Readers Rock!

DISCOVER THE TRUTH.

Love this book trailer!!

In the ruins of North America, sometime in the future, they play a Game.  As punishment for their rebellious actions of the past, and a yearly reminder of the might of the Capitol, the repressed families of the Districts of Panem are forced to scarifice 23 of their children in a yearly fight to the death, known as the Hunger Games.  Each terryfying moment and every brutal death is televised and viewing is mandatory, in a gruesome take on the modern reality TV genre.  Unlike Survivor or The X Factor,  in this Game, losers die … but winners become celebrities and return to an easy life in their home Districts. Their home Districts too share in the rewards of their victory and are showered with prizes for a year, mainly food, to ease their lives of slavery and starvation.
Katniss Everdeen is 16.  Since her father’s death in the mines of District 13 she has fed her family through illegal poaching and trading. Her skill with the bow and arrow are formidable.  When her 12 year old sister is selected by ballot to participate in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss takes her place.  Within days she finds herself in the Capitol – a celebrity with a team of stylists and coaches determined to transform her into the most favoured contestant, a position that will secure financial sponsorship … and in turn, concrete, possibly lifesaving, assistance in the fighting arena.

This is a gripping dystopian tale; science fiction, but not completely out of the realms of the believable.  I cannot stop reading!!  There are 3 books in the series – Books 2 and 3 are Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  Will be in the cinemas next year.  See the movie trailer HERE

DETAILS: ‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins. Call Number: F COL

It’s Book Week and if you are in Year 9 or 10 here’s your chance to WIN!!!!   The Resource Centre is running 2 book-themed competitions for you to enter.  Prizes include Book Vouchers, chocolates and a chance to have your blog post published right here on readersrock.edublogs.org!!!    So how does it work??…

Competition No. 1  WHICH BOOKS ROCK?

We want to know about the best fiction books for boys in Year 9 and 10 …. AND we’re prepared to pay for it!  Tell us the author and title of a book that you think rocks for boys in Year 9&10.   The first 3 correctly completed entries drawn out of the box will win:

1^st – 1 x Book voucher     2^nd – 1 x big box chocs    3^rd – 1 x small box chocs

Collect an entry form from the Resource Centre, or email me and I’ll send you one, and return to it to the box in the Resource Centre.  Entries close Friday 2nd Sept.

Competition No. 2  BOOKS ROCK BLOG POST

Write a blog post for a fiction book that you loved!  Books must be suitable for boys in Year 9 and 10.  ALL entries will receive a chocolate! 

The Best 3 blog posts will win a Prize. The Top 10 blog posts will be published on readersrock.edublogs.org 

The Best 3 Blog Posts will win:

 1^st – 1 x Book voucher     2^nd – 1 x big box chocs    3^rd- 1 x small box chocs

 What you have to do:

1. Read some of the posts on this site to get an idea of what to include in your post.  Other great blog writing tips can be found at http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingtips/tp/TipsWriteBlogPosts.htm
2. Decide what book you are going to blog about.  You must have read it!  It must be a book that you think boys in Year 9 and 10 would enjoy.
3. Write your blog post.  It must be between 100 and 300 words long; have correct spelling and punctuation; be about a book that suits boys aged 13-16 years; and be interesting and persuasive!
4. Email your post to Mrs Taylor

Best of Luck!!!!!!!!

Readers Rock is taking a slight change of direction given my new role in the Resource Centre.  As I now will be spending most of my time with classes in Years 9 and 10 the books that I will be adding to Readers Rock will be suited to boys in the age group 12-16 years.  All previous posts will remain on the site so if you need to check on the details of a book I wrote about some time ago it will still be here! 

Mrs Taylor

Last year we had the great pleasure of welcoming to our school author Simon Higgins as part of our Book Week celebrations!  We will never forget Simon’s breathtaking demonstrations of the ancient art of Japanese swordsmanship known as Eishin Ryu, his inspirational lectures on writing and on Samurai culture or his highly enjoyable writing workshops.   As copies of the Moonshadow series flew out the Library door with the speed of a samurai slice, I donned my girl ninja gear for the Year 5′s Book Week Parade, no longer able to conceal my own great love of all things Japanese!

It is with great excitment that I can now report that the 3rd instalment in the Moonshadow series, “Moonshadow: The Twilight War”, has just been published and is on its way to the Library shelves very soon!  On his blog Simon tells us that this new story, although following on from events in the first two Moonshadow books, is also a standalone story so you do not have to have read the first 2 in the series to fully enjoy this third ninja adventure!  BUT, if you do want to read the first two, then check out their details below and be well prepared for the arrival of our copies of “Twilight War” soon!

