Canterbury Quake
Desna Wallace
Scholastic
Pub. 2014

 

August 23, 2021

‘‘I think I am in shock and I’m almost too scared to write in my diary because then it would mean what happened today was true and I don’t want it to be true…’’

Canterbury Quake, a novel by Desna Wallace, is about an 11-year-old girl living in Christchurch during the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

Maddy and her best friend Laura are the main characters. Maddy is very hopeful and talented. I related to her very well because I am very talented at different things like dancing and singing. I am hopeful because I dream of doing really important things one day. Laura is kind and never gives up.

Laura and Maddy were supposed to be doing a show together until Laura moves to Timaru. Maddy needs to find a new person to sing with.

Maddy is just looking forward to singing in the choir when she notices a terrifying rumble and a deafening roar outside and that the ground is shaking madly. She goes outside and that is when her life changed forever.

The style of this book is a diary of what happens each day.

I like this book because there is lots of information about what happens each day and what people are doing. It also helps explain how big the earthquakes are. I also like how there is a historical note in the back also showing real pictures.

I had some thoughts when I was reading: How were there so many earthquakes and why did they happen all in a row? I also wondered why there was a gap between some of the days? It must have been scary not knowing! I thought it was a good book because it gives the person an idea of what was happening in the earthquakes.

On the 4th of September at 4.35 am, there was a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. It damaged homes and other buildings. It was recorded at a depth of ten kilometres near Darfield, 30 kilometres from the centre of Christchurch. 189 people died in one of the earthquakes.

Canterbury Quake is a good book if you want to know how it was to be a young person during the big earthquakes and what it was like to live in Christchurch at that time.

I recommend it to people who want to read a book about earthquakes but also want to read a diary.

I recommend it to kids who are seven or older because earthquakes are scary and I don’t think that children aged six and under would understand what is happening so well.

• Piper Sewell is 12 years old and lives in Hamilton.