Havelock North High School

53,685 pages read and 8,743 team points

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WLS

17,627 pts

(12,236 pages read)

Square

By Mac Barnett

3 stars

Part of the picture book trilogy. Teaches readers that seeking perfection is frivolous since art can be interpreted many different ways. Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Aue

By Becky Manawatu

4 stars
Out Here

By Chris Tse and Emma Barnes (Eds)

4 stars
American Blood

By Ben Sanders

3 stars
Nikau's Escape

By Kate S Richards

3 stars
The Astromancer

By Witi Ihimaera

4 stars

A beaut story of humility, place, tradition, expectations, learning and whanau.
Saving Thandi

By Kate S Richards

3 stars

Mostly set in the Umfolozi Private Reserve, Jabu reconnects not only with Thandi but also Ice. It's a story of discovery as Jabu realises the dire threat of extinction facing the rhino due to poachers, Billie faces her fear, Ice finds a renewed sense of purpose, Ayanda ultimately acclimatises, Saskia learns to accept help from others, and Alexia becomes humble due to circumstances. It's a good versus evil plot interspersed with animal antics from dogs Queenie and Duke, an African Grey parrot, and Makhulu Thief, the monkey.
25 Library Terrace

By Natalie Fergie

5 stars

A beautiful cross-section of 25 Library Terrace, its renovations and the lives within spanning several decades. It's a story of heartbreak, loss and tragedy as well as generosity, stability and independence. But still, I can't close the door on Finlay...
Nineteen Minutes

By Jodi Picoult

5 stars

Amazing insight into a school shooting from several perspectives, including the 'why' and aftermath.
Brownstone

By Samuel Teer

4 stars

The storyline seems to value community, cultural heritage, one's sense of belonging, language barriers and kindness.
Circle

By Mac Barnett

2 stars
Birnam Wood

By Eleanor Catton

3 stars

This is a tech-eco-thriller on a slow burn. It covers friendship, capitalism, off-shore investment, the rich and their knighthoods, a do-good-at-any-cost environmenalist organisation, journalistic dreams, privacy and surveillance, and poor decisions. Do people really set their alarm entry codes as their 4-digit property number in reverse? Would a journalist really have quality survival skills? Can a ziplock bag really provide the same water protection as a dry bag? Can you hire a group of CIA-like bodyguards in NZ even under fake contracts as scientific researchers, IT consultants, entrepreneurs and employees of an American military analytics company so as to have all-round open hours? Who in their right mind would've given working visas to Americans in these fields? Why did Lady Darvish attend to the injured before ensuring there was no danger - isn't that part of First Aid 101? For an NZ book, it felt like a dramatic American ending, but some readers like that.
Swing

By Kwame Alexander

3 stars

Kwame has a way with words in this verse novel about love and friendship. It follows Noah and Walt as they put podcast advice into play to woo the girls using artistic talents and make the baseball team.
A Maori Phrase a Day

By Hemi Kelly

3 stars

Succinct way to build vocabulary and simple sentence constructions or responses.
By Any Means

By Ben Sanders

4 stars

Police procedural set in NZ.
Call Me Evie

By J P Pomare

5 stars

In secluded Maketu, Evie finds some freedoms from her Uncle Jim's rules and bolted doors and befriends some locals: Iso, his mum, and Tiriana. (I loved the local lingo). Her memories are a bit of a mess as she attempts to piece her life back together and save herself. It's a shame Beau is not much of a guard dog given the unknown man hanging around. It deals with tragedy, trauma, suicide, protection, memory, manipulation, privacy, social media, revenge, ephebophilia, panic attacks, mental illness and running away.
Light For The World To See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope – Powerful Poetry on Racism, Black Lives, and Oppression in America

By Kwame Alexander

2 stars

A 23-word title for a book of poetry with lines in black, white and gold emphasising words with a change in font size or colour or alignment or punctuation helping to convey the sentiment or power held by those particular words. It was difficult to read as an e-book as the pagination breaks appeared to be out of sync with my device. I much prefer this author's fuller verse novels.
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

By Nikole Hannah-Jones

2 stars

A reimagining (some would say) or realisation of one's origins.
Mister Pip

By Lloyd Jones

3 stars

I loved the main character's mother. So direct - “Do you not have a shadow of your own to play with?” So devout - "...to be human is to be moral, and you cannot have a day off when it suits. My brave mum had known this when she stepped forward to proclaim herself God’s witness to the cold-blooded butchery of her old enemy, Mr Watts.” So loved - “I couldn’t keep the door closed on that little room in my head where I’d put her. My mum kept her own hours and she could surprise me any time of her own choosing.”
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

By Agatha Christie

4 stars

Classic whodunit with Poirot illustrating, once again, his one-upmanship over foolish criminal murderers.
The Fall

