In preparation for the first Carnegie Shadowing book club for our year sevens that is being held today (excitement!) I wanted to read at least one of the books on the shortlist, so I could post a review both on here and on our book club website, to give the pupils an idea of what sort of things they can talk about in a review. See my previous post about Carnegie Shadowing here if you're not sure what it is.
The shortlist for the Carnegie medal 2014 runs as such...
All the truth that's in me By Julie Berry (14+)
The Bunker Diary By Kevin Brooks (14+)
The Child's Elephant By Rachel Campbell-Johnson (11+)
Ghost Hawk By Susan Cooper (11+)
Blood Family By Anne Fine (14+)
Rooftoppers By Katherine Rundell (11+)
Liar and Spy By Rebecca Stead (9+)
The Wall By William Sutcliffe (11+)
There's a really annoying theme of violence and destruction and downright misery running through a lot of these books. It's going to make our book club, whose members are all 11/12, somewhat difficult. CHILDREN'S AWARD PEOPLE. Not YA. Children's. It would be great to see more 9+ and 11+ really. Anyway, enough of my annoyance in regards to the selection. What did I think of Ghost Hawk?
Despite Susan Copper being around for like...ever. (She's 78!) I've never read any of her books. If Ghost Hawk is representative of the rest, I'll be sure to read more in the future! The book is divided into four parts, and although sometimes the book skips ahead in time between parts, we always have the same narrator, which ensures it's easy to follow. For the first 130 pages or so, it's a really good story but I was wondering whether anything dramatic would happen, as nothing major had really surprised me yet. Then something major does happen and it's a real shock! It's like Cooper is taking you for a little mountain stroll, where you quietly observe everything, and wonder at the view and then, when you're looking the other way, she pushes you off the edge. I was really shocked, and that's what got me hooked until the end. I really wanted to know the outcome.
If you liked the story of Pocahontas, or are interested in Native Americans, it's a great book for you. We follow the story of eleven year old Little Hawk as he's sent into the woods for three months, alone, to earn his right to be a man. While he's gone, English settlers have begun to land on the shores of America, and it has devastating consequences, which he learns on his return. His fate is later joined by that of English boy John, and their lives and story are entwined throughout the rest of the novel. It's a great story about injustice, and about the dangers arrogance and pride can bring to people. It shows both the idiocy and merits of religion and what friendship, honesty and being 'good' means. There's a neat little 'afterwards' section, in which Cooper runs through the real history of the English landing on America's shores, so you can see where she's fictionalized real events and where she's just made up parts for the story.
Overall I rated this 4/5. A great story, easy to follow and read, with some gorgeous writing. I may have snipped the story down a little in places, but overall I enjoyed reading this book. Can't wait to try the others!
Over and Out.
No comments:
Post a Comment