The Amulet of Samarkand

The Amulet of Samarkand

Author: Jonathan Stroud

Publisher, Place of Publish, ISBN: 2003, Corgi, London,
 0-552-55029-9

Genre: Science Fiction

Year Level: 7-10
Contributor: Michael Blasche







This week I read The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, which is aimed at teenagers. This book revolves around magicians and demons, where the demons are summoned to do the bidding of the magicians. This book provides great action and also adds some humour and suspense, a great read for teenagers and adults.

Too Small To Fail

Author: Morris Gleitzman

 

Pubisher (Date), ISBN: Penguin Group Australia (2011), 978-0-14-330642-9

 

Genre: Family & Relationships

Age Group: Grade 3+

Blog Contributor: Ashleigh Barnden


This novel follows ten year old Oliver who is on a mission to raise money to save the life of a dog, and everyone else involved along the way. It takes a lot of complex themes such as finance and money knowledge and incorporates them easily into a story suitable for children and young adult readers. This is quite a funny novel and I really enjoyed reading it. It would probably be a good book for discussing relationships and decision making choices, within a classroom.

Love Me, Love Me Not

Author: Libby Gleeson

Publisher, Place of Publish, ISBN: 1995, Puffin Books, Australia, 0140368205

Genre: Adolescent Novel

Year Level: Children Grade 7-10

Contributor: Stefan Roussos

This book is an entertaining book which demonstrates an example of how a narrative can develop through a non-traditional structure. It is about a nine individuals who are in year eight explaining their experiences from the first person. Their experiences are on friendship, love and conflict and sometimes overlap. The structure and language features of the book result it in being a great resource for a classroom because it allows students to understand different points of view.

Gizmo

Author: Paul Jennings

Publisher, Place of Publish, ISBN: 1994, Penguin Books, Australia, 9780140370904.

Genre: Childrens Paper Back Novel

Year Level: Children Grade 5-9

Contributor: Stefan Roussos

This book is an entertaining narrative about a boy and his friend who steal a shiny object (the gizmo) from a strange man at their local market. It turns out that the gizmo has a power which they did not anticipate. This book is a very entertaining novel which follows the traditional narrative structure of a setting, complication, climax and resolution. This book could be very useful within an education setting because it is appropriate to demonstrate structure and language features of narrative as compared to other text types. 

James and the Giant Peach

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach is a classic novel by Roald Dahl and is one of my personal favourites from when I was younger. This text follows the adventure of James when a peach within his evil auntie’s house somehow grows a thousand times its original size. By exploring James is able to find some peculiar creatures living in the peach and take them on a journey to the city of New York. This was where James’s parents always wanted to take him. This journey comes with obstacles and challenges to face; however, James is determined for his dream to come true.

This novel is highly engaging, humorous, full of adventure and excitement and above all excites the reader with every page turned. This fantasy text does an excellent job of engaging young children into a world where they are taught to believe in outrageous events. They will strive for the things that they want to achieve and explore possibilities that they could only imagine in their dreams. James and the Giant Peach has also been turned into a film many years ago and would be great to read the text with students in years three to seven and then compare the book to the film.  Roald Dahl was a fantastic author and has used a great amount of technique both written and visual, sentence structure and creative storytelling to engage young readers. This novel is very imaginative and when the comedy and adventure is pushed aside, it has very sentimental messages. James and the Giant Peach is a timeless text that could be studied within a primary English classroom.

Author: Roald Dahl

1961, Puffin Books, London, Great Britain

IBSN: 0-14-038234-8

Genre/theme: Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy

Age: 8-12 (years 3-7)

Contributor: Keelan Mackle

Blabber Mouth

Blabber Mouth - Morris Gleitzman

Blabber Mouth is another novel that I completed for my author study. This text tells of a girl called Rowena who lives a very interesting life and has just been made to move schools. She is having trouble making friends at her new school and her father isn’t helping the situation. Whatever Rowena says seems to place her in a uncomfortable situation where her actions speak louder than words. A very twisted and chaotic story written by Morris Gleitzman.

This novel is very humorous and contains great amounts of suspense, adventure and gives a great insight into the mind of a young teenage girl. Students reading this text would become very engaged and appreciate the level of humour and the way that Gleitzman has created this world where the unthinkable can happen. By using specific literary techniques and sentence structure Gleitzman has allowed his audience to use their imaginations throughout this text and consider from a variety of viewpoints why specific characters acted in such a way and why the setting was created the way it was. Readers are truly becoming text participants when reading such a fast paced novel. Younger students who may not be able to read this text would still be able to make meaning of it, however, in years four to seven students would be able to make connections in regards to language choices and look deeper into the meaning of the story. This was a great text and I would highly recommend it to any English classroom with students who have an active imagination.

Author: Morris Gletizman

1992, Pan Macmillan Australia. Melbourne, Victoria

IBSN: 978-0-330-27353-4

Genre/theme: Adventure/Comedy/Stylised Fantasy

Age: 9-12 (years 4-7)

Contributor: Keelan Mackle

Two Weeks With The Queen

Two Weeks With The Queen - Morris Gleitzman

Two Weeks with the Queen is a text I completed for my author Study. It is a story about Colin’s extraordinary experience in the UK when he is sent there due to a family emergency. Colin’s Brother had fallen very ill and set himself a mission to find the best Doctor in the world and bring them back to Australia, with the help of the Queen of course. Through many twists and turns Colin’s adventure throughout the UK is strengthened through a new friendship, new ideas about family and hope.

