The School Is Alive!

Eerie Elementary, Book 1

By: Jack Chabert, Sam Ricks - illustrator

Eerie Elementary is one scary school!

In this first book in the series, Sam Graves discovers that his elementary school is ALIVE! Sam finds this out on his first day as the school hall monitor. Sam must defend himself and his fellow students against the evil school! Is Sam up to the challenge? He'll find out soon enough: the class play is just around the corner. Sam teams up with friends Lucy and Antonio to stop this scary school before it's too late!

©2026 Jack Chabert (P)2026 Scholastic Audio Books

Critic reviews

Praise for EERIE ELEMENTARY #1:"The plot and twisted storyline will serve the beginning chapter book reader well. Word choice, action, and crisp sketches support the story, allowing early readers to develop ideas and easily follow the plot." -LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION

"Give this early chapter book to readers who want something scary but aren't ready for the 'Goosebumps' or 'Scream Street' series." -SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Dynamic, cartoonish illustrations amp up the action, and fun onomatopoeia provides atmosphere....Readers who relish the action of Dav Pilkey's Ricky Ricotta series and the just-beyond-safe scares of R.L. Stine's Rotten School titles may want to enroll at Eerie Elementary." -BOOKLIST

"Chabert hits just the right horror note for transitional readers, with thrills that include a dash of absurd humor and fall tactfully short of being truly frightening....Simple sentence structure, some repetitive (but not tedious) vocabulary and a direct storytelling style make this a worthy and creepy addition to the Branches series, and the scary story aspect will likely pull in a few reluctant readers. Ricks' illustrations add an appropriately gloomy but playful touch." -BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS