Cambridge High School Library 2024

By: Richelle Mead Series: Vampire Academy Location: FIC MEA Genre: Vampires Lets let the trailer do the talking, but does love and loyalty run deeper than blood? Can Sydney protect the secrets entrusted to her, can she save the lives of humans, who should she trust- The Alchemists or her heart?

By: Marie NDiaye Location: Fic Ndi Genre: Drama In my time overseas I have met some amazing women, courageous, determined and relentless. They will not bow down to the circumstantial tides that seek to wave over them- they will doggy paddle out of those, with all the strength and fightness they can muster. Hazel Zinja- my girl- you are one and I love you for it. Here are three others!!! RandomHouse reviews this book for us: This is the story of three women who say no: Norah, a French-born lawyer who finds herself in Senegal, summoned by her estranged, tyrannical father to save another victim of his paternity; Fanta, who leaves a modest but contented life as a teacher in Dakar to follow her white boyfriend back to France, where his delusional depression and sense of failure poison everything; and Khady, a penniless widow put out by her husband’s family with nothing but the name of a distant cousin (the aforementioned Fanta) who lives in France, a place Khady can scarcely con...

By: John Green Location: FIC GRE Genre: Humourous love The Fault in our Stars by John Green is the book by which forever he will be aligned with- but if you can write that story, what are his others like- so I bought some. An Abundance of Katherine's is quirky, it has anagrams - PRESBYTERIANS is an anagram on BRITTANY SPEARS, it also has mathematical formulae to analyse romantic longevity. Colin loves girls- and they have to be called Katherine. It is just he has had nineteen of them and he always gets dumped- hence the development of his Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability. Can he catch one and then keep her?? "Electric....filled with staccato bursts of humor  and tragedy " Jodi Picoult

By: Jeyn Roberts Location: FIC ROB Genre:  Survival   David Abbruzzi  from Goodreads describes this book for us. Soon, in the near future, earthquakes, tsunami’s, chaos. Four lives in the balance: Mason, Aries, Michael, Clementine. Each one has a story of survival, not just from nature, but from evil itself. Evil possesses the form of everyone they now meet. No one can be trusted. They’ve all lost someone they care about, they all have felt pain. The evil was here all along, but finally the earth had enough and the killing began right after the earthquakes ended. No one is safe anymore; no one can sleep in peace anymore. Each life struggles to survive, each life is separate, but in the end all of their paths merge together. One of them is suspect, yet even they don’t realize the potential evil in the back of their mind; they walk the fence between good and evil and one slip will unite them with the hordes of killers that roam the street looking fo...

By: Veronica Rossi Location: FIC ROS Genre: Dystopia with a bit of love A million ways to die. One way to live. In a world of danger. An unlikey alliance. breathtaking adventure and an unforgettable romance. This trailer is a beauty- check it out!

By: Bear Grylls Location NF 616.85 GRY Genre: The answers to the questions, motivations for the weary and a guide to help your thrive in adversity.  This book by Bear Grylls probably should be read immediately after any book by Ellen Hopkins that I have just reviewed. It is a series of writings that challenge you to stand and not sit in your pool of misery, to survive  obstacles, to motivate you to carry on and succeed. It challenges preconceptions like money determines how successful you are rather  that being rich is about more about how we live, how we invest in others. I love this book, I love that it reflects so many of my own thoughts, that serving others, being generous, letting others shine, and laughing, even in the the face of adversity is so succinctly and blatantly described. If we had a world where people outlived the principals in this book, we would no longer read in a Saturday paper that we are bereft of civic citizenship, instead our comm...

By: Ellen Hopkins Location:FIC HOP Genre: Real hard to read stuff about real hard stuff. I just had a good look through Burned . Was suppossed to take a few minutes- 40 minutes latter and I am feeling angry, I am feeling frustrated, I am feeling desperate to change the plot. I got these books from a recommendation through another librarian who reckons these books are so popular in her school, they are never on the shelf. I can see why! In poetry form, they tell a story of the issues our girls face, of family expectations, drug use, love, sexual choices, relationships and consequences of the choices they make. It is written tastefully, reflectively and totally realistically. In some ways they are like a conversation with a teenager who is revelling in who-ness and figuring out their why-ness. In many ways they can be the some of  stories you  hear everyday in our school.

