As part of a unit of work on book reviews, junior students produced the following reviews.

The last vampire, black blood – reviewed by Larissa

The last vampire, black blood is a novel written by Christopher Pike who has also written books such as Die softly, Fall into darkness, Monster and many others. The novel is set in Los Angeles, ‘Gangland’. The story is about a new vampire on the block, one that has the power of Yaksha, the ultimate vampire. Alisa knows she must destroy it before it destroys her.

The main characters are Alisa, also known as Sita, a five thousand year old vampire and Ray, a newborn vampire, who is reluctant to drink blood. Alisa and Ray have a close relationship. Ray reminds Alisa of her god, Krishna and Ray needs Alisa to survive – being reluctant to drink blood makes him weak.

One incident that shows this is when Alisa and Ray go looking for an unsuspecting couple on the beach. Alisa drinks from the male while Ray struggles with the female. The female manages to escape from Ray and Alisa races after her. After catching the girl, Alisa sucks her blood and goes into a fantasy world to be woken by hands shaking her. She realises that she has sucked more blood from the victim than she should have. The girl dies in her arms and Ray remains uncomfortably quiet.

This is a suspenseful book which is recommended for older readers. It is not suitable for younger readers. The novel has an interesting subject matter and lots of descriptive language.

The Silver Brumby is a touching novel written by Elyne Mitchell. Elyne Mitchell has also written The silver brumby’s daughter, Silver brumbies of the south, Silver brumby kingdom and many more. The story is set in a mountainous area near Mount Kosciusko. It is a story about a cream and silver brumby called Thowra growing up in the wild with his worst enemy – man.

The two main characters are Thowra and Storm. Thowra is a cream brumby with a silver mane and tail. He is kind, considerate and very bush wise. Storm is Thowra’s best friend. He is a bay (brown with black mane, tail, socks and the tip of his nose). Thowra and Storm are loyal and trustworthy to each other even though they are stallions.

One sad and suspenseful event in the story is when Yarraman (Thowra’s sire) and The Brolga (a stallion from a nearby herd) fight to find out who will be king of the Cascades. Their fight seems to go on forever. A lot of mares from both herds gather round to watch who will win. You will have to read the book to find out who does.

I loved the book and recommend it to all horse lovers. It has a great plot and the characters are very detailed. It is one of those books where once you start reading it you can’t put it down until you have finished.

Bad hare day – reviewed by Min

Bad hare day is an exiting novel written by the author R.L. Stine. This superb novel is set in modern time United States of America. The story is about a boy named Tim who absolutely adores magic tricks. His sister annoys Tim when she destroys his magic shows. All this changes when Tim gets a magic bag.

The main characters are Tim and Ginny. They are brother and sister. Tim is a kind-hearted boy but he would do anything to get rid of his sister. If Tim made her upset, she would do karate chops on him.

One suspenseful event occurs when Ginny takes a bite from what looks like a normal carrot. It turns out to be a magic carrot, which turns anyone who bites it into a rabbit. Adventure occurs later when Tim tries to find a trick that can reverse the spell. Later in the book, Ginny turns back into a girl.

This book is very enjoyable and challenging for 10-15 year olds. It is interesting to read about the magic tricks that Tim performs. Overall, I would give this book 100% rating. This certainly has been one of the best books I have ever read.