Eerie Elementary: The School Is Alive by Jack Chabert (review)

When third-grader Sam Graves is appointed Hall Monitor at Eerie Elementary, he’s worried about being considered a tattletale by his classmates, but that turns out to be the least of his problems. Encounters with treacherous quicksand, a menacing tree branch, and a homicidal fire hose has Sam thinking something evil is up with the school; his suspicions are confirmed when Mr. Nekobi, the old school janitor, tells Sam that he must protect the students from a school building that is actually a monstrous, human-eating beast. Sam manages to convince his friend Antonio of the truth, and the two pair up to save students, parents, and teachers when a performance of Peter Pan goes awry and everyone’s threatened by carnivorous folding chairs. Chabert hits just the right horror note for transitional readers, with thrills that include a dash of absurd humor and fall tactfully short of being truly frightening. Sam fulfills every kid’s fantasy of being the chosen one to save the day, defeat an ancient evil, and win the admiration of friends and family. Simple sentence structure, some repetitive (but not tedious) vocabulary and a direct storytelling style make this a worthy and creepy addition to the Branches series, and the scary story aspect will likely pull in a few reluctant readers. Ricks’ illustrations add an appropriately gloomy but playful touch.