Room One's Online Book Club

The Invasion by K.A Applegate

The Invasion                                                        
K.A Applegate

Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, and Marco. 5 normal teenagers meet up with each other when they leave the mall and decide to take a shortcut home through an  abandoned construction site. Then they see a alien spaceship, and inside is a real alien called an Andalite. The alien tells them through that he is not the only alien to land at Earth. More are coming like Yeerks, small slug-like aliens who control people’s minds. To stop the Yeerks the 5 teenagers are given the power to morph. All they need to do is touch an animal to get it’s DNA. They all get this power just before Visser Three, the only Yeerk to capture an Andalite body lands his ship. Now, it’s up to the 5 teenagers to save everyone on Earth. Can they do it?

Dark River By Erin Hunter

Dark River
Power of Three, Book 2
Erin Hunter

  There will be three, Kin of your Kin...Who hold the power of the stars in their paws. The three children of Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, grandchildren of the great leader Firestar, have been thriving in their apprenticeships: Lionpaw’s energy and strength serve him well as a warrior apprentice, Hollypaw improves her understanding of the warrior code, and Jaypaw explores his mysterious powers and connections with StarClan as the apprentice of Leafpool, ThunderClan’s medicine cat. But with more experience comes both power and danger: Lionpaw makes a friendship and a discovery that must be kept hidden; Hollypaw knows something that could avert a battle if only she could convince the rest of her clan, and Jaypaw learns a secret that could benefit ThunderClan by damaging others. And, as conflict begins over what it means to be a warrior, rising tensions threaten to overflow, washing away the peace that has protected the clans for many moons, the three are torn apart as each discovers darkness: In the past, in the Clans, and in themselves. 










An interview with an author:

This week we were lucky enough to be able to interview Deborah Burnside. Here are her answers to our questions:

How did you become an author?

I had always told stories, but didn’t know that writing was a ‘real job’ so I never thought about it until I was grown up…when I suddenly decided it was what I wanted to do I was quite old…about 30…so I telephoned Joy Cowley; she was the only NZ writer that I could think of at that moment and she said ‘Just Begin’ so I did.  I started a writing group called the Fiction Kitchen with some other people who also wanted to write, entered competitions and took some courses because writing is like any other job or sport…you have to train for it and practice, practice, practice.

Was it hard to get your first book published?

Luckily for me, no it wasn’t…I had been granted a place on a mentoring scheme and had Tessa Duder (Night Race to Kawau/Tiggy/Alex series of books) as my mentor, the first publisher the book was taken to accepted it…that isn’t so very unusual as to never happen, but it is not the experience of most authors…sometimes they write many, many books before they are published, but I felt like a complete beginner really.  That book was shortlisted in the LIANZA awards and is called On A Good Day

What type of books do you enjoy writing most?

I never know what type of book I’m going to write next because I’m still ‘new’ in my mind…I definitely enjoy writing for 11-12 year olds and 14-16 year olds but LOVE reading to the littlies 5-7 year olds so think I will try to have something published for that age group at some point.  The book I am working on right now (well sort of working on as I’m a bit busy working at my ‘real’ job – running a waste and recycling company right now and practicing for a show I’m in that I’m not doing that much actual writing, but I’m always writing in my head) is for 8-12 year olds.

Did you always have an interest in writing?

I always had an interest in books and stories and although I liked writing I was more an absorber of story than thinking I wanted to write stories necessarily when I was young.  When I was at primary and intermediate school I made my own books and instead of writing the stories out, told them with the voice inside my head or quietly out loud to myself and drew the pictures as I went except I wasn’t that great at drawing so these stories mostly had only things in them that I felt confident about drawing.   That limits you quite a bit really as a story teller.

Did you have any jobs before you became an author?

