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Roxy Ran #1
White Ninja
From the ninja trainer on THE BIGGEST LOSER comes the first in a series that combines martial arts with mystery adventure. Roxy Ran is an ordinary thirteen-year-old girl who doesn't know anything about her ninja powers until a confrontation with the school bully unleashes them.When new boy Jackson Axe introduces Roxy to the world of martial arts, she learns about the legend of the White Warrior and the powers that are trapped in the tiger Scrolls. the White Warrior is hunted by both the ninja and samurai clans, and now Jackson and Roxy must find the tiger Scrolls and unleash the powers of the White Warrior before the samurai do.And in order to survive, Roxy must unleash her inner 9+'Dazzlingly different... a novel about transformation that has the power to transform every reader. tiffiny Hall is the new voice in children's fiction.' - John Marsden
177 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 31, 2020
She's 13? Because she sure does not describe people the way a thirteen year old would. The voice that the story is being told in, does not work.
May 27, 2013
Oh my god this book was AWFUL. It made me think of a cross between an episode of Naruto and an ad on the radio where a kid's mum is buying him AAALLL the colours. By the end I was laughing out loud at how stupid it was and even imagined a Benny Hill-like chase at one point. The fight scenes were hard to follow as it was just move after move after move that seemed anatomically impossible (though there was a glossary at the back explaining what the moves were) and someone needs to take the thesaurus away from this woman (though she loved the word "flecked"). And any interactions with characters reads like a fanfiction.
Proof that being a black belt does not qualify you to write about the sport.
I do not recommend reading this book.
Proof that being a black belt does not qualify you to write about the sport.
I do not recommend reading this book.
April 2, 2017
I really liked this book, as it had some important messages for people who are getting bullied.
It had a great storyline full of mystery, love, and family. I really recomende this book for girls 12+, but boys can read it if they want to.
It had a great storyline full of mystery, love, and family. I really recomende this book for girls 12+, but boys can read it if they want to.
October 1, 2012
Suitable for ages from 10 to about 13
Roxy Ran is a 13 year old girl who doesn't quite fit in. She goes to school at Hindley Hall where she is getting some special treatment from the school bully, Hero. Then one day while rescuing a kitten Hero is attempting to flush down the toilet, Roxy discovers she has some super ninja powers.
All of a sudden she finds herself on a quest to find the White Warrior and the Tiger Scrolls before the powers of evil get them.
White Ninja is a very short and cute story for early teens and perhaps a little younger about a girl finding the strength to face her fears. Tiffany Hall manages to weave a subtle anti-bullying message into this story without ever preaching.
I think this book would be great for young people who find reading difficult. It's great fun and easy to read.
Many thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC
All the things I hate –– Chinese burns, pimples, cheese, answering questions in class –– are Christmas compared with having to walk through the gate to school.
Roxy Ran is a 13 year old girl who doesn't quite fit in. She goes to school at Hindley Hall where she is getting some special treatment from the school bully, Hero. Then one day while rescuing a kitten Hero is attempting to flush down the toilet, Roxy discovers she has some super ninja powers.
All of a sudden she finds herself on a quest to find the White Warrior and the Tiger Scrolls before the powers of evil get them.
White Ninja is a very short and cute story for early teens and perhaps a little younger about a girl finding the strength to face her fears. Tiffany Hall manages to weave a subtle anti-bullying message into this story without ever preaching.
I think this book would be great for young people who find reading difficult. It's great fun and easy to read.
Many thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC
September 26, 2012
My cousin, who is friends with Tiffiny Hall managed to get the book earlier for my sister and boy I'm glad she got it. We were on holidays and I had already finished the book I was reading so I delved into a merciless hunt for a new book. I was picking at the suitcases and writhing around on the floor when came cross the unique book. I flipped axiously to the blurb and devoured the blurb in under around 10 seconds. It was adequate. So, I began reading. I opened the book to find brilliant descriptions and a well thought out plot. I loved the way that Tiffiny Hall relates it to her own Taekwondo expertise. Roxy Ran was perfectly portrayed and her transformation from a school nobody into a cunning, popular and skilled ninja intertwined with her relationship with Jackson was impressively written. The fighting scenes were enthralling and made me want to get up and do summersaults. The storyline impressinglty different. The story on the hole left me bewildered and gave me a great surprise. I can't wait to be dazzled by the next book in the series.