This novel by Morris Gleitzman is a highly uplifting, yet somewhat controversial story which has a great deal of light and shade. Students reading this text would come to face many new concepts in storytelling that they may not have seen due to Gleitzman’s imagination and how he describes certain events. The name of the text is a pivotal element within the storyline as the true meaning is revealed towards the end of the novel.  Students would become very engaged in the storyline of this text and be able to relate to many of the events happening within the main character’s lives. Further discussion and comprehension can occur in regards to the UK, traveling, the Queen of England, the work that doctors do and information of different kinds of sickness. By reading this text students are exposed to many adult themes and issues that may be considered too sophisticated for them, however, I think this text has displayed particular issues in a positive light. This has helped the reader make sense of the text and break the code of the story. I have read this book more than once and would highly recommend it to be read within an English classroom.

Author: Morris Gleitzman

1989, Pan Macmillan Australia, Melbourne, Victoria

IBSN: 978-0-330-42622-0

Genre/theme: Adventure/Comedy/ Importance of family and belonging

Age: 13-15 (years 8-10)

Contributor: Keelan Mackle

Swimming Upstream

Swimming Upstream - Anthony Fingleton

Swimming upstream is a factual text on the life of Australian swimmer Anthony Fingleton. This autobiography tells of the struggles, hardships, the proud moments, Anthony’s family life and other facades that lead to his successful career as a swimmer. This text has also been turned into an Australian movie and displays a positive image of Australia. Although this is an autobiography the text is written like a narrative and follows the basic structure of an everyday novel.

This autobiography is highly informative about the life of an athlete wanting to strive for success and the challenges that they need to overcome. It is highly engaging and inspiring to read this text and many students who have a love for sport would be able to relate to the issues articulated throughout the story. Anthony Fingleton’s road to success was not an easy one and by reading this text a sense of pride, resilience, motivation and determination is clear in this author’s journey.  This novel would be most appropriate for student’s years 9-12 as it deals with issues within society during a historical time period. Older students would be able to gain a clearer sense of the time the events occurred, the moods and emotions taken from Anthony’s point of view and the different viewpoints which can further engage them. This autobiography creates many cross curricular opportunities through subjects such as SOSE, history, drama, English and P.E which can all connect to English. This is a truly inspiring story and would highly engage and be relatable for the young adults in our classrooms.

Author: Anthony Fingleton

2002, Text publishing Company Melbourne, Victoria

IBSN: 1-877008-29-X

Genre/theme: Autobiographical

Age: 14 -18 (years 9-12)

Contributor: Keelan Mackle

Holes

Holes - Louis Sachar

Holes is a children’s novel that takes you on an adventure of Stanley Yelnats when he is sent to a children’s detention camp for a ‘crime’ he did not commit. Through his time at this camp Stanley discovers the secrets and history of the town that was once established where this camp is now located. Through a number of chaotic events Stanley learns more about his family history, is able to put his and his families past actions to rest and to bring a justice to those around him.

This novel by Louis Sachar is a highly engaging text that has the ability to create a world and a series of events that relate to the lives of the young adolescent. Through this novel a great deal of adventure, mischief, problem solving and fun are evident within the short chapters and particular events that occur in the story. This novel would be most appropriate for students in years six to year nine. The chapters are easily constructed and easy to read which help engage the reader and develop the key ideas in the story quite quickly. This novel can somewhat be considered fantasy as many events within the text are unrealistic and would be an exaggeration of a child’s imagination. Many classroom tasks, comprehension tasks, English activities can be created from this text to develop students understanding of the plot, setting, characters, the complication, climax and resolution. I studied this text in year seven and have recently re-read it as I think it would fit perfectly within the English curriculum for either primary school or high school students. The issues raised within the text are relevant and uses a great variety of English techniques.

Author: Louis Sachar

1998, Bloomsbury, America, New York City

IBSN: 0-7475-4847-1

Genre/theme: Adventure/comedy/fantasy

Age: 11-15 (years 6-10)

Contributor: Keelan Mackle

Enigma

Author: Graeme Base


Publisher (Date): Penguin Group, Melbourne (2008)
ISBN: 978-0-670-07201-9


Genre: Mystery
Age: Grade 3+


Blog Contributor: Ashleigh Barnden




I am a big Graeme Base fan and I love that he is pushing the boundaries of 'typical' story books. He encourages great interaction within all of his books (that I have read) and Enigma is no exception. There is a secret code to crack and hidden things to find throughout this book. As always, the illustrations are impeccable.

The Boy and the Toy

 

Author: Sonya Hartnett
Illustrator: Lucia Masciullo


Publisher (Date): Penguin Group Australia (2010)
ISBN: 978-0-670-07362-7


Genre: Children's Picture Book
Age: Juvenile Fiction


Blog Contributor: Ashleigh Barnden



This is Hartnett's first picture book for children and it is another beautifully presented story from this author. I loved the jealousy that escalated within the robot, but I wondered through the whole book why the father would leave his son in the first place. This book is also fantastically illustrated.

Girl Underground

Author: Morris Gleitzman


Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
ISBN: 9780143300465


Genre: Adventure/Quest/Mission
Year Level: Grade 4+


Blog Contributor. Ashleigh Barnden




This novel is a sequel to Gleitzman's novel, Boy Overboard. It takes the original story and follows on from a completely different perspective and is a really interesting way of not only continuing the story, but adding to it and broadening it. This is a very funny and enjoyable novel.