Monthly Archives: June 2018

Stories That Matter is a discussion about contemporary realistic YA novels that deal with big issues like mental health, sexuality and self-discovery. It poses the question of whether we should shelter our students from these novels or use them to educate.

It’s Breakfast Bookchat time again and we welcome the opportunity of sharing some favourite reads with our staff.  Find out what we’ve been reading across a number of genres, and what we have been watching and listening to as well.  We have lots of recommendations for your holiday enjoyment!  

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway is a contemporary realistic YA novel about belonging and finding your family. Told from the perspective of three adopted teens, the book highlights some heavy issues, such as teen pregnancy, foster care abuses, adoption, alcoholism, divorce, and trauma. A must-read for teens who enjoy realistic fiction, this award-winning novel […]

Exciting times for Thomas Good (Yr 11 Padua College), a member of the senior Padua and Mt Alvernia book club. Thomas has been selected as a judge for the 2018 Inky Awards! We all have our personal favourite young-adult (YA) books, authors and genres, and possibly something you are reading might be award winning. Padua […]

See you at Harry’s by Jo Knowles is a highly recommended read for our Middle School students. It deals with an unthinkable family tragedy and explores the themes of identity, acceptance and healing. The journey through grief is a raw and painful one for both the characters and the reader and will resonate with anyone who […]

Book Review by Ms. Gagen Book cover design by Shelby Peace, Yr 7 When I first started at Mount Alvernia College in 2016, I was asked to take over the Readers’ Cup team. One of the books that year was Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar.  Since reading it, I have recommended it to countless students and it […]

Read Like a Girl Father Daughter Event Attention Dads of students in Year 7 & 8. We invite you to play a part in your daughter’s reading journey. You can do this by participating in our Read Like a Girl with your DAD event.   This requires you to read a book and have some […]

Do you ever find yourself procrastinating? You mean to start work on an assignment, but you just keep putting it off until it ends up being a mad rush the night before it is due. The Overcoming Procrastination unit at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au (located on the iCentre website) looks at the reasons why students procrastinate and what techniques […]