St George’s Dragon Readers
Little Bang
This book is one of the most amazing books I have ever read, I would rate this 6/5. I think it brings forward the very important perspective of Mel, a young girl who’s pregnant, she needs an abortion, but it’s illegal at the time. I think it really shows how not being pro-choice, silences women and takes away a human right. Women are not the world’s incubators. I just adored the book.
Sophia
Play
I was a really big fan of ‘Play’, one of the shortlisted novels, and out of the ones I've read would rank it extremely high. The book follows four boys, Matt, Mark, Luc and Johnny, as they go about their lives, playing games, living life and constantly finding themselves in trouble. Mark finds a new game to play, which brings him income, but also gets him into a lot of trouble. Matt struggles with his sexuality, and how his friends deal with it - Luc falls under pressure from his dad about sports, and Johnny, well, who knows what Johnny's doing! I think this book handled current issues really well, but I did find the ending incredibly sad. I think my favourite character was definitely Johnny because he was constantly supporting his friends, and seemed like he brought all the fun to the group! All in all, I really loved this book, and would recommend to others.
Kate
All That It Ever Meant
This is a great book and I like the ending, but most of the time I found it a bit confusing and not very interesting.
Anita
Treacle Town
Treacle Town has a good story with good poetry. However, the story takes a while to pick up, this makes it quite boring to begin with, and by the time it gets to the more interesting parts of the story I had already lost interest. Therefore, I give it only 6/10
Anonymous
King of Nothing
‘King of Nothing’ is a surprisingly good book. While it can take a few chapters to get used to the 'roadman' speech, there isn't really anything else negative about the book. It is great fun to see the main character grow up and realise that the world wasn't the way he saw it. This, along with a good amount of jokes and realism makes it a very nice read. For a more basic rating I give, ‘King of Nothing’ an 8/10
Anonymous
All That It Ever Meant
‘All That It Ever Meant’ is a book far below my reading age. Therefore, I found it boring, uneventful and predictable. I foresaw the main twist of the book almost immediately and by the time the story got interesting in the last two chapters, I was already too bored of the story for it to matter. This book is one of the first times I've had to try and find the motivation to pick it back up again. I give ‘All That It Ever Meant’ a 3/10.
Anonymous
Play
A very well written book. Its story is well thought out and nicely weaved. However, it is a bit predictable at times and some plot twists were easy to see coming. Other than that, it is a great story showing raw emotions and bringing up some real issues from our world. For a more basic rating, I'd give 'Play' an 8.5/10
Anonymous
Glasgow Boys
A beautifully written book from start to finish. It does a great job at addressing issues such as mental health, as well as bringing up issues which I would have never spent as much time thinking about. I found it easy to connect to the characters and the stories, especially when one character 'came out' to his friends and I think that all of the things, from everyday life, to higher issues were portrayed perfectly. It is a masterpiece of a book, filled with emotion, love and some more serious issues. I would read it again every time and while it may not be the type of book to catch my eye normally for me to read, I do not regret picking it up to do so. For a more basic rating I give Glasgow Boys a full 10/10.
Anonymous
The Final Year
Overall, the story of 'The Final Year' wasn't all that bad. To begin with it was a bit hard to connect with, being a little challenging to get into. However, as the story goes on you get used to the prose and the story also evolves further. I would have liked it if the story didn't have a happy ending and further dived into the issues that he was facing. For a more basic rating, I give it a 6/10
Anonymous
The Things We Leave Behind
A good book with a well written story. I enjoyed most of the book, it has great style. However, it is a bit challenging to get into, being a little slow to begin. Once you get into the book though, it has a great story and a well written twist, even if I did see it coming. For a basic review, I give this book a 6.5/10
Anonymous
Little Bang
An amazing book. This not only hooked me from the first chapter, but got me to ask myself about some of the problems which characters were facing. Without going into details to avoid spoilers, I have just got to say that the character chemistry and the way it seems so raw is beautifully done. Quite a few times I believed I might be able to deduce what comes next based on the normal route books take, just to be shocked anew with the human, and real approach taken which really helps you immerse yourself into the story. While not a book I would have thought about reading if it weren't for the shadowing, I do not regret picking up this book and it is worth every second. Out of all the Carnegie books I've read in my 4 years of shadowing, this has got to be in the top 3. For a more basic ranking, I'd give it a 9.5/10
Anonymous
The Things We Leave Behind
I really enjoyed this book and I like how the narrator tells her story. I like how the truth isn’t revealed until the end and the ending is very good when everything comes together.
Anita
Play
Lovely book idea and really enjoyed even after first few pages. Astounded by complexity too!👍👍
William
All That It Ever Meant
I enjoyed the somewhat sentimental themes of this book, and the heavy focus on family life. It presents an interesting narrative, and an interesting main character. I enjoyed the major plot twist, and the aftermath of that realisation. Overall, I would recommend this book.
Ben
Play
'Play' by Luke Palmer is a brilliant book that gives points of view from four boys as they go through secondary school. I think it has an amazing story and once you start reading it you can’t put it down. It covers some difficult topics, but it is written in a good way. I love the adventurous side of the story and you can really relate to the characters as they are just like so many boys that age and you can laugh along with their games and jokes as if you are friends with all of them. All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone.
Jonny
The Things We Leave Behind
I really enjoyed this book as I found the characters interesting and it had a good plot line. I think that it was easy to relate to and the ending changed my whole perspective when reading the book. This book was engaging as the storyline could happen to anyone.
Sophia
Little Bang
I really enjoyed 'Little Bang', as I think that abortion isn’t a subject talked about often enough, and it’s important to discuss these things more publicly. I thought that Mel and Sid were really well developed characters, and I especially liked the way that Sid helped out Mel and took his responsibilities well as a father. On the other hand, once Mel had had the abortion and had come back from England, I found it incredibly sad that so many people completely disagreed with her choice and thought that it was in her best interests to give her their opinion. I personally believe that it should be the girl’s choice due to the fact that it’s her body. No one should force their beliefs onto her, especially as pregnancy is an incredibly hard thing to go through, particularly without other people’s help. However, I think that the subject of abortion was handled really well, and it was very interesting to see both perspectives from the father and the mother.
Kate
Play
I really enjoyed this book because I could relate as a teenager towards the group, the ending was absolutely brilliant in my opinion capturing Johnny's voice perfectly. Although, yes, it was clearly written by a man and not a young boy, I found it really interesting how the author conveyed the main character's narrative - no spoilers - but like ‘’Come up” and “Green” to describe things ever present in the teenager's lives. At first it was hard to get into, but as soon as I did I was hooked until very end. Overall, a great read and my favourite Carnegie book this year.
Cecile
The Final Year
I really enjoyed this book about a boy finding his place in his school and some of the verse was really nice, but I feel that some of the storyline was limited and it ended very abruptly.
Oliver
Play
A brilliant book that evokes thoughts of childhood, outlining how easy it is to fall into the world of drug dealing and how you need to be careful about who you associate with.
Ben
All That It Ever Meant
It was an interesting book that had a very good ending. However, the beginning was slow moving and hard to get into. The plot twists at the end made you want to read the book again to fully understand what happened.
Rachel