The Cay by Theodore Taylor

This story is a classic and won eleven literary awards. It is set during World War 2 and told from the point of view of one of the main characters. Twelve year old Phillip lives with his parents on the island of Curacao and as the war progresses, Phillip reluctantly has to leave his dad and home due to his mother's insecurities. They set off for Miami but their ship gets attacked and during evacuation, Phillip is injured on the head and loses consciousness. He finds himself lost at sea on a raft and with him is Timothy, a 70 year old black man he has never seen before and the ship's cat Stew.

Phillip's struggle continues as he loses his sight and finds himself completely dependant on Timothy. Stuck on an island with just each other and no fresh water or food except what the ocean had to offer, Phillip and Timothy's struggle for survival forces Phillip to examine his opinions on black people- views inherited from his mother's prejudices.

I enjoyed this book immensely and give it a 10/10. It is a heart touching story about survival and adventure and kept me hooked as a close relationship between Phillip  and Timothy developed and Phillip gradually learnt to let go of his prejudice and racism. Timothy's sacrifice of his own life to protect Phillip is really sad and shows us about ultimate selflessness and compassion. The story explores various themes such as respecting each other and "not judging a book by it's cover." It also examines the concepts of friendship and trust and how the need to survive can change people completely. Our thoughts and beliefs can be inherited from what we have heard and told by people around us but when faced with struggles,hopes and disappointments like Phillip and Timothy did,  it makes one re-examine your own sense of wisdom. This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys great classics! 

By Zeenat Ali

Winter term at Malory towers - Book Review

Winter term at Malory towers

Author: Enid Blyton

This book is about a camp and there is 5 girls that go to that camp a lot.  there is 2 new girls that are new to the camp.There is a teacher that couldn’t come to the camp and there is a new teacher that is a bit mean.

One of the new girls is really mean and the other talks too much and she is annoying  to the girls.

This book has 2 mistery. The 1st one is that there is sneak that always sneaks up to the 5 girls and tells the teacher what the 5 girls are going to do and that girl could be one of the  2 new girls and the 2nd mistery is that the new teacher is a aunt of someone and the 5 girls think it is one of the 2 new girls. The 5 girls trys to do a trick on the new teacher but the sneak always sneaks up to the 5 girls and tells the teacher, which is sad for the girls because the new teacher is mean.

And at the end the 5 girls have a secret midnight feast.

By Emma

Book Review: The Diary of Laura's Twin by Zeenat

Book Review:

The Diary of Laura's Twin   by  Kathy Kacer

The premise of the story starts with the passing of a diary written during World War 2 to the next generation. Laura Wyman is an almost 13 year old Jewish girl who has been asked to become involved  in a  project as part of the preparations for her Bat Mitzvah or the coming of age ceremony . The project involved learning about a person from the Holocaust who was unable to celebrate this momentous occasion as a result of the persecution faced during World War 2. Despite some reservations, Laura meets an aged community member, Mrs Mandelcorn who gives her an old diary which she promises to read.


Laura's attitude and beliefs towards her Jewish identity changes as she peruses the pages of the diary and is transported into Sara Gittler's life, a girl of a similiar age and very much like her who is imprisoned in the Warsaw  ghetto during World War 2. She becomes the witness to the past as an understanding and awareness of the persecution and annihilation of her people shakes her very core of existence as she comprehends the need for remembering and ensuring that history does not repeat it self.


Sara's diary teaches Laura the most powerful lessons as she applies the lessons she learned from the diary  and confronts prejudice in the present . As her best friend faces a dangerous and yet moral dilemma,  Laura encourages and advises her friend to stand up and expose the truth- having read in Sara's diary of the silence of the citizens as Jews were beaten and deported, Laura is aware that keeping quiet and not speaking up against injustice cannot be condoned.


I give this book a rating of 10/10 as it is a very powerful, moving story with twists and surprises that will keep the reader hooked from the very first page. This story not only examines the themes of war and peace but also the similarities and differences that may exist between the children of today and the past. It depicts a sense of loss and suffering but unlike many other Holocaust stories that leave the reader feeling sad and with a sense of hopelessness, this book leaves an impression of powerful lessons that can be learnt from past mistakes - past fires can often lead to future light if we have the wisdom and courage to do what is morally right. It challenges us to think about what if fate and destiny led us to a similar situation, will we have the courage or strength to stand up against injustice? It also made me contemplate on things that we take for granted such as freedom. Therefore, this book will evoke different emotions and leave the reader pondering on many issues and I highly recommend it.

