5 comments about Wuthering High: A Bard Academy Novel.

1. This story has earned an eternal place on my book shelf, and I plan on reading it again soon.
   The very first sentence drew me in, and the following paragraphs drew me in even further, until I was completely immersed in the story. Heathcliff was a beautiful character, and Miranda was the party of the book--extremely teenage-ish and funny.
   The only disappointment that I had, however, was the lack of depth in most of the characters. I really only got to know Miranda, and I would very much like for the author to delve deeply into each character and bring them out. Hopefully she will do so in the following novels.
   Altogether, a satisfying, fun read.



2. My Thoughts: I loved the first two Bard Academy novels. Still need to get my hands on the third one. I really enjoyed Wuthering High. I liked the concept that all the troubled kids go to this school made especially for them.Didn't have to worry about fitting in too much since everyone is there because they have gotten into trouble. I liked Miranda and her friends very much. I especially liked Heathcliff. He was mysterious and we never really knew what was going on with him or what he was thinking. Ryan was a major jock and of course Miranda was in love with him. He's the guy every girl wants but nobody thinks they are good enough to have. I also liked her roommate. This was a thin lightweight fun read. Only took a few hours but still enjoyed it very much!
   
   Overall: I enjoyed it, never knew it existed until a few weeks ago. I picked the first and second book up and read them both quickly.
   
   Cover: Its a cute cover. A little plain but just the right amount to be enjoyable.
   
   (Reviewed by Princess Bookie)



3. Wuthering High had an original concept. Author's with unfinished business became ghosts who teach delinquents. I really liked that. Miranda was a likable character. She was like every other teenager. She was funny, insecure, and just plain fun to read about.She didn't let anything bring her down. All the characters were entertaining even the secondary characters but they didn't have depth.The secondary characters had funny dialogue but they didn't seem real. The plot was fast-paced and the paranormal aspect of the book was well executed. The mystery part of the book was interesting. The romance in the book was good but since the book had paranormal,romance, comedy and some mystery, it sometimes felt like it was too much.There were a lot of pop culture references in the novel. Overall this was a really good start to a new series which I will continue to read.
   [...]



4. I enjoyed it. It was funny and had a pretty good plot. However, I'm 20 and think it's more suitable for younger kids, those in high school.



5. I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to enjoy this book, but I hoped that I would since I decided to buy not only this book but the two after it as well. I wasn't disappointed and I don't feel like my money was wasted. At the beginning of the book I wasn't too sure if I would like Miranda. She's says she's not judgmental and can hang out with people from all walks of life, but she's constantly using labels like normal, freak, and weird to describe people. Face facts Miranda is a hypocrite and this made it hard for me to like her, but luckily she gets over it pretty (unconviencingly) quick.
   
   Other then that I thought the book was good. Not as funny as it wants to be but it was entertaining. If you end up enjoying this series I recommand The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot. It has the same kind of mystery, ghost stories ideas that seem to be going on here. Also Suze is the same age.

5 comments about Deadly Offer (The Vampire's Promise 1).

1. Althea doesn't fit in at all in school. She wishes she could be popular and have tons of adoring friends. The vampire who haunts her house can make her dream come true, but at a price. Will it be worth it?
   
   This book is a great start to The Vampire's Promise trilogy. The descriptions throughout this book are excellent. You'll feel like you're right there with Althea, experiencing what she's experiencing.



2. These books are simply horrible. They have large gaps in the plot but the worst part is the shallow nature of the characters. The girls in all three books want to be pretty or popular. For these silly aspirations they hand over their friends to the vampire. Do they feel bad afterwards, have a moral conflict perhaps? Hardly. They easily justify their betrayals because they get asked out by a cute boy or they get to hang out at the coolest table. I wasn't only disappointed with my purchase, I was disgusted.



3. The theme in the story is suspense. Althea wanted to be popular, pretty, and loved by guys. But she didnt seem to fit in. Then she meet a vampire who could make her popular, all she has to do is bring him a human. She first brings Chelste, pretty, popular, a girl everyone wants to be. Then she gives the vampire Jenny. She was Altheas friend before high school.
   I can relate to this story because sometimes its hard to fit in with certin people. Im glad they made this story because its suspenseful and fun to read.



