Little Red Reads

Children’s Ebook Review – Scary School

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Scary School 
by Derek the Ghost aka Derek Taylor Kent 
Ebook format 
Published June 21st, 2011 
by HarperCollins 
ISBN 0061960926
Book Source: Author 
4 Stars 

Book Summary: You think your school’s scary?
Get a load of these teachers:
Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire!
Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess!
Mr. Snakeskin—science class is so much more fun when it’s taught by someone who’s half zombie!
Mrs. T—break the rules and spend your detention with a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex!
Plus, Gargoyles, goblins, and Frankenstein’s monster on the loose!
The world’s most frighteningly delicious school lunch! And, the narrator’s an eleven-year-old ghost!
Join Charles “New Kid” Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky!

Margie’s Review: All middle grade readers will definitely love this new series! Such a fun and quirky book that starts with us meeting our narrator, Derek the Ghost. We get to know a little about Derek and how/why he is a ghost… and then he introduces us to what we will find and who we will meet at Scary School. 

In my opinion, this book was more of an introduction to the series than actual story telling. Every chapter is dedicated to a different teacher or student, giving us their story and background – if it wasn’t for the fact that Derek the Ghost reminds you of the underlying story that he’s trying to tell you, it felt like I was reading a bunch of short stories. Because of this, it was a bit hard to get into at first, but with the help of the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, it started to flow easily and was a lot of fun. 

My 8yo son is now reading it – and he is enjoying it more than I thought he would! We have already talked about a few of the characters and side stories and have learned… 

“Don’t judge a monster by the way he/she looks, looks can be deceiving!” 
“Always follow the rules! They’re made for a reason!” 

And here is some exciting news! Derek the Ghost is hard at work and writing up a storm! 
The next book will also be released as a hardcover on June 26th, 2012… Scary School #2: Monsters on the March. 
There is no official blurbs/quotes for it yet. But I’m pretty confident that it is going to be a good, laugh-out-loud story for the kiddos 🙂 Keep an eye out for it! 

I recommend this book for ages 8 and up.

About the author:  Derek the Ghost is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School writing down all the spine-tingling, often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on Earth.

Find more about Derek the Ghost on Scary School’s Official Website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.


MG Book Review- It’s the First Day of School….Forever

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It’s the First Day of School…Forever
by R.L. Stine
Paperback, 183 Pages
Published July 5th 2011
by Feiwel & Friends

ISBN 978-0-312-64954-8
Book Source: bought
3.25 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: On the first day of school, Artie falls out of his bed and hits his head. Hard. He tells his mom he’s dizzy and she says:“You’re just worried about your first day in a new school.”At breakfast, his little brother, Eddie, splashes syrup in his hair, and there’s no time to wash it. Artie has to go to school with syrup-hair. And then, on the way there, he gets splashed by a puddle that makes him look like he wet his pants. It’s not just the first day of school; it’s the worst day of school.On the second day of school, Artie falls out of bed and hits his head. Hard. He tells his mom he’s dizzy and she says:“You’re just worried about your first day in a new school.”Huh? Today is just like the day before. Can Artie find a way to change it, before it’s the first day of school…forever?

I have watched R.L. Stines Goosebumps books fly of my classroom shelves for years so I was excited to see a different book by R.L. Stine. In the beginning of the book I think many children can relate to Artie’s stress of the first day of school, especially a new school.

As the story went on, I found myself unable to put the book down, curious as to how poor Artie would ever get out of repeating the first day of school over and over!

This book is appropriate for middle elementary aged children, 4th-6th grade. There were some scary parts, it is by R.L. Stine after all, but nothing that goes to far.

About the Author: Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children’s literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children’s author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids’ Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA’s Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

Learn more on Goodreads or the author’s website

Book Review- The Moon Coin

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By Richard Due and Carolyn Arcabascio

Kindle ebook, 267 pages

Published 2011

By Gibbering Gnome Press

ISBN 978-0-9838867-2-3

Book Source: author
Age: Middle Grade

Summary from Goodreads: Gibbering Gnome Press Presents a Tale of Epic Fantasy


For Lily and Jasper Winter, the Moon Realm began with a single secret bedtime tale. As the children grew older, Uncle Ebb enthralled them with thrilling tales of the Dragondain riding horse-sized, catlike Rinn; mysterious tales of peerin-wielding lunamancers manipulating the magic that lies just beneath the surface of reality; exciting tales of flying dragons, swimming merfolk, stomping giants, and troublesome faeries. But as the magic of their childhood faded, so too did the tales. Eventually, they were just . . . good stories.

Or were they? Now, nine years after it all began, Uncle Ebb is missing.

Lily and Jasper search for clues, but their uncle’s mansion is full of distractions. A Tesla generator thrums in the basement. Prismatic electrimals flit around walls resembling underwater reefs. Then a most unexpected friend comes to their aid, leading them to a hidden room where they find a mysterious coin—the moon coin. Before the night is out, Lily is transported to the real Moon Realm. But the moons are in trouble. The Rinn of Barreth are under siege, and the lunamancers of Dain are beset by the very dragons they once loved. Most horrifying of all, the moon Darwyth has fallen to a villain named Wrengfoul, whose creeping evil now threatens to overshadow all the Realm.



Are Lily and Jasper too late to save the Moon Realm, or will they have enough time to write an ending of their own?

Featuring twenty-two stunning full-color illustrations by Carolyn Arcabascio. Volume One of the young adult fantasy adventure series The Moon Realm.

Mary’s Review: The illustrations in this book are colorful and bring to life the images on the page.  The children find them fascinating and love telling me their own stories from them.
Mr. Due has woven a fantasy of magical wondrous creatures as colorful as the illustrations from beginning to end.  There are fairies, seahorses, magical dragons, a king and queen, strange looking cats.  There’s an uncle who loves to weave tales to his niece and nephew and wears a gray cloak with many pockets that hold just as many surprises.
This is a great tale of fantasy for all ages young and old alike.
About the Author
Richard Due first imagined the Moon Realm while telling bedtime tales to his children.  He makes his home in Southern Maryland, where he and his wife own and operate Second Looks Books, an independent used bookstore.  The Moon Coin is the first novel in the Moon Realm series.  Visit TheMoonRealm.com for more information on the series.
About the Illustrator
Carolyn Arcabascio hails from Massachusetts, where she lives and works as an illustrator while pursuing her lifelong exploration of words, images, and the magical places where they meet.  Visit her website www.carolynaracbascui.com.
Purchase The Moon Coin on sale during he month of January for only 99 cents on Amazon.