Book Review: "Groosham Grange" by Anthony Horowitz

THERE IS NO ESCAPING IT....

Thirteen-year-old David Eliot was a disappointment to his parents. But to be sent to Groosham Grange? Hidden away on a lonely island, Groosham Grange is a school that is unknown to the outside world. Pupils forced to write their names in blood. An English teacher held together entirely by bandages. A soccer ball made of... well, you'd rather not know. What is the Chilling secret hidden behind the headmaster's door? And why are students disappearing in the middle of the night? Suddenly, David Has a lot more to worry about than pleasing his parents- like survival!

Getting into Groosham Grange is easy. Getting out alive is another matter....

He took in his first sight of Groosham Grange. It was a huge building, taller than it was wide; a crazy mixture of battlements, bared windows, soaring towers, slanting gray slate roofs, grinning gargoyles and ugly brick chimneys. As the Jeep pulled up outside the front door (solid wood, studded with nails and sixteen inches thick), there was a rumble overhead and a fork of lightning crackled across the sky. Somewhere a wolf howled. Them the door creaked slowly open.

MY REVIEW:

My dad read this and told me that I would enjoy it and it wouldn't take me too long, so I decided to take a break from the 4th Twilight book I am currently reading, "Breaking Dawn".

He was right, I did like it and it didn't take me too long to read. There were parts that were really funny too!

David had been kicked out of a few schools and when he came home and told his parents that he was getting kicked out of his current school, Beton Academy, they were very angry. Suddenly, a letter appears telling them that David had been accepted to a school that promised to whip him into shape. The school, "Groosham Grange" was on it's own island, had only 1 vacation day a year, and parents were never invited to the school to visit!

David gets sent off and on the train and had met 2 friends on the train who were also being sent to Groosham Grange, Jeffrey, a fat little boy who stuttered and Jill, who was rich and rarely saw her parents. The first thing that they thought was weird about their new school was that each of their parents had been given different descriptions of the school and what the school could do for their child.

When they arrived, they quickly noticed that this was a very strange place. Many of the other students acted weird and the teachers were even stranger. One teacher looked like he was dead, another looked like she was 1000 years old, and one teacher, Monsieur Leloup does not show up for class when there is a full moon.

David and Jill try to escape a few times, but always seem to find themselves back at the school. They soon discover that they are each the 7th child of a 7th child and that on their 13th birthdays, something strange happens. The whole time they are there they both notice that all of the other children have special rings on their fingers that they do not have yet and only get on that 13th birthday.

I don't want to spoil the end of the book so I will just tell you that David, Jeffrey, Jill, and all of the other children there are not ordinary children, they are different and special. After they find out what is special about them they have choices to make. They have to choose whether to join the rest of the children there or well, be killed! I will tell you that no one dies, at least none of the kids do in this book. The end is really cool and got me excited to read the second book of Groosham Grange which came out a few weeks ago.

I really enjoyed reading "Groosham Grange". It was funny, not too scary, and didn't take me too long to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an easy, fun book that they just want to sit one afternoon and finish the whole thing, just like I did. I also wanted to thank my Dad who saw that I needed something to do for a little while and suggested I give it a try. Thank you very much for reading my review and I am going back to reading "Breaking Dawn", book 4 of my favorite series, 'Twilight".

Lauryn