 DETAILS: ‘Moonshadow: Eye of the Beast’ and ’Moonshadow: The Wrath of Silver Wolf’ by Simon Higgins. Call Number: F HIG 

Simon Higgins and Mrs Taylor

“Luke is having a rough year. His parents split up. Then his mum moves to Phoenix, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and she drags Luke along with her.  But Phoenix is no ordinary town. It was built from the ground up by the enigmatic Shackleton Co-operative less than a year ago. There are no cars, no phone lines, and a private security force instead of police.  Luke thinks this is as weird as it gets.  Then he and his new friends discover that someone in Phoenix is plotting to wipe out the human race. And the clock is already ticking.  There are one hundred days until the end of the world.” 

This is the blurb from “Arrival” Book 1 of this this awesome new series.  I have devoured the first 3 books in this series and looking forward to the release of Book 4 “Underground” in May this year!!  It’s Australian, it’s fast and it’s action packed!

What, do you ask, has Zac Power got to do with this????    Well I have discovered that Chris Morphew, author of the “Phoenix Files”, is secretly the writer of many of the incredibly popluar Zac Power titles!!!  (well it hasn’t actually been a secret for a while now but I only just found out!)  Read more here…    The Pheonix Files is Chris Morphew’s first series for older readers. 

I have discovered my new favourite author – Odo Hirsch!  Daruis Bell and the Glitter Pool is one of his latest books and it has just won this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award.  Darius comes from a long line of Bell’s who, every 25 years, have bestowed upon their town a magnificant gift, known as the Bell Gift.  The Gifts act as a sort of  ongoing ‘payment’ for the large amount of land that was given to Daruis’ ancestor Cornelius Bell, and are always keenly anticipated by the town’s inhabitants.   The problem is that none of the orignal Bell fortune remains and Darius’ father will be lucky if he can present any more than a barrow full of the vegetables, an act Hector Bell would see as shaming his family’s good name.  How can a kid like Daruis help his father maintain the honor of the Bell family, especially when his older brother Cyrus thinks he’s just ‘a waste of space’?  A warm and moving story about power, wealth, love and respect.  A must-read for this year.

DETAILS: ‘Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool’ by Odo Hirsch. Call Number: F HIR

‘Matty Forever’ is the story of Bill, who moves with his Mum to a small town, and Matilda (Matty for short), the tomboy girl who becomes his best friend. Bill is missing his Dad and he finds warmth, friendship and acceptance with Matty and her rather unusual family. Bill and Matty hang out together most days, ward off school bullies, and share their deepest, darkest secrets. When new girl Isabelle starts at their school, she wants Bill all to herself and for a while Bill is lured away from his closest friend by Isabella’s glamorous lifestyle. Soon though Bill finds out what it means to be a real friend and it is not without causing pain to Matty. How could he ever have been so stupid?

Written by Elizabeth Fensham, this book is shortlisted for this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year Award. A wonderful story about friendship and truth …. and perfect if you’ve ever questionsed what it means to really be a friend.

DETAILS: ‘Matty Forever’ by Elizabeth Fensham. Call Number: F FEN

Hatchet is the moving story of Brian, a 13 year old city born boy, who survives not only a plane crash but also 54 days alone in the Canadian wilderness. With only his hatchet (like a small axe) to help him (it was attached to his belt and survived the crash with him), Brian conquers the extreme challenges of his beautiful but hostile new environment – starvation, bears and a tornado – to survive until his sudden rescue some 2 months after the crash. Although the majorty of this book features only 1 character and little dialogue, Hatchet is a very compelling read – I put it down only once between page 1 and the end! Brian’s determination and his will to survive is awe-inspiring and you cannot help but get completely caught up in his daily struggles – learning how to make fire, make tools to catch food, build shelter to protect himself from wild animals and live with the memories of his parents and their recent divorce.

Hatchet is not a true story but this does not distract at all from its impact as an inspirational story. Its author, Gary Paulsen, has spent a great deal of his life in the pursuit of adventure in wild environments and he is greatly passionate about the natural world. This passion and experience has provided the backdrop to much of his writing and makes for very realistic and readable adventure and survival stories. Hatchet is an inspirational and enjoyable read for all young people from 10 years and up. It is followed by ‘Hatchet – The Return’ aka ‘The River’ (published in 1991) or you may choose to read the alternative sequel, ‘Brian’s Winter’ (published in 1996) in which Brian is not rescued until after surviving a Canadian Winter alone.

DETAILS: ‘Hatchet’ by Gary Paulsen. Call Number: F PAU

Yeah!!!!! Madcap writer Philip Ardagh has an extremely silly new series – The Grubtown Tales. Populated with a wide array of the maddest characters you will ever meet, from Flabby Gomez and Furl Claptrap to Dr Fraud and Mustard Tripwire, Grubtown has a problem ….. a very stinky problem! No longer can the oddballs (oops, I mean inhabitants) of Grubtown bear the stench and goo that is Mr Manuel Org … he will have to BATH, or GO! But who can bear to stand close enough to Manuel to deliver this message? If you love all things quirky and disgusting you will adore this book!

DETAILS: ‘Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky’ Book 1 in the Grubtown Tales Series by Philip Ardagh. Call Number: F ARD