St Dominic's Catholic College (Henderson)

122,078 pages read and 5,256 team points

Team members

Sienna

4,157 pts

(3,393 pages read)

The Whale Rider

By Witi Ihimaera

5 stars

Before reading this I had only watched the film but the book has a lot more in it and it was like reading a whole new story.
Dawn Raid

By Pauline Vaeluaga Smith

4 stars

I read this as one of the options to teach for English. At first I wasn’t too sure about it, the writing style is at times inconsistent. But as the story developed it covered a variety of aspects to do with the dawn raids including individual and differing character perspectives and the biased media coverage which is really useful material to generate discussions as there is not many sources easily accessible online.
Martyr!

By Kaveh Akbar

4 stars

This was about a young man who was born in Iran and moved to America when he was young and his struggles with loss and identity. I think the story has some powerful ideas but they weren’t always established and developed properly and at some points the plot became a little far fetched and required more explanation.
Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea

By T.K. Roxborogh

3 stars

I read this as another possible book to teach in English. It has a lot of talking points but a focus on the environment and kaitiakitanga which is a very prevalent topic to teach currently. I think it could also be a good recommendation for a social studies course.
Dear Dolly

By Dolly Alderton

3 stars

I don’t often ready books that aren’t fiction but Alderton’s writing is often very easy going and story like. This was a collection of her letters and answers from her newspaper column and it was interesting to see what people write into her about and how she responds to them.
Mahtab’s Story

By Libby Gleeson

4 stars

I read this as a possible book to teach for English. It had a very powerful storyline about a family’s journey fleeing from Afghanistan to Australia which is a really important story to teach and is coveted in a very accessible way for younger readers. I think it could help students understand the reality of the situation and create more empathy, shedding more light on what we see in the news. It could also be a good recommendation to compliment a social studies course.
Holes

By Louis Sachar

4 stars

I read this a possible book to teach in English this year and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I liked the element of mystery and there are lots of possible talking points.
The Priory of the Orange Tree

By Samantha Shannon

5 stars

I think it’s hard to find a good fantasy book for adults but I really enjoyed this! It was refreshing to read about a world where women held the stereotypically male roles naturally rather than having a one off strong female lead. It was also interesting to explore the authors own inventions in her fantasy world that I hadn’t heard of elsewhere.
Yellowface

By R.F. Kuang

5 stars

I read Babel earlier this year and loved it! Yellowface is set in a very different context in the modern world but covers similar and very topical themes of culture, race, and loneliness. Very thought provoking and gripping!
Under the Mountain

By Maurice Gee

2 stars

A student in my whanau class gave me this for Christmas! Whilst I found it oversimplified I can see the appeal as a children’s book and it was cool to read something set in Auckland with familiar locations!
Intermezzo

By Sally Rooney

4 stars

I found it harder to get into this one in comparison to her other books. Part of it was written more as a train of thought; it reminded me a bit of Ali Smith’s How to be Both. Whilst it required more concentration it is amazing to see Rooney’s writing continue to evolve. Overall, a very emotional and powerful story!

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St Dominic's Catholic College (Henderson)

122,078 pages read and 5,256 team points

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