November 10

‘Tomorrow, When The War Began’ by John Marsden

Tomorrow when the war began‘ The air didn’t seem as clear, as pure. There was a new atmosphere. Coldness had been replaced by a new humidity. I could smell jet fuel. We’d thought that we were among the first humans to invade the basin, but humans had invaded everything everywhere.’ -John Marsden

            Warrawee, NSW. The small, peaceful town filled with farmland, small industries and bush land seems like the place to live. The citizens are always friendly and happy and nothing ever goes wrong.  Little did they know that this would change forever.

It’s school holidays and Ellie, a great thinker, who is strong and powerful, not only for herself but for her friends and family, also appointed leader of her group of friends, and her best friend Corrie, a plump red head who lacks in confidence and is quite the shy type, have decided to get a group of boys and girls together for a fun camping trip to fill in time during the holidays.

After days of planning Homer, the troublemaking loud mouth, Fiona, the typical stereotype girl who is unassertive, pampered, with no real knowledge of camping or the bush, Lee, the loving, caring, mature boy, Robyn, the cool, quiet but aggressive girl that loves to win, and Kevin, the athletic boy with an aggressive attitude as well as Corrie and Ellie set off into the bush for seven days.

As the jets flew overhead on their last night, everything changed forever. When they came back from their camping trip all the dogs were dead and all of their families had gone. They soon realized that something horrible had happened. Soon after they find out that their country has been invaded and the captors are holding all those who attended their annual Commemoration Day prisoner. Ellie and her friends find themselves in dangerous situations as they try to figure out their next move and stay alive.

I really enjoyed the book ‘Tomorrow, When The War Began’, because it shows all different characteristics of average teenagers and what happens when they all work together. The descriptive language used made the novel easy to understand and formed picture images in my head. The story was filled with suspense and action, which kept my full attention and made my want to read more. The ending was captivating and I now can’t wait to read the rest of the ‘Tomorrow’ series.

I would recommend this book to teens between the ages of 13 – 17 who are interested in adventure and thriller genres and those who enjoy reading action packed, and romantic novels. This book was good but definitely not one of my favourites, therefore I’d rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. Emma, Year 9

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Imagine coming back from a camping trip and finding out that your very home has been taken over by a foreign force. The events that take place in this book are in the general area of a farming/rural town on the east coast of Australia. Ironically, the main place that the teenagers usually find themselves in is Hell, which is, ironically, a beautiful site in the book where a hermit had once lived and also where the characters had been camping out before tragedy had struck. The main characters of this book are mainly people that are hardened by the Australian outback, and oddball city folk. The main character of the book, Ellie, hails from a farm and is no stranger to anything in her rural area.  Another primary character of the book is Homer, who is quite experienced with hitting the invaders hard, as he is basically a juvenile delinquent himself.

The book also focuses on some of the relationships that begin to spark within the group, and how this affects some of the decisions that are made for the group’s own survival. The story also focuses mainly on what the teenagers had done to hit back at this new enemy so they can get their country back from this invading force.

I particularly enjoyed this book as it focuses on what guerrilla warfare would be like if it were to occur in Australia and some of the challenges that are faced by the teenagers and the relationships that are formed in the group. I would mainly recommend this story to young adolescence and also young adults, as it is a very ‘down to earth’ book dealing with some of the challenges that teenagers have to face.

Ryan M, Year 9.

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They were just normal teens out on a casual camping trip, when suddenly hundreds of army aircraft flew over with their lights switched off. Notwithstanding a lack of food, everything on their trip goes as planned. But a week later, they return home to find their houses blank. Tomorrow When the War Began is an action packed romantic thriller book, which is certainly a breath-taking novel for teens because of the romance and violence. Before long, the teens understand that the town has been invaded, and the whole town has been imprisoned along with their families and friends. Ellie and her friends face a dreadful decision: they can hide in the mountains, surrender or fight.

Subsequently, it’s an exploration story, which is always going to attract bookworms and non-readers. Ellie, the main character is an amazing female character who is brave but kind beneath.

