Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz

• 01/02/2014
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Groosham Grange
Anthony Horowitz
Philomel Books (2008)
ISBN 9780399250613
Reviewed by Dylan James (age 11) for Reader Views (6/08)

David is confused and worried about his school predicament. Was he sent to a great manner-loving school or sent to a monster-infested creep house? Whatever it is, it will be hard to survive! Meeting new friends and always trying to escape the creepy school of Groosham Grange, David must uncover new mysteries before it’s too late!

“Groosham Grange” is a mystery/action novel and was very pleasing. Throughout the entire adventure, there was always a new thing to discover, a new thing to do. With an almost-impossible-to-guess ending and some scary monsters, this book was very interesting. There is no way you can put this book down after reading just one chapter. The writing was superb and moving. I liked this book mostly because of the ongoing adventure. Some people may dislike that the character is always on the move, but I think that most will appreciate the action.

My least favorite part of “Groosham Grange” was the unnecessary and totally unbelievable violence at the beginning. This book would have been in my top ten favorite books had it not had the violence at the beginning, with a character not caring at all as he stabbed his wife and threatened his son; I cannot relate to that. When characters would have normally died from wounds, they just get up like nothing happened.  Some people will find this ‘funny’ and some will find it repulsive. Because the book made light of violence, I would not recommend anyone under the age of eleven to read this book.

Because I loved every page of “Groosham Grange” except the first two, overall I was thrilled with this book.