First day at Skeleton school by Sam Lloyd

Bloomsbury 2017. ISBN 9781408868829
(Age: 5+) Recommended. Monsters, School, Rhyming story. At night time Skeleton school opens its doors for the mini monsters, needing tuition with their newly found skills. Welcomed by Mr Bones the teacher, readers must cross over the moat into the ghostly castle and attend morning assembly where the singing is other worldly. In the library the witch flies up on her broom only to have the cat fall to the ground after attempting a loop de loop. Next dance class is a bit jangly with the skeletons all dancing together, while the ghosts move up and down the staircase learning to float and at lunchtime the zombies cook up a meal to be savoured.
In rhyming stanzas the story moves along, taking the reader through a familiar scenario, a school, but with ghostly apparitions popping out of all doors and windows, sitting in rows for assembly, drifting down the stairs, working in the science laboratory or playing in the garden.
Kids will love the range of things depicted, at assembly the whole range is lined up in rows for eager readers to pick out. They will laugh out loud at each page, littered with ghostly imaginings, a three headed librarian, a dancing skeleton reading a book called Rattling Rhymes, the beetle burgers being offered by the zombies, Frankenstein's head being used as a ball at playtime.
Bright illustrations fill each page with a mine of things to delve into, small drawings will catch the eyes of eager readers as they learn of the range of monsters that exist in our imaginations and literature. All good fun for Halloween.
Fran Knight