By: Matthew Green Location: FIC GRE Genre:  Fiction- Drama This book is written by an imaginary friend,  Budo, but he feels real, he is the voice of the story and he journeys with Max- who invented him. My name is Budo. I have been alive for five years. Max gave me my name. Max is the only human person who can see me. I am not imaginary. "I wish there was a Heaven. If I knew there was a Heaven for me, then I would save Max for sure. I wouldn't be afraid because there would be a place to go after this place. Another place. But I don't think there is a Heaven, and I definitely don't think there is a Heaven for imaginary friends. Heaven is only supposed to be for people who God made, and God didn't make me. Max made me."

By: Alan Paton Genre: Historical Drama Location: Fic Pat Last year a student took this book out and never returned it- as much as it annoys me I understand why. Everyone should own this book! I studied it at school, and it made me study myself, it planted a seed, a searing angst about injustice, a hatred against racism and legalised discrimination. It set in me a passion to know about South Africa and its story. As a kiwi girl growing up in rural conservative Canterbury, this story, these people, and the actions that determined the outcomes that no-one can predict or fathom, were beyond even the minimal imagination I could give them. All I could believe in was the power of love and the heart of redemption, this too rises high as the novel unfolds. So no wonder I went to this nation, no wonder I have heard the stories face to face, hugged the babies, seen the desolate young men, watched the ongoing scars of the regime that cut the wounds. I have cried over this beloved countr...

By: C J Skuse Location: FIC SKU Genre: Love Camille wants a hunk, a perfect boy, with an athletes body- but whenever she finds a likely candidate, she gets rejected. So her best friend Zoe- who is brilliant, and Camilla decide to design their own perfect boy- Frankenstein style. Maybe the body of SBW, the poet of Sam Hunt,  the heart and music of Bono, the Jamie Oliver creativity and the spunk of Prince Harry. Only problem is- will this dream boy be able to love, and love Camilla?

By: Elizabeth George Location: FIC GEO Genre: Mystery Amy Lignor from Goodreads describes this book for us: In her first foray into YA fiction, Ms. George (a beloved adult suspense novelist) has hit the nail on the proverbial head with this action-packed, mysterious and somewhat ‘creepy’ novel. Hannah Armstrong is a fourteen-year-old girl living with her mom and stepfather in San Diego. Unlike normal teens, Hannah has a gift; she can hear other people’s thoughts. In fact, Hannah has to wear a special listening device which produces static just so she can find some peace. What she didn’t expect was to have to go on the run when one person’s criminal thoughts hit her square between the ears. As the ‘whispers’ grow and backgrounds are revealed, Becca becomes caught in a web of lies. But it’s when she aids a young man she’s been falling for, that Becca finds herself stuck in a mess that has the local sheriff delving into her true identity. The writing is superb from Ms. George, as a...

By: Robert Muchamore Location: FIC MUC Genre: War Series: Henderson Boys I love this series, it is history, with a bit of cherub, with a bit of cold reality in a arena of tough stuff called war. And when all said and done- kids played a huge part in this war, it is nice to hear their story. I spoke to an old Dutch man a few years back, and asked him a some questions- he could be a Henderson Boy- and his story was real!!! He was in the Dutch resisitance at 10 years of age, locating downed planes and passing messages through the basket on his bike. In Nazi eyes he did not exist..oh but he did!!!! Summer 1944 The tide of war has turned against the Nazis, but desperation has made them more brutal than ever. Henderson's Boys final mission will be there most dangerous. With food and weapons in short supply, survival is the biggest challenge of all. For official reasons these children do not exist.

By: Matteo Civaschi and Gianmarco Milesi    Location: GRA CIV but probably all over the library Genre: Graphic stories, or history, or is it art??? This is the coolest book I have seen in ages. It tells stories in 5 seconds. famous stories, tales of history, portrayals of people, moments of time, developments of technology- all with small figurines. I know when I see a cluster of students gathered around a book, discussing , giggling and being puzzled- it will be this one!!

