The haunted mustache

Gr 5 Up--A creepy new series sure to crawl into the hearts of your young scary story fans. The town of Wolver Hollow has a haunting mystery. Each year on October 19th, every man, woman, and child must wear a mustache from dusk till dawn. After a quarry explosion, a man is never seen again, and only his mustache was found. Two fifth grade friends, Parker and Lucas, want to get to the bottom of what happened. They want to know if his mustache still really haunts the town, and how to get it to its final resting place. Parker and Lucas team up with a classmate to confront the mystery of the haunted mustache head-on. This series will be a great recommendation for those readers who enjoy R.L. Stine or any of the "Scary Stories" collections. The mystery aspect is easy to follow and lets students put the clues together alongside the main characters. VERDICT A hair-raising paranormal mystery for middle grade readers that won't disappoint. A must-have title for elementary or middle schools where supernatural and scary books circulate well.--Elizabeth Pelayo, St. Charles East H.S., IL

Fifth graders get into a hairy situation. After an unnamed narrator's full-page warning, readers dive right into a Wolver Hollow classroom. Mr. Noffler recounts the town legend about how, every Oct. 19, residents don fake mustaches and lock their doors. As the story goes, the late Bockius Beauregard was vaporized in an "unfortunate black powder incident," but, somehow, his "magnificent mustache" survived to haunt the town. Once a year, the spectral 'stache searches for an exposed upper lip to rest upon. Is it real or superstition? Students Parker and Lucas--sole members of the Midnight Owl Detective Agency--decide to take the case and solve the mustache mystery. When they find that the book of legends they need for their research has been checked out from the library, they recruit the borrower: goth classmate Samantha von Oppelstein. Will the three of them be enough to take on the mustache and resolve its ghostly, unfinished business? Whether through ridiculous plot points or over-the-top descriptions, the comedy keeps coming in this first title in McGee's new Night Frights series. A generous font and spacing make this quick-paced, 13-chapter story appealing to newly confident readers. Skaffa's grayscale cartoon spot (and occasional full-page) illustrations help set the tone and accentuate the action. Though neither race or skin color is described in the text, images show Lucas and Samantha as light-skinned and Parker as dark-skinned. Lighthearted spook with a heaping side of silliness--and hair. (maps) (Fiction. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 5 Up—A creepy new series sure to crawl into the hearts of your young scary story fans. The town of Wolver Hollow has a haunting mystery. Each year on October 19th, every man, woman, and child must wear a mustache from dusk till dawn. After a quarry explosion, a man is never seen again, and only his mustache was found. Two fifth grade friends, Parker and Lucas, want to get to the bottom of what happened. They want to know if his mustache still really haunts the town, and how to get it to its final resting place. Parker and Lucas team up with a classmate to confront the mystery of the haunted mustache head-on. This series will be a great recommendation for those readers who enjoy R.L. Stine or any of the "Scary Stories" collections. The mystery aspect is easy to follow and lets students put the clues together alongside the main characters. VERDICT A hair-raising paranormal mystery for middle grade readers that won't disappoint. A must-have title for elementary or middle schools where supernatural and scary books circulate well.—Elizabeth Pelayo, St. Charles East H.S., IL