ReadOn Book Review by Mrs Camilleri:

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin, is about a teenage girl named Naomi who falls down the stairs at school – hits her head and is taken to hospital.  In recovery it is realised by doctors and herself that she has lost three and a half years of her memories.

During her recovery process Naomi gets back to school and friends and family but she realises that she isn’t really happy being the person she was before – that’s when things start to change in her life.

I think this young girl has gone from being the most popular girl to being herself.

 

One of my favourite quotes from this book is “Hi, I’m an amnesiac. Have we ever met before?”

I rate this book 5 out of 5 ReadOn stars.

I recommend this book to Year 8 and above.

ReadOn Book Review by Tessie N:

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares revolves around a red Moleskine notebook left on the shelf of a bookstore by a girl waiting for the right guy to accept her challenges. Inside the book are dares, dreams and desires that are passed back and forth across different locations in New York City. Via the notebook, the two characters: Dash and Lily, get to know each other as they navigate the festivities of the Christmas season, fulfilling the instructions of the other person. Written in alternate chapters, David Levithan wrote Dash’s chapters and Rachel Cohn wrote Lily’s; their playful banter and amusing escapades make it an enjoyable and lively read about two people who connected on paper.

If you like books that are witty, amusing, romantic, and slightly daring, then you will enjoy this book.

If you liked Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by the same authors or Joel and Cat set the story straight by Nick Earls and Rebecca Sparrow then you might like this book too.

One of my favourite quotes from this book: “Because sometimes I feel drunk on positivity. Sometimes I feel amazement at the tangle of words and lives, and I want to be part of that tangle.”

I rate this book 4/5 ReadOn Stars.

I recommend this book to students 12+.

ReadOn Book Review by Kimberley S:

Fixing Delilah, by Sarah Ockler, is about a teenage girl named Delilah Hannaford who after her grandmother’s death, moves back for the summer to fix up all the loose ends. She leaves with her mum, who is a workaholic and has no time for Delilah and meets her aunt, who is a chef and a vegetarian. On her first day she meets an old childhood, Patrick, who plays music and helps his dad in the summer fix houses. There she re-meets everyone in a town she has not seen in over 8 years, deals with her grandmother’s death and finds out secrets about an aunt that died before she was born.

In this story I found all the characters interesting. They all added to the story in one way or another and gave tragedy and humour to it all. I found that the main character Delilah, very easy to relate to with her situation. I felt she along with another character needed to see in hindsight the big picture quicker than they did, but then the book would have been shorter. I found that I somewhat could predict the ending of the story, just small facts were wrong and one surprise I would have never guessed. The character, Patrick, was written in a fun way and makes the whole book much more enjoyable whenever he was in it. He was written with the problems a late high school early university student would face with his parents. The Hannaford family were written with many secrets which kept you guessing to find out if your theory was true or not. I found in total all the characters where fantastic and each covered a different problem which happens in our normal society.

If you like books that are humorous with some tragedy, then this is your book. This book is realistic, gets into the story almost straight away, and good quotes can be found through it all to keep you enjoying it. It had romance, ill-logical characters, smart wording and family fun and hate, if you enjoy these things then you will enjoy this book.

If you liked Beautiful Malice then you might like this book too.

One of my favourite quotes from this book is ‘If my words where feet, I would have tripped over them and broken both my legs.’ Delilah.

I rate this book 4/5 ReadOn Stars.

I recommend this book to teens/young adults.

Reviewed by:Kimberley S.

READON BOOK REVIEW by Sarah R:

Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight by Nick Earls and Rebecca Sparrow is about two teens (Cat and Joel) who are told to write a tandem story for their year 12 extension English class. Cat and Joel don’t get along at all but are forced to work together when their worlds collide, doing whatever it takes to keep their parents away from each other and to set the story straight.

If you like books that are: cleverly written, hilariously funny and just amazing you’ll definitely love Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight.

If you enjoy reading books like: ‘Six impossible things’ by Fiona Wood or ‘The ant colony’ by Jenny Valentine then I definitely recommend you read Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight.

One of my favourite quotes and probably the most memorable one is: “Amaze me”.

I give Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight 4 out 5 ReadOn stars.

I recommend Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight for boys and girls of an older-teen age group. Just because the events may be irrelevant to younger teens but nevertheless it is still an enjoyable story which I think younger teens would enjoy.

Some other realistic teen fiction novels I’d highly recommend:

• “The worst thing she ever did” by Alice Kuipers
• “All I’ve ever wanted” by Vikki Wakefield
• “Whisper” by Chrissie Keighery
• “Loving Richard Feynman” by Penny Tangey
• “An abundance of Katherines” by John Green
• “Dress Rehearsal” by Zoe Thurner
• “The ant colony” by Jenny Valentine
• “Six impossible things” by Fiona Wood
• “Sprite Downberry” by Nette Hilton
• “It’s not summer without you” by Jenny Han
• “Stolen” by Lucy Christopher
•  “Sunny side up” and the sequel “Mostly sunny with a chance of storms” by Marion Roberts.

Reviewed by: Sarah R.