By: Peter Heller Location: FIC HEL Genre: Dystopia with a difference It is not often I find a book that I think- wow- I need to get a few people to read this because I want to know what they think of it, how do they feel about how it is written, what it is saying,and what message they get from it? This book- I will be taking home and passing around, to get those questions answered. Hig, bereaved and traumatised after global disaster, has three things to live for - his dog Jasper, his aggressive but helpful neighbour, and his Cessna aeroplane. He's just about surviving, so long as he only takes his beloved plane for short journeys, and saves his remaining fuel. But, just once, he picks up a message from another pilot, and eventually the temptation to find out who else is still alive becomes irresistible. So he takes his plane over the horizon, knowing that he won't have enough fuel to get back. What follows is scarier and more life-affirming than he could have imag...

By: Cornelai Funke Genre: Fantasy Location: FIC FUN The writer of INKHEART has written another series. This time she does the fairystories on the dark side.  It has a bit of C S Lewis, two brothers who enter another word in it, it has a bit of Grimm, a bit of Lewis Carroll, a bit of George MacDonald and it comes together to become Funke. Lydia of Goodreads describes it his way.. The modern idea of taking timeless fairy tales and "revealing" their true, much darker, origins is an idea Funke plays out in this novel where a young man named Jacob runs from the pain of his youth, through a looking glass, and chooses to face his fears in another, much more magical world. For yeas he dances back and forth between the two, becoming more drawn and entangled with the fantasy world than that of which he was born. Then, one day, his younger, gentler and vulnerable brother follows him through, and disaster strikes. Jacob, a now calamity-hardened treasure hunter, along with his vixen...

By: Eowyn Ivey Location: FIC IVE Genre: Beautiful story Yeah this is the type of book that makes me read!- thats all!

  Freaks Like Us   by Susan Yaught  Colin Fischer   by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz. Location - FIC YAU and FIC MIL Genre: Mental Health- Youth Fiction. Why is it that we pick on the disabled, we blame them for who they are not, we select them as being capable of things they are not, we judge the boy in the wheelchair as incapable, when he is smart and we blame them for murder when maybe they are innocent- if anyone will listen to them! Both these novels address the issues of disability. Freaks Like Us is about Schizophrenia and Colin Fischer is about Asperger Syndrome. One is accused of doing crimes he did not commit, both work to defend themselves or someone else. One likes silence, the other hears many voices, but both need to work to figure out situations that confuse them. One likes being alone, the other has multiple companions, both need friends. One has too determine his innocence, the other someone elses. In both book...

By: Robert Crais Location: FIC CRA Genre: Thriller Michael Connelly move on over, we have a new crimebuster on the scene! So why hasn't our library had this author before? Well we do know and we have four more titles on the way. The reviews are great and as you all know, I get so tired of vampires and books where the world blows up - but then again human trafficking is a topic that doesn't make you smile- but at least it deals with real issues!   When Nita Morales hires Elvis Cole to find her missing adult daughter, she isn't afraid, even though she's gotten a phone call asking for ransom. She knows it's a fake, that her daughter is off with the guy Nita will only call "that boy", and that they need money: "Even smart girls do stupid things when they think a boy loves them." But she is wrong. The girl and her boyfriend have been taken by bajadores - bandits who prey on other bandits, border professionals who prey not only on inn...

By: Holly Smale Location: FIC SMA Genre: Humour  Here is the big question? Was I at geek at school, I mean I am a librarian, does that make me a geek? Nope- I dont think so- but then again. What determines a geek, who tells you that you are one and why is a geek so bad anyway?  As we all know- one day that might be your boss!!  Harriet Manners knows a lot of things. She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a jiffy lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. When Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself in the glam but ridiculous world of fashion.

