Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #1: Professor GargoyleOkay so nowadays when you get a book targeted at younger readers you never know what you will get. Especially not a book with a demon on the cover and our main character being redistricted to Lovecraft Middle School. Parents buying for younger readers need not worry, this is one of those books where I actually don't feel the need for warnings. There is a bully, but one who isn't actually violent, using gummy candy as his weapon of choice, and oh yeah he learns a lesson.
The story is fairly short and simple - Robert has been redistricted. Not an easy thing to face in Jr. High. Sure everyone else is excited about going to a brand spanking new school, complete with the biggest library you can imagine, a huge pool, fancy schmancy LED boards to display announcements on, all of the tools and supplies a school could need or want. Still, for Robert it's hell on earth as none of his friends have ended up at this new school. The only familiar face is Glenn (his bully). The one student who is nice to him, a girl named Karina, well... Robert is rude to her upon first meeting her, leaving him to think he's blown his only shot a friend. Robert isn't given much time to dwell on the missed opportunities though as Lovecraft Middle School is no ordinary school. There are rooms that don't seem to actually exist, teachers that don't seem to be human, double headed rats, missing students, tentacles in lockers, and now that he is thinking about it why isn't Karina in any classes?
A fast read that actually wraps up maybe a little too quickly and neatly, otherwise almost perfect. There's a preview for book 2 at the end of the book, which looks to be just as fun. Yes, I realize fun may seem like an odd word to use given the cover, the overall theme, the categories this ends up listed in, etc. but as I said this is a book for younger readers and while it is a horror / paranormal type book, it is kept a bit light (and in my eyes rather fun) because of that. I can't actually see it scaring anyone unless you read it to the very very very young kiddies.
The Slither Sisters starts us off with Robert and Glenn in the principal’s office. They’ll just explain to her what Lovecraft Middle School is. They know the Price sisters went through. But this IS Lovecraft Middle School, sometimes telling adults isn’t the answer. Sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands. In doing so, Robert, Glenn, and Karina learn a lot more about Crawford Tillinghast - like he has a sister and she can tell them a lot about his past -- and present. Okay, so maybe some adults are useful. Useful even if they do think that step one in the war against Tillinghast is for you to run for student council president. Robert isn’t sure how that will help, not when he is running against one of the Price sister’s. She’s popular. He’s also running against Howard, a nerd, but one who deserves to win as he has actual ideas. Oh and while trying to figure out this whole election thing, it seems there may be some new creatures leaking out of the school grounds, they’re tiny now - but they’ll grow and at least one has already been spotted.
A solid follow up that will not disappoint fans of the first book. Onto the next as the problems at Lovecraft Middle School have just begun.
Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #3: Teacher's PestBeyond an army really. If he and his evil crew of minions can somehow breed enough of them at the school, they'll be quite useful. Tillinghast has forgotten he's got to deal with a group of what he'd consider pests though - Robert, Glenn, Karina, and even his own sister. While no one else in the universe knows of him or his plans, they do. They know how he's taken bodies over. They know the recent bug infestation is his doing. They won't stand for it, especially not when Pip and Squeak (Robert's two headed rat) is endangered. They'll do everything in their power to exterminate each and every bug. Definitely what fans of the prior books would expect. A bit formulaic at this point, but still a fast fun read. Not what I would call scary, more like light-hearted horror that is perfect for the young readers it is intended for.
Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #4: Substitute Creature
The fourth book in the series Tales from Lovecraft Middle School, Substitute Creature, is in some ways the strongest book and in some ways the weakest. Either way, it’s still exactly what fans of the series would expect. Robert, Glenn, and Karina are fighting for their school and yeah, you guessed it, their lives.
This time around an extremely unusual snow storm hits the town, especially so in the area of the school (surprise). While most do make it out of the school in time, Robert, Robert's mother, Lionel (a spoiled rich kid who refused to take the buses out as he was sure that daddy would send a driver for him), Miss Carcasse (the substitute librarian), Maniac Mac (the janitor), and of course Karina end up trapped in the school.
Robert is sure that something is up with Miss Carcasse but since he cannot possibly tell his mother and Mac about the school, he’ll have to deal with most of it alone as Lionel is, well… Lionel and Karina has her usual ghosty limitations (which they’re now trying to hide from the adults). Oh there’s Pip and Squeak too, Robert has learned to communicate with them.
The villain here isn’t given much build up that storyline is almost too easily cleaned up. Robert is faced with his toughest choice of the series and yet that aspect of the storyline sort of takes a nice cop out for at least a part of it -- it does open up the storyline for a next book, but still it felt like a cop out. Despite those weaknesses, this is very much in line with the rest of the series. In many ways the lessened physical dramas of chasing around the bad guys worked. Robert and his buddies finally have to face some of their own emotional and mental dilemmas, ones we haven’t seem them really take on but should have before now, though this is still done in the usual lighthearted way you’d expect from this series.
