The Big Read 2024 Grand Finale

 The challenge is to read and review at least five Big Read books, and the competition is judged on the quality of the reviews the pupils post on our library catalogue Accessit.

Over three hundred reviews were submitted and nearly 40% of the year group completed the challenge.

Winner: Z Green, with eleven excellent reviews!

Runners- up: V Babla, A Gordon, A Iyer, O Young.

Highly commended: Z Abrahams, G Malli, P Rafizadeh.

The individual prize winners were presented with their certificates and prizes by visiting author Steve Cole.

The Third Form assembly this went on to celebrate the conclusion of this annual reading challenge. The pupils voted for their favourite read from the twenty titles on The Big Read 2024 booklist and this year chose the graphic novel The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi, the first book in the fantasy series Amulet. Over half the year group read and submitted a review of this book, and many also went on to read the other Amulet books and have been eagerly awaiting the recent publication of Waverider, the ninth and last book in the series.

The winner of the Form Prize for the most reviews approved on Accessit was Mrs Moss’s class 7MWP who were presented with their certificate, with the promise of edible prizes to follow.

Thank you to all the Third Form English teachers for keeping the pupils’ enthusiasm going and reviews coming in. The final totals were as follows:

The Big Read Reviews:

Once by Morris Gleitzman

Review by Z Green

This is a fantastic contemporary novel that lets you dive into the real-life experiences of young Jews during the Holocaust without letting go of a brilliant fiction book. Although the characters are made up, the experiences and feelings written down by Gleitzman were felt by the millions of Jews persecuted by the Nazis.

Every page turned is a new problem that Felix has to tackle, like escaping from an orphanage to find his Mum and Dad, and saving a girl on the brink of death from a burning house. Action-packed, this book also provides a perspective of the Holocaust from a child who doesn't really know anything about what's happening. That is something quite unusual to find these days.

Overall, it was a very good novel and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a glimpse into the past.

Boy. Everywhere By A.M. Dassu

Review by L Warnapala

Boy, Everywhere is an emotional rollercoaster. Sami is a 13-year-old schoolboy whose life is about to change. After a bombing, Sami is hit with unexpected news. They are moving to Manchester. This book is all about the journey Sami and his family take to get there. Through the horrible journey somehow Sami's family sticks together.

It is one of the most heart-breaking books I have ever read. It represents a person's story being smuggled into the country and the scares and tears they go through.

In conclusion, the writer writes the book in a direct way to the reader, so well that you can picture it in your head perfectly. It is written in an almost diary-like way. It shows that you need appreciate the things in your life, especially your family.

Black & British by David Olusoga

Review by Ariyan Vaghjiani

An insightful book with lots of meaning showing the struggle of people of black heritage. This book is written excellently as this book is filled with emotion yet Olusoga writes this book completely honestly. I enjoyed this book as it went back in time so we learnt the full history of how racism started and how it evolved.

In this book we don't just learn about Britain we also learn a lot about America and other islands. These places are all mentioned are they relate to the slave trade and the plantains where black people were brutally forced to work in horrid conditions.

This book is excellently written as although short the book has a lot of detail and is very interesting, with a lot of facts.

The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

Part of a review by Oliver Young

Amulet is a very tense and gripping book centred on the dangerous quest of Emily and her brother, Navin. The book includes a hazardous but brilliant adventure to wander through a magic world to save their mother being captured by a sub-realistic creature. Along the way, they meet friendly robots to assist them on their path as they would do anything to save their beloved mother. It is an adventurous journey at the least. They key part of the amazing graphic novel is of course the perfectly illustrated pictures. Without these, it would be hard to completely understand the plot as I believe the pictures bring the magic and the story to it.

…

Overall, Amulet is a great, gripping and adventurous book that is brilliant to read long term as it has an entire series based on Emily and Navin's adventures across the world.

I would recommend to children above the age of 8, but it is mostly targeted at the people who are interested in sci-fi, magical adventures. This book is absolutely brilliant!

Worst. Holiday. Ever. By Charlie Higson

Review by Zac Treon

I absolutely love this book! It is a MUST READ! It shows that if you face your fears you will overcome them. This book is very interesting and is a very good book if you want a laugh. It gives you a mix of emotions such as: happiness, laughter and even at some points you might feel bad for some of the characters. The author writes this book with so much description that while reading the book you can imagine everything that happens. I have to say the amount of twists and different plots put into one book makes it an exciting read. The further you read the more characters you meet and some more relationships are created.

In my opinion, I don’t think there are any bad points about this book. I find it really interesting and I definitely learnt things while reading. It really was a book that you can just sink into one night and intend to read for half an hour and look at the time and the page number then say “wow, I have been reading for three hours and I am ten pages from the end of the book!”

The Wheel of Surya by Jamila Gavin

Review by Adam Haq

I really enjoyed this book about what life was like during World War II on the other side of the world, where the partition between Pakistan and India was just beginning.

It is almost like a biography and I liked the story about Marvinder and her little brother coming to England and what life was like for Asians coming across the globe.

Overall, this was a touching story and I would recommend it.

October, October by Katya Balen

Review by Zack Abrahams

This book was a different read for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It goes through the vast changes of moving from an off-grid ‘wild’ life into a large, busy city and shows the slow progression as the main character, October, settles in.

October fights through many emotions, including guilt, as she feels it is her fault that her father is injured in hospital. She tries to deny it when she bonds with her mother, who October despises as the mother left her when she was young, but they slowly grow closer throughout the book. She tries to distance herself from her, calling her ‘The woman who is my mother.’ I found the way the author keeps the sense of a ‘wild’ life and upbringing particularly interesting. She uses the word ‘soar’ almost exclusively as the go-to adjective for things like feelings and new things, to combine city life with the personality and lifestyle of October. It ties in with her love of climbing trees.

This book has given me a new view of living in off-grid, and I can see the values that this lifestyle may hold. Her father is an amazing man and has educated her well. Although on the outside she has just learnt about life in the wild, she finds that she already has a vast knowledge in subjects like maths and science, as they use them in day to day lives. I found this book surprisingly good and would recommend it to readers of a similar age group.

Tin Boy by Steve Cole

Review by Vinit Babla

Tin Boy is a dramatic book with many twists and turns. This book is about a boy called Tono who mines for tin in the deep dangerous trenches. One day an underwater avalanche took place while Tono and his cousin were mining. They were trapped. Tono successfully saved his cousin but everyone thought it was the red stone that saved them. From this day on he was called "TIN BOY".

Working day in and day out in these conditions is very injurious for your health as depicted in the story. The author effectively highlights the appalling conditions whilst simultaneously writing an intriguing story. The settings are well- described but to a limit as there is not a lot of description. There were quite a few character traits in the book not one or two like in other short books.

This story is powerful as it shows how people cherish their loved ones. People were paying a lot of money for just a boy watching over their children.

But Tono's name as Tin Boy just grew and grew until Tono realised that he was a fraudster and that his cunning partner was causing the accidents that Tono was saving others from and being a so called 'hero' but then realised he could not accept this epithet.

This story is relevant as it talks about how young children search and scavenge for tin that eventually becomes part of our smartphone. I was shocked to find out that it was written recently.

Overall, this is a strong story with an important message that every child should read. After reading this children might think wisely before asking their parents for the newest laptop, iPad or smartphone.

It would be enjoyed by people who like books that keep you hooked the whole way through.