Cherwell: The Story Hoard

Review: The Secrets Club: Alice in the Spotlight, by Chris Higgins

Review by Mia Probets (Year 7)

"I would say this book is a girly book for young readers"

This book is about a girl called Alice and her three friends as they start Riverside Academy. Alice, Tash, Lissa and Dani form a group called 'the no secrets club'. The girls promise that they will never keep any secrets from each other, but can Alice confess to her big secret?

Once I started this book I found it so easy to get into and I could hardly put it down! I would say this book is a girly book for young readers. I defiantly recommend this book.

Review: The Hunger Games - Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins

Review by Lily Hardcastle

"In my opinion this is the best and most thrilling book of the series."

 

If you have read the previous two Hunger Games books and liked them, then you will love the last one of Suzanne Collins' trilogy. Katniss Everdeen has been lucky to survive the Hunger Games twice, but now, as many of the districts join an uprising against the Capitol, Katniss is forced to be the new face of the rebellion, fighting alongside many of her friends.

She's got this far, and she's not going to give up the chance to wipe out the Capitol, and of course the torture that is the Hunger Games - even if it costs her much more than she can afford.

Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

Review by Laura Bonsaver

"The novel is compelling, and brought me to uncontrollable tears."

After the great success of Hosseini's previous book, 'Kite Runner', his second novel ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ was similarly about life in Afghanistan during the war in the 80s and 90s, but is told through a very different perspective, or should I say, perspectives.  The story is of two women, each with very different upbringings, that create an unexpected friendship that until the end of the novel, shows care that would never fade.

Although the book is in 3rd person, it shifts between the perspectives of the two characters: Laila and Mariam.

Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins

Review by Anna Christina Landivar

"there can only be one winner..."

This story is about a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen who lives in a world where people are separated into different districts and are ruled by rich people who live in a place called the Capitol. Each year the Capitol holds a fight-to-the-death tournament in which two contestants (a boy and a girl) from each district go head-to-head, and there can only be one winner. Katniss has already survived The Hunger Games twice, so now the Capitol is starting to get a bit worried...

Review: I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter

Review by Esther Greenhalgh-Barratt

"The one lesson they don't teach at the Gallagher academy is love."

This is an exceptional book. The reason I have enjoyed it is because it was so unpredictable and you could easily become hooked on it, which is a sign for me that its is a very good book.

The plot starts at a spy school, where Cammie  (the main character) is starting another term at the Gallagher Academy spy school, where the head teacher is otherwise known as Cammie's mum. Cammie and her best friends, Bex and Liz, are faced with the challenge of a new and mysterious girl having to move into their dorm.

Review: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Review by Karl Eligado (Year 12)

"Throw in a couple of fangs and some fur and we have a Twilight-like love triangle all over again. Ah, young love."

Just by the title, Suzanne Collins had promised us a sweat trickling, lip biting, fist clenching book; and that’s exactly what Catching Fire proved to be. Or at least the second half. The second book in The Hunger Games trilogy did not fail to deliver the same intensity and magnitude as its prequel. Though admittedly, the first few chapters, to be frank, were weak. As we continue to unfold the story of Panem alongside the protagonist Katniss Everdeen, Suzanne Collins had managed to capture her readers' hearts and pull on the strings as the tension and drama rise.

Review: My Sister Jodie, by Jacqueline Wilson

Review by Ruby Alinat (Year 8)

"It is the night of the school fireworks when Jodie and Pearl realise that they need each other..."

My sister Jodie is a fantastic book, I love it and you will love it too. This book shows just how much sisters need to stick together, even when times get tough. It is the night of the school fireworks when Jodie and Pearl realise that they need each other...

Review: Life on the Refrigerator Door, by Alice Kuipers

Review by Isla Masters (Year 8)

"quite a small read but with a lot of problems and emotions inside"

Life on the refrigerator door Life on the refrigerator door will amaze you. Clair and her mother basically only communicate using messages because they hardly see each other. This book shows how things can move on and what problems will come around at any time. The main characters are Clair and her mother. My favourite character is Clair she is a very strong person but she is also very soft and kind.