By Albert Camus

3 stars

Being a philosophical classic, it's a bit full on with the kind of lines you have to re-read and ponder like: "The more I accuse myself, the more I have the right to judge you. Better still: I incite you to judge yourself, which relieves me by that much more". Jean-Baptiste Clamence is criticising the tendency of people to condemn the faults of others to feel better about their own failings, an idea central to the novel’s themes of universal guilt and hypocrisy. It warns that no one is perfect and recalls the phrase ‘woe betide you when all men speak well of you!’: "Compliments became more and more unbearable to me. It seemed to me that the lie grew with them, to such an excessive extent that I could never again set things right." When reflecting on religious commandments to set morals, Clamence says they are wrong because "We have no need of God to create guilt or to punish. Our fellow men are enough, with our help." I also learnt about punitive restrictions of the 'little ease'.
The Test

By Sylvain Neuvel

4 stars

Idir takes a standardised 25-question citizenship test (like an assimilation - cue thoughts of Divergent, at least in my head. Others are reminded of Black Mirror episodes) to ascertain his immigration status, but what he has to do to pass truly tests his values. This is a psychological dystopia to garner one's level of "goodness" and "acceptance" whilst providing a social commentary on our treatment of "others" and some of the ridiculous situations they find themselves in whilst raising questions about discrimination.
The Handmaid's Tale

By Margaret Atwood

5 stars

The uncertainty of the ending and her fate is frustrating. I've since read that the cliffhanger (together with the historical analysis) is "highlighting how history is interpreted and often controlled by those who write it" so it ties into the book's themes of authority, power and control. But seriously, did she find love again? Was she reunited with her daughter? Can anyone actually be honest? It's ironic that the final line is 'Are there any questions?'
Short Head and Yard

By Garrick Batten

5 stars

Suzanne North designed the cover - a simple sketch of a farmer and his loyal companion which caught my eye on a table of books at an English teachers' conference. I took my free copy with the expected promise of 'word of mouth' reviews after reading. I've finally read it and it's worth talking about! Batten is right in that each story takes only five minutes or less to read which is no doubt appealing to reluctant readers or those who are time-poor. He has many faming references beyond the title and cover illustration having arranged stories in sets of three, grouping them in a 'themed pen' as per kiwi sheep dog trials. Clever structure! It's all wonderfully explained in his 'publisher's comment'. Several standout stories included 'Icecream Sunday'* with some cunning or "entrepreneurial" Māori boys, 'It's Snow Fun' highlighting the toughness and sacrifices of farmers, 'Perceptions'* throwing light on the tech-obsessed city teens who can't see what others see, 'Calf Love'* which debates alternate views on best practice despite different levels of understanding and misunderstanding of animal welfare, 'Rhythmic Romance' where a couple's highs and lows are compared to the ever changing environment, and 'Acceptance' which contains difficult cards being dealt (warning - it contains suicide). Also, 'Rose Petalled Destiny' illustrates the longevity of family owned lands, 'The Shepherdess'* recalls a good deed with unexpected repercussions, 'The Difference Between Right and Wrong'* contains survival advice despite a little hiccup, 'A Country Education' is a real eye opener about wayward behaviour, 'Physics'* shows how chance helps a son persuade his father to let him continue his studies rather than get straight to work on the farm, 'Last Pen' highlights the importance of community and story at the local establishment's anniversary, 'The Malthouse'* details efforts to save rural heritage, 'Dad's Chair' reflects on letting go and moving on, and 'A Dying Country Service' reads like a sweet eulogy to a well-loved nan. The ones with an asterisk I see as suitable for Year 9 with good discussion points including those located in the Teaching Notes. As a teacher, I read a lot of teenage writing and often the boarders (aka the rural kids) did a great job at detailed descriptions of their environment. Batten, as an adult, does an even better job and the aspects of rural life he has included in this collection captures social expectations of the time and issues which have extended to today.
A Most unlikely Lady

By Darcy McGuire

3 stars

It's the fourth in the series but the first one I picked up. What can I say? It's a love story where each helps heal the other. It's also a mystery, but the revelation didn't come as too much of a surprise. Interesting setting. Balls, orphanages, seals, pointed guns and choices. Clearly, the message is 'honourable titles rarely make honourable men.’
Visitations

By Corey Egbert

3 stars

Based on real events, this plotline covers divorce, faith, mental health, loss, regret and decisions. A clever title getting at the father's visitation rights, Area 51, and the being taking Rae's form who offer enlightenment.
The Energy Bus

