ILLUSTRATOR: Eric Rohmann
PUBLISHED BY: Houghton Mifflin
PUBLISHED IN: March 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-3909-3
Pages: 151
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Hundreds of mice lived in the Saint Bartholemew. More litters were being born and the population was getting too high. Their leader Hildegarde was worried that this may bring upon the Great X - the exterminator. The Great X had happened before and many of their kind had died. Hildegarde was determined to protect her colony.

The mice tried their best to not be seen, but some of the church members saw them. The mice attempt to destroy the phone book fails, and Father Murphy calls the Great X. Hildegarde orders the colony to leave the church and take refuge in the cemetery. Will the mice be able to live n the church again?

I read Bless This Mouse in one sitting. It was a delight to read. The characters are funny and charming, even though they are mice. I can easily see this as a computer-animated movie. I recommend this book to every one of all ages.

*I would like to thank Houghton Mifflin and Netgalley for sending me a copy to review.

Every summer Monica and her friends, Fran and Audrey, attend Madame Vere’s School, a private summer school for girls 6-12. This was their last year of classes.

A new student named Rhoda arrives at the school. She is from New York and her mother is a famous actress on Broadway. No matter what Rhoda does, Monica, Fran and Audrey don’t like her.

One night Monica is, awaken by a rusting sound. She finds a piece of paper with newspaper-cutout-letters on it. It read, “Monica, tell no one. RHODA In DANGER. GO to HAUNTED House. Tuesday at Mid Night. go alone.

I stumbled upon this book at a thrift shop. I am glad that I picked it up, it is a fast, fun read. The illustrations are spooky helping the mystery plot thicken page by page. If you can find Last Look, read it.

They follow a strange man that had bumped into Watch shortly before he became ill. They watch him go into the cemetery and jump through the tombstone of Madeline Templeton. She was a famous witch and her tombstone was the portal to other dimensions and times.

The kids follow the man through the portal and in up in a mirror Spooksville with copies of themselves living there. Will they save Watch and return home?

I have read many Christopher Pike books over the years, but this is my first in the Spooksville series. Despite being book 20, I found it easy to follow the plot. I would have to say that the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine inspired the Spooksville series. Overall, I found The Dangerous Quest fun to read.

BY: Jack Gilhooly
PUBLISHED IN: 2010

Rudy starts playing with the light switches to Grandpa’s miniature Christmas village. Rudy and Amanda are zapped into the village. There, they go by different name and have new parents. The villagers are upset that the library has gone missing. One day it was just lifted up into the air.

The kids find away to return to their Grandparents house. Over the next few days, they keep returning to the little village.

The Christmas Village is a cute story for kids. The two main characters, Rudy and Amanda, act just like normal children at Christmas. They have their minds on one thing: Gifts! While reading the book, I kept thinking of the Chillogy episodes from the Goosebumps television series. They both involve kids going into a miniature town. The only difference is that the Christmas Village is meant to charm you, not scare you. Yes, there is a message of giving just like any other Christmas story. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and I recommend this to every one of all ages.

*I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy to review.

PUBLISHED BY: A Skylark Book
PUBLISHED IN: 1996
ISBN: 0-553-54218-4
Pages: 99
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Due to the success of the R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series in the early 1990’s, other publishing houses tried to copy the format into their own series. The Graveyard School series came from that time.

The kids at Grove Hill call their school Graveyard School because there is a cemetery behind the playground. Several snowstorms have hit the small town. One playground afternoon, sixth-grader Kyle stumbled upon a strange glass eye near the cemetery. He had the idea of using it on his snowman. The other kids in his class were building snow statues, but Kyle was going to make a scary snowman.

Kyle’s snowman was tall - taller than the slides. He carved out a wicked grin for the face and used shark teeth. He found two strange branches and used them as arms. All of the kids were scared of it.

A strange thing happens. The student’s snow statues were destroyed, but one survived. Kyle’s snowman.

This is the first book in the series that I have ever read. It is a short book, but fun to read.