Death in the skies, haunted by lies

Skybreaker, by Kenneth Oppel, sequel to Airborn

Matt Cruse is no longer a cabin boy on the Aurora, thanks to a generous reward for information leading to the capture of the sky pirate, Szpirglas, he is now studying at the airship academy in Paris, something he has always longed to do.

During a training flight a sudden updraft sweeps the ship he is on far above what they can handle and at the peak of the flight, before he dramatically saves all their lives he sees a ghastly sight.

It has rips in it's fabric skin and icicles hanging from it's ballast tanks, it is an infamous floating treasureship/graveyard called the Hyperion that has been above the clouds since before Matt was born. And Matt is the only one with the coordinates.

Because of Matt's still impoverished state he is greatly tempted by the masses of gold (among other things) rumoured to be hoarded upon the Hyperion. Together with Kate de Vries, a gypsy girl with a key, and a young manly entrepreneur with a ship called a "skybreaker" they set off to skyberia in search of frozen treasure.

However gold attracts more than penniless heroes and they are followed by pirates yet again, these pirates are better equipped, more ruthless and a lot more nasty.

Altogether this is a good read, not quite as clever as the first but certainly a good story with an entertaining plot.

Born in the air, flight without care.

Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse wasn't born on earth.

He was born high in the sky in a dirigible, one of the fantastic fleet of ships with skeletons of alumiron, held aloft by bags of goldbeaters skin filled with the lightest gas on the planet: hydrium .

He, like his father before him works on these magnificent machines. Unfortunately for him he is a lowly cabin boy and most of his pay gets sent to his mother and sisters, his father died 3 years ago and is therefore unable to support them.

Through a supposed ballooning incident he meets Kate de Vries, a bright and knowledge hungry female (not to mention beautiful as Matt soon realises) in search of her grandfather's dreams. Her search pits both of them against storms, pirates and flying things with pointy teeth.

This book gives any reader a good rolling adventure story that unlike many does not push but slides along and I would recommend this to anybody.

What is inside a dog is good for Readers

"outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is to dark to read"

For anyone who can identify with the feeling shown in the above joke will enjoy this site http://www.insideadog.com/.

It is primarily a user generated book review site but there are many other things you may do, read the news any reader would like to know, write and submit surveys, get sneak peaks at up coming novels, check out the extensive themed book lists and even win a book when you submit a review or answer a survey.
the layout is good with a tasteful border and a rather funny logo and slogan

This is a good solid website that is good at what it does I would certainly recommend it if you are looking for a book reviewing site, if you are looking for games, hard facts or the local greengrocer it doesn't want to know you.

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend, inside a dog it is to dark to read"-Groucho Marx

The Name Of The Wind: Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the wind, the kingkiller chronicle's day one written by Patrick Rothfuss.

The story starts by describing a man named Kote, an "innkeeper" who seems to be more. When he is found by a wandering Historian named The Chronicler he is recognised as "Kvothe the Bloodless" an imagination defying historical figure who has slipped into obscurity for unknown reasons. The Chronicler manages to persuade him to tell his story and so he starts, the story goes from the caravans of the Edema Ruh, to the streets of Tarbean and finally to the University, a place of magic and bitter rivalry. For the length of the book and for some time after the anticipation is tangibly real as Kvothe goes from one drama to another. It finishes back in the inn where it started leaving you wanting more, but sadly the next two are not yet in existence and so we shall have to wait.

The Name of the wind is, in my humble opinion, a great book full of Mystery, Magic and Myths. It is set in a beautifully crafted world, the characters are almost real to the mind and the penmanship is second to none. This book is a great read though the text is small and the book long. It is certainly recommended by me.

New Zealand Post Book Awards

This month sees the announcement of the NZ Post Book Awards. This annual event celebrates New Zealand books written for Young People. The Teenage Shortlist includes

• Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale
• Chronicles of Stone # 1: Scroched Bone by Vincent Ford
• The Tomorow Code by Brian Falkner
• 10 pm Question by Kate De Goldi
• Gool by Maurice Gee



Here @ Hillcrest High we hold copies of the Teenage Shortlist.To celebrate the NZ Post Awards Hamilton City Libraries are holding a Short Story Competition

Entry Form.




The theme : Describe a Utopian Society. Only 700 words all short stories have to be in at your local HC Libraries by 5pm Wednesday 13th May 2009.

For ideas try reading the following titles:

• Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess


• The giver by Lois Lowry


• Shade's children by Garth Nix


• Theives by Ella West


• Noughts and crosses by Malorie Blackmore


• Cherry Heaven by L. J. Adlington


• Brave new world by Aldous Huxley


• 1984 by George Orwell


• or watching V for Vendetta on DVD



All of the above are availble from our school library

If you'd like to investigate Utopian fiction further take a look at Appleton Library's booklist

there are a number of interesting titles to discover.

Happy reading and writing...

Mrs H.








Or watching V for Vendetta

The long awaited.....

Hello all,

Welcome to 2009.
We have many new and exciting projects planned for this year including
a library refit and new webcatalogue. Watch this space for updates.
Thanks to the expertise of librarians we are able to bring you the long awaited 2008
Library Olympics video.

Enjoy.







Mrs H.

PIMPmyBOOK

Nows your chance to give a bookcover a makeover.
Choose one of the following titles

• Tomorrow when the war began
• Twilight
• Guinness book of records 2009
• The Recurit

rework the cover and be in to win fablous prizes including a GShock watch & movie passes.

You can hand your entry in at the Library office or e-mail us your creation

library@hillcrest-high.school.nz entries close 5 December 2009.

This competition is open to Hillcrest High School Students only.

Have fun. Mrs H.

What a great spread!

On Friday the Library held it's annual thank you morning tea. We had some lovely food baked by the ILC, and everyone had a good time.

Thanks to all the librarians who have helped us issue, return and shelve all the books throughout the year.