Seatoun School

Top 10 team members

Team members

Wendy B

10,888 pts

(9,234 pages read)

Check and mate

By Ali Hazelwood

4 stars

A fun YA version of her other smart women books, this time based around chess-playing Mallory who has a family to support, friends to maintain and a growing attraction to a rival player to make sense of. 14+
This is how you lose the time war

By Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

5 stars

I’m a reasonably new entrant to this kind of time tripping sci-fi and this is one is death and destruction but also beauty and creation and love. Two opposing agents start to correspond, leaving hidden notes across time and their admiration grows to the point of forbidden love, desperation to declare themselves to each other but evade being spotted and labelled as spies. Glorious.
Malamander

By Thomas Taylor

4 stars

A great fantasy seaside adventure with more than one creepy sea monster on the loose. Would make a fun read aloud for a 5/6 class. We are left with some pieces of the puzzle still to place and a mystery solving team to make a cool new series.
Tiger Eyes

By Judy Blume

3 stars

A trip down memory lane, this was a firm favourite of mine in my early teens. Judy Blume’s books are still popular with intermediate girls and now I’ve read it again I think this one fits fine with that group. Has a summer feel about it, set in Los Alamos where the Oppenheimer film is set, I remember being intrigued by her uncle working at the lab.
Love that dog

By Sharon Creech

4 stars

Sweet little novel in verse about a boy being asked to write poetry by his teacher and slowly starting to love it, understanding that anyone can be a poet.
The mountains sing

By Nguyen Phan Que Mai

4 stars

Rich in culture and love, this tells the story of a family of several generations of women in Vietnam in the last century. At times challenging and harrowing, the writing is beautiful and this was one to savour.
The Midnight Library

By Matt Haig

4 stars

Thought provoking, I love the fantastical ideas of time travel and parallel universes that he brings to adult situations. It’s not hard to imagine looking back and wondering what you would have made of your life if you’d made different choices of education, career or partner. Being able to sample them may be all it takes to appreciate with gratitude the life you actually chose to lead.
The Seasonwife

By Saige England

5 stars

Wow, a really beautifully written but dark and at times hard to read account of early encounters between Māori and colonial whalers who prize unthinkable artefacts as a side business. Gives a whole new perspective, a book which everyone should read.
Miles Morales Suspended

By Jason Reynolds

3 stars

I like Jason Reynolds as a YA author and his track series are a great go-to, but I found this one a bit lacking. I expected some great action from this new Spider-Man but it was too near the end and too short lived. I’m not sure it would do well with young readers other than really determined ones.
The Love Hypothesis

By Ali Hazelwood

3 stars

More of the same from Ali Hazelwood, although this was her first. Fun romance fiction with clever women and nice guys in STEM.
The summer I turned pretty

By Jenny Han

2 stars

Low plot teen summer romance my year 8 girls enjoyed this year. Nothing unsuitable for intermediates, not my favourite but they like it so there you go.
Love on the brain

By Ali Hazelwood

4 stars

Good fun romance about smart women in STEM
Night Flights

By Philip Reeve

4 stars

Nice return to the Mortal Engines world with a bit of Anna Fang lore. 3 short stories.
Divine Rivals

By Rebecca Ross

4 stars

This won the Goodreads YA Fantasy book of the year and I really enjoyed all of the elements of this, the fantasy/mythology-based war with its bomb dropping eithrals and prowling hounds, the love story, the journalist angle and the trenches and warfare. Looking forward to the conclusion. Not for primary school.
Maybe Someday

By Colleen Hoover

3 stars
The Screaming Staircase

By Jonathan Stroud

5 stars

Brilliant series for 10+, Lockwood & Co and one of the ghost hunting organisations run by young people that hunt down and neutralise supernatural forces. More than one mystery to solve along the way, this is a great series to recommend for year 6 + who like a mystery, action and plenty of horror thrown in for good measure.
Heartstopper Volume 5

