There is always a lot happening in the library, but one of our favourite activities is the Book Club.

We meet fortnightly at interval to discuss what we’re reading, what books we need to get for the collection, plan a movie outing and most importantly to eat biscuits. It is an excellent way for me to get feedback about books I’ve bought and find out what the students are reading. I rely a lot on their recommendations and opinions. The collection we have here at OB’s is very much curated for the community here – so it’s got something for everyone. If there is a book they want then I’ll do my best to get it for them. I’ve even taken self-proclaimed book haters down to Paper Plus to buy things they would like to read – they loved it and read the books we bought. So many great books – check them out on our catalogue https://library.obhs.school.nz and ask your son to bring something home for you to read too!

Here’s a suggestion from one of our readers…

Scythe - Neal Shusterman

Review by Daniel Visser

Scythe is a book which plays with the concept of death. In a world without death the only way to control the world's population is for Scythes to “glean” other people. The word “glean” is used by the Scythes instead of the word “kill”. The point of view I think the author was going for was to show his idea on what the world would be like if it was perfect, or near perfect. A perfect world means no death but, as the author describes, a world without death is unsustainable as resources would be used up too quickly to cater to the larger population. This leads on to the creation of the “Scythe Hood” to control the population. The Scythe Hood is the only group that have permission to glean people. Scythes get trained in all forms of killing such as weaponry, poisons and martial arts. If they pass the tests they receive their robe which can be any colour they want and signifies that they are in fact a Scythe. They also receive a ring which allows them to grant immunity from gleaning for a year. I would highly recommend this book to whoever is looking for a good read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28954189-scythe?from_search=true