4. I have read many books that I don't like, but this book is one of the few I really do like. One of the reasons why I like it is because, although it's fiction there are parts that could be true. For example Althea, the main character, who was popular in middle school, is not popular at all in high school and all she wants is to be popular again. I think that that example is something that could truly happen. Of course the fictional side of the story is that she gets the help of a vampire and the vampire makes her popular.
   The house that Althea lives in, creeps me out. She lives in a big house, with a long gravel driveway, and a big garden. There is also one tower, with 3 windows, which have both inside, and outside shutters. And to me it's no surprise that the vampire chose this house to live in.
   I compare the vampire to Dracula. Maybe it's because they are both vampires and both wear capes. But the vampire just reminds me of Dracula. The weird thing about the vampire in the book is that he waits for hundreds of years just to find somebody who is curious enough to open the shutters in the tower and who agrees to his proposal. Althea of course, did just that. She didn't care what the consequences would be, she just wanted to be popular again. It's only after he almost took the 3rd victim that she realizes the consequences. And believe me the consequences are not good.



5. Not only is this book an excellent vampire mystery, it also relates some very real feelings of teenagers in protagonist Althea. All she wants is to be popular - what's so wrong with that? Then she makes a deal with a vampire who can grant her her wish, but only if she will bring him innocent victims. Will she make the right decision and go back to being unpopular? Deadly Offer is gripping and creepy. I would recommend it to anyone who is a mystery or a vampire fan.

5 comments about Witch.

1. I personally LOVED the old hand-painted covers featuring the 80's dressed teens but maybe that's just me. This book left me in tears and I have read it probably five times in 15 years. It is so beautifully paced. You fall in love with the main character and you really feel for her. She is a which and when she stares into sunlight reflecting into water she can see things. One night she looks at the water in moonlight... something she was warned never to do, and sees a future she MUST change at ALL costs!!
   A great read front to back.
   Loved it.



2. Truly amazing book! Not only for teenagers and young adults, but for anyone who loves a good plot! Highly recommend you to read this book and other Christopher Pike's books.



3. At 25.... i still like 2 think back when i was younger and how u used 2 read C. Pike and R.L. Stine.. Witch was one of the BEST Pike novels... It pulls you in and makes u care about whats happening 2 the characters even with the sad endings i STILL LOVED IT!!!! Also my fav was the Remember Me series.. and of COURSE The Last Vampire.....



4. It is a novel that has a sad ending, but it is GREAT! I read in a day; I couldn't put it down, not even for a second.



5. In this hokey, meandering novel, Julia is a girl gifted with a healing touch and the power to glimpse the future. When she sees a vision of her best friend's boyfriend, Jim, shot and bleeding to death, she does her best to keep him out of danger. But then another friend is shot while witnessing a gas station holdup, and Julia and Jim set out to wreak revenge on the gunman. Meanwhile, Julia's best friend discovers that the gunman just happens to be the deranged former boyfriend of Kary, the recently deceased half-sister Julia never knew. Julia's mother--also a healer--had died in an attempt to save Kary's life. In another part of town, a carload of good witches is hot on Julia's trail, determined to keep her from abusing her powers. Typically, Pike's writing is peppy enough to animate his most tangled plots; here, however, his style becomes choppy and unconvincing--unable to sustain the coincidence-riddled story. In addition, the text is littered with sexist one-liners which, along with a humorless running "joke," are as irritating as they are offensive.

5 comments about The Face in the Frost.

1. Interesting story! It doesn't fit other Bellairs books but it was intriguing to read and to see how Bellairs began his writing.



2. I'm not a huge aficianado of the fantasy genre but I enjoyed this 1969 novella by John Bellairs. The writing is above-average, the principal characters have some personality, and there is some enjoyable chemistry between the characters. (Often the banter between Prospero and Roger Bacon reminded me of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.") Like Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, it is a book that can be enjoyed by adults as well as older children. I'd recommend it to Harry Potter fans as well as to readers who loved The Lord of the Rings. One aspect that I liked was that the scarier parts of the book were written to creep out the adults more than children, as it was mostly the implication of a pervasive, world-altering evil that provided most of the chills, rather than big, scary, nightmare-inducing monsters.
   
   Bellairs himself admitted that he was inspired by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and wanted to write a book about a character similar to Tolkien's Gandalf but with a little more depth to his personality. I think he succeeded. The wizards in his book, especially Prospero, possess only limited magical powers, and thus have weaknesses, fears and even phobias. They are more like a endearing pair of elderly, absent-minded professors.
   
