The transition from Elementary to Middle School can often be a scary situation for kids. Even more so for the kids selected to go to ‘Scary School’. Imagine arriving early on your first day of school to be greeted by a giant squid in a moat (who almost eats you). You are then greeted by a T-rex who tells you the only reason she isn’t eating you is because she just ate. That doesn’t mean she won’t eat you later.
‘Scary School’ is written by Derek The Ghost (also known as Derek Taylor Kent). Scary School is the first school in the Scary School System to enroll humans and monsters. The school is chosen by Franz Dietrich Wolfbark to host the monsters annual Ghoul Games. The Ghoul Games are held every year at a chosen school and the kids from the school system compete against each other in games of all kinds. Franz makes it perfectly clear to Principal Headcrusher, the head-crushing principal of Scary School, that the only reason he chose their school was in hopes of shutting it down. He didn’t think humans should be allowed in monster schools. He prepared special rules for this years Ghoul Games. Usually the school who won the Ghoul Games received a Golden Elephant and a trip to Albania to meet the Monster King. However, this year, the school who lost would get eaten by the monsters who won. Franz believed the kids at Scary School would lose since alot of them were human. No more kids = No more Scary School.
We follow the journey as the kids of Scary School face every day life at a school where you might get eaten by your teacher if you break a rule (everyone who gets eaten learns a lesson), while they are training for the Ghoul Games in the spring. We are introduced to some amazingly scary creatures such as Petunia – with Bees in her hair, Mrs. Fang – the one fanged vampire, and Penny Possum – the girl who plays dead.
There are many rules to follow and lessons to be learned throughout this story including a hands on anatomy of the internal organs with Mr. Snakeskin, who can give a detailed science lesson by removing layers of his body to show the inside. He is half dead, half alive, so he can do this. This may sound gross, but it really wasn’t. It was interesting.
I enjoyed reading this story and recommend it for kids in middle school or above. There is a good deal of getting eaten in this book, but in the end, most (if not all) of the kids who are ‘taught a lesson’ are brought back in some form or another. All of the ‘lesson teaching’ is done tastefully and in a fun way. I enjoyed all of the characters with their many vivid personalities. This book was fun and packed full of adventures. I am looking forward to reading the next book!
{Buy It}
You can pre-order Scary School
