Scary School by Derek the Ghost

School can be a scary place... but not nearly as frightening as Scary School, which boasts teachers like vampires, dragons, dinosaurs, and zombies.

Come on a journey with the Derek the Ghost and the new kid of Scary School, aptly named Charles Nukid, as he learns the ins and outs, and downright strange traditions of this terrifying institution of learning. As we travel through Scary School, we soon discover that everyone will be participating in the upcoming Ghoul Games where students are excited to learn they get to choose the activity they'd like to compete in. The excitement soon turns to terror, however, when they learn that this year, the rules have changed... slightly. Instead of winning medals, now the winners get to... eat the losers.

To say this book has boy appeal is an understatement. The silly, irreverent humor has definite allure to the "reluctant reader" set. Each chapter introduces us to a new and terrifying member of Scary School and shows us the clever use of play-on words, my favorite being the chefs WereWolfgang Puck and Mario Bat-Ali (for obvious reasons I think).

The introducing of new characters in each chapter makes it have a structure very similar to Sideways Stories from Wayside School so, in that regard, along with the style of humor, I think it is a good fit for boy readers ages 8-10. As a sixth grade teacher, this would be a good book for some of my kids at the beginning of the year, but as it always and inevitably happens, as we get closer to the end of the year, they are looking to read books with more mature plots and characters. Upon asking a sixth grade student what she thought of the book, she agreed that it had more appeal to boys between the ages of 8-10 (this assessment was without my prompting).

Scary School by Derek the Ghost
Published: June 1, 2011
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 233
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Middle Grade
Disclosure: copy received for review from author