St Peters College teacher, Ken Benn, has written a novel for teenagers. Here a university teacher and a number of teenagers give their opinion on his success.
‘I enjoyed the book Lethal Deliveries by Ken Benn because it is exciting, well written and full of dialogue. It has highly realistic characters and an actual storyline. Best of all, it has that rare thing in a book that makes you not want to put it down. A lot of research has clearly gone into it and the writer has taken the time to get into the minds of the characters while writing it.
‘I think other boys will also like it because it is fast moving, interesting and not at all girly. It doesn’t try to be like those goody-goody books where no one gets hurt or killed in case the readers get sad; it is realistic. In my opinion it is just as desirable to read as the Harry Potter books, just not as famous.’
James Franz, age 15 Palmerston North Boys’ High School
‘What I loved about this book is it’s not what everyone wants to hear. It opens our eyes to what is really happening in our communities. It has suspense, excitement, twists, turns and characters that, in many ways, were very real to me. The book made me feel many emotions—happy, sad, angry, scared.
‘I live in Palmerston North so I was able to visualise the scenes and this really gave the book more reality. I couldn’t put it down—over all an exceptional piece of work. I definitely recommend it to any kid who enjoys a good book.’
Kirstin Crowe, age 13, St Peter’s College, Palmerston North.
‘I think that it’s a very good book because it relates to the problems that some of us have today for both teenagers and adults. I thought the book was great because it shows what homeless people have to go through and what they will do for money and that they are usually forced into doing things for money and how some of them are not as bad as people think they are.
‘But it also shows the reasons why homeless people have such a bad reputation and why people think they are bad and I think Methsy shows this perfectly.
‘I think that it is an extremely good book especially for teenagers and that it is a book that everyone will love!’
Philip Bartlett, 16 years old, Freyberg High School, Palmerston North