Spirit Week, by Ira Marcks

    If you are a fan of scary books or the horror genre, it's possible that you've heard of author Stephen King. He's not an author for kids or teens, but older teens sometime read his stories anyway (hopefully with some parent permission). They are intense, scary, well-written...he may be the King of Horror!

    One of King's most famous books is called The Shining. It takes place in the mountains of Colorado outside of a tourist town called Estes Park. The book I am reviewing here today, Spirit Week, also takes place at a hotel in the mountains of Colorado, outside of Estes Park. Spirit Week is about a possibly haunted hotel where a famous but older author of horror stories lives. One young photographer has been invited to create a film about the hotel, and along the way his trip to Estes Park has other people involved.

    Spirit Week is well drawn, but I found the storyline difficult to follow. The first part of the story is clearly a reference to Stephen King and The Shining, and I even checked the author's notes at the back of the book about half way through reading it to see what Marcks had to say about these references - I thought maybe Marcks had written a graphic novel tribute, of sorts, to The Shining or King. I was "horrified" to find no reference or mention at all...really?!? The second half of the book was not The Shining, but I'm not really sure what it was. On one page the characters were outside in the snow at the hotel, and the next page they were going into a mine. The storyline tried to make sense of this sort of transition, but it did not work for me. By the time I had less than 75 pages to read, I just wanted to finish the book so I could start another one. That is not a good sign, or the sign of a good book.

    I give Spirit Week 3 paws, and that is a little generous...I did enjoy the artwork. But using someone else's story as your own, to the degree that Marcks did, should require some mention or reference to the book and author being written about. In all, not a terrible graphic novel, but there are far too any great graphic novels out there for you to spend a lot of time on this one. Darn.

Water, Water, by Cary Fagan

     Water, Water by author Cary Fagan is a very unique book, indeed! Rafe, a young boy and the main character of the story, wakes up one morning in his bedroom, which happens to have separated from his house and is floating in what appears to be a vast ocean. He has his dog, Buddy, with him, but no one else seems to be around. There is no reason given for why his room has detached from the house, why the world has suddenly turned to water, where all the other people and creatures of the planet have gone, or what he should do next...which is, I think, the beauty of this short book! Rafe manages to keep floating on his room, but different problems present themselves along the way (where should he and Buddy pee?), and together try to figure things out as best they can. Other objects come and go into the story, and eventually other people do, too. 

    This book is quite unlike any I have read before, and this dog has read a lot of books! I kept expecting the entire room-floating-on-an-ocean-of-water thing to become this wonderful metaphor, and maybe it's supposed to be, but if so, I still haven't gotten it. But that was part of the fun of this story as well! Not knowing what the overall purpose of the story was...when all the time I was waiting to discover the point of the story, I was drawn into Rafe's life and situation. And then, just as it had started, it was finished!

    This is a short story and you could probably read it in one day, possibly even one sitting. Expect to be surprised, but don't expect the usual story lines that other books follow. Just read, and enjoy (the story and the cool artwork, which adds to the overall effect)! Overall I was surprised that it didn't go where I thought it might, but then I realized that made it better! 4 paws! 

Rules for Vampires, by Alex Foulkes

     I know it's barely September, but I was in the mood for something spooky when this book rolled up to my kennel! Rules for Vampires is the first of a two-book series (so far!), and it was delightfully scary! Leo is an eleven-year-old vampire, who is heading out for her first-ever "feeding" by herself. What she stumbles into is an orphanage, with one particular orphan preparing to kill the orphan master. The orphan master is very, very mean, and Minna is finished being mistreated by this evil man. But the "live" world and the "dead" world collide in very unexpected ways. Quickly vampires are fighting ghosts, and then ghosts and vampires are fighting together to stop another, seemingly unstoppable ghost, which goes against one of the rules vampires are supposed to follow: never ever fight a ghost!

    This book is a lot of fun, but don't get me wrong - it isn't "fun" like Goosebumps, but quite scary at times! Although it isn't "scary" like a Stephen King book would be...more like a Neil Gaiman The Graveyard Book scary, or The House in Poplar Wood by K. E. Ormsbee scary...just scary enough for readers your age, but probably too scary for your younger siblings!

    I enjoyed Foulkes' writing. She uses words and phrases that make my brain think I know what is coming next and then she writes something else instead! The "something else" is usually funny and clever, and it makes the entire book easier and more fun to read. For instance, Leo the vampire sleeps all day and is awake all night - she is a vampire after all! So she never remembers "yesterday", but she does remember "yesternight". Fun, right? Anyway, I suggested to my human that he recommend this book to kids looking for something new and scary to read as autumn approaches. I'm giving it a spooky 5 paws!

Lo Simpson Starts a Revolution, by Melanie Florence

     Lauren "Lo" Simpson is in middle school, and as the school year starts she is trying to figure out what in the heck is wrong with her best-friend-since-2nd-grade Jazz. All of the sudden Jazz only wants to talk about make-up, and spend time at the mall shopping for clothes (and underclothes!). What happened to being quirky and odd and liking Doctor Who? Lo doesn't know, but she wants to find out. Along the way, she finds her true self, her own voice, and the "revolution" she starts is the crown on her work and discoveries.

    Lo Simpson Starts a Revolution is the first book by author Florence I have read (but not her first book), and I enjoyed it! Once I finished it, I found that I really enjoyed it - I couldn't get Lo Simpson out of my head! She is one strong, rockin' teenager! Quirky and nerdy and smart...and someone I would totally be friends with in school! In this book, she discovers a problem at her school that needs fixing, and doing what strong, smart kids do, she sets out to correct it.

    There were a couple of things in the book that I thought were a little too over-emphasized, like Lo's trouble with her friend Jazz wanting to buy her first bra. But this was easy to get past in favor of the rest of the story. Pretty realistic storyline, and I think you'll also find yourself rooting for Lo all the way! I also love the cover with the one pushed over chair and the shadow of a butterfly in front of Lo...yep, Lo is wonderful! 4 paws and a wag!