May Monthly Round-Up of our Book of the Week

You may have seen across our social media that we feature our favourite books once a week and give you a little sneak peak of what the book is about! Here I have all the books we featured during the month of May in case you missed any!

  1. The first book that kicked off our book of the week series is Holes by Louis Sachar, and available here in Tony Clarkes and on our website. This is a book I have read myself and thoroughly enjoyed!

Stanley Yelnats, a boy with the worst luck imaginable, gets sent to Camp Green Lake – a juvenile correction facility. This camp is nothing like its name, it is in the middle of the barren desert of Texas. The boys in Camp Green Lake have to dig one hole each a day, five feet high and five feet wide, but Stanley suspects this is not just about ‘building character’ like they were told, he thinks the camp owners are looking for something. The story takes us through Stanley’s adventures in the camp along with his campmates, the history of Camp Green Lake and its connection to Stanley’s own family.

This book was extremely popular worldwide and was adapted in 2003 into a film starring Shia LaBeouf, but don’t cheat and go watch the film! We definitely recommend reading this book BEFORE watching the film. Holes won many awards including The National Book Award For Young People’s Literature. In 2012 it was ranked number six among all-time children’s novels in a survey published by School Library Journal. This book is recommended for ages 11 and upwards. Let us know if you read the book and what you think of it!😎🦎

2. Our second pick for our ‘Book of the Week’ series was Bridge to Terabithia! 🧡🐲🌳

This is a story that follows the somewhat unlikely friendship between Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke. After an initial feud between the two of them, they become inseparable. The two kids form a strong friendship and invent a world called Terabithia, a magical kingdom where they reign as king a queen. Jesse and Leslie use their magic kingdom, just a rope swing away across the creek, to escape the bullies and family drama, somewhere they can be themselves. They fight monsters and play with fairies in this world until one-day tragedy strikes and Jesse has to learn to overcome his fears.

This another one of our featured book of the weeks that have been adapted into a very successful film, all the best ones are. Of course, we recommend giving it a read before seeing the film!

WARNING: this story is a tear jerker!! 😥

Call in store to pick up your copy!

Make sure to let us know what you thought of the book!!

3. This weeks book was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a book recommendation more for adults, ages 17+.

This is a dystopian novel, set in ‘near future’ in New England, America, following the life of Offred, a handmaid. The government has been overthrown and America is now referred to as the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic state. The world has been extremely polluted, leaving the land and most of the people infertile. This new government ranks women into different categories, the handmaids serving as a surrogate to couples of a higher status. This book tells us the tale of Offred in her struggles with being forced to be a handmaid accompanied by the retelling of the events leading up to the Republic of Gilead, and the fall of women’s rights.

This is a story which all young adults should read – Atwood’s telling of the harrowing details of this nightmare of a world mirroring and satirising realities in our everyday world. This captivating story was also adapted into an Emmy winning TV series starring Elisabeth Moss. The show really captures the essence of the book masterra, but make sure to read the book BEFORE watching the show, the book always gives you are more in depth understanding of the plot and its characters! This book is over thirty years old but was one of the most read books in 2017. Go on, jump on the bandwagon. 😍📖❤️

4. And last but not least, was the first book in the Judy Moody series: Judy Moody was in a Mood!

Judy Moody was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood.
A mad-faced mood.😍
Judy Moody is a girl heading into third grade (4th class) and is not one bit excited about it. This all changes when her teacher, Mr. Todd assigns the class a special project called the Me Project. This project lets Judy Moody expresses herself, her abundance of attitude and individuality shining through. This is a great book for children to relate to – We’ve all had those bad mood days! This is the first of many books of the series, each as funny as the last. This book series is recommended for ages 8 and upwards 😍📖😈