By Alice Oseman

5 stars

This graphic novel series always sits on the edge of suitability for intermediates, but these characters role model healthy relationships and conversations about sex and next steps that they really are important books to have. And they are so popular that they are read online and bought and borrowed from everywhere anyway, might as well be from the school library.
The most likely club

By Elyssa Friedland

3 stars
Kiki’s Delivery Service

By Eiko Kadono

3 stars

Sweet little book that reminded me of The Faraway Tree with its quirky characters. Perfect for Isadora Moon and Rainbow Fairy graduates.
Sisters under the Rising Sun

By Heather Morris

4 stars

Some really heroic characters to get to know in this account of brave women who in WW2 survived the sinking of their ship fleeing Singapore, only to be taken captive by the Japanese and held for over 3 years in various camps across Indonesia. Possibly a bit harrowing for a Christmas read but entertaining nonetheless.
Beyond the frozen horizon

By Nicola Penfold

3 stars

Danger and adventure in the Arctic. Rory accompanies her geologist mum whose report will give a new mine the green light, only the locals left behind after the last mine closed are deeply distrusting of the operation. The village feels cold and exposed and Rory finds herself torn.
Mercy Falls

By William Kent Krueger

3 stars

The 5th book in this crime/thriller series. I still love the setting, I just didn’t found some of the behaviours and decisions a bit convenient and uncharacteristic to suit the plot line. I’ll try one more.
My own lightning

By Lauren Wolk

5 stars

The sequel to another beautiful book, Wolf Hollow, Annabelle is struck by lightning as she tries to beat the storm home, and from then on has an acute sense of empathy for the animals around her. A strange set of coincidences of dogs going missing in the area leads her to meet some intriguing people and trouble she couldn’t have expected. Not really relatable for our NZ kids but dog lovers will enjoy it. Little House on the Prairie with a bit more edge.
Greta & Valdin

By Rebecca K Reilly

5 stars

OCD Valdin can’t believe that anyone can love him and his ex moving to Argentina doesn’t change that. Greta has feelings for her supervising tutor which she knows isn’t helpful and goes looking for alternatives. A lot of family love and loneliness and complicated relationships. Siblings, multicultural minorities in New Zealand.
The Shepherd’s Crown

By Terry Pratchett

5 stars

My favourite series of all time, the audio book is a wonderful way to pass a car journey. Terry Pratchett at his very best and, sadly, his last novel.
The Book Of Fame

By Lloyd Jones

4 stars

One for the rugby fanatics, this is a fictionalised account of The Originals All Blacks tour of the UK, France and America in 1905. Easy to read, poetic and full of detail, quite moving by the end.
Finding my voice

By Aoife Dooley

4 stars

Cute little graphic novel featuring diverse representation of disability, autism, people of colour. Battle of the bands, bullying, being yourself.
Blood Hollow

By William Kent Krueger

4 stars

Excellent crime/murder series set in the snowy, picturesque north with ex sheriff Cork O’Connor.
Mister Pip

By Lloyd Jones

4 stars

Historical fiction, the narrative of a very likeable teenage girl on the PNG island of Bougainville during the civil war of the 1980s. The sole white man in the community reopens the school and uses Dickens Great Expectations to bring the young people together and motivate them to stay positive. This becomes the epicentre of fairly dramatic events to follow. Not a primary school read! This is for adults or high school.
Witches Abroad

By Terry Pratchett

4 stars

Laugh out loud funny, this is part of the Discworld series, of which the witches sub series is my favourite. Recommended in audio book for the daily commute, much better for the soul than the news and adverts.
Skinny Dip poetry

By Susan Paris and Kate de Goldi

5 stars

How glad I am that this book was on the list for the reading challenge. A wonderful collection of poetry from local authors. I especially loved the section at the end where we learn about the different formal types of poems and then a short bio of each poet and a bit about the form of poem they were commissioned to write. A must for every school and I’d love to see a set of these in intermediate classrooms.
Odd Wolf Out

By Juliette MacIver

4 stars

Year 3/4 plus love a pack animal perspective book and I think our Wings of Fire and Warrior Cats readers will pick this up and give it a go. Love the cover art.

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