   Readers who are intrigued by the mysterious, enciphered book of spells featured in THE FACE IN THE FROST may be interested to know that it is based on the real-life Voynich Manuscript. (Bellairs even names one of his characters after a real-life English scholar-monk who has been linked to the Voynich Manuscript, Roger Bacon.) This medieval manuscript, written in an unknown language or ciphertext, has never been decoded despite the efforts of scholars and professional cryptanalysts over several centuries.
   
   If I had to level criticism at THE FACE IN THE FROST it would be that the ending is brought about with a sort of deus-ex-machina plot device. But really I was sorry that the book was so short and over so soon, because it was a fun, stimulating read.



3. This is fantasy reduced to its purest form. From a laugh out loud first few pages you are plunged into nightmare and horror through to a purely satisfying ending. In decades of reading fantasy I know of no story that better illustrates the form. Something different than Tolkien's idealized fairy-tale, and something better than mere horror, this is a superb book.
   
   Prospero - and not the one you are thinking of, either - and Roger Bacon must solve the riddle of an unreadable book before that riddle and a more powerful wizard kills them. The threat is all the more real because neither you nor the characters understand it; we understand the side effects well enough. But Bellairs lets you guess what might happen unless Prospero and Bacon act. Nameless horrors can be the most frightening of all.
   
   Bellairs died far too young, leaving only a handful of children's books, outlines for a few more and this tale. We can only wish there were more.
   
   Originally published in paperback by Ace in 1969, that early edition was brilliantly illustrated by Marilyn Fitschen. Her perfectly apt, child-like illustrations didn't make it to this new hardbound edition, so you miss the macabre heraldic device of Melichus, and the spooky illustrations of Bellairs' scenes. It's a loss only partially made up for by the fine Anton Pieck cover drawing, completely appropriate to the story's secret. The paperback was printed, unhappily, on typical Ace cheap paper, and is now browned and brittle. Finding it isn't easy and may no longer be worth the effort.
   
   Still, despite the missing drawings, it is wonderful to have The Face in the Frost back in print. This should be on your short list of the best fantasy stories written. It's a story you will read again and again Highly recommended; simply superb.



4. This splendid little fantasy gem, the only adult-oriented fiction by children's author John Bellairs, mixes two rare moods. Bellairs's genial and charismatic protagonists, wizards Prospero (no, not that one) and Roger Bacon, contribute warmth and wit to the novel, while the nameless horror that begins to stalk Prospero is every bit as creepy as anything H.P. Lovecraft or W.H. Hodgson ever dreamed up.
   
   As it turns out, the kind and simple heroes and the vile and alien villain are two great tastes that taste great together. The delightful characters involved me in the story in a way the flat ciphers who generally inhabited Lovecraft's stuff never did, enhancing the eerieness. And the fact that these lovely characters were battling such disturbing phenomena increased my respect for them, enhancing their charisma.
   
   Bellairs also has a terrific writing style -- simple, spare, yet highly evocative, and with an unsurpassed eye for detail. And the book features cute illustrations by Marilyn Fitschen (the one of Prospero's house is worth the price of admission all by itself). The Face in the Frost is either a minor classic or a major one -- I'm just sorry it took me this long to get around to reading it.



5. I never made a connection with this book. After reading the story, I know very little about any of the main characters, and thus I didn't care what happened to any of them. The "rules" of this fantasy world were never explained, so it was often difficult to gauge how much danger or horror the characters faced (they were wizards powerful enough to shrink themselves, after all).
   
   The descriptions of things and surroundings are quite verbose, but for all the effort, the language used did not paint a very clear picture. Instead, the descriptions often seemed to be a tedious break in the story. The author also makes several mythological and historical references too obscure for this reader to be of much use.
   
   The story itself is similar to the character development, in that I felt that there was much more background information that the book never shared with us. At the end of the book, the mystery was never fully explained. I should also point out that had I not bought the book, I would never have read past the first quarter of the book; the story begins very slowly and only picks up a little in the second half.
   
   Clearly there are many reviewers here who hold this book in high regard, but if you're just looking for a fun book to read, you may want to skip this one.

2 comments about Red Rider's Hood (Dark Fusion).

