School of the Dead

April 4, 2016
“The first time Uncle Charlie came to live with us he was alive. The second time he came, he was dead.” So begins this decidedly creepy tale from Newbery Medalist Avi (Crispin: The Cross of Lead). After Tony Gilbert’s octogenarian great uncle Charlie moves in, they become fast friends, but their intergenerational friendship turns dark when Uncle Charlie dies but doesn’t leave. As Uncle Charlie repeatedly reminds Tony, quoting Albert Einstein, “the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion.” When Tony moves to San Francisco to start seventh grade at Uncle Charlie’s alma mater, he falls in with the quirky members of the school’s Weird History Club and finds himself at the heart of a twisted mystery, seeing ghosts but unsure who to trust. Even readers who—like Tony—don’t initially believe in the undead will easily relate to his more commonplace terrors as he navigates middle school social cliques. With a thrilling Halloween climax (when else?) and Tony’s soul on the line, this ghostly tale lives up to the chills suggested by the title. Ages 8–12.

April 1, 2016
In order to fulfill his dead great-uncle's wish, seventh-grader Tony begins attending the spooky, rambling, and possibly haunted Penda School. Classmate Jessica reaches out to him, perhaps offering friendship, but he's aware that she's a strange, unpopular girl (and seems to look a lot like Morticia from her description). The more people warn him to avoid her, however, the more determined he becomes to remain her friend. He keeps seeing the ghosts of both his uncle and a boy who died over 100 years ago, the son of the school's founder, even though he's pretty sure he doesn't believe in ghosts. Worse yet, the boy seems desperate to make real contact with him, but Jessica warns him that the ghost wants to capture his soul. Although Tony's narration can sound more authorial than like the voice of a 12-year-old, this atmospheric tale has plenty of creepiness to propel it, sometimes at a breathtaking pace. As it becomes clear that Jessica cannot be trusted, Tony also realizes that she might be just one of multiple threats, making him--and readers--doubt everyone. Hair-raising chases through dark, menacing secret passageways with the not-quite-dead at Tony's heels combine with an effective mingling of genuine school angst and the more spectral variety to create a scary, suspenseful, and chillingly immersive experience. The jacket illustration paints Tony as white. Don't read this one in a dark and haunted school. (Horror. 10-14)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 5-7-"The first time Uncle Charlie came to live with us, he was alive. The second time, he was dead." So begins Tony's story, one filled with mystery and danger, and one where the dead come to prey on the living. His great-uncle Charlie is old, infirm, and a bit odd, so Charlie's parents decide that he'll move in with them. Though at first cautious, Tony and Uncle Charlie become fast friends, bonding over junk food and a shared appreciation for scary stories and the paranormal. When Uncle Charlie dies, Tony is devastated-and he soon starts seeing his uncle's ghost everywhere. While he finds the presence comforting, his parents are concerned and continually pressure Tony to move on and let go of the past. Soon, the moody seventh grader learns that he's been accepted at his great uncle's alma mater, the Penda School in San Francisco. On his first day in the posh new school, he sees another ghost. As Tony learns more about the school and its checkered past, he fears that there is nobody whom he can trust. Things come to a head on Halloween, when Tony discovers some of the dark secrets harbored by the school and his connection to a missing student. Avi takes readers on a wild ride where the dead do far more than haunt the living. VERDICT Hand this spine-tingling and occasionally grotesque work to readers who have embraced Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Cornelia Funke's Ghost Knight.-Wayne R. Cherry Jr., First Baptist Academy Library, Houston

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