Blood and Sand

As a parent, I'm always looking for interesting things for my kids to read...so when I saw The Midnight Library series on display at my local library, I was intrigued. We picked up the first few (Blood and Sand, Voices, & End Game) to see if we'd like them. I have to say, it's an interesting series. Each book appears to hold three short stores revolving around a central theme (in this case, Blood and Sand). We've just wrapped up reading this and boy my daughter (9) and I enjoyed the stores. All three are well written, suspenseful, and manage to scare without going over the top, that is to say there is a bit of subtleness to the stories that is refreshing. In this trio of terror, you get eerily real sand sculptures, a possessed parrot looking to toy with his new "owners," and a babysitter who doesn't seem quite like she used to be. The first story has some holes in it in terms of how it ended (the believability of "getting away with it after the accusations), but the second and third were of a better quality...with the third being my favorite by far. Overall, I give Blood and Sand 4 stars, the stores are quick to read (one per night for several nights) and the level of subtle creepiness was just right for the age range of this books audience. I'd recommend them for parents having trouble getting your young readers engaged in longer book over the summer (or the holidays).

Once again, Damien Graves has put together a book with three more scary stories! I can't wait to see what others think of it. John and Sarah have come again to the town where there practically isn't anyone around. Their family comes here every summer to spend time together, but they get so bored because there isn't anything to do except go to the stupid beach, which let me tell you, isn't the best place you want to spend your summer at. On the bright side, there is an annual sand sculpture competition which Sarah has finally convinced her brother, John, to attend and participate in like all the times they did it together when they were younger. There is this amazing sand sculptor whose creations are just unbelievable, that just looked like the real thing! But when Sarah and John were snooping around in the sculptor's tent, they found that the creations were real and that he was cheating! They told the judges, who did not believe them; it was probably because the sculptor said that he hadn't even started on his project. Sarah and John went to investigate in his house to find some evidence. What do you think will happen to Sarah and John? What do you think they will discover? Ben's grandfather has just recently died. While moving all his grandfather's stuff out of his house and into Ben's, he finds an ordinary pocket watch, which he thought was sort of a strange thing to give him but he kept it anyway. While looking through the moving van, Ben discovered this hideous looking bird named Igor that might just change Ben's life for awhile. A couple of days had past and his parents were acting kind of strange. All they did was take care of that stupid bird and started acting like they didn't even have a child. But then something strange occurred; the parrot said "I killed your grandfather, and you're next!" Ben was very scared of the bird now -- it was taking total control over his mom and dad's life, which wasn't very good, and he was afraid he would be killed, too! Over time very, very strange things occurred, and he had to find a way to save himself and his parents before it was too late! What will happen next? Jessica and Robbie's parents are going out for dinner and Laura, their babysitter, is coming to take care of them. Usually they look forward to spending time with her, but tonight I don't think they would want to do that. Laura is a very responsible person but this time she is very late -- and their parents are not happy about it, either. When she finally gets to the house though, she was nothing like the Laura they knew! The `other' Laura loved boy bands performing on MTV but this supposedly `different' Laura just couldn't stand the music. They knew something was up so they did everything and anything in their power to get themselves and their younger sister out of the house and fast! This second book in the TALES FROM THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY series has three heart stopping stories which will scare you to death. If you're like me, though, y