Fraser High School

58,252 pages read and 5,489 team points

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WrenB

12,159 pts

(10,748 pages read)

The Life Impossible

By Matt Haig

3 stars

3.5 stars. The audiobook being narrated by Joanna Lumley helps! Not as good as The Midnight Library, but enjoyable. I can see it being made into a movie or limited series.
The Bees

By Laline Paull

4 stars

Fascinating social commentary, told through the not-so-hive-mind of Flora 717, a sanitary worker bee with unusual abilities and analytical skills.
Sociopath: A Memoir

By Patric Gagne

3 stars

There seems to be some dispute over the author's credentials, and the validity of her diagnosis of sociopathy, but it's an interesting listen regardless.
The Knife of Never Letting Go

By Patrick Ness

4 stars

Really interesting dystopia with a distinctive narrative voice and premise. Not happy about ONE THING that I won't say because no spoilers.
The Winds from Further West

By Alexander McCall Smith

2 stars

I was expecting to love this, but it was just kind of boring. Also, the blurb on all the book sites is weird. It gives away almost the entire plot, and gets a character's name wrong.
Scythe

By Neal Shusterman

5 stars

Neal Shusterman always hits it out of the park with really interesting dystopias, and this was no exception. Would LOVE to teach this, but it's a bit long. Might use an extract though. It would go well with the short story "The Date" by Connie Chang, or with "They both die at the end".
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

By Benjamin Alire Sáenz

3 stars

I wanted to love this book, and the characters were interesting, but I found it a struggle to motivate myself to keep reading at times. A lot of the dialogue was repeated, e.g. "We're going to the hospital." "The hospital?" - this happened LOTS of times. Also, the characters say each other's names waaaaay too often and it got annoying.
One Foot Wrong

By Sofie Laguna

2 stars

Really interesting unreliable narrator, but very bleak. It felt like a bit much by the end, although there was a glimmer of hope to finish with.
The God Boy

By Ian Cross

2 stars

I know it's a New Zealand classic, but I was reading it to see if it might be one I want to teach, and that's a hard no. The narrative voice was a bit muddled, and wouldn't resonate well with today's teenagers. I struggled through this one.
Legends and Lattes

By Travis Baldree

4 stars

A queer-affirming cosy fantasy. A little light on plot but makes up for it in heart.
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

By Anna Johnston

4 stars

A great Aussie romp with a fabulous elderly male protagonist.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold

By Toshikazu Kawaguchi

3 stars

I know it's a cult classic, but I didn't love it. The narrative style was quite stilted, and some of the character development was shallow. Cool concept though.
Boy Meets Boy

By David Levithan

3 stars

I can see how it would have been a positive, hopeful book at the time it was published, when not much YA gay fiction existed, but it's a bit OTT nowadays.
The Fowl Twins

By Eoin Colfer

3 stars

Not as good as Artemis Fowl, but very readable.
Ultra-Processed People

By Chris van Tulleken

5 stars

Fascinating insights into the manufacture, regulation (or lack of) and problems with consumption of Ultra-processed food (UFP). I’m making some big changes to my diet as a result of this book and the research it discusses.
The Silence of the Girls

By Pat Barker

0 stars
The Grimmelings

By Rachael King

5 stars

A beautiful blend of Scottish mythology and New Zealand landscape. Ella and Fiona are great characters, and although it got a little dark for its intended readership at times, kids will be happy with the resolution.
All this time

By Mikki Daughtry

1 stars

If you thought “they woke up and it was a dream” was a bad ending, this book manages to make it worse. A lot worse.
Nine Girls

By Stacy Gregg

5 stars

What a fantastic novel! Relatable and easy to read, it follows young protagonist Titch through her teens in the late 70s/early 80s. It touches on cultural identity, racism, tikanga, NZ history including the Waikato Wars and Te Tiriti, the Springbok tour - all set against the background of the mighty Waikato river (he piko, he taniwha). Titch occasionally felt younger than her years but not jarringly so, and her sister Bub seemed to disappear from the story for large chunks, but overall I thought this was an important novel and likely to be taught in schools for many reasons. The inclusion of Paneiraira, the tuna/taniwha, was a great way to include information about Te Ao Māori and history without feeling too expositiony.
Mission Girl

