It's the First Day of School...Forever!

May 23, 2011
Blending comedy with his trademark brand of bestselling horror, Stine's take on a Groundhog Dayâstyle premise stars a fifth grader stuck reliving his disastrous first day at a new school. Arriving at school with syrup in his hair and the front of his jeans soaked, Artie discovers he's been followed by his dog, who tears the principal's suit. Like falling dominoes, a sequence of debacles follows: Artie hits a popular boy with a baseball (and later causes him to fall and break his leg), lets the valuable class scorpion escape, has a spaghetti-related accident at lunch, and wanders into the girls' bathroom. There's some expected repetition as Artie's day replays, but Stine's embellishmentsâincluding plenty of chapter cliffhangers and a twist endingâkeep things wickedly funny (Artie is a ready source of quips and one-liners) and increasingly ghoulish (on the second go-round, the dog bites the principal's hand; later, he bites the hand off). After bearing witness to the injuries, humiliations, and terrors that Artie faces, even readers' toughest days at school will feel like a breeze. Ages 9â12.

November 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-In R. L. Stine's back-to-school tale of terror (Feiwel & Friends, 2011), everything goes wrong for Artie Howard, the new kid at Ardmore Middle School. His little brother squirts syrup in his hair at breakfast, and a truck splashes water on the front of his jeans on the way to school. After accidentally killing the class scorpion, Artie is sent to the bizarre book room in the basement and meets creepy Mr. Blister. The boy also makes an enemy of Brick, the most popular kid in school, knocking him unconscious with a baseball and later causing him to break his leg. Does the principal really tell Brick's teammates to beat up Artie after school? Then the boy wakes up as from a dream, and it's the first day of school again and again and again. Matthew Brown voices smart-mouthed Artie, capturing his mounting terror as oddly familiar events spiral out of control and his efforts to change things make matters worse. Surrounded by chattering mannequins, rotting corpses, and angry football players, Artie struggles to escape his first day of school. With its surprising and satisfying conclusion, this tale will not disappoint Stine's many fans-Mary Jean Smith, formerly Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.