Orson Eerie was the school, and the school was Orson Eerie! Eerie Elementary was a living, breathing thing that fed on students.I’ve been testing out Scholastic’s new Branches title, Eerie Elementary: The School is Alive. Orson Eerie found a way to live forever-he became the school. He was also the architect who designed Eerie Elementary almost one hundred years ago. The water was taking the form of a giant hand.” The hand tears the curtain that Sam is hanging on, but Sam comes up with a plan to save himself. As he was hanging from a curtain, “the water on the lunchroom floor began rising. It was rising fast.” The friends are able to escape. “Water bubbled up through the crack in the floor. When Sam and Antonio free Lucy, the school tries to drown them.One of the pipes was wrapped around her ankle.” A “maze of rusty old pipes” are alive and have Lucy, who is “suspended in midair, hanging upside down.When they try to run, “something long that looked like a spear was headed for Antonio. A dodge ball, a Frisbee, and “roller skates that shot toward his legs like cannonballs” fly towards Sam and Antonio. Everything in the basement comes to life.Then just as it was about to hit them, the boys jumped out of the way.” “CLICK CLACK! The lid snapped like a mouth as it rolled toward them. A lunch cart tried to make Sam and Antonio its lunch.It pressed against his legs.” They escape when the vent comes to an end. In order to stop them, “the vent squeezed tighter, closing around them! It pressed against Sam’s shoulders.

When a locker eats Lucy, Jack and Antonio go into a vent to search for her.The story ends with discussion questions that add to the learning value of the book. Readers will enjoy seeing the friends work together and come up with creative ways to escape. Those who enjoy the Notebook of Doom series will want to jump into the world of Eerie Elementary.

However, The Locker Ate Lucy will be enjoyed by older readers as well. The easy-to-follow plot is entertaining and appropriate for newly independent readers. The book contains simple sentence structures and a straightforward plot. Black-and-white illustrations and onomatopoeia help create the story’s tone. Many of the pages end with cliffhangers that will make the reader want to continue reading. The next installment in the Eerie Elementary series, The Locker Ate Lucy, will continue to captivate readers because of its spooky, action-packed fun. Will they be able to save Lucy before they become Eerie Elementary’s lunch? When a locker eats Lucy, it’s up to Sam and Antonio to save her. Sam and his friends, Lucy and Antonio, know the school is alive, but they’re not prepared for how scary the school can be. As hall monitor, Sam Graves is supposed to keep the kids of Eerie Elementary safe.

The School Is Alive! by Jack Chabert