St Dominic's Catholic College (Henderson)

165,387 pages read and 12,220 team points

Team members

AmyS

19,654 pts

(14,246 pages read)

The Paper Bag Princess

By Robert Munsch

5 stars
Mina and the Whole Wide World

By Sheryl Clark

4 stars
Big Tree

By Brian Selznick

0 stars
Coldwire

By Chloe Gong

0 stars
Greta and Valdin

By Rebecca K Reilly

4 stars
Aroha

By Hinemoa Elder

0 stars
Mophead Tu

By Selina Tusitala Marsh

5 stars
Mophead

By Selina Tusitala Marsh

5 stars
You Go First

By Erin Entrada Kelly

0 stars
Hedgehog Howdedo

By Lynley Dodd

5 stars
Two Little Bugs

By Mark Somerset

5 stars
The Dragon Riders

By James Russell

5 stars
The Dragon Tamers

By James Russell

4 stars
The Dragon Hunters

By James Russell

5 stars
The Midwatch

By Judith Rossell

0 stars
I am Autistic

By Chanelle Moriah

5 stars
Poor People With Money

By Dominic Hoey

4 stars
Five Survive

By Holly Jackson

0 stars
Carved in Blood

By Michael Bennett

4 stars
Spellstoppers

By Cat Gray

0 stars
Shakespeare For Every Day of the Year

By Allie Esiri

0 stars
When Haru Was Here

By Dustin Thao

0 stars
Return to Blood

By Michael Bennett

0 stars
Ultraviolet

By Aida Salazar

5 stars
Supergood

By Chelsea Winter

5 stars

Quite a few family faves cooked from this over the break.
War Games

By Alan Gratz

0 stars
Our Violent Ends

By Chloe Gong

5 stars

Gorgeous conclusion to Gong's YA hit These Violent Delights. A Romeo and Juliet reimagining, with 1920s Chinese political history...and monsters.
Granny McFlitter, Champion Knitter

By Heather Haylock

4 stars
Slinky Malinki, Earlybird

By Lynley Dodd

5 stars
Granny McFlitter's Country Yarn

By Heather Haylock

4 stars
The Moon and Farmer McPhee

By Margaret Mahy

5 stars
Amorangi and Millie's Trip Through Time

By Lauren Keenan

0 stars
The Invention of Hugo Cabret

By Brian Selznick

5 stars

Brian Selznick combines text and illustration in a mesmerising story set in 1930s Paris. The wordless action scenes are like watching a movie as you rush to turn the page and see where Hugo is next, and the written chapters round the characters and deepen the story. A quick read, for such a thick book, but could easily go back and lose many hours amidst the illustrations.
A War of Wyverns

By S F Williamson

5 stars
Fantastic Vegan Recipes for the Teen Cook

By Elaine Skiadas

4 stars

Picked up from the library in the hope the new teen in the house would be inspired...she wasn't, but I found some tasty meals and bakes to try. Pesto pull-apart bread has been a big hit.
Igniting a Passion for Reading

By Stephen Layne

4 stars

More inspiration for the new year. Targeted more at English teachers than librarians, definitely some tips and strategies to employ for the new student cohort this year though.
Cakeboi Goes Vegan

By Reece Hignell

4 stars

A library find, some delicious sweet recipes for the special occasions we've celebrated recently and pleasantly surprised to find a savoury bakes section too. All ingredients pretty easy to find as well, being an Australian book.
Glimpse

By Jane Higgins

5 stars

Set in a dystopian earthquake-riddled world, Glimpse offers the real life experience of an author living through the Christchurch quakes and adds nefarious organisations, a creepy cult, terrifying (and sometime life-saving) gangsters and some great teenage characters. A well written and tense climax, with a resolution neither depressing nor sickly sweet. One to recommend.
Ride North

By Maria De Jong

4 stars

Listened to the audiobook of this as prep for Y7/8 Book Battle this year. A good mix between the action, danger and drama and the lonely soul-searching of Folly's solo ride from Dargaville to Cape Reinga. A captivating new New Zealand story for our younger readers.
Birdy

By Sharon Kernot

4 stars

Verse novel tackling anxiety, bullying, consent and shame, grief and loss.
Troy

By Stephen Fry

0 stars
Realm of Possibility

By David Leviathan

0 stars
Louder than Hunger

By John Schu

5 stars

Hard hitting verse novel chronicling a young teen boy's inpatient treatment for an eating disorder. At times profound, often uncomfortable, and deeply moving, this is a necessary book which doesn't shy away from hard truths.
No More Fake Reading

By Berit Gordon

4 stars

Some inspiration and motivation to help encourage more authentic reading time from students this year.
The Art of Taxidermy

By Sharon Kernot

5 stars

Intense. Grief, loss, death and life are under the microscope in this evocative verse novel from Australian poet and author Sharon Kernot.
Akarnae

By Lynette Noni

4 stars

A great opening book in a YA fantasy series, all the usual features - 'chosen one', found family, magical school... but really well done. One to recommend for Keeper of the Lost Cities fans.
The Mysterious Benedict Society

