Reading for Pleasure
What we've been reading!
Book reviews from year 7 students.
Don't forget, you can write a review of the book you've been reading to get it published on here and receive house points!
Tales of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
A review by Olimpia Jablonska 7DA
This book is about four children who discover something amazing, but as they explore more, they learn something unforgivable has happened. With the help of animals and Aslan, they rescue their brother, but that's not the end. Aslan makes a sacrifice, but in the end, it wasn't the worst. They had tried so hard to get the witch, and they had helped Edmund, their brothers, who had betrayed them.
I like this book because it's something you wouldn't encounter ever. When reading this book, it makes you feel part of the journey. It doesn't have one mission to solve, it has more, and they all lead up to defeating the White Witch, and that sounds impossible.
Good Night, Mr. Tom
A review by Elizabeth Ront 7SA
Good Night, Mr. Tom is a book set during World War II. Mr. Tom lost his wife and child due to a disease, so he has been living alone for some time. When war started, children from London were brought to Little Weirwood, the place where Mr. Tom lives. William Beach is brought up to Mr. Tom's cottage and let in by him with hesitance. As days pass, Mr. Tom and William get closer and Tom acknowledges that William doesn't know how to read or write, so he's sent to school for the first time. Over time, William warms up to Tom, learns to read, loses a friend due to the war, and feels loved. However, his mother wants him back in London. Mr. Tom, who was a cold, serious man, felt empty and hesitant to send him back home. A week later, Mr. Tom wanted to visit William to check on him and see how he had settled, but all he came back to was an empty house. It turned out that William was abused by his mother and was in the closet, tied up, starved, and beaten. He needed to be brought to the hospital and taken away. After getting taken care of, William returned with Tom and returned to school. This is the story of Good Night, Mr. Tom.
Beverly, Right Here.
A review by Princess Onabamiro 7SA
Beverly Japinski keeps finding herself running away from home while coping with severe depression due to the passing of her dog. Now that she's recently turned 14, she figures it's not running away, it's simply leaving. Determined to start a new beginning, Beverly finds a job, which is cleaning tables at a fish restaurant. Beverly hates fish. She also finds a place to stay. She doesn't plan to rely on anyone or have anyone rely on her. After all, she always finds a way to isolate herself from the earth. Despite her actions to separate herself from the outside world, she couldn't help forming alliances with those around her. Lola from the trailer park she often visits, Dons and Charles from Mr. C's restaurant, and Elmer who works at Zoom City. Eventually, Beverly learns to see herself through their eyes.
The St. Michael's Review 2024!
This year's edition of the college magazine is now back from the printers!
You can read an electronic version below.
World Book Day March 2024!
We had a great week of celebrations for World Book Day.
On Tuesday 5th March, Mr Toledo held a seminar on Miguel Cervantes’ seminal work ‘Don Quixote’, as part of the college’s Found in Translation programme. It examined the unique contribution Cervantes made to the development of the novel, and culminated with a reading of chapter 6. It was attended by students from Year 7 to Year 12.
On Thursday 7th March, Mr Bourke ran a Write Your Fantasy Bestseller workshop. It was a great event where students looked at the opening of Harry Potter to identify the key components of what makes a great work of fantasy. They then used these components to help them draft the opening of their own fantasy novel. Students went away to type them up, and the best ones will be published in the summer edition of the St Michael’s Review.
Ms Etemewei also did a series of assemblies on Women in Literature (to combine with International Women’s Day, which was on 8th March). A copy of Ms Etemewei’s PowerPoint is available to view below.
Celebrations culminated with every student being given a voucher for a free book, which were handed out during Form Time Reading on Friday morning.
Women in Literature
To celebrate both World Book Day and International Women's Day 2024, Ms Etemewei did a wonderful series of assemblies on the importance of Women in Literature. You can find both the presentation and other resources used below.
September 2023 - New Books In The Library!
Our library and diversity monitors have chosen some of their favourite reads from our library!
Browse and read extracts of some of the exciting new books in our library by clicking on the book covers in the PowerPoint below.
May 2023 - New Books In The Library!
Southwark Library has now given us eight new books for the library!
They are:
All The Bright Places – Jennifer Niven
Incendiary – Zoraida Córdova (x2)
The Maze Runner – James Dashner
Cogheart – Peter Bunzl
A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
Defy The Night – Brigid Kemmerer
Murder Most Unladylike – Robin Stevens
The Secret Detective – Ella Risbridger
They are available from Ms Hoang in the library.
April 2023
St Michael's Review 2022-2023!
The students, led by a Year 9 editorial team, launched the third edition of the College's annual magazine - The St. Michael's Review.
If is full of high-quality art, thought-pieces, reviews, poems and stories by our wonderfully talented student body.
We had a great launch in the library, with guest readings from selection of our contributors. You can read an electronic copy of the magazine below!
November 2022 - New Books In The Library!
Our Library Monitors have selected 62 brilliant books that you can borrow from Monday 21st November from our library - You can read about each one below and see which you might liek to read.
St Michael's Review 2021-2022!
The students, led by a Year 10 editorial team, launched the second edition of the College's annual magazine - The St Michael's Review.
If is full of high-quality art, thought-pieces, reviews, poems and storied by our wonderfully talented student body. It was launched with a very well attended event in the sixth-form library, where the editors invited contributors to read from their pieces.
Editorial correction - the art work supplied was by 'Cavalli J' in Year 10 - not 'Jack C' as listed in some credits.
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