Upper Murray Regional Library

Emily Rodda

The Charm Bracelet is a book about a girl called Jessie, and her extraordinary Granny. She finds out that Granny is really not what she seems to be, in fact, she is the airy Realm’s true queen.

The story is about Granny losing her charm bracelet and losing her memories of the Fairy Realm, so Jessie must go on a quest to hunt for it. She finds out in the end that human common-sense is the best way for figuring out problems.

The good things about this book were:

That the exciting atmosphere enhanced the want read it.

That the exciting characters were funny to read about.

That there are five other books in the First Series to look forward to reading, and a second series, too.

The bad things about this book were:

That sometimes I could not get a vivid picture in my head about what was going on.

That sometimes I had to read a sentence twice to understand it properly.

By Sophie Wallace.

Rowan of Rin

Emily Rodda

Plot: I really think that "Rowan of Rin" was a very good book. It had interesting characters and I liked the plot.

It just didn't catch my imagination on the first few pages, but when I had no more books to read, I tried it again. On about page six it started to catch my imagination and I wanted to read more and more.

I thought the riddles were good. You could find unexpected answers straight from the author's imagination.

The main character, Rowan, was timid and shy. He was not very brave either, but when he had to go up the mountain it really tested his courage and I thought that was very good.

I could imagine the character of Strong Jonn of the Orchard, who I found very amusing.

I was really excited when they were about to go up on the mountain.

It was a bit hard to believe that a piece of parchment rolled up really tightly with a catch could look like a really smooth stick with a bump in the middle.

The names of the characters were a bit strange, like Bronden, Sheba, Annad, Timon, Rowan, Marlie and Jiller. They had very good personalities though.

Summary: I recommend "Rowan of Rin" as a very good book for anyone between the ages of 9-14, but some adults might like it too.

By Sophie A Wallace
Age 9 yrs

Matilda

by Roald Dahl

I really liked Matilda, because it helps to encourage kids to learn. It also makes you think :"Children are so amazing!" I liked the story line because it is about a girl called Matilda who doesn't have anyone who likes her. Most stories talk about people who have everything in the world but this story is the complete opposite.

The characters were really funny, like Miss Trunchbull, the father and the mothers., Miss Honey was a nice character and so were Lavender and Matilda.

The idea of the story was good because the girl, who had almost no hope, got these amazing powers! She can knock chairs and tables and she could even write on the blackboard with them! The thing I didn't like about it was nothing! It was abso:lutely amazing and I wanted to read it more and more. Two points to read it
1. It is a great book
2. It is really interestingIt is generally a children's book but I think adults would like it more than other children's books.Roald Dahl is a really good author and I think more people should read his books.By Sophie A Wallace

Patch

Kristin Earhart

Illustrator: Lisa Papp

In the story there is a new girl at Tall Trees stable. Her name is Sarah and she does not like Patch. Which horse is better Gold Charm or Patch?

Why I liked it: I liked the story because it has horses in it. It is also very colourful.

By Kira Deehan
Aged 9 yrs

Heartland: Everything Changes

Lauren Brooke

Heartland is a horse farm nestled in the hills of Virginia, but it's much more than that. Heartland is a place like no other, a place where the scars of the past can be healed, a place where frightened and abused horses learn to trust again.

Amy is trying desperately to keep on top of all the work at Hearland, now that Ty isn't there to help. Ty is Amy's partner and faithful boyfriend, but he is in a coma and Amy feels he may never wake up. Amy is at a loss, she needs Ty, Hearland needs Ty, but he may not want to be part of her life at Heartland when he wakes up, or will he?

My thoughts: Heartland is very imaginative and moving. The whole series is great, it shows that you can do things when you put your mind to it and that anything is possible.

By Amy Deehan
Aged 13 yrs

The Crush

Scott Monk

This book follows the life of Matthew Cassidy, a talented rugby league player. Just as the talent scouts begin to notice him, he finds his father and falls in love with his enemy’s girlfriend. That is when all the trouble starts.

I really enjoyed ‘The Crush’ as it had an element of sport, an element of romance and an element of family matters.

Matthew Cassidy’s mother, Heather, is the character I admired the most because of her refusal to care about other people’s opinions of her. She tries really hard to make Matt’s life as normal as possible. However, when your mother works on the council, driving bulldozers, a ‘normal’ life can be difficult to achieve.

The book is mainly for young people as it shows the nastiness of adolescents, football and young love. ‘The Crush’ is a great book as it draws you into the story and causes you to feel involved in each character’s emotions, decisions and situations.

Overall, this book, ‘The Crush’ by Scoot Monk was well worth the read, with a score of 8 out of 10, in my opinion, and I would definitely encourage anyone to read it.

Shae Brennan

Age 14

Eragon

Christopher Paolini

Eragon is a thrilling story with everything a kid would want; elves, dwarves, dragons, magic, heroes, evil kings and tons of action. I recommend this book for ages 12 and above.

It starts off with a curious teenager named Eragon who travels to the Spine (a big group of mountains), and finds a strange egg shaped rock which is a deep blue in colour like a sapphire. Eragon takes it back home where he lives with his uncle Garrow and his cousin Brom. Eragon doesn't tell his uncle and cousin about the rock. Until a few days later in the middle of the night, Eragon wakes up startled by a loud crack coming from the rock on the shelf. The rock is an egg! When the egg was finally cracked in half Eragon found he was staring face to face with a baby dragon the same colour as the egg. As the days went by the dragon grew bigger and bigger. Then one day Eragon was faced with two problems; what was he going to call the dragon and where was it going to stay? The dragon couldn't stay in his room, in a few days the dragon will be too big. So Eragon decided to take the dragon to the forest and build it a shelter and then go to Brom the Storyteller about dragons. Brom was an unknown character and no one in the whole Carvahall apart from himself knew his past. After finishing the shelter Eragon went to Brom to ask about dragons and the dragon riders (People who upheld the law and ride dragons).

By Campbell Learmonth

Aged 12 years

Tall Tilly

Jillian Powell

Illustrator:Tim Archbold

This book is about a girl who’s name is Tilly. Tilly is a tall girl who was growing every day. She is the most tallest girl in her class. She is growing out of her clothes every day. Her bed was to small for her. She can’t have a good bath without her feet sticking out. The boy in the class that she likes was to short. Tilly wanted to be a ballerina but she was too tall. Tilly’s teacher had an idea, to make Tilly sports captain. She was the best at everything, she was good at football, running, she jumped the longest long jumps. Everyone cheered for her.

By Cindy Hall.

Kisses for Daddy

Frances Watts & David Legge

This book is about a grumpy bear, who didn’t want to go to bed, he didn’t want a bath. He certainly didn’t want to kiss his mum and dad goodnight. The story is about a bear who should have a bath and go to bed. The bear is suppose to give their mum and dad a kiss but the bear said no “ No kiss for Dad”. The dad bear just wants to kiss his son goodnight.

By Cindy Hall.