Leaving Poppy is a chilling gothic tale about a young woman called Amber. Amber has runaway from her life, which is constantly over-shadowed by her younger sister Poppy. She heads to a small coastal town and rents a room in a student house, but, despite the warm welcomes that await her from her housemates, a sinister feeling haunts her bedroom. Is it her imagination, or is there a hidden evil in the attic?
Leaving Poppy. Review by Emma 8RB
Posted by: year8librarian | June 6, 2008 | No Comment |Clarice Bean Books by Amber V 7S
Posted by: dggsreader | June 6, 2008 | No Comment |Leaving Poppy by Kate Cann. Review by Charlotte 8RB
Posted by: year8librarian | June 6, 2008 | No Comment |“Then she was awake, fully awake. She heard a key turn in the lock, so close it had to be her door, even though her key was on the inside. Silence, then someone muttering it’s your fault, your fault… and then, directly above her head , there was a noise, rhythmic, repetitive, wood on wood. The rocking chair.”
Amber has forever lived in the shadow of her younger step-sister, Poppy, who has always needed their mother’s undivided attention and dragged her down time and time again with her demanding character. Amber, desperate to break free from the clutches of her unbearable step-sister, finds herself a place in a student house in Cornwall. However, when Amber arrives at 17 Merrel Road things are not quite as she expects them to be. The ancient house with its decrepit Victorian features has an eerie, uninviting feel to it.
Amber suddenly falls ill with tonsillitis and her over-anxious mother and step-sister journey to Cornwall to take care of her. Her mother’s relentless whinging about Poppy’s volatile behaviour forces Amber to agree to let her stay on with her. Poppy agrees to behave and at first she does. Nonetheless, Poppy fails to maintain her promise and after a week of lodging in the mysterious, phantasmic attic, she transforms and becomes possessed by a crippled, corrupt, controlling ghost… Ivy Skinner!
What follows is truly unpredicatble…
The author skilfully crafts the image of each of her characters. Possibly the most unusual and compelling is Poppy and even though she is not the main character, she repeatedly demands the reader’s attention too. Her mysterious hold over those around her has an almost supernatural power. Nevertheless, many of her characteristics can be recognised and help to engage the reader further.
This book is a gripping and thrilling teen read. The spine-chilling moments in the book are perfectly balanced by the witty and humorous, making it an enjoyable and engrossing story. Kate Cann grabs the reader’s attention through her use of cliff-hangers. Time and again, just as one mystery has been resolved, the story builds to the next moment of suspense, drawing us to read on. Perhaps the real power of the story lies in the twisted, unpredictable storyline. The unusual yet imaginative plot is coupled with a rich vocabulary to build the atmosphere of tension in which the story unfolds.
‘Leaving Poppy’ is definitely an essential read.
Love Lessons by Jaqueline Wilson. Book Review by Charlotte 7M
Posted by: dggsreader | May 19, 2008 | 1 Comment |Life is boring for Prudence King, she doesn’t go to school, she has no freedom whatsoever, and she has to wear home-made clothes made from disgusting things like carbets and curtains.
However, when the man comes to the door demanding the girls get an education and Prue’s dad lets her get a maths tutor, to Prue it’s the perfect chance to go shopping. First she bought all of the art things she could, a giant chocolate bunny for Grace (her younger sister) and then she buys herself a lacy set of underwear. However, Prue’s dad soon finds out and demands to know what Prue spent the money on. However, as Prue throws the underwear at him in a rage, his head hits the table and he is unconcious. They called an ambulance and soon found out that he has had a stroke.
Life is spiralling downwards for Prue – however, her mother then decides that they must go to school. Dreaming up an all girls school round the corner of the house. Never the less, Prue and Grace have to go to Wentworth, the rough school around the block. They can not afford the uniform so they have to go in their ridiculous dresses.
