Favourite Reads
Picture Books:
Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas by Aaron Blaby
- So cool!!!
- Great read-aloud
- Rhyming
Children's Fiction:
Brotherhood of Thieves series by Stuart Daly
- Fantasy / Treasure hunters
- Raid tombs to find alien artifacts to help in their war
- Dragons
- Appeal to fans of Rangers Apprentice
YA Fiction:
The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer
- Alternative Fairytale / Sci-Fi / Fantasy
- 'Lunars' are vampire-like
- Good twist on the traditional fairy tales. Fast moving storyline.
1. Cinder - Cyborg girl loses her foot. Set in New China.
2. Scarlet - Little Red Riding Hood. Werewolf.
3. Cress - Rapunzel. Captive on a satellite. Hacks everything for the mad Lunar Queen.
4. Winter - Snow White. Lunar Queens step-daughter. Guard is her 'love'.
Court of Thrones & Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- First in a new series
- Beauty and the Beast meets fairies
Binge by Tyler Oakley
- Collection of personal essays
- Internet fame
- Talks about using 'Grinder' app
- Tyler Oakley has podcasts on YouTube - Psycho Babble
- Really enjoyed
- Warning** ... couple of "f***'s" on first two pages
The Rest of us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
- Loved it!!!
- Normal kids with normal teenage problems.
-- If you are not 'one of the chosen ones' what do you do?
The Marvels by Brian Selznik
- Slightly different from his previous two books
-- 1st half is images - Five generations from 1766
-- 2nd half is text - 100 years later
- AMAZING!!!
Zero's by Scott Westerfield, Deborah Biancotti, Margo Lanagan
- 6 Superheroes ... but they call themselves 'Zeros'
-- Blind girl who sees through others eyes
-- One can get into electronics and crash things
- There are backstories on each character
- Good friends
-- Something happened last summer so they no longer talk to each other
-- One gets involved in a bank robbery and his powers may be exposed
-- Needs the help of his fellow Zeros
- Action filled
- Exciting
- A new take on Superheroes
Alabama Moon by Watt Key
- Boy grows up in forest with his father
-- Afraid of the government so keep away from others
- Father dies
-- His advise "If anything happens to me go to Alaska"
-- He is sent to reform school
- Deals with so many different issues of friendship and bullying
- Sequel : Dirt Road Home
- Boys love it!!
- Good book to recommend to reluctant readers
- Use as class read
When I Was Joe Bk 1 by Keren David
- Published in 2011
- Goes into protection programme after witnessing a murder
- Boys are loving it!!
Bk 2 Almost True
Bk 3 After Life
Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children Bk1 by Ransom Riggs
- Really weird photos (best part of the story)
- Mixed reviews
-- Some really love it ... others not keen
-- Maybe more of an Adult read
- "A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography" (back of book)
- Check out his website
Bk 2 Hollow City
Bk 3 Library of Souls
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- Loved the 80's references
- Read it on so many different levels
- Gaming references
- Fabulous book!!!
Lockwood & Co Bk 3 The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud
- Getting to be a little bit 'dark'
- Skull is having more influence on characters
- Junior Secondary read
Asking For It by Louise O'Neil
- Tackles the topic of Rape
- Very very well written
- Can see it absolutely happening
- Hated the ending BUT very realistic
- Really sticks with you
-- Girl goes to a party and next morning wakes up to find photos posted of what happened but no memory of it
-- Initially said "Yes - she agreed" then changes her mind to say "No - she was raped"
-- Town turns on her
-- Pressure from family and town to admit she lied
-- Only people that believe her was the lawyer
- Not one to really recommend ... However ... it is a realistic portrayal of the 'life-shattering impact of sexual assault, rape and how victims are treated'
- Book of the Year at the 2015 Irish Book Awards
Adult Fiction:
The Remaining series by D.J. Molles
- Zombies
- Similar to 'The Walking Dead' TV series
- Awesome read!!!
Bill Hodges series by Deborah Challinor
- Detective trilogy in Stephen King style
- AWESOME!
- Have to read it in one sitting
Church of Marvels by Lesley Parry
- Slightly quirky
- Really good!!!
- If you like Sarah Waters / Fingersmith this is a similar style
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
- Latest Robert Galbraith
- AWESOME!!! <<hand clapping>>
Lacey Flint series by S.J. Bolton
- Crime
- A bit gruesome!
Bk 1 Now You See Me
Bk 2 Dead Scared
Bk 3 Lost
Bk 4 A Dark and Twisted Tide
The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
- Fantastic!! Loved it!!
- Clear delineation between Good & Evil
- Really descriptive
- Humour is fantastic
- Movie out - fantastic!! Funny.
- Oh the clothes!!! Unbelievable!!
Soundless by Richelle Meads
- Whole town communicates by Sign Language
-- No one can speak or hear
- Treacherous terrain make it impossible to leave the village
- Villagers start to loose their sight and start going hungry due to inability to man the zipline that is their means of getting food
The Windup GIrl by Paolo Bacigalupi
- Set in Thailand
- Futuristic
- Androids
- Biopunk (Biotechnology)
- Really good!
- But really disturbing!!!
The Name of the Wind series by Patrick Rothfuss
- OK'ish if you like David Eddings
- Much less sophisticated than Robin Hobb
- Feel it did not belong at #1 in '50 fantasy stories you should read' list
The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton
- Told from two points-of-view
-- Mother
-- 10 year old deaf daughter
- Flying into Alaska to see father
-- Explosion in Village
-- Husband dead
-- No one believes her that he is alive
- Really enjoyed until got to the end :(
-- Read it because wanted to see what happened
- Mixed reviews
-- Found it very irritating
-- Some loved it
-- Alright'ish
- Not sure why people were raving about it
Non Fiction:
365 Days of Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- A collection of quotes
Other Tips and Hints
Have you checked out Adele's Children and Teen Fiction - Book Reviews Wordpress - Helping You Choose A Book From Napier/Taradale Libraries
- Tags for Action, Grief, Horror etc
- 3 Categories - Extending Readers / Intermediate Readers / Teen
- Check it out - It's really awesome
Check out Kristin Clothier at Hastings Libraries ... she is on YouTube
- Digital Storytime
- Book Review Vlogs
The Epic Reads website has great video clips
Bill Bryson's AudioBooks are really popular in Secondary School.
Please bear in mind that these reviews are our own personal thoughts on the books we have read. They are not necessarily what others may perceive them to be. Goodreads and Amazon are both good places to check out other reviews on these books.
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