Author Fleur Ferris visit

We welcomed renowned author, Fleur Ferris, to our College Thursday 25 Feb to speak to our Yr 8 students about Cyber Safety, against the backdrop of her bestselling book Risk. Risk is the 2021 text for Yr 8 English at St Joseph’s and is the story of two friends who find themselves caught in the web of an internet predator. Ms Ferris is a former police officer and paramedic, who spoke about how the story was inspired by true events, about the structure and themes of the book, and about the skill of writing. Students asked many questions throughout the hour-long sessions, and took the opportunity to have the author sign copies of her book.

Chess in the Library

This week we start Lunchtime Chess in the Library. Thank you to Yr 12 student, Ty Irvine, for organising the round robin draw. Students will have some lunchtime fun playing chess in timed sessions to result in a final play-off.

Some of the new books in our Library - February 2021

Growing Up Disabled in Australia Editor Carly Findlay

Growing Up Disabled in Australia is a wonderful and eye-opening collection of stories from a broad group of Australian writers with a disability or chronic illness.

The real highlight and strength of the Growing Up Disabled in Australia collection of stories, like the other titles in this series, is that it shows just how diverse the individual experiences of the writers are. The stories featured in this collection span a wide variety of experiences, from those who grew up with a disability from their childhood, to those who became disabled later in life, or who came to identify as disabled as adults. The stories also encompass a wide range of disabilities - both physical and mental, and from the invisible to the obvious.

Influence by Sara Shepard

Delilah is Internet-famous, in LA and at the start of something incredible. Everything is going to change… but not necessarily in the way she imagines.

Jasmine is a child star turned media darling. Her selfies practically break Instagram. But if the world knew who Jasmine really was? Cancelled.

Fiona is everyone's best friend, always smiling. But on the inside? The girl's a hot mess. If they discovered her secret, it wouldn't just embarrass her: it would ruin her.

Scarlet isn't just styled to perfection: she is perfection with a famous boyfriend and an online fanbase devouring her every move. But every perfect thing has a fatal flaw.

To everyone clicking, DMing, following and faving, these girls are living the dream; but are they really? The sun is hot in California… and someone's going to get burned.

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

An ambitious and magnetic novel from the New York Times bestselling Neal Shusterman, about a teenage American football player forced into a series of a parallel lives.

As a star player on his high school American football team, Ash is used to taking some hard hits. But that one run in his last game must have knocked him a little loose, because suddenly his life doesn't look quite the way he remembers it. As Ash bounces into worlds that are almost-but-not-really his own, he starts to question everything, including his own perceptions and place in his own reality. But can he even work out how to get back there?

The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant

Cordelia comes from a long line of magical milliners, who weave alchemy and enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia's world, Making - crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots and gloves from magical ingredients - is a rare and ancient skill, and only a few special Maker families remain.

When Cordelia's father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet, are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war.

It's up to Cordelia to find out who, and why…

Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim

My study buddy, Henry, has made it his mission to get me to an A in maths the way I'm trying to get him to an A in English.

Wen Zhou is the daughter and only child of Chinese immigrants whose move to the lucky country has proven to be not so lucky. Wen and her friend, Henry Xiao - whose mum and dad are also poor immigrants - both dream of escape from their unhappy circumstances, and they form a plan to sit an entrance exam to a selective high school far from home.But when tragedy strikes, it will take all of Wen's resilience and resourcefulness to get herself and Henry through the storm that follows.

Tiger Daughter is a novel that will grab hold of you and not let go.

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe

Soon to be a Netflix film starring Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown - this must-read psychological thriller, perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, will leave you guessing until the final page. 'Slick, stylish and full of suspense' - Sophie McKenzie. As an ex con artist, Nora has always got herself out of tricky situations. But the ultimate test lies in wait when she's taken hostage in a bank heist. And this time, Nora doesn't have an escape plan…Meet Nora. Also known as Rebecca, Samantha, Haley, Katie and Ashley - the girls she's been. Nora didn't choose a life of deception - she was born into it. As the daughter of a con artist who targeted criminal men, Nora always had to play a part. But when her mother fell for one of the men instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con herself: escape. For five years Nora's been playing at normal - but things are far from it when she finds herself held at gunpoint in the middle of a bank heist, along with Wes (her ex-boyfriend) and Iris (her secret new girlfriend and mutual friend of Wes ... awkward).

