Good Reads: St Paul’s CBS Secondary School
Our Good Reads were chosen by children at St Paul’s CBS Secondary School, Dublin. Thanks to Annie Brady, St Paul’s librarian. Earlier this year Annie was awarded the honour of School Librarian of the Year 2015 and pupils at the school told the judging panel: ‘The library is the epicentre of the school and Annie is like a friend.’
The Recruit
Robert Muchamore, Hodder Children’s Books, 978-0-3408-8153-8, £6.99
The Recruit is a highly recommendable read. I really like the layout of the novel and how the story flows. The main character is James Adams. James is my favourite character, he plays a
really strong role and keeps motivated. James was bullied as a child because his mother was overweight. He has an extremely strong character and can overcome many things. It was really exciting to follow James through his training with the Cherub company as he trained with other orphans to become an international spy. This novel is really engrossing and kept me reading right until the very end and I am making my way through all of the titles in series, that’s how much this book grabbed me. I would give it a 10/10.
By Lee Grace, age 14
The Road
Cormac McCarthy, Picador, 978-0-3304-6846-6, £8.99
I picked this up in the library because I though it looked good and the blurb was interesting. I really loved it for lots of reasons but here are just a few. The story is really well written. The author made me care about the characters from the very beginning without giving many details and virtually no background story, he simply used the events and descriptions of their world to captivate the reader. The descriptions are just amazing and so vivid. The have the exact amount of work in them needed to keep you interested. The entire novel is extremely well thought out and planned and keeps you reading from cover to cover. While the story is very sad you don’t want to stop reading.The plot twists are just fantastic. I would definitely recommend this novel to other readers and I would give it a 9/10.
By Simun Cakic, age 14
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, 978-1-4071-0908-4, £7.99
At the start of the book Katniss is in the woods hunting with her bow and arrow. She goes to a reaping for the Hunger Games, which is a battle that only one person can win.Two people, a girl and a boy, are selected from each district to participate. Katniss lives in District 12, a boy called Peeta is selected and then Katniss’ sister is selected, she isn’t happy about this and volunteers to go in her place. Katniss and Peeta travel to all the Districts and to the Capital where they meet other fighters and potential sponsors.The fights happen until there are only two people left Katniss and Peeta. They don’t want to fight each other so they threaten to eat poisonous berries in an attempt to have the games called off and the hope that they both win. I loved this book because of the suspense and the action involved. When I was reading I couldn’t put the book down and if I really had to I wouldn’t have wanted to. I would definitely recommend this book to others especially aged between 12 and 16 and I’d give it 9/10.
By Ryan Campbell, age 14
The Colour of Magic
Terry Pratchett, Corgi, 978-0-5521-2475-1, £7.99
The main characters in The Colour of Magic are Rincewind who is a failed wizard, and Twoflower who is the world’s first tourist visiting the city of Ankh-Marpark. The book tells the adventures of Rinceworld and Twoflower travelling through the world that is the shape of a disc, to escape everybody that wants to destroy, eat and even sacrifice them. They need to escape from monsters, fairies and even dragons as they try to stay alive, they also have to run from a greater power above. I really like that death is always there hoping for Rinceworld to die. I also especially like Twoflowers travelling chest because it is always trying to keep up with them. I would give this book a 10/10 in my opinion and recommend it to anyone who likes a fun adventurous books. Adults but mostly children could and should read this book.The book can get a little complicated at times but overall it is a great book.
By Spencer Brezhov, age 12
Inkspell
Cornelia Funke, Chicken House, 978-1-9084-3509-5, £7.99
This is the second book in Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart trilogy. The stakes are much higher in this novel. There are lots and lots of characters in this book!! But you never really get to know them in too much detail. Maggie and Farid had travelled into the Inkworld. Mo, Resa, Mortola and Basta had also gotten ‘read’ into the book. Dustfinger was already there with the help of Orpheus, but bad news was waiting for him. Mo is playing the Bluejay. The Prince of Sighs’ son Cosimo has died and the Adderhead is taking advantage of the situation. In order to be set free Mo made a book which made the Adderhead (the Silver Prince) immortal. Basta tried to kill to kill the robbers and the women and the Bluejay but died in his attempts. Farid also dies but Dustfinger sacrifices himself to bring him back alive.Orpheus is brought to the Inkworld to change the words to a happy ending. Farid is now his servant. I really enjoyed this book and have read more of Cornelia Funke’s books, be warned they are very long books, but they are
really good fantasy novels, if you like fantasy. I would definitely recommend this book and give it an 8/10.
By Corngau Chen, age 12
