Want the skinny on books? Check out what the Cashmere High School Read and Review Team have to say.
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
This book is so good. So this boy is like 13 but is like so tall and has a moustache so he fakes being a girl's dad and wins a father and daughter trip to space. He goes to space and has an awesome adventure. Get this book and read it because it is way too good for earth!
Rating: Infinity stars
-H.M. Year 10
Fault line by C. Desir
This book is strictly senior fiction. It is about a relationship between a boy and a girl. At a party, something terrible happens to the girl and the rest of the story is about how she deals with the aftermath of the event. The writing of the book was sensational it had me feeling the tears rolling down my face before I had known they had fallen. It told a heart wrenching story that touched on many themes that few people seem to want to talk about. A very good book, well worth reading.
Rating: 4 out of 5
-Grace Y11
Thicker than Water by Brigid Kemmerer
A crime story. A story of loss and finding love. A paranormal thriller. What’s to love about this book? Everything.
Thomas Bellweather’s mother, the only person who truly cared about him, the only true family he really had, is dead. Murdered, to be precise. The doors were all locked, there were no signs of forced entry and only Thomas and his mother were in the house. He is now the only suspect. But Thomas would never knowingly hurt someone he loved … so who was it? A brand new house in a brand new town means that no one trusts Thomas. Even his cop stepdad can’t help him from police and town ridicule. Only one person believes Thomas is innocent and she is a sister to three protective cops; Charlotte knows the police are missing something, and is determined to help Thomas in uncovering the truth.
I simply loved everything about this book. The story was well-paced and engaging, the premise was original and thought-provoking and the author created characters who were relatable and displayed a good sense of humour and irony. Brigid Kemmerer has mastered changing both voice and writing style between chapters so that Thomas and Charlotte have distinctive voices that are shown well when they take turns narrating the story. I also enjoyed the different levels and themes this book had, and came away with the distinct impression that this story wasn’t about Thomas at all; it was about Charlotte. As with any love story, the characters learn more about themselves as they learn more about each other, and through this, they grow and develop. This development is shown most prominently through Charlotte’s character.
The underlying theme of feminism was the aspect that earns Thicker than Water a place on my must-read list. I mentioned previously that I found the story to be more about Charlotte than about Thomas; so here’s my rationale. Charlotte is presented as a vulnerable girl (through her illness) who would look much more at home playing a 1950s housewife. Her mother and grandmother insist she knows how to cook, and expects her to clear and wash the dishes for the whole family while her father and three older brothers relax and do not contribute. Charlotte’s grandmother appears to be still caught up in the gender norms set for girls in her youth and openly disapproves of Charlotte’s decisions towards something as simple as clothing choices (e.g. a skirt above knee-height). However, in helping Thomas find his mother’s killer, she ends up finding out that the way she is treated at home is very different from the outside world, and I believe falling in love with someone like Thomas, someone who doesn’t expect her to do housework or clean, was probably the best thing for her to do.
I rate Thicker than Water by Brigid Kemmerer ten out of ten.
By Saoirse (Year 11)
Add a comment to: YA reviews: Cosmic, Fault line, and Thicker than water