Australian Book Fair

What are kids reading in AUSTRALIA?

Kids at HILTON PRIMARY SCHOOL sent these book reviews just for YOU! If you want to write to them, just send mail to: hiltonps@sydney2.world.net, or you can mail it HERE if you have "Forms Support."
Hendrik Lupgens is the teacher in charge of this project.

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Let Me Tell You How I Died

"Let me tell you how I died. I remember seeing blood before my eyes. At first I thought I was floating in blood but then I realised that I was floating in water and the blood was swirling around me. I knew that it was my own blood but strangely enough that didn't bother me. I felt quite calm and peaceful. That's when I realised I wasn't breathing anymore!"

Delia is dreaming at her eighteenth birthday party. Dreaming that she is reading a diary written in her own handwriting. Then she dreams she is drowning .... in her own blood! Later on Delia discovers the same diary in her locker at highschool and starts to read. She starts to become more and more like the girl in the diary, seeing the world through her eyes, even having some of her memories. Soon she even believes she was the girl in a past life. So does her killer! The terror is alive once more! The girl who wrote the diary was murdered and whoever killed her the first time is after her again!

Let Me Tell You How I Died is a soft-cover book written by Sinclair Smith and published by Scholastic Books. It has one hundred and eighty-nine pages and no illustrations. The writing is small for young children but medium writing for adult readers. I enjoyed this book because it is easy to read and I like horror stories. These books broaden your imagination as you have to imagine the situation. I would recommend this book to people over the age of eleven as younger children would not understand it.

Elizabeth Moore
Age - 12 years
Hilton Primary School
Western Australia, 6163

Underrunners

Underrunners is a Young Reader's Book Award entrant for 1995. It was written by Margaret Mahy. It's black and white and has no pictures. It was first printed in 1992 by Hamish Hamilton. The words are long. It was a fairly long book with one hundred and eighty-five pages. It is about a boy named Tris whose mother has died. Tris and his father live on their own. His father is always busy with work. Tris partly lives a secret life in an imaginary world. A girl named Winola joins him in his secret life until she claims one of the characters is out to get her. Is it? To find out you have to read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it would suit eleven to thirteen year olds.

My Hairiest Adventure

My Hairiest Adventure was written by R. L. Stine. It is number twenty-six in a series called Goosebumps. It was first printed in 1994 by Scholastic. It has one hundred and twenty-two pages. It is soft cover and is a medium sized book. The words are average. My Hairiest Adventure is about a boy named Larry who was playing with his friends. He saw a big rubbish bin full of tiles and old bathroom stuff. There was an old bathroom cupboard with all sorts of medicines. He found a bottle of "Insta-Tan" and ran to show his friends. They were all very excited so they went inside and rubbed it all over themselves. Then they saw the use-by date. It was very old! What would happen next? I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to ten to twelve year olds.

Weird

Weird was compiled by Penny Matthews. It has twelve different stories. It was first printed in 1992 by Omnibus Books. It has no pictures and the words are average. Weird is a medium-sized book and has a hundred and fourteen pages. My favourite one is "The Second-hand Tongue" by Gary Hurle. It is about a boy who talks non-stop. The day he is to go in the Chatter-box Competition his tongue wears out! The end of the story is about the boy trying to find a tongue to suit him before the competition starts. I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to nine to twelve year olds.

Lauren Butcher
Age - 12 years
Hilton Primary School,
Western Australia, 6163

Plastic City

Plastic City by Mary Clark is about a city that advertises their shops with plastic signs on the shop roofs. Sam and his friends make a club called the "Noble Warriors" and set out to stop the city using plastic everywhere. This book is well illustrated with black and white pictures. It is a soft cover book. It was included in the Young Readers Awards. I recommend it to years four to seven. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Prince of Kelvin Mall

The Prince of Kelvin Mall was written by Michael Stevens. It is about a boy who is a prince. His father goes mad and goes to the moon. Mark owns the biggest mall in the world. He starts to explore more and more and discovers what it is really like. The Prince of Kelvin Mall is a soft cover book with one hundred and forty-three pages. I recommend this book to years five and over.

Piranha Nine

Piranha Nine is a soft cover book with clear colourful pictures. It only has thirty-two pages. A boy named Brock has an enemy named Benny Bracely who gives him a lot of trouble. When Brock can't take it any more he trains his ninth goldfish to be a bloodthirsty piranha! I recommend this book to all ages in primary school. I enjoyed it and found it easy to read as the writing was quite large.

Renee Mahony
Age - 12 years
Hilton Primary School,
Western Australia, 6163

No Gun for Asmir

No Gun for Asmir by Christobel Mattingley is an excellent book about how Asmir and his family fled Sarajevo. Based on a true story, it is a very enjoyable read. Read about how the family escaped Sarajevo in fear and met up with Aunt Melita and Uncle Miroslav in Belgrade. They all finally settled in Vienna, Austria after many heart-renching border crossings. Then they started a long battle to allow Muris (Asmir's father who they had to leave behind in Sarajevo) to come to Vienna. No Gun for Asmir is a fantastic story of courage and determination. I recommend it for anyone between the ages of 9 and 100! There is now a sequel called Asmir in Vienna which is just as good.

Emma Sandford
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
St. Catherine's School
12 years old
Grade 6

Back to the International Book Fair

Kate Caldwell and Kari Zander
Ligon GT Middle School, 706 East Lenoir St.
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27615