The Wrappers Recommend

Books discussed, liked and recommended at the August Wrappers meeting.

Origin                           Jessica Khoury       (‘the best stand-alone novel I’ve read in a while’)

Feed                             M.T.  Anderson

Furnace                        Alexander Gordon Smith           (‘first of a series, scary but good’)

How to Save a Life       Sara Zarr

The Elephant in the Garden    Michael Morpurgo

A Kiss in Time              Alex Flinn             (Sleeping Beauty wakes up in the 21^st century)

Paper Towns                John Green

H.I.V.E.                         Mark Walden 

Monument 14               Emmy Laybourne    (this book keeps on being recommended)

Now for the ‘not recommended’ books – because a book that one person loves may be hated by another. Just check out a website such as Goodreads.com to see how varied the reviews and ratings are for each book.  Wrappers who have taken on the 27 Challenge have to share a book they didn’t like and here are a couple:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J Bick

Have you read either of them? What’s your opinion? 

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Every now and then, when we can get hold of enough copies, the Wrappers all read the same book. This month we were able to get hold of a new library book club kit and read The Fault in our Stars. 

There was a unanimous feeling that it was a sad story laced with humour.  Peter summed it up with this comment: “It was one of the funniest and saddest books I’ve read. My face started hurting as I went between laughing and crying.”

Some other comments were:

• The writer character (Peter van Houten) was annoying/irritating.
• Hazel’s parents were control freaks.
• It was sad that Hazel saw herself as a grenade and didn’t want anyone to get close to her.
• What happens to Hazel at the end? We want to know.

Isaac was a very popular character.  A comment was made that he didn’t appear as much as he should have in the movie of the book. Discussion then included movie related comments. Several Wrappers agreed that they don’t like movie editions of novels because they like to imagine the characters themselves rather than be shown pictures from the movie.  There was also quite a strong feeling that it was off putting that the actors have a sister and brother role in the Divergent movie but are lovers in The Fault in our Start movie!

Wrappers Meeting Tomorrow

Hi everyone. Just reminding you that the next Wrappers meeting is tomorrow, Friday 1st August, at 5:30 pm. If you haven't attended a Wrappers meeting before and you're aged from 12 to 18 then please come along. We're an informal book group who meet at monthly at Paraparaumu Library.

Poetry Competition

Reminder: the Kapiti Coast District Libraries Poetry Competition closes next week on Friday 1st August. If you would like to enter please submit your entry by then or bring it along to the Wrappers meeting on Friday the 1st. It would be great to have some Wrappers enter the contest. Jane & I were impressed by your quick efforts at the Wrappers meeting in June. There is definitely poetic talent among the Wrappers!

The entry form can be found on the Kapiti Libraries website home page.

Answer a Question and Win

Libraries from different places and times vary enormously in their design and feel. The photos below show two extremes of time and design. One is a 16th century library and the other an ultra-modern library. If you could visit one of them which would you choose? 

Complete the form below to go into the prize draw (open to Kapiti District residents only). The winner will be drawn at the next Wrappers meeting on Friday 1st August. 
Congratulations to Eve who was last month's winner. 

Teen Writing Competition Winners

The winners of the 2014 Kapiti Children's Writers' Group Teen Writing Competition are:

1st place - Jaden Fearon (12) Waikanae School

2nd place - Alexandra Schaefer (17) Otaki College.

3rd Place  - Claudia Gittins  (14)  Kapiti College

Highly Commended Certificates:

Loren Whithair (15) Kapiti College

Ella Brown  (13) Te Horo School.

Congratulations to these young authors for the high quality of their writing and their well deserved winning places in the competition. 

The stories that placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd are published on the Teen Writing page of The WRAP for you to read and enjoy.

The Wrappers Recommend

Books discussed, liked and recommended at the July Wrappers meeting:

• Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• Enclave by Anne Aguirre
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Dear Vincent by Mandy Hagar
• The Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney
• It's a Book by Lane Smith 
• Love is a Gift by Lauren Brooke