LIBRARY
Congratulations to our digital time capsule competition winners!
Congratulations to Flynn Megahan of 7H, who is the winner of our isolation experience competition, with his video.
Flynn’s video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o-Hw3EE5wNeLmgGkX2X72UpZJVSDGOJM/view?usp=sharing
Congratulations also to Anastasia Zaytseva of 8J, and Macy Waters of 8B who are our 2 runners up.
Anastasia’s video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jf2xLjf2nLgM95BT2W0fFpKPtM7Da-6E/view?usp=sharing
Macy’s artwork:
This artwork is created out of recycled candy wrapper materials to describe the temptations of being home and regarding the eating out of boredom concept. This art piece is named "you are what you eat", as isolation life has truly taken a toll on some of our motivations to sustain a healthy eating pattern as the temporary life-style has given us the bitter sweet freedom to eat whenever we want whenever we want, even when you’re not hungry.
We would like to say a big thankyou to everyone who entered. Each and every one of your creations was fantastic, and it was not easy to choose the winners.
New books
Book club
For our book club this month we have been reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
“Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice.”
If you are interested in joining our book club, please email Ms Boyd for details: boy@brightonsc.vic.edu.au
Book reviews
Here are a few mini-reviews of some books staff and students have been reading lately. We would love to hear about what you have been reading too!
Send us a short book review of what you have been reading recently (picture optional) and we will feature it in our next newsletter.
Email submissions to: lhi@brightonsc.vic.edu.au
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Age recommendation: All ages
Reviewed by: Khushi Ganwani of 7G
Brief summary:
Morrigan Crow is cursed. Born on an unlucky day, she is blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks – and worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on Eventide. But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man name Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away to a secret, magical city called Nevermoor. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to pass four difficult and dangerous trials – or she’ll have to leave the city and confront her deadly fate.
Rating: 5/5
This book is absolutely enchanting. Nevermoor is an exciting fantasy tale full of magic, mischief, and wonder. It is a creative and unique book that gives you the same emotions, excitement (and fear) of one of the greatest children’s novels of all time. Nevermoor truly has an amazing story that will leave you craving more every time you set the book down. It features a high stakes competition that will keep you on the edge of your seat at every trial. It is a charming, developed world with a unique magic system and fascinating characters. There are so many twists and turns and unanticipated events that it’s hard not to love. I would highly recommend to any reader of any age.
Contest by Matthew Reilly
Genre: Sci Fi
Reviewed by BJ Tiso of 8F
This is a really interesting novel which keeps you wanting to turn the pages to find out what happens next. It’s Matthew Reilly’s first novel and he’s written many more but not like this one. The chapters are short and always end with cliff-hangers. The whole idea seems ridiculous at first - monster-like aliens engage humans in a fight-to-the-death game on Earth. It’s a bit like the Pixels movie but on steroids. And the really interesting thing about it is that it all takes place in the State Library after closing time and ends the next morning at dawn. So there’s a whole war happening in the library while everyone is asleep in their beds - except for Dr Stephen Swain and his 8 yr old daughter, Holly who have to battle these monsters. There are 6 contestants .. but only the winner will leave alive..
I really enjoyed this book.
When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin
Genre: Relationships
Age recommendation: All ages
Reviewed by: Sarah Black of year 12
Brief summary:
This book is about Ben, a 12-year-old boy who spent the first 10 years of his life in a group home, after the death of his parents. Eventually, he is adopted by the loving Tess and at last finds a sense of family, although his life is far from perfect as he is bullied at school. One afternoon, desperately in need of a friend, he is followed home by an abandoned dog who he names ‘Flip.’ An immediate bond forms between the two. However, when Tess dies, Ben’s life is turned upside down yet again, and taking refuge in the library, he meets Hayley, a strong and avid character. The two bond through their love of reading and what follows is a beautiful friendship as Ben tries to piece back together his life and find himself a place in the world.
Rating: 4.5
This book is beautifully written. Despite being so sad at many points, complex issues such as death, domestic violence, family and cancer are dealt with delicately and the book maintains a sense of positivity and moving forwards. I found the characters to be very developed and relatable and became particularly invested in the strong friendship between Ben and Hayley. I think that this book sends important messages about the importance of belonging, about living life to its full extent and being able to move on. The author of this book does a fantastic job of capturing realistic and often poignant emotions in writing and therefore, although heart-wrenching at times, this book is a rewarding read for all ages.
Plots and Prayers: Malcolm Turnbull’s demise and Scott Morrison’s ascension by Niki Savva
Reviewed by Mr Wright
The author, a veteran political journalist in Australian politics, explores the events leading up to Turnbull’s demise including the 2016 election, Barnaby Joyce, the national Party leader’s meltdown, the debacle of the energy debate, the chaos of the coup and Scott Morrison’s elevation to Prime Minister.
The book is well written and very well researched from the mouths of those involved in the events. These included the bruised or battered, disillusioned and disaffected or triumphant in their plotting or tearful. Savva concludes that Turnbull was a good Prime Minister but a terrible politician with the good bits not enough to make up for the bad.