Monster Squad
Four-book horror/adventure series for middle-grade kids
by Laura Dower, illustrated by Dave Schalfman
Jesse Ranger was just an average kid with an obsession for Oswald Leery's B-Monster movies until he discovered a dangerous secret. It turns out Leery's special filming process brought his movie monsters to life and now they've escaped the screen! Something must be done, so Leery recruits Jesse, Stella, Damon, and Lindsey to help. But how do you trap a B-Monster, especially one made up of slime?
“Take a little Wonka, add in a dash of Mike Thaler, and an hour of B-Movies and you'll have this great, quick read.”
- Teresa G. via Goodreads
“This is my first Monster Squad book and it was delightful. It's a super quick read. The squad is made up of four misfit kids who use their unique talents and hobbies to fight off these B-Monsters single-handedly. Just like B-movies it doesn't take itself too seriously, but it is still fun. A great pick for reluctant readers or kids who like high action scifi fun.”
- Becky B., via Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPT
The Slime that Would Not Die
There are a zillion things that make my hometown of Riddle weird. Like Tricks, the three-legged dog that hangs outside the library and growls at you if you have overdue books. Or the three gigantic windmills that just appeared one day out on Route 5. Or stores at Petroglyph Mall that everyone swears are haunted. But nothing in Riddle rates higher on the weird-o-meter than Leery Castle. It sits at the top of Nerve Mountain, all creepy and quiet, like it's watching me.
I'm beginning to think that maybe it is.
Leery Castle was built in the early 1900s. The first Leery to live there was Lucas Leery. He made silent movies. Then there was Desmond Leery, Lucas Leery's son. He was born in 1910 and made movies with his father.
Together they made some of the most well-known movies of the time: dramas, romances, thrillers, and comedies. They created a new filming technique with a special camera no one had ever seen before. It made everything pop off the screen, almost like 3-D vision, but without funny glasses. People loved it.
Then Oswald Leery came along. He's Lucas Leery's grandson. When he inherited the family movie business, Oswald Leery decided to make only one kind of movie: the monster movie. But his movie monsters weren't your typical Frankenstein or Wolf Man. Leery's monsters had crooked fangs, laser-beam eyes, and fake blood like ketchup. You could actually see on-screen where fur was glued on. They had funny names like Rodiak and Chomp-O.
Critics made fun of Leery's movies. They called his creatures B-Monsters. But Leery didn't mind the name. He loved it so much that he renamed the special Leery family filming process B-Monster Vision. It made even the most fake-looking monsters come alive on-screen. With B-Monster Vision, flying bats seemed to fly for real, off the screen and right into my face.
Tuesday is the one night each week that Mom works late at the art gallery, so Dad and I always watch movies together during dinner. It was on a rainy Tuesday night last year when Dad showed me my first-ever Oswald Leery B-Monster double feature: Bog Beast and Island of Dr. Dim.
I will never forget the exact moment when the Bog Beast jumps out of the swamp and swallows this mutant crocodile in one gulp. I snorted chocolate milk out of my nose—I was that scared. But I couldn't look away.
Those special effects were so bad, they were great.
I've been hooked on Bs ever since.