However things go worse for Prue. She has never talked to a girl her age so she puts on her treasured underwear for good luck. Unfortunately P.E is the first lesson, and she has to get changed in front of ALL the other girls. The whole day spirals even further down as she under stands nothing and nobody likes her. The other days are just as bad for her except now she has to visit her dad in hospital everyday too.
Her days, however, are soon brightened up by art and the gorgeous art teacher Rax (or Mr Raxberry). After a few weeks, Rax asks Prue to babysit. And Prue begins to fall in love with Rax. Will they be found out? Does he feel the same way about her?
Find out by reading the book!
Buried alive By Jacquline Wilson. Review by Deborah 7M
Posted by: dggsreader | May 12, 2008 | 3 Comments |Buried alive by jaquline wilson is an sequel to cliffhanger.
Biscuits and Tim and kelly are back and on hoilday in wales (Llanpistyll).But trouble is around every corner on hoilday they meet a naughty bully (picklehead) and his side kick (pinch face).Can they handle this bully? What will happen to Biscuit Boy and Super Tim?!?Can Tim escape before its too late?!?Only way to find is to read this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Answers to Mia’s Riddles 7G
Posted by: dggsreader | May 6, 2008 | 1 Comment |1. The man had hiccups!
2. You break the stick in half, two halves make a hole, you walk through the hole!
3. The ice-cubes were poisoned, so the man who drank it fast, his ice-cubes didn’t melt, but the man who drank it slowly, the poisoned ice-cubes did melt, and went into his drink!
Mia’s Riddles 7G
Posted by: dggsreader | April 28, 2008 | 4 Comments |
1. A man walks into a bar and asks the bar-man for a glass of water, but the bar-man quickly pulls out a gun, the man says thanks and walk out of the bar. Why did the bar-man take out a gun?
2. You are in a small metal box and there is absolutely no way to get out, all that is in the box is you and a stick, how do you get out?
3. There are two men and they live next door to each other, they both do everything at the same time as each other, they go to the same work at the same time, and they go to the pub at the same time, in the pub they both ask for a glass of water with ice-cubes. One of the men drinks it fast, the other drinks it slowly. The man that drunk it slowly dies. Why did he die?
Say Cheese and Die – Again by R.L Stine. Review by Unknown from 8C??
Posted by: dggsreader | April 24, 2008 | 1 Comment |The book I read, say cheese and die again by R.L Stine, is about a boy named Greg who has to try and convince his English teacher that his essay about him finding an evil camera is true after being given an F. In between trying to prove the camera is real some accidental events happen which cause the wait for Greg’s final grade A is delayed a while longer. When Greg finally gets the chance to prove that the camera he found with his friends Michael, Doug and Shari over the summer holidays is his teacher decides to not listen to Greg snatch the camera of him and take a photo of the whole class. Leading to a very sticky ending…
The reason the camera is called evil by Greg and his friends is because when ever a photo is taken is shows a horrible scene of the person who had their photo taken. For example, when Greg met a boy is his messy front garden. The photo is accidentally taken of the boy and shows the boy holding his foot in pain with an enormous nail through it. A few minutes later after the photo as been taken the scene actually happened.
My overall view of this book is that it is extremely interesting in many places and keeps you waiting/ guessing in parts. I enjoyed this book a lot. The vocabulary vas very wide and had some descriptive metaphors and similes throughout the book. I would recommend this book to 13 year olds to 16 year olds. I suggest this book to this group of people because of some of the very descriptive parts of horror and gore in it.
Joshila’s Voki
Posted by: yearsevenlibrarians | April 23, 2008 | No Comment |http://vhss-a.oddcast.com/vhss_editors/voki_player.swf?doc=http%3A%2F%2Fvhss-d.oddcast.com%2Fphp%2Fvhss_editors%2Fgetvoki%2Fchsm%3D3d2a0ca9835b2546c0526ab36517f5c7%26sc%3D411142
Hello my name is Joshila. I am one of the new Student Librarians. Today was my first day. I made this Voki.



