Season’s Greetings from the Library

Our Library team, Angus Pearson, Katie Albrecht and I, would like to warmly wish all our students, parents and staff a safe and joy-filled Christmas and Holiday season; may it be filled with delicious literary delights! We look forward to engaging in reading, learning and stimulating conversations again with the school community in 2025.

Library ‘End of Year’ Borrowing

As we wind down our very busy library for 2024, we have some very timely reminders for students to return, re-borrow or borrow their books for the holidays. We very generously allow an (almost) unlimited amount of books to read and borrowing times are now extended to the first week back of 2025.

As exams have now concluded, all students, especially our out-going Year 12’s also need to return all library books and resources.

Reflections on Reading

As a lead into choosing their summer reading, the Reading Connections students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have been busy this term reflecting on what they have been reading in 2024 by writing book reviews. As an incentive, some of the most insightful reviews received book vouchers and some are showcased here. All the reviews written are indicative of the depth and breadth of literature that our students are engaging in.

Reasons to write a book review:

• To leave a legacy of a review for other students to consider when borrowing
• To help build a database of reviews that all readers will benefit from
• To reflect on the aspects of the book you liked and didn’t like
• To contemplate the importance of what the author brings to the reader
• To grow as a reader and a writer

Below are some examples of book reviews from each year level.

Geek Girl: Model Misfit by Holly Smale

The main genre of this book is romance, however it is also a bit of a comedy because there are quite a few scenes that are funny and meant to make you laugh. The main protagonists are Harriet, Nat, Toby, Nick and Wilbur, whilst the main antagonist is Poppy. I think that the author’s intention for the reader was to create a book that inspired people to be themselves and not make judgements without knowing the full story because in the book it is quite clear that Harriett misjudges a lot of situations. The ideas and themes that the author is presenting to the reader are self-love, friendship and belief. I enjoyed the story because it helped me understand that everyone is perfect the way that they are and if people want you to change for them then you deserve better. The message of this book is that you should always be yourself, no matter who wants you to change or what people tell you, all that matters is that ‘you be you’.

 (Review by Milla Youngs, Year 7)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights is a masterpiece, with the most monstrous characters known to mankind.

It is a gothic romance, set in Yorkshire, England in the 1800s – the story focuses on the love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff; how their seemingly innocent feelings end up spiralling through a one-way tunnel in revenge, pain and grief. Wuthering Heights is told through the perspective of a servant and a landlord, so we are able to see the absurdity of the actions through a mind that is not clouded with hatred. It goes through two generations of spiteful characters, all of them linked together through the two estates – Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

The story delves into the very essence of human nature, and the extent they would go for what they want. This is portrayed so terribly, yet so realistically in this book. The amount of emotions poured into this is incomprehensible! Each character is crafted with so much soul, and they all suffer greatly – all because of the love between Catherine and Heathcliff. Reading this book let me feel everything with a passion that I never imagined feeling for characters who do not exist.

You may enjoy this book if you are looking for family drama taken to the absolute extreme, beautiful writing, the dark side of love, and a dark haunting tone. I began reading it because those themes and ideas appealed to me, and it has ended up as my absolute favourite book. I wholeheartedly recommend you give this classic a read.

(Review by Namie Padasas, Year 8)

Winning Review

Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger

This book is written from the perspective of a 16 year old boy, Holden Caufield, who had just been expelled from his fourth school. He was unsure of what to do or where to go and lost his sense of self in New York city in the 1950s.

The main reason I enjoyed this book is because I felt that Holden was a fairly misunderstood character as most of the people who recommended this book to me said that they disliked his character and that he was too self-involved and extremely judgmental. People often have negative feelings towards him due to certain traits of his and how he thinks about those surrounding him. Catcher in the Rye was written as if the readers are inside Holden’s head which means that the book includes all of the intricate and critical thoughts in his head.

I enjoyed that Holden was not a perfect character and had his own flaws and that he could recognise that he had these flaws. In fact, he could recognise everyone’s flaws. He thought very deeply about those around him and paid close attention to them, observing their qualities whether they were negative or positive. At one point in the book, all he could think about were negative things; about himself, about places, people, objects etc. Everything around him was negative. He soon realised this and tried to change for the better.

I feel that people who read this book fail to recognise the character development that occurred during the last few chapters of the book and purely judged Holden on the way he behaved when he first arrived in New York. He had already been through so much and didn’t want to go home yet, so he tried to make the most of living in the New York before he was due home after being expelled. The main reason I liked this book was due to Holden’s constant changing of his view on society which I felt that I somewhat related to.

(Review by Matilda Irvine, Year 9)

Joyce Sendeckyj

Head of Library and Information Services