| Title: Journey to Tangiwai, The diary of Peter Cotterill Author: David Hill Publisher: Scholastic NZ LTD Pages: 187 Genre: fiction but based on a true story ISPN: 1-86943 – 499 – 4 |
The book I am reviewing is titled ‘MY STORY: Journey to Tangiwai-The diary of Peter Cotterill, Napier, 1953’. The main characters are: Peter, Mum, Dad, Tom, Uncle Hugh, Uncle Adam, Mr Mason, Mrs Mason, Barbara Mason, Howard, Stafford Bell, Rua and Dick Finlay. The book is about Peter Cotterill’s life leading up to the Tangiwai accident. He talks about scouts, his paper round, his dyingUncle
Hugh,
School and other day to day activities. The diary starts on the 1.1.1953 and finishes on the 31.12.1953. One of the strengths of the actual book I found was, that because the book is written in diary form it takes the reader on the journey in Peter’s life during that year as well. The book also gives a good in depth description of his and his relatives’ daily life. I also thought the book has a good sense of humor and I learnt a lot about how people lived in 1953. For example how Peter’s family was saving up to buy a car and how Peter was talking about it two weeks before they actually got it. One of the weaknesses I found was that it is a bit repetitive. I guess this is because daily life is a bit repetitive too. Therefore this is virtually unavoidable when writing a diary. I think this book is suitable for children nine and over who like history books but don’t just want the facts but some characters as well.
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March 5th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
A good effort. Maybe you could have some text examples to support your opinions of the book. I have already seen that you really prefer non fiction books and that is fine but I would really like you to challenge yourself and read at least one fiction book per term.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Hay its good to see that you are using your blog but you still need to write a post that doesn’t involve copying and pasting your work on. Anyway, nice book review.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
i like your book review but remember to write the question you are answering because i didnt know what u where talking about when you said:school and other day to day activities. it took me awhile but finally i clicked