August 19, 2013
I loved this book. My students relished the positive messages of confidence and courage. It was fun to read, fast paced and enthralling. I agree with John Marsden 'dazzlingly different'. The themes of dealing with bullies, negative self-talk, friendships and bravery are excellent for this age group. Tiffiny writes beautifully with a seamless blend of martial arts and magic. I recommend this book for girls and boys aged 9+
October 20, 2015
I want to be fair to this novel. I got it as a present at the age of 15 and I was already a very proficient reader so to me it was totally cliché and nonsensical. The writing and I didn't get along either.
HOWEVER if I had read this when I was about 10, I would have enjoyed it. It wouldn't have been particularly amazing at the time but still a nice read.
It has some potential for its target audience
HOWEVER if I had read this when I was about 10, I would have enjoyed it. It wouldn't have been particularly amazing at the time but still a nice read.
It has some potential for its target audience
September 25, 2012
Loved this book!
March 31, 2014
Great book I got it signed to I reccomend it to anyone who likes action adventure and a bit of romance
February 10, 2017
one of my favorite books of all time.
September 15, 2014
I read this book a while ago and I am glad i read it, I liked this book and would recommend it.
December 24, 2022
Teenagers, especially thirteen-year-olds, can believe they are hopeless at everything. Especially if they have an older sister who is 'perfect'.
Roxy has a strange birthmark on her foot. Her mother keeps surprise ninjas attacking her and her sister Elecktra on the way to school. Like her mother is training them to become ninjas she gives them green juice in the morning. Art, their mum's boyfriend, is an artist and has exhibitions. None of this helps Roxy when she's being bullied at school. She freezes rather than defends herself.
Jackson is a new boy in school. He tells her about the 'White Warrior' and starts training her to use her ninja powers. He also is Elecktra's next boyfriend target.
In this unusual family dynamic, her Mum finds out what she's training for. Roxy must find the 'Tiger Scrolls,' and battle four monsters in a cemetery in another realm, to find the 'White Warrior'.
Hero and his two buddies continue to bully Roxy and her red-headed friend Cinnamon. Life becomes dangerous for Roxy when Hero belays her at the largest climbing wall at school. She falls and breaks her arm. Now, she can't see how she can continue to train, much less be transported to fight a battle for her life.
The ending leaves the reader gasping and looking for the next book. I'll be onto that one soon.
Roxy has a strange birthmark on her foot. Her mother keeps surprise ninjas attacking her and her sister Elecktra on the way to school. Like her mother is training them to become ninjas she gives them green juice in the morning. Art, their mum's boyfriend, is an artist and has exhibitions. None of this helps Roxy when she's being bullied at school. She freezes rather than defends herself.
Jackson is a new boy in school. He tells her about the 'White Warrior' and starts training her to use her ninja powers. He also is Elecktra's next boyfriend target.
In this unusual family dynamic, her Mum finds out what she's training for. Roxy must find the 'Tiger Scrolls,' and battle four monsters in a cemetery in another realm, to find the 'White Warrior'.
Hero and his two buddies continue to bully Roxy and her red-headed friend Cinnamon. Life becomes dangerous for Roxy when Hero belays her at the largest climbing wall at school. She falls and breaks her arm. Now, she can't see how she can continue to train, much less be transported to fight a battle for her life.
The ending leaves the reader gasping and looking for the next book. I'll be onto that one soon.
June 23, 2017
Our Junior Book Club read this one for June. We had a great chat about the social side of the story vs the action adventure and spoke quite a lot about the family/social dynamics. The members think it should be recommended to kids 8-12.
6 out of 8 members said they would like to read the follow up.
They rated it:
9.75/9.75/6/10/4/5/6/6.5/9
6 out of 8 members said they would like to read the follow up.
They rated it:
9.75/9.75/6/10/4/5/6/6.5/9
December 9, 2019
Read this novel in 6th grade a few years ago, I loved it then but if I end up reading it again, I doubt I'd feel the same towards it as my preferences have changed over the years. I think it's a good read for a prepubescent audience.