By Trenton Lee Stewart

4 stars

A fun bedtime read with the 10 and 13 year old. We were all surprised by some of the reveals and twists, a great engaging middle grade adventure.
A Poem for Every Day of the Year

By Allie Esiri

5 stars

This is the second year we have read through 365 (or 366) poems, one each evening. A really lovely grounding moment at the end of each day, the carefully curated collection has also led to side-quests through the bookshelf to learn more about diverse moments and places throughout history as each day's blurb sparks new curiosity. For the poems themselves, there's a satisfying mix of contemporary and classic, and a smattering of non Euro-centric poets.
Room for a Little One

By Martin Waddell

5 stars

One of our Christmas faves, sharing the nativity story through the lens of the welcoming kind of whose stable became the scene of the night. Tenderly and beautifully illustrated by Jason Cockcroft.
The Christmas Play

By Clare Bevan

4 stars

Julie Park's adorable illustrations capture her young characters so perfectly, and make this an enjoyable revisit each year.
Santa's Worst Christmas

By Huia

5 stars

A Christmas fave, Isobel Joy Te Aho-White's illustrations elevate the story here and make this a Kiwi classic to look forward to poring over every December.
The Twelve Cats of Christmas

By Kevin Whitlark

4 stars

More fun to read than the original - we especially enjoy the three fluffy Persians (and the fat mouse in a 'fur' tree!?
Macca's Christmas Crackers

By Matt Cosgrove

3 stars

The children wanted one more read aloud session before we pack the Christmas books away for another year. This one is cute, but not a favourite.
A Beautiful Family

By Jennifer Trevalyan

4 stars
The Silver Chain

By Jion Sheibani

5 stars
Why A Donkey Was Chosen

By Christopher Gregorowski

5 stars

Lovely vintage Christmas book telling of the donkey's perspective riding to Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph
Blood Moon

By Lucy Cuthew

4 stars

Pulls no punches, contemporary YA addressing bullying, sexuality, period shaming and mental health. The conclusion feels rather contrived but gives a spark of optimism. A one-night read, definitely one to recommend to our rangatahi to get them thinking about the effect of their online actions.
A Kiwi Christmas Carol

By Chris Gurney

4 stars

Dickens with an NZ twist, set in the Kai Corner Dairy.
Slinky Malinky's Christmas Crackers

By Lynley Dodd

5 stars

Can't beat Lynley Dodd for rhythm, rhyme, or spectacularly made-up words!
A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree

By Kingi M Ihaka

5 stars

A New Zealand Christmas classic!
Morris's Disappearing Bag

By Rosemary Wells

5 stars

Our absolute favourite Christmas picture book, we look forward to reading it together every December.
DiVERSE : Conversations with YA and Children's Verse Novelists

By Linda Weste

0 stars
No Words for This

By Ali Mau

4 stars

A mix of hard truths and industry insider snapshots from throughout Alison Mau's 40 years in the media business (and the rough childhood that preceded). Not a light read, but ultimately a hopeful one.
The Canyon's Edge

By Dusti Bowling

5 stars

Part-prose, part-verse novel, tenderly dealing with PTSD, grief, and loss, in an action-packed setting of an Arizona canyon with a string of near-death experiences.
Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World

By Ruth Shaw

4 stars

A second memoir from the long and wildly adventurous life of Ruth Shaw, now proprietor at New Zealand's smallest bookshops. Some very entertaining tales from a life well-lived.
Sister Heart

By Sally Morgan

5 stars

A moving first nations verse novel of displacement, grief, identity and resilience
Better the Blood

By Michael Te Arawa Bennett

5 stars

An enjoyable listen, locally-set crime procedural with a deep undercurrent of colonialism and intergenerational trauma.
Is It Bedtime Yet?

By Emily Writes

0 stars
Juniper's Christmas

By Eoin Colfer

5 stars
Look Me In The Eye

By Jane Godwin

4 stars

Engaging YA from one of Australia's best writers for young people, love the post-covid setting, acknowledging the trauma of those years. A thought-provoking read on our relationship with technology and surveillance.
Grace Notes

By Karen Comer

5 stars

Stunning YA verse novel set in lockdown Melbourne, so very real and necessary for our rangatahi to have stories to read which validate their experiences in those weird pandemic times. A cracking debut novel from Karen Comer.
Containment

By Vanda Symon

3 stars

A re-read, definitely enjoyed this more when it was new, the tone and social commentary haven't aged too well. The central mystery of the plot made it worth persevering till the end, though. Do appreciate a deliberately Aotearoa setting for a crime procedural.
Sword of the Sun

By Sinéad O'Hart

4 stars

A read-aloud with the tamariki, lots of learning for all of us about Irish mythology but a tough one to read aloud, a more user-friendly pronunciation guide would have been appreciated!

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St Dominic's Catholic College (Henderson)

165,387 pages read and 12,220 team points

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