Awesomeness on the March

Scary School: Monsters on the March
By: Derek the Ghost
Reported by: Roark and Julianna Helms
Source: the AWESOME publisher, HarperCollins
Release Date: Out now!

As winners of last year's Ghoul Games, the students of Scary School are off to Monster Forest. School may be scary, but the forest has a few frights of its own, including:

Bearodactyls—so terrifying we can't even show you pictures of them
Princess Zogette, the Monster King's toad-faced daughter, who falls for Charles Nukid . . . hard
Captain Pigbeard, fearsome leader of the Monster-Pirates and Princess Zogette's fiancÉ (well, former fiancÉ, thanks to Charles)
And when Zogette follows Charles to Scary School, the Monster King and Captain Pigbeard raise their armies and chase after her. But the monsters have no idea who—or what—they're dealing with.

In this clever, funny sequel to the frighteningly hilarious Scary School, Charles, Penny Possum, Dr. Dragonbreath, and all the students and teachers prove that scary monsters are no match for Scary School!

-Summary from Goodreads
Purchase: Mrs. Nelson's (yeah indie stores!)||Barnes&Noble||Amazon||Book Depository

A hilarious, thrilling ride of a story, Scary School: Monsters on the March proves once again why, despite the "cool stuff that's not real," as my brother Roark would say, the awesomeness of this book is real.

Monsters on the March begins in the school year following the first book in the series, Scary School, which my brother and I have reviewed here. While the first book was entertaining, the second book had Roark flipping through the pages like a madman. We were on vacation, and that was the only book he brought. Thus, he read it at least five times in that one week. And he didn't get tired of it at all! Which, I think, goes to show that this book is truly a great and addicting MG (Middle Grade) series. I'm not a kid anymore, but my brother still is, and his honest laughter as he reads the story is both nailing the point that MG is as much of a scary ride as ever and the portrayal of how kids his age would perceive the book--whooping hysterically, of course.

In general, I think, Monsters on the March is comparable to a joystick. It's sort of got that choose-your-own-adventure style with its many twists and bends, but it's also ultimately a story that crosses mazes, battles monsters, and in the end finds the player--or reader, in this case--both a winner and a loser in a satisfied heap. Although my brain is smeared with YA (Young Adult), this burst of MG is refreshing and captivating to say the least.

Overall, if the movies Paranorman or Hotel Transylvania seem like your type of thing, then this book is sure to become a classical and familial favorite.