1. Red may not be the best guy in the neighborhood but he has managed to avoid falling in with either of the local gangs. His pride and joy is a deep red Mustang which he loves to drive. But then his car is stolen and Red finds himself funning afoul of the Wolves, one of the gangs. No sooner is he in trouble than the Wolves kidnap his grandmother. It is then that Red learns the horrible truth about the Wolves. They are really werewolves and they are not to be trifled with.
   
   Red discovers that werewolves were in the neighborhood many years ago. That time things were cleared up because some werewolf hunters came to town and quietly took care of the situation. Now red decides he has to find the werewolf hunters before things get completely out of hand. To make matters worse, these werewolves are smart. They have a devastating plan that will affect more than just Red's neighborhood. But if Red cannot find the hunters will he be able to handle the Wolves fore they realize their plans and become unstoppable?
   
   This second Dark Fusion book is not the first time Red Riding Hood has been combined with werewolves but I believe it is the first time it has been done in a modern urban setting. The story is handled very well with action and revelations occurring steadily. The Wolves' plan adds a real sense of urgency in a way much different than the personal urgency in the first book (DREAD LOCKS). The joining of fairy tale to modern horror elements works very well and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. Check it out.



2. Have you ever seen your grandma hunting werewolves? Well Red has. In the action packed book: Red Rider's Hood by Neal Shusterman, Red's grandma fights werewolves in New York City. Red feels himself being pulled in by the "Wolves" who are actually a dangerous street gang, by his grandma and the love of his life, Marissa Flowers. Red has to make the decision of his life! Red Rider's Hood is an excellent book for fourth to eighth graders to read and if you like to read fantasy books, you'll love this book! In my opinion, this book is a real page turner.

5 comments about The Thirst (Fear Street Seniors, No. 3).

1. I bought this whole set for my reading class, and my students really took an interest in these books. They capture your interest and keep you wanting to read more.
   "The Thirst" is the 3rd episode in R.L. Stine's on-going saga about a cursed group of High School Seniors who encounter evil and mayhem throughout their final year of High School.
   This book opens with school finally starting, and there is a murder during the first week at Shadyside High. This has all the makings of a vampire loose on campus. Either this or a sick copycat murderer. Everyone has a theory. Trisha thinks it has something to do with her vision of a doomed senior class. Josie blames it on the doom spell she cast. Others think it's Clark Dickson - AKA Count Clarkula - that's killing all those people; after all,he acts and dresses like a vampire. Is Clark a Vampire? The reader has to wait and see. The reader is introduced to two new students: Jon, who Deirdre just started dating, and his creepy, accident-prone ex-girlfriend Anita. This story centers around twins Deirdre and Dana as they struggle to find out who the real killer is before they become the next victims! Deirde starts to get threatening phone calls (Typical R.L. Stine Form) and is being stalked by an unknown killer. Some parents and teachers may object to the black magic, that is part of the story. The girls perform a "Seance" to sum up the dead student's spirit, in hopes he/she can lead them to the killer's identity. This may not sit well with some people.
   This is your plot for this 3rd volume and it's is quite good. This is a good read, with lot's of suspense and it flows quite well. One particuarly good read is the chapter where a teacher is killed off, since we don't know the identity of the killer, but we can imagine the teacher's horror as she is attacked by the vampire. The chapters end on cliffhangers and there is a huge twist at the end, as for those who don't read ahead, it does surprise you. This is fun book, especally if you like vampires stories.
   
   
   Criticism:
   
   The senior who is killed off, is not one of the originals we are used to seeing in the "Yearbook". It's almost as if R.L. Stine was not ready to part with one of his original characters, so he made up one for this book. Neverthless, this starts the "Body Count" and we're already into the 3rd volume of the series.
   The "Clarkula" storyline is pursued here, but then after this volume, it's swept under the rug. Readers don't hear anything about the "Is Clark a vampire" conspiracy for a couple of volumes. I felt this was a storyline that could of been a major storyline throughout the series, but this is the last the reader hears about this for a long time. (As far as the series goes). The reader learns Debra "Officially" broke up with Josh to date Clark, this is mentioned at the beginning of the book, and not brought up again. Since this was a major storyline in Volume One, (ignored in Volume Two) I felt perhaps more could of been addressed concerning this. Another storyline introduced was Gary Fresno is dating Trisha Conrad, and he apparently broke up with Mary Connor, but again, this is mentioned in passing, and you think it's going to be a major storyline but then it's just another sidestory. I just felt that R.L. Stine could of developed these stories a little more and got the series really moving along.