May 17, 2018
its nice
May 4, 2017
Cute and powerful
February 28, 2017
I love this book because I do teakwondo and I can relate to this book. And how Roxy got a boyfriend and her becoming the white ninja. Because it doesn't have no start and no finish date is become I have an copy at home
March 23, 2013
This book is about a teenage girl called Roxy who is basically treated as one of the unpopular students in school. The students have a system, where by they can either come through Gate 1 (for popular kids) or Gate 2 (for unpopular). Roxy tries her best to get herself into Gate 1, but is always shown up by a bully called Hero and his mates. The story begins to unfold where we find Roxy is actually a ninja, like her mother, and in gaining her powers, she must now face a never-ending battle against the Samurai (the Ninja's sword-weilding nemesis).
I must say that I found the first two chapters of White Ninja very slow paced and I think one of the things that made it that way was all of the description and metaphors that had been thrown in. I only continued reading it because we had the author, Tiffiny Hall, coming to visit the school that I work at, so I thought I should read a bit more to get a clearer picture of the story. As I got into the third chapter, I began enjoying it a bit more and I can say that I actually found it difficult to put it down.
However, then came the final few chapters where Roxy faces off against all manner of undead warriors in a mystical cemetery. I found myself reading and having to re-read passages to make sense of what had happened and got totally put off by all of the martial arts jargon; i.e. Roxy did a double knife hand chop which was deflected by a flying axe kick, which Roxy turned and flipped over before punching a side kick to the enemy's stomach and then throwing her shuriken at his head before cartwheeling and dealing another back kick followed by a hammer-fist to the leg [not an actual passage, but it pretty much sums up what I was reading].
The ending also seemed forced; it was like someone had decided that we should be getting to the end of the book now, so the author breezed through it - making these final battles appear like non-events. Not to mention the cameo appearance by Roxy's ninja mum, who has been a ninja for a very long time, but basically arrived at the cemetery only to be almost killed by a flying hatchet... lucky Roxy (who has been a ninja for a few weeks) was there to save her before she disappeared.
The ending left me wondering whether I want to continue reading this series. I certainly did enjoy most of the book and the story line is quite good... I just wasn't a fan of the way it was written.
I must say that I found the first two chapters of White Ninja very slow paced and I think one of the things that made it that way was all of the description and metaphors that had been thrown in. I only continued reading it because we had the author, Tiffiny Hall, coming to visit the school that I work at, so I thought I should read a bit more to get a clearer picture of the story. As I got into the third chapter, I began enjoying it a bit more and I can say that I actually found it difficult to put it down.
However, then came the final few chapters where Roxy faces off against all manner of undead warriors in a mystical cemetery. I found myself reading and having to re-read passages to make sense of what had happened and got totally put off by all of the martial arts jargon; i.e. Roxy did a double knife hand chop which was deflected by a flying axe kick, which Roxy turned and flipped over before punching a side kick to the enemy's stomach and then throwing her shuriken at his head before cartwheeling and dealing another back kick followed by a hammer-fist to the leg [not an actual passage, but it pretty much sums up what I was reading].
The ending also seemed forced; it was like someone had decided that we should be getting to the end of the book now, so the author breezed through it - making these final battles appear like non-events. Not to mention the cameo appearance by Roxy's ninja mum, who has been a ninja for a very long time, but basically arrived at the cemetery only to be almost killed by a flying hatchet... lucky Roxy (who has been a ninja for a few weeks) was there to save her before she disappeared.
The ending left me wondering whether I want to continue reading this series. I certainly did enjoy most of the book and the story line is quite good... I just wasn't a fan of the way it was written.
December 6, 2012
Not my usual cup of tea but I just couldn’t resist this time. It’s just not what I would normally read as its intended audience is a lot younger (10-13 yo) than I am and I don’t usually read books for this age groups. However, this book sounded like so much fun that my curiosity is aroused.
I loved the variety of characters from the popular gorgeous older sister, the tough evil bully and his cohorts, the overweight insecure BFF, to the mysterious good looking boy. Even the mother and her partner have such unique characteristics that I’m a little bit jealous since my family is relatively normal ;)
Whilst I myself am not into martial arts, hubby is, but I do love watching martial arts movies. There is something mystical about ninjas though and that is what really intriguing. Even though the fighting scenes confused me a little with all the roundhouse kickings and axe kicks and flying kicks and so on, I still found the whole book to be very entertaining.