By Jon Gordon

3 stars

As George is forced to take the bus one day, he is introduced to driver Joy who specialises in giving advice complete with living breathing examples of it working! George's problems ease as he turns things around by instigating 10 rules concerning the power of positivity, vision, enthusiasm, trust and purpose thus bringing out the best in himself and others.
Triangle

By Mac Barnett

3 stars

Teaches readers about karma. Don't play a trick on someone if you're not prepared to have a trick played on you, too.
Not a Drill

By Lee Child

2 stars

In this short story, I learn via Reacher that Canadians are 'always nice'! He acts super chill and unfazed at the trail being closed (but it never closes). Although it's missing that great action fight moment, he does smooth things over.
Samples Form The Lab

By Rob Foote

5 stars

In a new kind of science-based quarantine, the main character whose name you may well love as much as I do (through heinz sight) probably doesn't realise how close he came to his self-proclaimed awesomeness in genetics. In his INEPT scientific journal, he keeps a written record, illustrations, photographs, reports, letters, witness statements and the advert for his 'lavatory assistant' which helped kickstart it all. As stated previously, he came close to greatness - a spellcheck might have helped. I was a fan of the pistachio newts, bull-frogs, walnuts, grass hoppers and moray peels illustrations. It's a wee gem that will appeal to several age groups.
Dear Olly

By Michael Morpurgo

2 stars

A sweet middle grade story about following your own dreams, the benefits of laughter, horrors of war and adversity. Told by three separate perspectives: Olly, Hero and Matt.
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

By Michael Pollan

3 stars

This is a journalist's compilation of advice from all sorts of people from doctors to great grandmothers. He drops in interesting facts such as each year a supermarket carries 1,700 new products and there's 40 times more sugar in our foods today. Also, the average female is now 8.5kg heavier than the 1970s before the low fat phase. He's less about the jargon concerning highly processed foods and more about practical easy-to-follow advice: 'don't eat cereals that change the colour of your milk' and 'eat junk food as long as you make it yourself'. I laughed at 'it's not food if it arrived through the window of your car!' There are plenty of adages from various countries. I liked 'it's better to pay the grocer than the doctor' (good food costs more) and 'eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper' (which guides our portion sizes). Much of the advice was known or practical: put down your fork between bites (which slows you down allowing your brain to tell you that you are almost full) and to do all your eating at a table (not a desk, or in the car).
101 Amazing Unusual Deaths

By Jack Goldstein

3 stars

The title says it all! Hilarious recounts of which I only really knew one.
Convenience Store Woman

By Sayaka Murata

4 stars

Who is odd? Those who conform or those who are abnormal? This satirical quick read follows Keiko who has worked in the same store for 18 years since it provides a kind of 'cover' for her weird thoughts which are dampened when store life provides a set of instructions to live by. The opening lines relay her love of the store and the final lines relay her understanding of it. You'll be shocked by her actions as a child (hide all spades) and saddened by her comment that in just two weeks all the water in her body from bottles purchased at the store will have been replaced with new water.
The Traitor and the Thief

By Gareth Ward

5 stars

Set in a steampunk world where transportation includes a fish in the pipe-way, Battler Boy training tools, ZAPO lighters, chemlights, flamekerchiefs, and innovations like the nocturnagraphs, and Battenburg cake, who wouldn't want to live there? Many things seem impenetrable like brassanium, ironglass, and Cast-Iron Rules. But weren't these all made to be broken? For all this excitement and innovation, there's an atmosphere of unease due to divisions between rich and poor, warmongers and peacekeepers, traitors and thieves, and East and West Wing COG spy recruits. It's a dangerous place with the House of a Thousand Deaths, Rat Pox and the assassin-driven King's Knights. Yet messages of loyalty and perseverance mix with self-doubt, cunning and truth-seeking to create a great storyline. 'On the streets you knew who your enemies were, and if someone had a score to settle they were up-front about it. here the enemy was invisible, hiding behind mekanika and science. It wasn't right. It wasn't decent.' It's easy to see how it won the Storylines Tessa Duder Award and that it'd be a great read aloud in a kiwi classroom.
The Friday Poem: 100 New Zealand Poems

