Grade 6-9 - Hamish is happy about entering Capra Video High School (specializing in video production). In a homework essay, he admits, "Sometimes when I watch a good movie I feel like I belong there more than I belong in my own life." Indeed, his personal life is pretty much an out-and-out flop: he has little confidence and no real friends. Things change when he finds a mysterious note in his locker informing him that he has been selected to fight evil. Skeptical, he is led to a Capra alumnus who presents Hamish with a "Vidz," a DVD that contains a medieval adventure that, when played, sucks him directly into the action as its main character. "Sir Hamish," he soon realizes, is an older, more perfect, sword-wielding version of himself. Hamish gradually learns that he must team up with two other Capra students to complete the fight against the forces of evil in the Vidz, and the trials that cement their alliance prepare them for the parallel battle they face back at Capra: exposing a corrupt school official before he gambles away the school's assets. The first in a series from Australia, this book will attract reluctant readers, but it's not limited to that audience. The action occasionally unfolds in screenplay format and storyboard-style illustrations create a cinematic feel and appeal. - Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
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Product Description
HAMISH'S LIFE SHOULD be perfect now that he’s at Capra Video High School, studying his great passion in life: movies. But he finds himself with few friends, and not much to do besides watch movies at home. Then he finds a mysterious note in his locker. “You have been chosen to fight evil!” it says. Huh? That’s the kind of thing that happens in the movies, right? It doesn’t happen to Hamish . . . or does it?
Soon Hamish has entered the world of the Vidz, where there’s no script to follow, no director to tell you what to do, and no spooky music to tell you when something scary is about to happen. It’s up to Hamish to decide how this movie is going to end, and he’d better fight those bad guys, because if they win, Hamish’s whole life at Capra Video High will change.
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