2. I recommend this book to anyone. Once you get started you won't want to put it down. I think that if you like vampires and horror, you will definitely like this book. In a way I can relate to this book because I sometimes have visions that something will happen and then within the next month they usually happen. Some people find it very scary that people can do that, but I don't I call it a gift. This book is very suspenseful; the author makes you want to read more. I'm not fond of reading, but I found that I couldn't put this book down. I suggest before reading this book to read the series one and two first.



3. I recommend this book to anyone. Once you get started you won't want to put it down. I think that if you like vampires and horror, you will definitely like this book. In a way I can relate to this book because I sometimes have visions that something will happen and then within the next month they usually happen. Some people find it very scary that people can do that, but I don't I call it a gift. This book is very suspenseful; the author makes you want to read more. I'm not fond of reading, but I found that I couldn't put this book down. I suggest before reading this book to read the series one and two first.



4. I believe this book was only the beginning ( or third ) of many good books to come. I have read up to the 6th book and it has become a very addicting saga. Get this book of you can but before u do, read #1 and #2 first. It can be kinda confusing, if u don't.



5. I remember this was a awesome book. I havent read it in ages. i cant wait to read them all.

5 comments about Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story.

1. This book is geared to "young adults" - that's an oxymoron. There are toddlers, pre-teens and teens. None of them are adults and none should read about the murder of an adult by a child, the murder of a brother by a sister, the murder of a wife by a jealous woman, the burning of a school, the haunting of children and the possession of children to kill their stepfather. YES - that's the story line of this book and is totally unsuitable for kids or teens. Miss Reiss is mentally unstable and shouldn't be writing books for "young adults". She should be making baskets and amends for pretending to like children. Do not buy this author.



2. I've had this book for a year now and never had an interest to read it until I ran out of books. Boy was I missing out. Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge deserves an A+. I couldn't but the book down. Every word, Every Sentence, Every Chapter gives out new information about the mystery surrounding Zibby and her four friends. When an unlikely ghost arrives Zibby has to pull out all her detective skills and will. She battles raging ghosts. Some good and some bad. And to think that it all started with a little girl named Primrose along with her governess Miss Honeywell. By the way, thats Sweet Miss Honeywell to you!
   
   ;)



3. Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge
   By Kathryn Reiss
   
   "Jude was standing rigid, staring at the corner by the desk. Zibby stared, too. The dollhouse stood intact, unburnt, complete as before."
   
   Poor Zibby, when she unwillingly buys a mysterious dollhouse, everything seems to go haywire. The dollhouse doesn't seem to want to leave, even after she burns it to the ground. From dreams of fires, to a mystery of ghosts, each striving for something different, Zibby must get these ghosts to move on before Miss Honeywell takes over her mom! Luckily, Zibby has help from her new friends and family to complete this feat.
   
   I thought that this was a great book, and definitely worth buying. I thought it was nice how unlikely friendships form and combine to ultimately solve their ghost problems. It was an interesting ending, and I probably wouldn't have thought of it. The book was long enough to keep you occupied for at least a little while. The story had a light and mysterious ghost story with it's own surprises, and a unique style. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read mystery or ghost stories.



4. Zibby has been wanting a new pair of rollerblades for a long time. She's saved up her money and can finally get them. But when she goes to buy them something else forces her to instead buy a dollhouse that she does not want. After she gets the house wierd things start to happen. Anything that she plays out in the dollhouse happens in real life but with a bad twist to it. When people start to get hurt, Zibby finds the woman who sold the dollhouse to her. As it turns out the dollhouse is haunted by a ghost of Miss Honeywell. She was a mean old lady who was a governess. The day after Zibby talks to the woman she finds out that she has died. Thats when Zibby starts to hear voices in her head and have nightmares. She soon figures out that this means Miss Honeywell is talking to her. Miss Honeywell becomes hungry for power and wants to take over a body. Zibbys mom, Nell, is getting married to a man named Ned in a couple of days. Miss Honeywells plan is to take over Nells body and finally fulfill her dreams of becoming a bride. The worst thing is, Zibby is the one in charge of killing her own mother. Against her will, and with her powers Miss Honeywell can make Zibby do anything she wants her to. This story is very exiting. To find out what happens, read Sweet Miss Honeywell's revenge.