Zeenat

The Bad Beginning review

The Bad beginning

Lemony Snicket

This book is about 3 kids called Violet, Klaus and Sunny.They are rich,but one day their parents,and their house go up in flames while the kids are at the beach.

Then a friend called Mr Poe came and told them about the incident the kids were heart broken. Mr Poe took them for one night but then he had to go to work so he dropped them off at an unknown uncle called Count Olaf.

When the Children got there they thought that the nice next door neighbor was Count Olaf’s house but unfortunately it was the next house along!                                                                

The next house along was very dark and had a big eye on the door. Once they got in they got shown to their rooms, and they were not pleased that they had to share the room between 3 of them.

Sunny got the curtain folded into a bed shape, Klaus and Violet had to share the bed so one night Violet would be in the bed and Klaus on the flore then the next the other way around. They could not decide what was more comfortable.

The Following morning they had to do heaps of chores.Then that night they had to cook dinner for Count Olaf and his friends, but they had no experience with cooking so they got the next door neighbor (Justice Strauss) to help them serve roast beef, but they ended up doing a type of pasta.

The next day they went to see Mr Poe about how mean Count Olaf was being to them and all he said was "he is like a father to you now".So the kids went back home and went to bed.

But what happened was that Mr Poe told Count Olaf,so he made breakfast for them and put them in his play.But Violet was the bride to Count Olaf. Violet was not very happy about that. It was bad enough he was their father with out being a husband as well .

Just to make Sure that she would marry him, he put Sunny in a cage and put her out the highest window in the house.That night Violet had a plan ,first she cut the curtain wire into two pieces, then in her cardboard closet she had some clothes that she would never wear, and cut them up into long stripes which got tied together to be 30 feet long.

She tries to throw it and get it stuck so that she can climb up it, but it keeps falling down. Finally it got stuck, she climbed up it and found out what it was stuck on. It was on the hooked mans hand. Violet was not allowed back down incase she tried something else. It was the day for the wedding play, ( Violet came up with another plan ) the play started it was the bit where she had to sign the contract to get married.  Count Olaf stopped the play and announced Violet was his WIFE.

Violet said she signed with her left hand  so they are no longer married , by that time Sunny was safe. You would think that they could go to the nice ladies house and live happly ever after, but she was not in their family so they had to go with Mr Poe and go to a different family member     THE END!!!

By Sophie D

Book Review on Wonderstruck

                            

This is a book review on WONDERSTRUCK, written by Brian Selznick.

WONDERSTRUCK is a fantastic book and it is a MUST for people to read. It has a little bit of suspense, but there is one thing in particular that will spark quite a few minds; half of the book is in pictures!!!

WONDERSTRUCK is a book about two deaf people. The written part is about a boy named Ben who was once deaf with only one ear, how he becomes completely deaf, and what happens when he enters the wide and fascinating world of New York City. The other half of the book, which is in pictures, is about a deaf girl whose mum is a very famous actor, and since her mum goes out of town to act in her movies, the girl, Rose, really misses her. So Rose runs away from home several times until she finds her mum. But that is just the beginning… In the story you will find that both Ben and Rose have a love for the museum, they are both deaf, and also near the end you will find that they are actually related. Towards the end the drawings and the words come together, so Rose is also in the words and so is Ben (the boy). I found that when I was at a part with the pictures, it felt like I was the deaf one. Kind of like the people in the story. I think that was what the author was going for. When you are reading the book make sure you don’t skip the pictures,  that you look at them carefully, and not miss even a single detail, otherwise at some point of time, you will be slightly confused and you will have to turn back a few pages to understand. This story takes a lot of patience and quite a lot of thinking and comprehending to fully understand. I will be sure to read it again in the future. I had lots of fun visualizing what the boy felt like and looking at the wonderful detailed sketches. I was WONDERSTRUCK!

I rate this book a 10 out of 10 because it is a very interesting and imaginative book that has been set using an outstanding concept, and is full of great literacy and detail, and is exactly what i love. (If you find a book as interesting as thi, be sure to reccomend!). If you like the sound of this book, then take a look at his other book, The invention of Hugo Cabret.

 You will find this book in the Fiction (chapter books) section under SEL.

 I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 By Zanobia, Rm 7

Welcome to the Room 7 Blog for 2012.  This is a place where we will share our thinking and learning with you.  Please keep reading it and leave us a comment when you can.