Review: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

Review by Clare Hennelly (Year 12)

This book follows the classic moral of “be careful what you wish for” but in a refreshing way that doesn’t make you want to scream “OK WE GET IT!” and fall asleep wishing you never read the thing in the first place.

Why do I love Coraline so much? Is it the terror – something I hadn’t seen in previous books? Is it the possibility of escaping to your supposedly “dream” world? No. I think I love Coraline by Neil Gaiman so much is because, at the time I first read it, I had only read Alex Rider and Harry Potter books and the occasional Eoin Colfer – books with male lead characters, with obvious excitement. In Coraline’s case, it was something completely different for me, a female lead character that wasn’t a lovesick moody teenager and a fresh but deliciously dark storyline. It is in its originality that I was and am constantly seduced.

Review: Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

Review by Mary James (Year 9)

Shiver is the first of three books: Shiver, Linger and Forever.

This book is an action and romance-based book. The plotline involves a stoic girl named Grace. She was bitten by a wolf as a child and survived it to believe the opposite to what you’d expect: wolves are calm in nature, shy even. That they are harmless creatures, a silence in the woods. And the one that saved her from the other hunger-demented wolves was her closest friend, her yellow-eyed friend.

Review: Angel Cake, by Cathy Cassidy

Review by Julia Fendryk (Year 8)

Anya thought England was a wonderful place to live in; a place with cottages and flowers and beautiful gardens. But she thought wrong…

Anya and her mum, dad and sister were happily living in Krakow, Poland when her dad got offered a job in Liverpool.This was a big move for the family, but Anya always dreamt of how wonderful it would be to live there .

When they arrived in Liverpool it was not what they expected. It was cold, gray and dull. The biggest shock of all was the house they lived in … it was a small flat above a fatty old chip shop.

Review: TTYL, by Lauren Myracle

Review by Saskia Cookson (Year 8)

TTYL  (talk to you later) is the first book in American author Lauren Myracle's Internet Girls trilogy. It follows the eventful ups and downs of three teenagers' lives; Maddie, Zoe and Angela. As they begin 10th grade, things seem to turn upside down for the group, with broken hearts, exams to revise for, and a mistake that gets the whole school talking. But they manage to stay there for each other and prove that true friendship can get you through it all.

I think that me and many others enjoy these books and are able to relate to them because they are written entirely in instant messages, using casual, chatty slang and smiley faces. Exactly like how we would message our friends.

Review: Cherry Crush: the chocolate box girls, by Cathy Cassidy

Review by Hafsa Ahmed (Year 8)

Cherry is a normal, independent girl who has a single parent dad. They both live in a small room in a flat in Glasgow, and her dad works in a chocolate factory. All her life Cherry has found it difficult to fit in and make friends, so Cherry always thought lying was the best way to sort things out.

One day Cherry’s life changes...

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin

Review by Bella Salter (Year 8)

Mara Dyer was in an accident. An accident which killed three people. Everyone except her.

After waking in a hospital with absolutely no idea how she got there, Mara decides she needs a new life, away from the haunting memories and the grief-stricken locals who still mourn her deceased friends. New house, new school, new friends – new enemies. Yet all is well ... until she realises her tragic accident has left her with more than a mere bruise...

This is a spine-chilling book, full of twists and turns.

Review: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Review by Lily Schwartz (Year 8)

The Bennet family attempt to find husbands for their five daughters, before a relative inherits their house. It is very accurately named, because the characters are sometimes too proud to tell people what they mean, and often judge each other without getting to know them first. For example, the main character Elizabeth must overcome her hastily formed opinions of Mr. Darcy in order to understand the truth about him and Mr. Wickham.

As the story progresses, the daughters go separately to visit family and friends for weeks or even months at a time, which changes the atmosphere of the Bennets' home, along with wherever the character is staying.

Review: A Little Love Song, by Michelle Magorian

Book Review by Isabelle Mutton (Year 12)

"It is a wonderful experience whilst reading to be able to relate to and engage with the characters as though they are real."

One of my favourite novels of all time is A Little Love Song by Michelle Magorian, the well known author of Goodnight Mr Tom.

Set in the summer of 1943, in an English costal village, this engaging book tells the story of Rose and her sister Diana as they enjoy a summer of independence and love. However, the story line is unpredictable, and many twists and turns along the way keep the reader enraptured.