A gazillion jobs…writers are usually a bit curious about the world and so often say YES to something just to ‘give it a go’ and see what happens.  I was a Doctors Receptionist, Travel Agent, Insurance Clerk, Shop Cleaner, Shop assistant, Shoe Model, Voice artist, Wine Promoter, Photographic Model, Actress, Tourism Hostess, Radio Survey Agent… then I fell in love with the rubbish man and became a garbologist and have been one ever since.

What is your favourite book that you've written?

Ooooo that’s a hard one…because there is an amazing feeling at some point when you are writing a book where you are suspended in the unreal world of your story; seeing everything, hearing everything, but not always knowing everything and it’s like riding a roller coaster…very exciting, but you can’t have that feeling all the time only while you’re wrapped up in your imaginary world so while I’m writing that part of it is my favorite and that story is at that moment my favorite.  I think my favorite story though would have to be On a Good Day simply because it was my first published book and there’s something very special about that.

What is your favourite book that you've ever read?

Again…too, too hard…so many books and they are all your favorite while you are reading them…in order of appearance though I loved all the Dr Suess Books growing up and preschool, then the Lion in the Meadow was a particular favorite and my childhood copy is now signed by Margaret Mahy…moving on to Pippi Longstocking and Milly Molly Mandy, Little House on the Prairie…all of the Enid Blyton books…I simply ate books while I was growing up, I loved the places they took me and the things I discovered…I loved to be scared by a book, excited by a book and very best of all laugh out loud when reading a book.  As an adult I was crying within a few pages of reading, The Lovely Bones.  One of the most remembered books was called The Headless Cupid because the author had a very unusual name and Judy Blume’s, Are you there God, it’s me Margaret (a book that was banned in some parts of America) because I loved books about real people living real lives.  When you are growing up in a very small town, sharing a room with your sister, in a small house in a culdesac, where everybody knows you it was Fantastic to transport yourself into another world through the cover of a book.

Here is our book review for week five:

The Silver Sword

The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier

Ian Serraillier                                                 

The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier is an imaginative and interesting story of three siblings

living in World War II. When Edek, Ruth, and Bronia’s parents are taken by the Nazis, 

they are left with nothing and no one to help them. Alone in the pandemonium of their home town, Warsaw, they have to learn to look after themselves. 

Then they meet Jan, a ragged refugee who happens to have their old silver sword that 

used to belong to their lost father. The sword becomes their symbol of hope and freedom

as they begin their perilous journey across Europe to Switzerland to find their parents...

Mr Stink by David Walliams

Week Three's Book Review:

Mr Stink

David Walliams

Chloe Crumb thinks she is the unluckiest girl in the world. Her horrible mother and shy father pay all of their attention to her revolting little sister, Annabelle, who’s only aim in life is to get Chloe in trouble. Then she meets Mr Stink, the local tramp. He is the only person who has ever been nice to Chloe. Yes, he smells a bit- well, more than a bit, but Chloe quite likes the funny old man and his little dog. Then, one cold winter night, she smuggles the smelly old tramp into the garden shed. But soon her posh politician mother finds out...

                                                                                           

The Gift by James Patterson

  Here is our book review for the week:

The Gift

James Patterson

In this book, Whit and Wisty Allgood, two famous siblings and magicians, lead the Resistance group into the final battle with the most dangerous enemy in the world- the New Order, a massive organization that wants to brainwash every living thing in the world into believing that reading books, listening to music, looking at art, and being creative are huge criminal offenses. And at the head of it is the most terrifying man on earth - The One Who Is The One. He is after three things: Whit and Wisty’s Gift of magic, world domination, and an end to the Allgood family. He already has Whit and Wisty’s parents, most of the kids from the original Resistance group, and power over Earth, Air, and Water. If he successfully captures Whit and Wisty, he will drain their Gifts, gain control of the element of Fire, and then gain thousands of admirers at the Allgood family’s public execution.

Find out what happens in the second exciting book in the Witch and Wizard series. 

Hello! Welcome to Room One's Online Book Club! Every week we will post a book review on books that our class has read that week. Feel free to comment on our reviews or suggest a book that we could review.