he is in the house called Shark and is quite protective when he gets asked to do something. Nelinha - an excited/kinda sassy girl who calls everyone babe. She is an excellent engineer because she is in the house called Celaphod. Ester - a quiet/shy girl who has a lively support dog called Tops. She is a descendant of the founders of her school. The theme of this book is about never giving up when times are tough and the importance of friendship. The author of this book wants people to learn that as long as you work together as a team then you can do anything. I think that this book is perfect for people who like stories like this one. I rate this book five stars, because it kept me intrigued throughout the whole book (and that's saying something because it was a pretty big book). Keen to read? Frances Compton Library doesn't have this title...yet... but keep your eyes peeled - it'll be on our shelves soon!  Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.
This week, Prabhnoor Gangyan (Year 8) reviews children's classic The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton. The Naughtiest Girl in the School is written by Enid Blyton and illustrated by Kate Hindley. Other notable works of Enid Blyton are the famous five series and the secret seven series. This book was published in 1940. This book falls under the category of fiction. The Naughtiest Girl in School is about a little girl whose name is Elizabeth Allen. She is a spoiled girl and is very rude and headstrong. She is sent away to boarding school (which Elizabeth hates) and she vowed to herself she would be rude and mean and get sent home, but she soon finds out that being bad at Whyteleafe school isn’t as easy as it seems… This book is aimed at 9-14 year olds so tweens and teens. The setting of this book is mainly in a School and at the start, at Elizabeth’s house. When was the setting? In the first term of school for Whytealeafe. Some of the main characters would be Elizabeth who is rude and headstrong, Joan; a timid little girl and Rita and William who are the head girl and boy of Whyteleafe and are both wise and proud. We do see Elizabeth change in a very positive way throughout the book. This book teaches us that giving is way better than receiving. Also that it is not feeble or weak to change your mind once it is made up, it is feeble to not change your mind when you know you made the wrong decision. I would rate this book 5 stars out of 5 stars. It is an awesome book, really heartwarming, funny and beautiful. Keen to read? You can check out The Naughtiest Girl in the School at the Frances Compton Library!  Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email [email protected] with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.
This week, Ava Dilly (Year 9) explores the haunting, unsettling horror read Bunny by Mona Awad. When you think of a bunny, what comes to mind? Soft and cuddly? Cute and playful? Bunny by Mona Awad is the antonyms of all those adjectives embodied. Published in 2019 and the winner of the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novel, Bunny sucks readers down a dark hole of isolation, desperation, and the dangers of imagination. Samantha Mackey, an antisocial college student part of an exclusive writing program at Warren University in New England, despises the other four women (nicknamed ‘Bunnies’) in her cohort. Yet, when they unexpectedly invite her to one of their weekly workshops outside of school, Samantha can’t find it in herself to refuse and gets caught up in a whirlwind of supernatural rituals and axe decapitations. Awad’s novel is reminiscent of others such as The Secret History and Frankenstein, with common themes of isolation, alienation, ambition, and the pursuit of perfection in their respective crafts. Through seeing ourselves in Samantha, Bunny helps us explore the idea of our desperation to belong and just how far that desire will take us. ‘And that’s when I realise that whatever pain I have, whatever true want I have that lives under all this greasy, spineless needing to please isn’t something I want to give them.’ I would compare reading this book to a rollercoaster ride, but that would imply the weirdness declined at some point. It did not. From the first line, I knew I was in for a read of a lifetime. Awad’s way of crafting words is so gruesome and masterful that I often found myself stuck between grimacing at the gore and grinning at the impeccably timed dark humour. I would definitely recommend paying attention to all the details while reading, because you’ll be rewarded with an unforgettable experience as the story draws to a close. Bunny was a disturbing and surprisingly sad novel that has hopped up to first place in my top books so far this year. I gave this book 5 stars and would recommend it to anyone over the age of 12 who loves psychological fiction and wishes life was a little more supernatural. Keen to read? You can check out Bunny at the Frances Compton Library! Trigger Warnings: animal abuse, bullying, death of a parent (past), drugging, gore, manipulation, mental illness, murder, parental abandonment, self-harm, sex |
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