Now it will take all of Nora's con artistry skills to get them out alive. Because the gunmen have no idea who she really is - that girl has been in hiding for far too long...

The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings

Ever felt anxious or alone? Like you don't belong anywhere? Like you're almost... invisible? Find your kindred spirits at The Sad Ghost Club. (You are not alone. Shhh. Pass it on.) This is the story of one of those days - a day so bad you can barely get out of bed, when it's a struggle to leave the house, and when you do, you wish you hadn't. But even the worst of days can surprise you.

When one sad ghost, alone at a crowded party, spies another sad ghost across the room, they decide to leave together. What happens next changes everything. Because that night they start The Sad Ghost Club - a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don't belong. For fans of Heartstopper and Jennifer Niven, and for anyone who's ever felt invisible.

Footprints on the Moon by Lorraine Marwood

Humans are about to leave footprints on the moon, but what sort of mark can one girl make here on earth?

It's 1969 and life is changing fast. Sharnie Burley is starting high school and finding it tough to make new friends. As the world waits to see if humans will land on the moon, the Vietnam War rages overseas. While her little cousin, Lewis, makes pretend moon boots, young men are being called up to fight, sometimes without having any choice in the matter. Sometimes without ever coming home.

Dad thinks serving your country in a war is honourable, but when Sharnie's older sister, Cas, meets a returned soldier and starts getting involved in anti-war protests, a rift in their family begins to show. Sharnie would usually turn to her grandma for support, but lately Gran's been forgetting things.

Can she find her own way in this brave new world?

Balloon Girls by Darrell Pitt

Times are tough in the small town of Yallaroo where Ally Simpson has lived her whole life. The whole area is in drought and people are going broke or moving away. So when Ally hears about a competition to win the trip of a lifetime to visit the Smithsonian Museum in the USA, she knows she's got to do everything she can to try and win.

Ally enlists her best friends Harmony and Ping to help her plan the most impressive experiment she can imagine- to send a video camera to the edge of space, and prove once and for all that the earth is round. At first, Ally is pretty sure she's got the whole competition stitched up. But then, as one disaster after another derails her plans, she begins to learn the importance of staying grounded even while she's aiming for the sky...

The world between blinks by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin

Discover a magical world where lost things are found... Whenever cousins Jake and Marisol get together, adventure follows. They have their late Nana to thank for that. Her epic trips and treasure hunts were the stuff of family legend. This summer, with the whole family reuniting for one last vacation at Nana's home, the cousins are in for a legendary trip of their own.

Following a map Nana left behind, Jake and Marisol sneak out to a nearby lighthouse - then accidentally slip into another world... The World Between Blinks is a magical place, where all kinds of lost things (and people!) end up. Everywhere they turn, the cousins find real mysteries from history - plus a few they thought were only myths. But the man who holds the key to Jake and Marisol's journey home doesn't want to be found... and if the cousins don't catch him fast, they could end up lost in this world forever.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alsto

A 12-year-old girl from the housing projects discovers her brother was more than he seemed… And so is she. A gripping, fun, heartfelt new fantasy for an upper middle-grade audience.

Quinton Peters was the golden boy of the Rosewood City low-income housing projects, receiving full scholarship offers to two different Ivy League schools. When he mysteriously goes missing, his little sister, 12-year-old Amari Peters, can’t understand why it’s not a bigger deal. Why isn’t his story all over the news? And why do the police automatically assume he was into something illegal?

Then Amari discovers a ticking briefcase in her brother’s closet. A briefcase meant for her eyes only. There was far more to Quinton, it seems, than she ever knew. He’s left her a nomination for a summer tryout at the secretive Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari is certain the answer to finding out what happened to him lies somewhere inside – if only she can get her head around the idea of mermaids, dwarfs, aliens and magicians all being real things, something she has to instantly confront when she is given a weredragon as a roommate.

With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.

St Joseph's College, Echuca

Issue 3 · 11 Mar 2021

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