Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Grave Secrets
Deadtime Stories
Annette and Gina Cascone

Starscape
January 2012 /ISBN: 14391022104
Fiction/Teen age (middle school students)
Amazon

Reviewed by Willie Elliott

Is Miss Emily Barns an evil witch or do some middle-school-aged kids have an overactive imagination? From the narrator's (one of the students) perspective, there is no doubt she is evil and bent on inflicting that evil on one or all of them.

The action opens quickly when the kids decide to bury a deal squirrel they found but find the grave already occupied.

Whatever the case, the reader (middle-school student or adult) will have the urge to turn pages to at least get some explanation for the odd things that happen in the novel.
Much of the novel is dialogue and looks much like a play and makes for quick reading. I read the story in one sitting (actually while lying in bed.)The publishers also made the reading much easier by double spacing the text. However, the banter between the kids, while entertaining, sometimes doesn't sound realistic.

This would be a good novel to introduce middle school students to the mystery genre on the novel level. The author sisters plan to write more books in the Deadtime series and students will have future reading choices if they enjoy this one.

 
Reviewed 2012
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