Guest Speaker Report
by
Rotarian Peter Douglas
Wednesday 13 August 2008
Our guest speakers were from the Literature Extension Program at Strathfield Girls High School. They were introduced by Peter Van der Sleesen.
Members of the group were accompanied by the School Principal and the 2 teachers who where instrumental in guiding the group.
The chair for the evening was Amanda To. She introduced Rebecca Luong who posed the question ‘to read or not to read’. Raisa Tasnim then explained the judging process. Points were awarded for the storyline, the relevance of the characters, the capacity to sustain interest, interesting or unusual plotlines, originality, and style of language.
Amanda then introduced the first reviewer, Ruby Bell, whose book was ‘Pharaoh, The boy who conquered the Nile’ written by Jackie French. She was followed by Irene Xu who reviewed The Ghost’s Child’ written by Sonya Hartnett. Next was Emma Campbell who reviewed ‘Marty’s Shadow’ by John Heffernan. She was followed by Alexandra Nugent who reviewed ‘Love like Water’ by Meme McDonald. Next was Evie Kennedy who reviewed ‘Black Water’ by David Metzenthen. Finally Shrijayanti Gurumurty reviewed ‘Leaving Barrumbi’ by Leonie Norrington.
Each reviewer spoke about their respective book for around 5 minutes and were refreshingly honest in their opinion of the book. Books were described varyingly as ‘a literary achievement’, ‘a joy to read’, ‘a book with a hint of mystery’, and ‘a refreshing and original story’.
Tania Dinh then announced the judges decision which was that ‘Marty’s Shadow’ was the chosen book of the group.
Certificates were then presented to the participants.