Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre

15,846 pages read and 1,146 team points

Team members

A.Haxton

1,092 pts

(546 pages read)

Potiki

By Patricia Grace

0 stars
Under The Mountain

By Maurice Gee

5 stars

Maurice Gee is currently my most read NZ author, but until now this has been a major hole in my reading list. Released in 1979, Under The Mountain tells the story of two twins, Theo and Rachel that are tasked with saving the world from monsters called The Wilberforce. Theo and Rachel are solid protagonists for a children's novel, but the stars of the show are The Wilberforces. They are genuinely creeping and imposing monsters that give the novel a very real sense of danger. And it's how bleak the novel is for a children’s novel that has made it stand out over 30 years after it was released. Much has been made of the ending, which had definitely made an impression on me, but there is just an uncompromising way in which Maurice Gee handles aspects of Children's Novels that are often brushed over that given Under The Mountain a strong sense of identity and place within the New Zealand zeitgeist.
Colour Scheme

By Ngaio Marsh

4 stars

Colour Scheme takes place at a Hotspring resort during WW2. Like any good Whodunnit, Colour Scheme spends a good chunk of its time building up a colourful cast of characters and the tensions between them - There is the family of four that own the resort, the staff that work under them, the Maori chief of the neighbouring Iwi, a businessman that looks to take over resort and a visiting Shakespearean actor and his two assistants, one of which (Dickon Bell) becomes the primary point of view character of the novel. Espionage is suspected, Maori artifacts are hunted for and half way through the novel, a horrible murder takes place. The characters are genuinely fun to be around - although the romance between the two characters is really a product of its time - and I was genuinely excited for the couple of scenes when the characters got together to try and solve the mysteries present in the novel. But honestly, it wasn’t the mysteries that stood out to me the most. The best moment in the novel was a show that happens just before the half way point, the combines traditional Maori performances, with barbershop and finishing with a Shakespearean monologue. But more than anything it's the setting that is the novel strongest aspect. It not only creates a powerful atmosphere but also provokes reactions with its characters that helps demonstrates core aspects of them that gives the novel an extra dimension.

17 - 0 - 1

Add pages read

Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre

15,846 pages read and 1,146 team points

Team members

Angela Pelham

VSW

Helen M

Yeahbrenda

Paton

John B

A.Haxton

Sharon Henry

ExLibrisAmy

Aimee

Tate

AceyJay

Emma Smith

Emma Wood

KFiszer

Kobe M

Ruka-Pa

A.Haxton

Potiki

Under The Mountain

Colour Scheme

Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre

15,846 pages read and 1,146 team points

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78