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14 books in 10 years is impressive as was Kirsty Murray!  We were delighted to welcome Kirsty to Ballarat Grammar today (so sorry I forgot the camera!).  Kirsty spoke to the Years 7 and 8 students and one Year 9 class in the Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts.  She was a captivating  speaker who spoke of her inspiration for stories, her belief in the interconnectiveness of story and of  some of her travels.  Kirsty ’s talk was very well received by the students who have been inspired to come and read her novels; there is an especially high demand for her new book Vulture’s Gate.    Thank you Kirsty for making the trip from Melbourne to Ballarat. 

We are looking forward to welcoming author Kirsty Murray to Grammar on Wednseday to speak with our Year 7 and Year 8 classes.  Kirsty is the author of Vulture’s Gate (2009) and many other titles including the magnificent Children of the Wind series.  To find out more about Kirsty and her books have a look at her website and blog.  Look for the link in Author Websites.

Some of our talented art students have kindly allowed their textile pieces to be displayed in the Resource Centre to promote our stunning fashion book collection.  This collection numbers over 100 titles and includes books on designers such as Chanel, Largerfeld and Mackie; books on illustrating fashion and various books on textile techniques.

The book collection is growing at a rapid rate to meet the needs of our talented student designers, many of whom are pursuing careers in the fashion industry.  Many thanks to the students and staff who helped co-ordinate this display.

GUANTANAMO BOY – ANNA PERERA

Guantanamo Boy is a story that portrays the struggle and freedom denied by an innocent fifteen – year old Muslim boy from Rochdale named Kahlid. The author’s main objective was to portray, as far as possible from a typical teenager and there events in their life. The book shows how Kahlid’s hopes and dreams are dashed out the door when he is help captive and torched under the cruellest circumstances in Guantanamo Bay. This book really describes how Kahlid is ripped away from his family and torched, but it relates back to us by appreciating our home and security. This book touches me personally by appreciating how lucky we are to be living in a secure country while events in the world like the Taleban are happening everyday. I found this book really eye-opening and enjoyable to read.

Kieran

Bernie Monagle’s “Hot Hits the remix” is a story about the struggles and experiences of a group of teenagers going through their later years of school. The novel focuses on many issues such as underage drinking, bullying, brawls and relationships. The author created many different main characters, some which he does not introduce until later in the novel. Using this technique he cleverly shows many different sides to these issues and manages to give totally different perceptions, (compared to the “stereotypically normal” side of society), to issues faced by many teens. Personally the book really opened my eyes to some of the huge things that people with issues, (such as the ones suggested in this text), have to deal with on a daily basis. I felt that this was an incredible novel, which was very easy to read. I would recommend it to anyone facing their later years of schooling and upwards.

By George

Third in Matthew Reilly’s fabulous series starring Jack West Jr and his team, Five Greatest Warriors is due for release in Australia on 20th October 2009! Exclusive information from Matthew Reilly reveals that the book starts with the sentence ’Jack West fell’.

The book’s synopsis on www.matthewreilly.com also reveals that Jack West Jr survives his fall into the bottomless abyss at the end of Six Sacred Stones, and “fathers will fight sons, brothers will battle brothers”- possibly indicating a battle between Jack West Jr and Jack West Sr and/or a Scimitar vs Pooh Bear fight.

So, where did we leave off at the end of Six Sacred Stones? Jack West Jr had placed the second pillar and fallen into the abyss as his team watched by video link, and Jack West Sr has all the cards: the Philosopher’s Stone, the Firestone, the Killing Stone of the Maya, and the pillars from the first two Vertices. Pooh Bear has also departed to save the Israeli, Stretch, from the Mossad, and the Japanese Blood Brotherhood has the fourth pillar.

The full synopsis from the Matthew Reilly website reads:

It Began With Six Stones

Jack West Jr and his loyal team are in
desperate disarray: they’ve been separated,
their mission is in tatters, and Jack was last
seen plummeting down a fathomless abyss.

IT FINISHES HERE
After surviving his deadly fall, Jack must now race
against his many enemies to locate and set in place
the remaining pieces of The Machine before
the coming Armageddon.

WHO ARE THE FIVE WARRIORS?
As the world teeters on the brink of destruction,
he will learn of the Five Warriors, the individuals
who throughout history have been most intimately
connected to his quest.

OCEANS WILL RISE, CITIES WILL FALL
Scores will be settled, fathers will fight sons,
brothers will battle brothers, and Jack and his
friends will soon find out exactly what the
end of the world looks like…

Rest assured, this next book is destined to uphold the excellent quality of reading that Matthew Reilly’s readers have become accustomed to.

Deception Point, by Dan Brown, is centred around Senator Sedgewick Sexton’s race for the United States Presidency against incumbent President Zach Herney. Sexton’s entire campaign revolves around the privatisation of NASA, which proves to be an extremely effective move, until a groundbreaking discovery of extraterrestrial life turns the tables on the Senator. Suddenly, his campaign is shrouded in bribes from private space companies and allegations of an affair with his assistant, Gabrielle Ashe.

His daughter, Rachel Sexton, from a top-secret intelligence body, is dispatched to the North Pole to check the authenticity of the discovery, which she personally endorses. Later on, however, evidence emerges that the discovery may in fact be a hoax by NASA, authorised and planned at the highest levels. Pursued by an assassination team from the Delta Force and defectors from her own organisation, Rachel uses her intelligence expertise to attempt to rendezvous with the President and reveal her discovery. Betrayed by her own father, who tries to use her information for political gain, her quest makes for an exciting plot of adventure and secrecy.

After reading ‘The Da Vinci Code’, I felt that Dan Brown’s writing left much to be desired. However, when one strays away from the novels starring Robert Langdon and religious conspiracy, one finds a much better read. This novel is interesting and engaging, making for a much better read than some of the author’s other works.

How very exciting, news of the final book in the Keys of the Kingdom series by Aussie author Garth Nix has just popped into my email inbox.  Lord Sunday is due for release early 2010 and publisher Allen and Unwin are running a poster design competition.  Check out all the details here.

 The Sorrow Of War, an excellent novel written by Bao Ninh, gives the reader a different point of view of the Vietnam War. For years we have constantly heard of the pain that the Australian and American soldiers suffered during the terrible war. This book is a first person account of the Vietnam War, by a Vietnamese veteran. It is unique, and the first of its kind. It educates the reader, and gives them a significantly wider view on things. Prejudice rarely survives experience, and this book is an experience in itself. The entire book is told through the eyes of Kiev, just an average soldier, who slowly works his way up the ranks. This book has tales of fear, heroism, happiness and hope, from moments of a soldier breaking down in his own pool of tears, to a soldier calmly walking into open fire, and one by one picking off the enemy soldiers. It is beautifully written with vivid images that come to mind. I highly recommend this book.

“Mistik Lake”
By Martha Brooks
Mistik Lake is an unforgettable novel about “‘trusting your heart, and about the lies, bad choices and secret suffering that haunts those who don’t”.

Mistik Lake is a story about a young teenage girl, Odella McQueen and her struggle in life. After her mother leaves her family for another man, Odella is left to hold the fragile family together. Not long after Odella is presented with the news of her mother’s passing while being haunted by past family secrets that she is yet to discover; only knowing that her mother was the only survivor of a car crash on Mistik Lake many years earlier. Odella meets and instantly falls in love with Jimmy Tomasson, the boy of her dreams, literally. This is the beginning of the unravelling of her families haunted past.
To find out more about Martha Brooks and all her work, visit:
http://www.mbwriter.mb.ca/mapindex/b_profiles/brooks_m.html