about the book
It is the first day of the school year at Eerie Elementary and third grader Sam Graves is not at all happy to learn he is the one and only Hall Monitor! What gives? They never had a Hall Monitor before! The first bell rings as Sam complains to his buddies Antonio and Lucy about this loser job. As the kids scatter, Sam begins his boring task of checking the empty halls.
At a window, he spots Byron still fooling around on the play ground and calls him in. Byron forgets his cap and Sam runs to retrieve it. All alone in the yard, the hulking old building gives Sam the willies. Suddenly the dirt under Sam’s feet turns to quicksand and he is sucked down! His shouts for help go unanswered until, at the last moment, the old caretaker pulls Sam out.
The old man confesses that he hand-picked Sam for the Hall Monitor job and explains the building’s evil history. The caretaker was the very first Hall Monitor decades ago but now he is too old to do the most important part of the job…keeping everyone safe from the school itself. He claims the building is alive! It will eat anyone within its walls and now it is very, very hungry!
Sam is doubtful about this whole evil school thing, and when he tries to tell Antonio and Lucy, they think he is bonkers. But then more weird stuff happens. Locker doors open and slam shut on their own. The gnarled oak tree on the grounds gets grabby. And from the building’s vents, the terrifying sound of a beating heart can be heard!
Sam is the chosen one. He is the only one who can tell when the school is about to attack. Unfortunately, he knows it will be real soon, when everyone will be gathered for a student performance of Peter Pan. What is he going to do? Is he old enough, tough enough, smart enough to stand up to a really evil sentient school?
One thing for sure, he’ll need the help of his friends…and lots and lots of peanut butter!
about the author
First off, Jack Chabert is really Max Brallier. Jack is just a pen name. Max is the author of more than 25 adult and middle-grade books. Why does he use the name Jack for his Eerie Elementary series? Well, why not!
When he was six, Max dreamed of playing outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates. By seven, the dream had changed to designing Lego spaceship kits. By ten, he was sure he’d be a comic book illustrator. At twelve, he wanted to be an action movie critic. At thirteen, he was sure he’d design awesome video games. Luckily when he turned fourteen, he dreamed of becoming a writer and that is the one that stuck! Though he actually did design games for virtual world Poptropica and was the country’s youngest movie critic in 1995. He also worked in the marketing department of a book publisher.
Max didn’t get serious about writing until his junior year in college. He planned on writing movie screenplays but ended up in a sci-fi class. He had to write a short story and by the time he was done, he was hooked. He has been writing fantasy action fiction ever since!
He’s just big kid at heart. He still won’t eat anything green except M&Ms. He spends a lot of time watching his favorite teams (Steelers, Pirates, and Celtics), playing video games, collecting action figures, and daydreaming. He has always been a big daydreamer, usually involving him, Wolverine, and Indiana Jones in some adventure with his friends. When he writes, he does the same thing. He shuts his eyes and just imagines what would be fun and full of action.
Max lives in New York City with his wife Alyse. They don’t allow pets in his apartment building, but when they do, Max plans on getting a dragon…or a really fat bulldog!
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Simon & Schuster
Author interview: Book Zone
Author interview: Bucket List
Author interview: Galactic Hot Dogs
Book trailer: School is Alive!
Also by Jack Chabert:
Mystery of the Map (Poptropica, Book 1). Amulet Books. March 2016.
Recess Is a Jungle! (Eerie Elementary, Book 3). Scholastic. 2016.
The Locker Ate Lucy! (Eerie Elementary, Book 2). Scholastic. 2014.
about the illustrator
Sam Ricks grew up writing hilarious wacky stories. Sometimes they involved toxic fruitcakes, peanut-butter snatching aliens, and killer vacuums.
At Brigham Young University, he studied political science, art, and film, and went on to earn a Master’s in Publications Design from the University of Baltimore. He worked as the Director of Design at Kinateder, a company that specializes in hand-painted renderings helping builders, developers, and architects visualize their projects. Later, he became the lead on the graphic design faculty at The Art Institute of Salt Lake City. His art is featured in two books and in numerous publications, including The New York Times.
Sam lives in Sandy, Utah, with his wife, four children, zero fruitcakes, zero aliens, and one well-behaved vacuum!
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator biography: Book Stop Literary Agency
Also by Sam Ricks:
March of the Mini Beasts (D.A.T.A. Set, Book 1) by Ada Hopper. Little Simon, April 2016.
Recess Is a Jungle! (Eerie Elementary, Book 3) by Jack Chabert. Scholastic. 2016.
The Locker Ate Lucy! (Eerie Elementary, Book 2) by Jack Chabert. Scholastic. 2014.
read more!
The Locker Ate Lucy! (Eerie Elementary, Book 2) by Jack Chabert
Only a week into his job as the secret school Monitor at Eerie Elementary, Sam Graves and his friends Lucy and Antonio are trying to uncover more information about their malevolent sentient school building. Then Lucy disappears into her locker! Can Sam and Antonia save her before she becomes the school’s lunch?
Rise of the Balloon Goons (Notebook of Doom, Book 1) by Troy Cummings
Alexander, the new kid, finds that his elementary school is being torn down and his new classroom is located in the hospital morgue! There he meets a nasty bully, Rip, and finds a strange notebook full of info about monsters. Alexander notices that car tires are mysteriously going flat and sees a lot of inflatable used car lot balloon goons. He and Rip are thrown together as they are pursued by the spooky balloon men. These monsters are stealing air!
Welcome to Chillsville Elementary (Ghoul School, Book 1) by Jane King
Twins Adam and Sophie just moved to Hillsville. Their classmates have weird names like Frank N. Stein, Tanya Coffin, and Ben Howl. The blue-haired teacher, Ms. Wolf, is really strange. A pet spider runs loose in the class room and bats hang in the playground trees. Nicknaming the school “Chillsville Elementary,” can the twins find a rational explanation for all these weird goings-on?