Happy Easter to you all!
Today is my spot on ‘Dread Wood’ Ultimate Blog Tour organised by Write Reads.
You can read the book’s synopsis, my family’s thoughts, and author bio below.
BOOK SYNOPSIS AND INFORMATION
- Publisher : Farshore (31 Mar. 2022)
- Paperback : 336 pages
- Reading age : 9 – 12 years
It’s basically the worst school detention ever. When classmates (but not mate-mates) Hallie, Angelo, Gustav and Naira are forced to come to school on a SATURDAY, they think things can’t get much worse. But they’re wrong. Things are about to get seriously scary.
What has dragged their teacher underground? Why do the creepy caretakers keeping humming the tune to Itsy Bitsy Spider? And what horrors lurk in the shadows, getting stronger and meaner every minute . . .? Cut off from help and in danger each time they touch the ground, the gang’s only hope is to work together. But it’s no coincidence that they’re all there on detention. Someone has been watching and plotting and is out for revenge . . .
OUR REVIEW
Our rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Four classmates including full of attitude Hallie, an uptight and overachieving Naira, a joker Gus, and loner Angelo come to their school, Dread Wood High, as part of their detention. One of their teachers, Mr Canton, oversees their punishment, although he calls is a ‘consequence’. He confiscates their mobile phones and tells them the plan for the day: picking litter and tending to the school animals.
Soon, strange things begin to happen. They hear a scream coming from the school grounds and notice that one of the school piglets, Arabella, goes missing. They also witness one of the creepy school caretakers Mrs Latchitt throwing a live chicken into the well… The final straw is when Mr Canton gets attacked and sucked into the ground.
Angelo reckons that something is alive and moving under the ground. What is it? Can the quartet survive? What will they uncover?
You’ll have to read this book for yourselves to find out.
I read this book with my children aged 9 and 11. I didn’t know that spiders were involved as my youngest is quite scared of them and as you can imagine, he was spooked! My oldest loved the story, she was sucked in right from the start.
Their favourite character was Gus, he was quite witty and we all liked how he was able to defuse the situation with humour. I liked the book’s themes of trust and friendship.
Overall, it’s a great story, although some creepy crawlies are involved.
Thanks to Farshore Books for the proof copy and to Write Reads for inviting us to this blog tour.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Killick is the author of the Dread Wood series, Crater Lake and the Alex Sparrow series. She regularly visits schools and festivals, and her books have three times been selected for The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge.
She lives in Uxbridge, in a house full of children, animals and Lego. When she isn’t busy mothering or step-mothering (which isn’t often) she loves to read, write and run, as fast as she can, so she can fully prepare for witches, demons, and the zombie apocalypse.
Monika Reads 
Great review, glad you all enjoyed it!
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Thank you, Ellie 😀
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