By Edited & introduced by Steve Braunias

5 stars

This is a solid contemporary anthology of kiwi poets. Sometimes a few lines hit the mark like these from 'Words of praise' by Ashleigh Young: "She is fine in small doses, we say of our mothers / but I crave big doses, an IV flooding me with her words of praise." Other times, the whole poem and its clever layout ensure we read and re-read gaining different or deeper interpretations like Tusiata Avia's 'Some notes for critics' and Courtney Sina Meredith's 'Y'. I very much enjoyed Dominic Hoey's 'Toast' and Victor Billot's 'The Hierarchy' which both speak to the common people. Liz Breslin's creative originality came through in her 'when life gives you spoons' poem. Brian Turner's 'Small Town Blues' was relatable. Oh, and the war-related poems (of very different lengths) were touching: 'My World War I Poem' by Bill Manhire and 'Hoki Mai' by Tayi Tibble. A fair few poems in this anthology were humorous. 'Dumper & Co' by Harry Ricketts reads like an advert for the company that will help you dump your partner, whilst Gordon Challis' 'My career' reflects on his past job but also seems to parody the desk blotter. Then there's 'STIHL power equipment' by Freya Daly Sadgrove! My list of standouts also includes: 'Best actress in a supporting role' by Louise Wallace, 'Jogging' by Maggie Rainey-Smith, 'The man talking' by Sam Hunt, 'Orange Crayon Stick Figure Man' by Selina Tusitala Marsh, 'Thread' by Bill Manhire, 'Kei te whakaako au i taku kuirī / I am teaching my dog Māori' by Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, 'When does it start? by Maraea Rakuraku, and 'Gone Mad' by Nick Ascroft.
Birds Aren't Real

By Peter McINdoe and Connor Gaydos

3 stars

Birds are everywhere: US eagle, Thanksgiving turkey, and Big Bird! This satirical conspiracy theory mocks the absurdity of real-life conspiracy theories. It claims that all birds in the US are actually surveillance drones and that hummingbirds carry out assassinations. I mean have you ever stopped to contemplate why you've never seen a baby pigeon? Will you join Operation Restock the Flock? Since I listened to the audiobook, I missed out on the illustrations, but I gained cool sound effects.
A Place Near Eden

By Nell Pierce

2 stars

Despite being a truth-seeking plotline, where the narrator speaks to an unborn child, it seemed to be too repetitive, going over the same events and mentioning 'maybe' or 'perhaps' too often, constantly questioning the reliability of recalled memories and behaviour. There were so many variations of what potentially happened (cue the speculative documentaries as well) that I no longer cared what did actually happen. Maybe if I'd read this rather than listened to it, I would've picked up whether the narrator was used and mistaken or jealous and manipulative. I don't even know if Sem's demise was accidental or deliberate. And should you be in love with your foster brother? Geez.
Patu

By TIm Tipene

4 stars

On a journey of discovery, Jahnine joins forces with Anaru to return a patu from the Land Wars to its rightful owners. Believed to be cursed, her mother battles cancer and Jahnine wonders if any of the reconnections (like that between her mother and brother, Anaru and his heritage, Jimmy and Piki, the patu and tangata whenua) will lift their troubles. The plot touches on the effects of Māori urbanisation, pōwhiri tikanga, tangihanga, Rangiaowhia and New Zealand's lost generation.
The No-Show

By Beth O'Leary

4 stars

I was drawn by the tagline 'three women, three dates. One msising man...' and was expecting a romance mystery murder, but it was very much just a romance. However, I found what I thought to be a terrible typo--that any editor should've found--before I came to realise (shortly thereafter) that it was, in fact, not a typo but a very clever intentional author moment which changed everything. From there, it was easy to predict the ending. For someone who doesn't normally read romance, dare I say, it was rather enjoyable (but the pace did slow in the middle).
Into the River

By Ted Dawe

3 stars

Local Maori boy heads to a boarding school in the big smoke and gets into mischief but seems to 'lose' his name and himself there amongst all the racism and goings on. Or, does he find himself in the end?
Taniwha

By Gavin Bishop

4 stars

Another beauty from Gavin Bishop! Since I didn't know all of these taniwha stories, it was very enlightening. I had forgotten that they take on many different forms.
Just Pretend

By Tori Sharp

2 stars

Although I collected this from my high school library, it reads like an Intermediate-aged graphic novel. I loved the illustrations, but found the storyline a little lacking.
The Girl from the Sea

By Molly Knox Ostertag

3 stars

Definitely YAF. A nicely drawn coming-of-age queer romance.
Crumbs

By Danie Stirling

4 stars

A romance between two dream chasers: a seer and a guitarist. Loved the interactions with their mobiles: Stella and Wobble. The baked goods at Marigold's sound intriguing: romance, confidence, contentment, melancholy, awe, courage and joy (to name a few).
The Greatest Thing

By Sarah Winifred Searle

4 stars

This story deals with anxiety, eating disorders, changing relationships, finding yourself, counselling and self-harm against a backdrop of a writing collaboration between an artist and an author.
Fangirl

By Rainbow Rowell

3 stars

Jumps between meeting a new roommate as a freshman, lunches with the twin who wants her independence, trips home to see a father, library sessions with a new writing partner from a course and the bombshell info that the mother wants to reconnect with the twins. Oh, and there's the writing tutor who thinks very little of her first independent assignment...

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Havelock North High School

53,685 pages read and 8,743 team points

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