It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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It took me about a year to fully read this book. That sounds horrible and really it doesn’t do this book justice. I was reading it in little snippets while my children were bathing or doing other things that I was supervising and reading. This is not one of those books. It needs your full attention or you just don’t get it. 

I started it because of our Mock Newbery club and I just finished it because it was on the Bluebonnet list. 

It’s super creepy/scary and I won’t be recommending this book to any child specifically. It is on the Bluebonnet list so we have several copies, but it’s just a little too much.

As far as scary stories goes, it feels like a classic, Edgar Allen Poe or Dracula. It’s perfect for classic horror fans.

Genre: Scary

AR level: 4.9

Grade appropriate: mature 5th graders and up

RATING BREAKDOWN:

Overall: 2/5-- I just don’t even know. It’s just… scary and when I was finished I looked back and liked it better than I ever did in the middle of it. The ending is good, by the way.

Creativity: 5/5-- Totally unique but with the feel of a classic horror story.

Characters: 5/5-- Love Molly and Kip. Hope I would be as brave in a similar situation.

Engrossing: 2/5-- It takes time and full concentration to get through it. LIke I said, it took me a year…

Writing: 5/5-- It’s beautifully written.

Appeal to kids: 2/5-- I’m not going to be recommending it to any kids because I don’t want to be the one who handed a kid the book that was way too scary.

Appropriate length to tell the story: 3/5-- did I mention that it took me a year?

CONTENT:

Language: none-- euphemisms

Sexuality: none

Violence: medium-- I only say medium in comparison to other middle grade novels. The ghost/night gardener is truly frightening and kills several people in the story. The murder is never extremely explicit though.

Drugs/Alcohol: none