{My Thoughts} – It is once again up to Sam, Antonio, and Lucy to save the school and all the students within the doors. In this book they are playing with a soccer ball that ends up going between the fence outside of the school all on it’s own. The three of them find this odd and argue amongst each other about whether or not they should go after it. In the end they decide to go chasing after the ball. They end up in a full blown jungle that they are certain was never there before.

Lucy pulls out an old journal that belonged to Orson Eerie and in it is a map of what he’d planned to do with land around the school. They learn that it wasn’t just the school, that it was land around the school that was owned by Orson and because of that there isn’t a lot of safe places for the students to be around the school, because it turns out even the land around the school is alive. Alive with a plan to trap Sam, Antonio, and Lucy out in the jungle while it hurts the children within the school walls.

Does the land around the school succeed? Do Sam, Antonio, and Lucy find a way to stop it from hurting the children in the school? Are they able to go another day and feel safe? Even if for a little while? What is Orson Eerie’s plan of action? What is he trying to accomplish by trying to hurt all the children in the school over and over and over again?

This book was a nice and fast read. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the previous two books in the series. I think that any child that enjoys a little adventure, that enjoys a little mystery and suspense will enjoy reading this book and the previous ones. They are fast reads that pull the reader in and when that happens its a feeling like no other a feeling that can’t be explained because the book has you in the grips and I think that helps to make a wonderful read for children that are just being introduced to chapter books. ( )

This is the third book in the Eerie Elementary series. If you are new to the series I would suggest that you start with book one because it sets up the understanding that the school is alive. The author does a good recap but I still felt I needed to read the series from the beginning. From the publisher "At the end of recess at Eerie Elementary, everything on the school grounds suddenly comes alive and turns into a fog-filled jungle maze intent on trapping and disposing of hall monitor Sam Graves and his friends Antonio and Lucy."
This is part of the Scholastic's early chapter book line called Branches. Book has easy to read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations.
Appeals to 1st-3rd graders./ Reading level grade 2 ( )