By: Bobbie Pyron Location: FIC PYR Genre: Fantasy  Wow this review made me desperate to read this book. It reminded me of some of the kids I have met in India and Africa, but then it made me wonder?  The review is from Brenda in Goodreads.com I was looking for realistic fiction. I was looking for a book that was serious and that had a male main character. I came across Dogs of Winter, with a note on the cover saying, “based on a true story.” I thought I’d give it a try. Wow! I’m glad I did. The more I read the more I wondered. What is happening right now around me that I am not aware of? What can I do to help? How many starving children are there lurking in the background hoping to remain invisible, desperate to survive? This is the story of Ivan Andreovich. At first he is in kindergarten, learning to read in his little apartment with his Babushka Ina and his mom. Shortly after, when his grandmother dies, he is hiding in the pantry from “him” and a b...

Location: FIC SPA Genre: Loooooove  What came first, the movies or the books!!   THE BOOKS!!! And you keep reading them, and other students have to wait, so I got a whole lot more, even the staff calmour for them. So now we have added: The Best of Me , The Wedding , A Bend in the Road and True Believer . So that should keep you happy, but I just want to know- please- why all the kissing???

By: Jesmyn Ward Location: FIC WAR Genre: Drama, family and disaster Winner: National Book Award This book was written with Hurricane Katrina as its base, the stories of poverty, family brutality and desperation all come in and around Katrina. I wonder actually when New Zealand will get some powerful novels written in a similar vein from the Christchurch earthquakes. The venue might be different, the disaster different, but the toll on human living and existing- maybe is the same. Here is a great review from Goodreads about this book: Pam Gardow Salvage the Bones is a fabulous family drama that takes place during the days immediately before and after Hurricane Katrina. Fourteen year old Esch has just discovered she is pregnant, and struggles to help her alcoholic father and three brothers keep their motherless family together in the face of extreme poverty. The characters are intensely real and fully formed. Powerful, raw, heartbreaking, yet wonderfully hopeful, this is one of ...

By: Peter Lerangis Location: FIC LER Genre: Percy Jackson cross Hunger Games Series: Seven Wonders: We have a new display in the library- it is called "Serious Series". To to celebrate I have bought a few new Number Ones in series that look great. This is one of them.. one of my librarians just snaffled it up, bet he will be after all seven of them!! One Boy Jack McKinley is an ordinary kid with an extraordinary problem. In a few months, he’s going to die. One Mission Jack needs to find seven magic loculi that, when combined, have the power to cure him. One Problem The loculi are the relics of a lost civilization and haven’t been seen in thousands of years. Seven Wonders Because they’re hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

By: Julianna Baggott Location: FIC BAG Genre: Dystopia Love the Hunger Games- love PURE " From the first page on, there are no brakes on this book. It is nearly impossible to stop reading" Daniel Wilson. The bright light- like sun on sun on sun.... Thee was the tangle of lives and the dolls head became her hand.  This book has it all, Apocalypse, detonations, target practice, wastelands, earths destruction and redemption!!

By: Matthew Reilly Location: FIC REI Genre: Thriller- War Matthew Reilly is a classic, he writes in a way that makes you fly the plane, and be in the Marines that fights the terrorists. He makes you feel if the world is on the verge of destruction from WOMD, I  must gather spaghetti cans and store them.  Good job he also makes you believe in Schofield- code named Scarecrow!!  And Scarecrow is back, he is the Ultimate hero, and he is facing the ultimate army of villians. Now where is my bullet proof vest and my AK47?

By: Paige Toon Location: FIC Genre; Looove Ever wondered what happened to your first love? I sometimes do- tempted to stalk him on Facebook, I wonder??? When this book came in , I had a good cruise through it, and I got stuck in it, captured! I just needed to know if Alice ended up with her true love, Buttercup and Westley!! Did they ever get back together or was it forever sidetracked. True love always wins- doesn't it?? Then the writer has to play with you and toy with your mind and keep you waiting. As you wish. Come on- Joe- get the girl of your summer love back!!!

By: James Patterson Location: FIC PAT Genre Thriller This movie is going to be huge, and between Jack Reacher and Alex Cross we are going to have blockbuster thrillers all over the place. The cool thing is both movies are based on best sellers and heaps of them. So to whet your appetite why don't you read the books first, get in the groove and figure out just who Alex Cross is...