The scene is based in outback Australia that is a good environment for a war book because the teens are able to hide within Australia’s outback. Ellie’s controlling narration also made readers first seriously consider the morals and beliefs of war. She’s a country girl whose world has been crushed overnight, who has to trial her own ideas of right and wrong, of good and evil.

I actually enjoyed the book ‘ Tomorrow When The War Began’ because it showed the best in everyone if they worked together as teenagers. Throughout the whole book there were cliffhangers and confusion, which made me want to keep on reading. The language used throughout the book made it easy to read.

Scott, Year 9

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‘We believed we were safe. That was the big fantasy.’

Wirrawee is a small town where nothing special happens except for the Commemoration Day Annual Show. So when Ellie and her friends go camping for a few nights out in the bush to escape the celebrations, they expect nothing to have changed by the time they return home. They could not have been more wrong. They return home to find the power is cut, the phone lines disconnected and the people gone. They immediately take caution from this point on, suspecting that something is not right. When the group sneak into town to take a look around, they discover to their horror that their town has been invaded by an unknown enemy. How will the group handle their sudden situation? How will they tell the difference between good and bad when they are thrown into war? Who will survive?

The story is extremely well written from the perspective of one of the main characters, Ellie Linton. She explains in the novel that she is writing everything down as the group feels they wish to be remembered, and for people to know the actions that they took.

From the first planes to the last bullet, ‘Tomorrow, when the war began’ is filled with love, action and friendship. It teaches about the importance of sticking with your friends when the times get tough, and fighting for what you think is right. From the first chapter to the last word, I just did not want to stop reading. The book is amazing at grabbing your attention and getting you emotionally involved with the characters.

I believe both girls and boys would enjoy this book, as it is both a romance and an action adventure novel. This book would appeal to people from the age of 13 to 20, as the adventure would appeal to younger people and the older age range would more likely understand the underlying themes. For those that enjoyed The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, this book would be most enjoyable. I would rate the book ‘Tomorrow when the war began’ 4 out of 5 stars for its originality and creativeness, as well as the amazing captivation it gives throughout the entire story. I believe that ‘Tomorrow when the war began’ is a well-written, intriguing story about war, love and the fight for freedom.

Maddi. P., Year 9

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Do you enjoy thrilling and exciting books that deal with grown up topics like pregnancy? Then you should consider reading ‘Roxy’s Baby’ by Catherine Macphail.

The story starts with a 14-year-old girl called Roxy. Roxy is an uncontrollable, stubborn child who recently has turned into a rebel due to the passing of her dad. Now she’s stuck with her goody–two–shoes sister, her mum and new step dad. She was full of hatred after her mum remarried shortly after her dad’s death. Because of this, she started hanging around with the wrong group of people. This led her to do really stupid things. After a party one night, Roxy found herself pregnant. She could not, would not think of telling her parents so she decides to run away to the big city ‘London’. Roxy then joins a house that helps runaway girls like her. She then befriends a girl she was paired with as roommates. She felt like she didn’t fit right in. All the girls looked as if they were older. Roxy realized they weren’t girls they were women. After being told she was too young and that she had to go home or else they would call the police to return her home, she seeks help from her roommate that she befriended earlier.  That friend introduced her to Mr. and Mrs. Dyce and she is offered a place to stay. She then finds herself in a strange mansion full of pregnant girls. Roxy is overcome with suspicion when she sees no babies present in the mansion. Where are all the babies? What is going on? What has Roxy got herself into?

Roxy’s Baby by Catherine Macphail is a captivating story. It kept me entertained until the end. It had an interesting story line that was I found very relevant to people who have to face this problem everyday. I would recommend this book to older readers because the story tackles hard-hitting topics like pregnancy. I give this book a rating of 4 out 5.

Julia – Year 9

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Posted November 10, 2014 by marjk in category Adventure stories, Dystopian fiction, Realistic fiction, Student Reviews

About the Author

Teacher-librarian at Aquinas College, Southport, Gold Coast, Australia

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