By Fleur Beale

3 stars

I love Fleur Beale but found it hard to connect with this book and with the main character, Atapō. Not one I’ll be suggesting to purchase as a class set.
Bury Your Gays

By Chuck Tingle

4 stars

When semi-closeted Hollywood horror screenwriter Mischa is instructed to kill off or straighten out his queer protagonists, he thinks the only thing he’ll lose by refusing is his job. But it seems there’s something much more sinister afoot, as his on-screen monsters start to come to life…
Such Charming Liars

By Karen M McManus

3 stars

Lots of interesting twists and turns, as you'd expect from a McManus thriller, but it was a little less believable than her previous books. I enjoyed the characters and character development but I felt like at least one character broke with their personality to do a villain confession at the end.
The Wolf Den

By Elodie Harper

5 stars

The story starts in 74AD, in the Lupinar of Pompeii. Amara, the protagonist, grew up in relative wealth and freedom but was sold into slavery after her father’s death. She uses her considerable intelligence and cunning in a desperate bid to escape her life as a slave/prostitute in The Wolf Den. I teach Classics as well as English, including a unit on the destruction of Pompeii, so this was fascinating on several levels. It’s also a brutal and unflinching look at life for women in Ancient Rome.
Delilah Green Doesn't Care

By Ashley Herring Blake

4 stars

It’s a good example of the genre (queer rom-com): light, predictable and easy to read, but not one of the annoying ones where the central conflict could have been resolved in 5 minutes if the characters had just talked! Not my usual genre but a good range of queer representation without feeling tokenistic, and nice brain candy.
The Boy in the Black Suit

By Jason Reynolds

4 stars

A gentle, heartwarming book about a teenager finding his way after the death of his mother.
Someone Like Me

By M. R. Carey

5 stars

It's hard to talk about or describe this book without giving too much away! If you like magic realism with a thread of non-gory horror, you'll love this book.
Cassandra in Reverse

By Holly Smale

5 stars

A great portrayal of a neurodivergent experience, mixed in with some time travel and family drama. An easy read with some big issues to think about.
North South

By Glenn Colquhoun

4 stars

With teaching English and Classics this year, this was right in my wheelhouse. I wish I'd read the explanatory notes before the poems, because it definitely helped to have some more information and context about both mythologies while reading. I was hoping to use this as a resource, but it's got a few NSFS sections.
Return to Sender

By Lauren Draper

3 stars

A well- written coming of age story, it felt like this novel suffered from trying to be too many things at once. The gentle romance was dragged out for too long, while the mystery of the “dead letters” disappeared from the narrative for long periods only to be wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. It would be a good “free reading” book for the classroom though, as I think a lot of students would relate to one or more of the characters, their decisions and conflicts.
Gentleman Jack: A biogaphy of Anne Lister

By Angela Steidele

2 stars

The writing style was quite tedious (felt like a list of events without any narrative) and Anne Lister is incredibly unlikeable!
Klara and the Sun

By Kazuo Ishiguro

5 stars

Like all Ishiguro books, the simplistic narrative style belies the complex issues and themes of this book. I enjoyed it and will be thinking about it for a long time, but didn’t find it an easy read. Klara is a really interesting character, and I liked the way that the world itself is not explained in any detail, leaving the reader to deduce what’s going on.
The Axeman's Carnival

By Catherine Chidgey

5 stars

Beautiful book.
Toffee

By Sarah Crossan

5 stars

This novel in verse tells the story of Allison, a teenager who flees her abusive father. When she ends up friendless and alone in Cornwall, her unlikely saviour is an elderly woman with dementia, who thinks Allison is her childhood friend, Toffee.
Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America

By Talia Lavin

5 stars

Both scary and revelaing, this book tells the story of the rise to power of Christian nationalists in the USA, from the witch trials to the 'satanic panic' to politics today.

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Fraser High School

58,252 pages read and 5,489 team points

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