5. When her birthday comes around, all 12 year old Zibby wants are a pair of rollerblades, but she is stuck at a miniature convention with her mom and aunt and cousin. She starts to wander and meets a woman in a gray dress. She leads Zibby over to a table where there is a beautiful dollhouse. All of sudden she wants that that. Although, when she takes it over to her aunt's car she doesn't want it. She doesn't even recall buying it. Soon several bizarre "accidents" start to happen. Zibby and her friends soon discover that it is actually haunted! As the story unfolds, more and more strange things happen; dolls becoming pocessed and ghosts inside people's heads. The reader will be captivated from beginning to end!!! That's SWEET Miss Honeywell to you. "Young ladies should be obiedent."

5 comments about Spiders in the Hairdo: Modern Urban Legends.

1. This is a book for older kids who want to have some different reading, besides chapter books. My daughter likes to read this book before bed. It has some off-the-wall stories which appeal to her sense of humor. It has some "adult type" topics [like the woman hiding in her closet naked] which may not be suitable for all children.



2. Spiders in the Hairdo is a collection of well known and in most cases frequently told myths, camp fire stories and I heard from a friend of a friend or a friend rumours. The majority you will have heard before but this is a good compact sized collection of some of the best tales. You've got the knife wheeling maniac in the back seat (as told by Auto on the Simpsons) who in this book is a rope strangler. The unwashed hair full of poisonous spiders, the hook on the lovers' car door, scuba diver in the tree after a forest fire and all the world's favourites.
   
   They are quite good versions in this book and this collection is just as good as as lot of other books out there such as The Big Book of Urban Myths or the Darwin Awards Trilogy.
   
   Spiders in the Hairdo is not however in the same high quality league for this genre as Hippo Eats Dwarf by Alex Boese, Great Mythconceptions by Karl Kruszelnicki,The Truth Behind Old Wives Tales by Thomas Craughwell



3. All those fun stories that you grew up with as a kid are here in this book. The next time you complain about all these new legends on the Internet, remember we all told the one about the bloody hook attached to the car door. And you know that story about the roach eggs in the taco meat made your skin crawl, no pun intended. This book is too much fun and a good source for nostalgic reflection or for retelling to all those people who you just want to scare a little! ...



4. This book does not explore anything new in terms of presenting new Urban Legends. But, it does dramatize well known legends giving them a new flare. Very good book.



5. I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. My teenagers love this book, too (I think that's a first--Mom and the kids liking the same book!). Yeah, I've heard some of the stories before, but that doesn't make them any less funny. And the illustrations are a hoot, too. Good fun all around!

5 comments about Blind Date.

1. This is a story about a guy named Kerry who couldn't remember what happen to his brother Donald. His friends and family knew what happen to him but also knew not to tell Kerry, he is suppose to find out himself. His father was a cop. Kerry was a football player and he was ranked numer two. He accidentally fell on the number one player's leg and broke his leg. It really was an accident but no one belives him. He gets a phone call that night. He has a blind date!!! He talks to her for a while. He is going to take her on a date. When he gets done talkeng to her he gets another phone call. It sounds like some girl pinching her nose and saying " The toe bones connected to the foot bone... the foot bones connected to the leg bone... I'm going to break every bone in your body." At first he thought it was Sal's girlfriend, Sharon. Sal is the one who broke his leg. One night, Kerry and Mandy, his bline date, went to the dance, when they came back out the car was vandlized. The windows were smashed in with a mallet and the tires were slashed with a hunting knife. He got a ride home and when he got home the phone was ringing. He didn't want to answer it but he did. It was Donald at a pay phone. He said, Becareful, I'm coming...," Kerry hung up before Donald could say anything else. Mandy came and wanted to go to a safer place because she thought that Donald was following her. She was scaired and wanted to bring Kerry with her. They went to an old cabin that her parents had owned. then they had hot chocolate. She had slipped some white into his and he feel asleep. When he woke up he was tied to a chair and couldn't move. He found out it was Mandy who was making those scary phone calls. She claimed to be Amanda's sister and then swung the mallet and his foot. She went to the wall and pulled a big moose head off the wall and jamed it on Kerry's head. She was going to smash the other foot but...