I would fully recommend this book to the truly adventurous and also to the adventurous at heart (like me). I’m planning to gift this as a Christmas present for a niece of mine –can’t wait to hear her thoughts!
Thank you Harper Collins Australia and NetGalley for the privilege to view & read galley
I loved the variety of characters from the popular gorgeous older sister, the tough evil bully and his cohorts, the overweight insecure BFF, to the mysterious good looking boy. Even the mother and her partner have such unique characteristics that I’m a little bit jealous since my family is relatively normal ;)
Whilst I myself am not into martial arts, hubby is, but I do love watching martial arts movies. There is something mystical about ninjas though and that is what really intriguing. Even though the fighting scenes confused me a little with all the roundhouse kickings and axe kicks and flying kicks and so on, I still found the whole book to be very entertaining.
I would fully recommend this book to the truly adventurous and also to the adventurous at heart (like me). I’m planning to gift this as a Christmas present for a niece of mine –can’t wait to hear her thoughts!
Thank you Harper Collins Australia and NetGalley for the privilege to view & read galley
September 16, 2015
M-Tear didn't realise that there was a list of what each move and Japanese item meant until she had finished, so for the most part of it she was very confused. Loved the idea however, and can't wait until the next book.
15-2-15 update edit
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
Well, 2 years have past, and to be honest, not overly enjoying this book anymore. I've received the 3rd book a little while ago, so I'm doing one last final read of the trilogy, so then after that I'm more than likely going to put this on my 'used-to-own' bookshelf.
15-2-15 update edit
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
Well, 2 years have past, and to be honest, not overly enjoying this book anymore. I've received the 3rd book a little while ago, so I'm doing one last final read of the trilogy, so then after that I'm more than likely going to put this on my 'used-to-own' bookshelf.
October 4, 2015
What a great little read! This book has it all...bullying, low self-esteem, action, adventure, samurais and of course, ninjas!
Roxy is a 13 year old girl doing it tough in her first year of high school. She doesn't understand what makes her a target but when she finally stands up to the bully, Hero, things start to become clearer.
This book is about finding your way, about realizing that sometimes there are things greater than yourself but most of all, it is about believing in yourself.
I look forward to reading the next two in the series.
Roxy is a 13 year old girl doing it tough in her first year of high school. She doesn't understand what makes her a target but when she finally stands up to the bully, Hero, things start to become clearer.
This book is about finding your way, about realizing that sometimes there are things greater than yourself but most of all, it is about believing in yourself.
I look forward to reading the next two in the series.
September 12, 2013
Finished this in one day and this book has taught a-lot of things and being a ninja is definitely awesome. The favorite thing that i liked about this book is that the main character got stronger with each chapter but the thing i hated was that you get distracted by the dialogue and you forget whats going on.
April 4, 2015
OMG This book was perfect for me. If anyone dislikes white ninja or even the Roxy Ran series, THEY ARE SERIOUSLY CRAZY MAD! If you havn't read this book and are checking out the reviews, READ IT NOW!Go to the bookstore,library,whatever.JUST READ IT NOW! The world deserves to read this book! Hurry up before they are sold out!
March 17, 2013
This book is painful to read. The writing is appalling and reads like a bad grade 6 essay. The excessive and repetitive use of adverbs & adjectives made this not only a tiresome read but jarring -I would not recommend this book for any child
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March 26, 2013It was a bit hard for me picturing the martial arts' kicks and hand knives.
I understand that the author has learned Taekwondo so I only can guess that it was a typo. The "Sabomin" which means teacher should be spelled "Saboonim" or if you want to save a letter "Sabonim".
I understand that the author has learned Taekwondo so I only can guess that it was a typo. The "Sabomin" which means teacher should be spelled "Saboonim" or if you want to save a letter "Sabonim".
February 24, 2013
Good book, but a little childish, if only there were some ninja books for an older audience.
May 17, 2013
Really good book for kids !
August 6, 2013
Tiffiny Hall totally knows Ninja! A terrific first book in the Roxy Ran series. Kids will love this novel.
September 2, 2013
awesome book! read 10 times!
December 8, 2014
make that a 3.5 star rating.. definitely written for a younger audience however the ninja self discovery adventure and action was fun all the same..
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews