storyLines

Author Steven Herrick has given us a superb crime story written in verse. Herrick uses the form in a special way as a novelist, paring down his language to create great effect in a few words.

Each “poem” is headed with the name of the character who’s voice we are hearing. Most important of these is Eddie Holding, but we also hear from his brother and father, as well as several other residents of the town. Some are decidedly creepy, including a teacher, giving us a few options to consider when a violent crime is dicovered - the murder of a teenage girl.

Set in a small Australian country town in the 1940s, we hear of tensions and secrets, bad behaviour and youthful hopes. We are also kept guessing for some time as to who the culprit could be. Highly recommended, especially for a quick read.

Other books by Steven Herrick which go well with Cold Skin are Lonesome Howl and By the River. Both are stories of country life, each with its own mysterious elements.

Reviewed by mat

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
— Rat from Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows

Year 8 Camp 2008

Above: Raft Building Photo Story - will appear shortly or reload page.

[For a link to photos from 2007 camp click here - Intranet only] 

There is certainly a story or two to be told about this raft building excercise from Year 8 camp. If you were at this session with any of the groups let us know about your story by adding a comment to this post. (No names, no pack drill - just the story!)

Some may have recalled all those High Seas and Desert Islands book references from first term, but this certainly wasn’t Robinson Crusoe, The Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island or even The Coral Island. A little bit Wind in the Willows, a Dash of Swallows and Amazons and plenty of Huckleberry Finn. Perhaps Jesse Martin’s Lionheart adventure began as a tiny idea after enjoying a day like this.

Our first Legend@Lunch for 2008 was Head Master, Tim Hawkes, talking about one of his passions - naval history and the literature which it inspires.

See larger version here.

Dr. Hawkes read from or made reference to three authors in particular:

C. S. Forester (we hold Mr Midshipman Hornblower, Flying Colours, The General, The Ship and The African Queen), Dudley Pope (Ramage) and Alexander Kent *(Captain Richard Bolitho RN, The Flag Captain and Form Line of Battle!).

Other books of interest held by TKS Library include:

Patrick O’Brian (The Far Side of the World, Master and Commander), Jay Worrell (Sails on the Horizon, Any Approaching Enemy) and Julian Stockwin (Kydd). Stockwin’s web site is a treasure chest of interesting and archane items like scrimshaw and the poetry of the sea.

 * Alexander Kent is the pen name of Douglas Reeman who is a prolific writer of 20th Century naval stories under his true name.

City of Masks by Mary Hoffman is at heart a fantasy story, exploring how life might be different in a parallel world. But there are many different aspects to the story and if you want to read another book somewhat like Stravaganza then your choice will depend on what it was you liked about the book. Here are some ideas.

Parallel Worlds:

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (recently filmed as The Golden Compass) is the first book in a fabulous trilogy about life in a range of worlds, and the means (and risks) of moving between them. The discovery of many worlds really gathers speed in volume 2, The Subtle Knife, where the knife of the title is a magical and dangerous tool for travelling between worlds.

The Sterkham Handshake by Susan Price describes a tunnel which has been developed to return to the distant past with the idea of mining resources which are scarce in the present. First certain people are sent back through the tunnel to collect information and befriend the people. But if you are such an operative it is quite possible that you might actually start to bond with these rough and ready people of the past, causing some dilemmas.

Mister Monday is the beginning of a series by Garth Nix which continues with a book for each day of the week. Time is a theme for this engaging fantasy and the young hero, Arthur (a very heroic name), must surely be exhausted by the end of each book, let alone by the end of the week. His other world just looks like a house on the outside, but beware! Certain talismans from The House seem to help the asthmatic Arthur to breathe easier. Which brings us to the next theme…

Illness and the imagination:

Lucien is bedridden at the beginning of City of Masks, leaving him with too much time on his hands, although he is so weak all he can often do is sleep. Once he starts to stravigate to Bellezza he both exhausts himself and begins to regain his spirit and his physical strength.

David Almond’s Skellig is another book where illness seems to lead to restorative flights of the imagination - or is that thing in the old garage really a living creature? In this book it is the new baby that is barely clinging to life. This has profound effects on both her parents and her teenage brother. A mysterious and uplifting story.

In Gilbert’s Ghost Trainby David Metzenthen, Martin Dean is coming to terms with the death of his younger brother when the mysterious Gilbert makes his appearance. A gently told and healing tale.

The Girl from the Sea by James Aldridge starts with Beau, who is recovering from a debilitating accident, being sent from England to spend the summer in a seaside town in France where his aunt lives. Here he meets Lelee, a wild girl who challenges him to keep up with her. With a father who has been a smuggler she fears little in the sea that she loves.

Books about mysterious books:

The Book of Lies by James Moloney

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

Inkheartby Cornelia Funke

The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick

Books set in Venice:

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Are we there yet?by David Levithan

Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz

The Flowing Queen by Kai Meyer

Lion boy:The Chaseby Zizou Corder

Our storyLines literature program provided the seed of the idea for this blog, but we  hope it will be a little thing from which big things will grow (apologies to Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody). Your ideas are welcome through the comment feature here, or in person to CLL staff. More about getting involved later…