By: Tamara Stone Location: FIC STO Genre: Love and Time travel If is was to live in another time slot and fall in love, it would be the 1950's- bit of Chicago, post war glee, jazz. My workmate would chose the 1970's and do the diners and fall in love with John Travolta!! Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility. As their relationship deepens, the two face the reality that time may knock Bennett back to where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate, what consequences they can bear in order to stay together, and whether their love can stand the test of time

By: John Boyne Location: FIC BOY Genre: Crime buster again John Boyne- I cant believe the range of genre this man writes- from fable, to historical fiction to who done-its. I wonder if he has three desks in his man cave and he has the three sorts of books he writes on different tables and he just wheels his rolly chair between whichever one his mind is in the mood to create. I have to say though- his fables are my favourite and his wheelie chair should hang there more often. This book though is a classic who dunnit... It's July 1910: The grisly remains of Cora Crippen, music hall singer and wife of Dr Hawley Crippen, are discovered in the cellar of 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden. But the Doctor and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, have vanished, much to the frustration of Scotland Yard and the outrage of a horrified London. Across the Channel in Antwerp, the SS Montrose sets sail on its two week voyage to Canada. Amongst its passengers are the overbearing Antonia Drake and her daug...

By: Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff Location|: FIC GRE Genre: Crime Buster Have you noticed we are getting more of this genre- that is because our display next term is all about crime and forensics. It is going to be great!! Meet Siri Bergman. She lives alone, an hour outside of Stockholm where she practises as a psychotherapist, her nearest neighbour far away. She is terrified of the dark. Siri tells herself that she has moved on since her husband died in a diving accident. But when she goes to bed at night, she leaves all the lights on, unable to shake the feeling that someone is watching her. What if she has good reason to be afraid? One night she wakes to find that the house is pitch black, and the torch by her bedside has vanished. Later the body of one of her young patients is found floating in the water nearby. Thrown headlong into a tense murder investigation, everything Siri believed is called into question. Can she trust anyone?

By: Steve Bein Location: Fic BEI Genre: Ninja cross Cop cross thriller cross fantasy. Maybe a new genre- Ninopfan!! " An authentic and riveting thrill ride through both ancient and modern Japan. Definitely a winner" Kylie Chan Is this Lucy Liu in a novel. And if so will she manage to handle "fated blades". It could be elementary but if this book was made into a movie Lucy would have to star in it. Just hope if she did, she could master the blade, as the ancient weapon collides with being a Tokyo cop in the city's most elite police unit.

By: Simon Scarrow Location: FIC SCA Genre: Roman The Praetorian Guard (Latin: PRÆTORIANI) was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. Before being appropriated for the use of the Emperors' personal guards, the title was used for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC. The Guard was dissolved by Emperor Constantine I in the fourth century AD. Simon Scarrow does it again- Roman History turned into great stories!!

By: Katherine Easer Location: FIC EAS Genre: Girl stuff Goodreads.com which I love and use has a great review on this book. this is not my kind of book, so I will let Olivia tell you what she thinks! Olivia rated it Vicious Little Darlings is one of the best books I have ever read. EVER. Katherine Easer has sculpted a novel which is perfect in all areas. Her writing is descriptive and detailed, she has created deliciously deceptive characters and her storyline is gripping. I devoured this book, every word, every chapter drew me deeper into the story; I was totally enthralled. The book is told in Sarah’s point of view, a poor, family-less teenager who finds herself in some complicated and sometimes hilarious ...more Vicious Little Darlings is one of the best books I have ever read. EVER.  I devoured this book, every word, every chapter drew me deeper into the story; I was totally enthralled. The book is told in Sarah’s point of view, a poor, family-less te...

By: Jay Kristoff Location: FIC KRI Genre: Steampunk, Shogun and fantasy A dying land An impossible quest A hidden gift. Mythic creatures, civil unrest and a strong female protagonist. Rocketing action, eccentric and convincing characters- this book "Japanese Steampunk" is a great genre.