Posts By: Amy

I received this book for free from Delacorte Press, Random House Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

"Coraline meets Monsters, Inc. in this delightfully entertaining offering from actor [Jason] Segel and co-author [Kirsten] Miller."—Publishers Weekly

The hilariously frightening, middle-grade novel Nightmares! is the first book in a trilogy about a boy named Charlie and a group of kids who must face their fears to save their town.

Sleeping has never been so scary. And now waking up is even worse!

Charlie Laird has several problems.

1. His dad married a woman he is sure moonlights as a witch.
2. He had to move into her purple mansion, which is NOT a place you want to find yourself after dark.
3.He can’t remember the last time sleeping wasn’t a nightmarish prospect. Like even a nap.

What Charlie doesn’t know is that his problems are about to get a whole lot more real. Nightmares can ruin a good night’s sleep, but when they start slipping out of your dreams and into the waking world—that’s a line that should never be crossed.

And when your worst nightmares start to come true . . . well, that’s something only Charlie can face. And he’s going to need all the help he can get, or it might just be lights-out for Charlie Laird. For good.

I love a good middle grade book filled with adventure and fun! This is a somewhat horror, but it’s not really all that scary. Of course, it’s for kids so that makes sense. The characters in this book were great, and I loved getting lost inside their adventure along with them. It’s such a great blend of fantasy, adventure, and great lessons. I think that is what really draws me to MG books. There is usually such a great lesson for kids thrown into all the fun and fantasy of reading the story. This one is a lot about family and I thought it was done so well. This book was published last year, but since I was invited to review the second book, I needed to read and review this one first. I am so glad that I decided to. It’s such a fun series!

Charlie is a young boy, almost to teenage years, but not yet. He is also living in a big purple mansion with his new step mother, his father, and his younger brother Jack. He is miserable and can’t stand Charlotte, his step mom. His mother died because she was sick and now his father has remarried and they left his childhood home to move to the mansion. He is plagued by horrible nightmares, and tries to avoid sleep as much as possible. He soon discovers that he can enter the nightmare realm while still awake! He is convinced that the witch that keeps trying to get him is his step mother, and he is set to prove it somehow, but his father is sick of his behavior. So is his brother, who happens to really love Charlotte. He turns to his friends, then ends up in the nightmare world. He must fight his way out, but the only way to do that is to be brave and face his own fears. He helps all of his friends to confront their worst nightmares as well. Not only for them, but to save his brother who he has been horrible to lately. He was a great character who grew tremendously throughout the story. He is brave, and loyal, and full of heart. I really enjoyed getting to know Charlie.

This story was so fun to read. It’s horror, but comedy. Charlie and his friends were awesome, and I loved getting to know all of the nightmares that they encountered. Turns out that nightmares aren’t all that bad after all. They are just doing their job. The best they can in fact, so they don’t have to retire or be forgotten about and disappear. We meet Medusa, her son, goblins, clowns, and many other typical nightmares. Including a horrible one who wants to take over the nightmare world, and torture people instead of just scare them. This story was about facing your fears, and finding the underlying issue that is leading to the nightmares. It is about finding the truth in yourself and knowing what really matters. It’s mostly about family and friends, and caring about those who are close to you. I really liked this and thought it was a fantastically fun story to read with a good lesson as well. Of course I dived right into the next book after, and that review will post shortly as well.

3.5 Hot Espressos