2. When I got this book, it was passed on to me from a friend. I wasn't going to read it before many of the other books I had, but then I met someone else who loves R.L. Stine. I decided to pass it on to him when I found out this is the first book he ever wrote for teens. I thought that by itself was very cool.
   The story is pretty good actually. The plot and theme sound a little familiar, but once you start reading it, you realize that Stine made an original story out of it. Character development, suspense, and details made this a remarkable story.
   Stine is notorious for his use of details to pull the reader into the story. One of the most adored characteristics of the Goosebumps series is his use of gory, creepy, or mysterious details that make the reader really think. Because stine does this well, I can really picture the events and the characters as if I was there. I like authors that can do that.
   Stine also builds suspense throughout the story. Even though the plot is an obvious one, the complications Kerry faces are still unexpected. I certainly didn't know what was really going on until he revealed it all in the end. He kept me guessing throughout the story.
   My favorite part of this story was character development though. Kerry is a typical boy. I didn't really like his personality much, but he is familiar to me and a lot of kids my age. I know Kerry is representative of teenagers and because of that, readers will be able to associate. The best character however was Mandy.
   The story is told from a third person point of view looking over Kerry's shoulder. If it had been told from Mandy's point of view it might have been less suspenseful, but Mandy is awesome. Her personality sticks to the reader like glue. She even captured my affection early in the story. By the end of the book, even though she scared me, I still wanted to know her.
   Stine wrote a really good story here. I know all of his current readers will like it. Since its his first, all his fans should read it.



3. It all starts out with a boy named Kerry ended up breaking the best football player on the team on accident, but everyone thinks else. Then things start to look better when he meets his blind date. When it's time to finally meet Mandy, a piece of the memory he had forgotten for almost a year ago comes back to him.
   It is a mystery for him and the reader to find out what happened in his past as well as the mysterious Mandy. It's a spine-tingler and a good book for any thrill seeker.



4. R.L. Stine's first horror book is no doubt one of his best. You can actually tell he put effort in it, unlike most of his goosebump books which seem to display that he is merely pumping out books just to meat the demand. Although this book isn't a nightmare-causer (non of his books are) it is frightfully realistic (most of his books aren't) and thus creates a kind of unexplainable-horror that is what makes books so fantastic, great job R. L. Stine. . . its a shame all of your books aren't this good.



5. Blind Date is a roller coaster ride for the reader. This book is packed with the ups and downs of adventure and teen life. The story starts when Kerry, a boy in high school, just tackled the star-quarterback, Jess and broke his back and went into a coma. Jess's cheerleader girlfriend, Sherri swears she will get vengeance on Kerry. At the hours of darkness, he gets a phone call, and a sexy, kitten like voice purrs, "Hi, I'm your blind date." But what you don't know is that Kerry's bigger brother Donald is in a mental hospital the year before and that plays a major part in the story.

   I was dreadfully interested in the events that happened, for instance Kerry's tires get slashed after the school dance. This is one of the only R.L. Stine books that captured my curiosity. The characters were exceptionally believable because Kerry was a shadow in his older brother Donald's footsteps. Kerry also was believable because he didn't get many dates and I know some guys; they don't get loads of dates.

   I liked this book because it had a lot of twists and turns. At the conclusion of each chapter, a new surprise would arise and would make you what to read more. I recommend it to anyone and everyone because it will keep you guessing until the end.

5 comments about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Pacemaker Classics).

1. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been called a Victorian parable, and it must have been groundbreaking in its time, but Robert Louis Stevenson seems to draw heavily on this passage from the Apostle Paul: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me." (Romans 7:15&17) He explores this spiritual struggle with unabashed fervor in a tale still talked about over a hundred years later.
   
   The story, no longer than a novella, reads quickly. Told through second-hand accounts and letters (similar to Stoker's "Dracula"), the tale's violence and mayhem are never directly experienced through the eyes of a victim or the perpetrator, which made it more palatable for its original audience, but makes it somewhat distant for those bred on "Silence of the Lambs." We have no clear protagonist, no clear definition of the next victim of Mr. Hyde's brutality; we have only snippets of letters and glimpses of a broken body. Stevenson manages to create a sense of foreboding, and the good doctor's final confessions are chilling, in that they describe the common struggle that all humans encounter within, fighting for the moral and ethical high ground.
   
   Sadly, the story doesn't hold up as well as hoped to the test of time. It lacks true suspense, and there's little mystery to be found. In an era of Victorian virtue, though, it was surely shocking to have a writer admit to that struggle within and portray it in vivid terms.
   
   I'm glad to have read the book for myself, and I believe it was foundational in the evolution of psychological suspense.



