Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 05/01/2014 Gr 1–3—Sam is Eerie Elementary's newest (and only) hall monitor. He figures it will be a boring job and probably one that earns him enemies. He doesn't count on the school itself being enemy number one. After nearly being swallowed by quicksand and then attacked by a fire hose, Sam is ready to find answers. Could the school be alive? Are all the students in danger, or is it just Sam the school wants? When a play draws all of Eerie Elementary together in one location, the school makes its move. The counterattack is up to Sam. Illustrations are done in a fuzzy outline style that makes them appear not quite solid. While they fit the spooky theme, a few of them are hazy enough to be slightly distracting. That small quibble aside, the text and art are a good match. Give this early chapter book to readers who want something scary but aren't ready for the "Goosebumps" or "Scream Street" series.—Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 06/01/2014 Who wants to be the hall monitor at a school called Eerie Elementary? Not Sam Graves, that’s for sure. He is a little embarrassed by the shiny orange sash he has to wear as he patrols the halls, but when the playground sand tries to eat him, and the school caretaker, Mr. Nakobi, tells him that it’s Sam’s job to keep the malevolent brick building in check, Sam can’t tell whether Mr. Nakobi is crazy—or he is. Dynamic, cartoonish illustrations amp up the action, and fun onomatopoeia provides atmosphere—“Pow! Pow!” as a vending machine fires water bottles at Sam, and “CHOMP! CHOMP!” when a pile of metal folding chairs menaces the third-grade cast of Peter Pan. Sam’s friends Antonio and Lucy are by his side (once he convinces them he hasn’t lost his mind), but a sentient, evil school is not a peril to be taken lightly. Readers who relish the action of Dav Pilkey’s Ricky Ricotta series and the just-beyond-safe scares of R. L. Stine’s Rotten School titles may want to enroll at Eerie Elementary. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2014 When third-grader Sam Graves is appointed Hall Monitor at Eerie Elementary, he’s worried about being considered a tattletale by his classmates, but that turns out to be the least of his problems. Encounters with treacherous quicksand, a menacing tree branch, and a homicidal fire hose has Sam thinking something evil is up with the school; his suspicions are confirmed when Mr. Nekobi, the old school janitor, tells Sam that he must protect the students from a school building that is actually a monstrous, human-eating beast. Sam manages to convince his friend Antonio of the truth, and the two pair up to save students, parents, and teachers when a performance of Peter Pan goes awry and everyone’s threatened by carnivorous folding chairs. Chabert hits just the right horror note for transitional readers, with thrills that include a dash of absurd humor and fall tactfully short of being truly frightening. Sam fulfills every kid’s fantasy of being the chosen one to save the day, defeat an ancient evil, and win the admiration of friends and family. Simple sentence structure, some repetitive (but not tedious) vocabulary and a direct storytelling style make this a worthy and creepy addition to the Branches series, and the scary story aspect will likely pull in a few reluctant readers. Ricks’ illustrations add an appropriately gloomy but playful touch. KQG - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.