Eerie Elementary: The School Is Alive. Jack Chabert. Illustrated by Sam Ricks. 2014. 96 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: “This is HORRIBLE!” said Sam Graves. He was holding up a shiny orange sash. “I can’t believe I have to wear this.” It was Monday morning, and Sam and his best friends Antonio and Lucy were standing in front of their lockers.
Premise/plot: Sam Graves was not thrilled to be named hall monitor even before he knew the job came with thrills and chills. But the custodian, Mr. Nekobi, has hand-picked him to be "the one." The magic, chosen one who can protect the students of Eerie Elementary from the school itself. As the title states out right, the school is alive...and the students are NOT safe. It will be up to Sam (and to a lesser degree his friends Antonio and Lucy) to save everyone. But first he'll have to survive it himself.
My thoughts: Heavily illustrated chapter book for young readers. That is definitely one way to describe this one. It does offer "thrills and chills" for a young(er) audience. No adult who reads 'real' horror (for their own age group) is going to find this one too scary or daring.
Horror, even horror lite, is not my favorite or best genre or subgenre. I can say that now as an adult. And I can remember back to my own childhood. This book wouldn't have been "for me" then either. I'd hate to think of how more terrifying my childhood could have been if the idea of METAL FOLDING CHAIRS COMING TO LIFE AND EATING PEOPLE had been introduced through a book.
The book celebrates the absurd through a darker lens than say Tom Angleberger (who keeps things hilariously absurd....and way over the top.)
I do think *some* kids will think this book and subsequent books in the series to be great fun. And any book that gets a child super-excited about reading, that keeps readers coming back for more, more, more has some value.
I don't think every children's book should be the samey-same. I don't think children's books should be exclusively bunnies, unicorns, and ballerinas.
© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers
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