Review: Scary School by Derek the Ghost (Derek Kent)

Title: Scary School
Author: Derek the Ghost (Derek Kent)
Reading level: Ages 8 and up
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (June 21, 2011)

Book Synopsis: 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

First Impressions: This book sounded completely cute when I first read the synopsis. I always have an eye out for books I think my niece and nephew will like, especially since I babysit them a few times per week. It is hard to find a book that they will both enjoy, but I thought that this one would work well. My sister and I grew up with a love for reading and we are hoping her children will, too.

Review: Trying to get these kids to sit still is usually one heck of a job. They are active kids, even without being loaded up on sugar. So when I actually got them to sit down with me to read and look through this book, I was pretty impressed. We read the entire book over a two-night span of time and the kids really seemed to enjoy the book. The youngest really loved the illustrations and so did I. They are simple and more old-school then you find in other books, yet very entertaining and effective.

Overall, this book reminded me of Harry Potter quite a bit, just without all of the darkness and killings and stuff that are meant for someone older. The main character is Derek, who happens to be a ghost. Derek is trapped at Scary School until he finishes some unfinished business, which is writing down all of the stories nobody ever told before about Scary School. He writes all of his stories down in a notebook that had endless pages, with a pen that never runs out of ink. This book is composed of introductory stories about Scary School from Derek’s perspective, and it is hinted repeatedly that there are many more stories to come. That aspect is pretty brilliant from a marketing perspective, since it gets kids excited to read more books when they are released.

The characters in this book are so creative! While I really liked Charles Nukid, the new kid at Scary School, my niece loved Mrs. T, the tyrannosaurus who might eat you if you end up in detention, and my nephew loved Mr. Snakeskin, who is a half-zombie science teacher! All of the characters were so enjoyable, unique and memorable. I personally can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next!

Despite the name of the book being called Scary School, this book is barely PG and not very scary at all. In fact, it was quite funny and hilarious most of the time and we were laughing a lot while reading the book. On top of that, this book has some good morals weaved in, which is always a plus when reading to a child. As for the level of difficulty when it comes to the reading level, it is challenging and I do think it would require help from an adult to finish the book. Some of the words that were used would be very challenging I think to younger readers. Plus, this book is over 200 pages long and to a child, that is huge amount of pages.

Final Thoughts: I highly recommend picking up a copy of Scary School! I think that this book is a great start to a wonderful new series for younger readers. I even enjoyed it! It is just too cool and funny not to love, even at my age. My little readers loved it too, so that is saying a lot! All of us are very much looking forward to the next book in the series which comes out in June of this year!

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