Groosham Grange

I think that this is a great book, but Anthony Horowitz should have made it longer!

When 13 year old David Eliot takes off on a train with two other new students for a school on an island that doesn't appear on any map, something is definitely not right. The other students at the school seem like zombies, no real teaching seems to be going on, the assistant headmaster appears to be a vampire, another teacher is a werewolf, and one seems to be over 600 years old. Escape seems impossible. Groosham Grange, we discover along with David, is a school for witches. Will David join them or succeed in getting away from this evil place? This may sound like a Harry Potter rip-off but was actually written before Harry Potter made this type of story so popular. The exaggerated style is a mixture of horror and comedy; this book would appeal to Harry Potter fans, particularly those who are reluctant readers and can't handle a long book. Because of its shorter length, it is much more accessible. The skillful mix of humor and horror make it a good read for boys, in particular

Reviewed by Dylan James (age 11) for Reader Views (6/08) David is confused and worried about his school predicament. Was he sent to a great manner-loving school or sent to a monster-infested creep house? Whatever it is, it will be hard to survive! Meeting new friends and always trying to escape the creepy school of Groosham Grange, David must uncover new mysteries before it's too late! "Groosham Grange" is a mystery/action novel and was very pleasing. Throughout the entire adventure, there was always a new thing to discover, a new thing to do. With an almost-impossible-to-guess ending and some scary monsters, this book was very interesting. There is no way you can put this book down after reading just one chapter. The writing was superb and moving. I liked this book mostly because of the ongoing adventure. Some people may dislike that the character is always on the move, but I think that most will appreciate the action. My least favorite part of "Groosham Grange" was the unnecessary and totally unbelievable violence at the beginning. This book would have been in my top ten favorite books had it not had the violence at the beginning, with a character not caring at all as he stabbed his wife and threatened his son; I cannot relate to that. When characters would have normally died from wounds, they just get up like nothing happened. Some people will find this `funny' and some will find it repulsive. Because the book made light of violence, I would not recommend anyone under the age of eleven to read this book. Because I loved every page of "Groosham Grange" except the first two, overall I was thrilled with this book.

Anthony Horowitz today is better known for his successful Alex Rider series (which have also been turned into movies) but back when I was a kid he wrote the best comedy thrillers and comedy horror junior paperbacks you could find. Groosham Grange first published back in 1988 is easily up there with the best of his career's work. I just reread it today and it is even better than I remembered it. You definitely don't have to still be a kid either to enjoy it. I guess the closest comparison to this storyline would be the first book of the Harry Potter series although this is a lot less magicy and more kid monsters/horror. Obviously J.K. Rowling read this book as a kid herself before coming up with her successful series. In Groosham Grange 12 year old David Eliot is expelled from school. His abusive father isn't too pleased, nor does his mother stick up for him either and goes along with his dad's evil plans usually while being the victim of domestic violence herself. When a letter addressed to his father seems to magically arrive just when he is thinking up punishment explaining that a school located on an island off the Norfolk (part of the UK) coastline is heavily into discipline and doesn't expect the parents to ever visit at all he decides to send David there. On route to the school David meets two other new classmates, Jeffrey and Jill. They decide to stick together no matter what. What is however not anything they could have expected! From the train station they are driven in a hearse to a rusty boat which takes them to the island. There they made to sign onto the registry with their own blood, the teachers are weird, the history teacher is old, bald and wrapped in bandages. The French teacher disappears every full moon, the Latin teacher teaches in darkness by candlelight with the blinds closed because he doesn't like the sun and why does the headmaster's door's sign say The Heads? The food doesn't resemble any animal they used to eat and where do all the other students disappear to after midnight? Why does everyone keep mentioning how fortunate David is to be born the seventh son of a seventh son? These are just some of the weird things going on at Groosham Grange. David and Jill want to leave but you're never supposed to leave Groosham without graduating. The school even has its own cemetery! Horowitz is a great author. Another book you absolutely must read is called Granny. It's the story of the evilest Granny on the planet who plans to attend the Golden Granny Awards where she can compete for awards such as making everyone at the post office wait for the longest amount of time, the longest time to get on bus, most difficult shopper, the most unnecessary visits to a doctor and many other awards. The evil grannies of the world also have a new invention that will make them young again, all they need is the enzymes of a young boy and what better boy to use than her own grandson!

Groosham Grange is a brill book, it is about a boy called David Eliot and he gets expelled from Beton College. He gets a letter from a school on the coast of Norway called Groosham Grange.He meets a girl called Jill and a boy called Jeffrey on a train to Norway.When they get to the train station they find a humpbacked person waiting to drive them to the school. When they got there they found out that nothing was as they expected and far from normal. This is a book for people who like adventure and mystery books. Recommended for ages 7-13.