2. Jekyll and Hyde is commonly evoked to describe someone with a split personality. Stevenson's novel is not really about a split personality, but rather a dual physical and spiritual nature struggling for control of one person. In this struggle, Dr. Jekyll doesn't just assume a different personality, he actually becomes Mr. Hyde.
   
   Presbyterian Pastor Tim Keller has a good, brief analysis of parts of the Jekyll and Hyde story in his book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Hardcover). Keller pinpoints a key point in the story, noting that it's in a moment of vainglory that Dr. Jekyll involuntary transforms into Mr. Hyde. This transformation occurs as Dr. Jekyll sits "on a bench in Regents Park, thinking about all the good he has been doing, and how much better man he was, despite Edward Hyde, than the great majority of people."
   
   All this to say that Stevenson's novel goes far deeper than a psychoanalytic study of a split personality; it's about a profound spiritual struggle of the evil and good nature within a person.



3. This is a great classic. This story brings to life the battle each one of us has within ourselves. Dr. Jekyll calls it his "dualtiy of purpose". The struggle of good versus evil; told in that colorful language of classics.



4. Most readers may be surprised at just how coy and evasive this short novel is. We get only fleeting images of the villain and his transgressions. For a work that has become so well knit into our cultural standards and mores, it's perhaps remarkable how little actually goes on.
   
   You think you know the story. But what most people actually know is the 1936 movie starring Frederic March. Who Hyde is, his relationship to Jekyll, even how one becomes the other: all of these have been changed in every movie, TV, stage, and comic book adaptation ever made.
   
   For what's reputedly a horror novel, this book is remarkably unscary. Maybe in 1886, when its ideas were new, it was terrifying. But now, when its core idea has become part of our culture, it's more thought-provoking than frightening. As Stevenson hints at dribs and drabs of Freudian, Darwinian, post-colonial, and other ideas that have become common coin, remember that he wrote before any of these were popular notions.
   
   Start right in on the novel. Vladimir Nabokov's introductory essay states a lot that is obvious, and should be read only after the novel itself. On balance, Dan Chaon's afterword, about the novel's cultural impact, is probably more revelatory, and more accessible to general audiences.
   
   Remember, this book is probably not what you think you know. It's at once more ambitious, yet far harder to pin down, than the cheapened versions in the mass media. It's smart yet understandable, familiar yet strange. It's the kind of book too few writers create these days.



5. Alright, so I've never read this book before (terrible I know). My Secret Santa bought me this book, along with a bunch of others, as my present and I finally had time to read it.
   
   The plot is straightforward, starting off with a problem before gradually growing into heightened suspense that pulls and leaves hints all over the place towards the climax. Of course since this is a classic, much of the plot twists are already known to the well read, so it wasn't much of a shock, but it was interesting nonetheless. The metaphor/symbolism doesn't really show itself until the very end where it blazes loud and clear with the writer's subtle metaphors, or maybe not so subtle. It's written in 3rd omniescent, before the end where it switches over to 1st.
   
   I actually like how the story revolved around two people investigating the actual main character of the book (or rather the person the story is about) versus it just being about the person and his descent into the clutches of evil. It was refreshing and gave every character their equal time in the spotlight. The themes of this book are very skillfully played through succinct prose. It wasn't overstated, nor written in a dense, complex way that makes the reader pause and think a bit more harder than needed. The writing was simple, direct, and to the point without being bogged down by excess descriptions or philosophical/political musings.
   
   Another plus was that the chapters were very short, so this book is a super fast read, not to mention that it's only 54 pages long. I mean, if you can't sit down and read that, I don't know what else to say. Okay, sure perhaps the font is a wee bit too small, and there is a lot more semicolons in his sentences than any other story I've seen, but that shouldn't detract you. The only real section that tends to drag was the final chapter, which was from the perspective of Henry Jekyll. My mind started to wander a lot and I found myself skimming a lot of the passages. (Okay, so maybe I was tired and reading this around 1:30 in the morning) It's probably because there was such a great buildup to the climax and when we get to his chapter we're stuck reading about how he grew up and blah blah blah that wasn't directly attached with the ending. I mean, we want to know what happens, not how he was raised! By the middle of the chapter is when the real meat of the story comes to its conclusion and I had my eyes glued to every word, even though I had contemplated sleeping a few minutes earlier.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who likes to read, and if you wanted to try some classics out, this would probably be the easiest of them to do.