The Piano - Review

 

Author: Edgar J. Hyde

Genre: Middle Grade / Horror

Format: Paperback

Pages: 128

Okay, I grew up a Goosebumps kid, that was my origin story into loving horror. In all that time, I never once remembered going across the Creepers Series. It's a series also geared toward younger readers with creepy and spooky stories. They were published in the late 90s and have recently been getting re-published for a new generation. Still, I never remember seeing the original series until I discovered it at the Dollar Tree of all places. 

Now that it's spooky season, it seemed like the perfect time to take a peek at this series. So I started off with book one, The Piano. I know it's book one because, even though these are the reboot covers, the spines are numbered. A fact about books a miss, number of the series is published somewhere on the cover to let me know the order of things. The ironic part of all this, these are standalone books, so it doesn't matter what order you read them. Still, I respect their numbers, so I started with number one.

With the series, I did something I rarely do, and that was read reviews before jumping in. I did that for a lot of reasons, but mostly to get a feel for the nostalgia behind these books. See why people liked this series as kids, to see how excited people were for a new release. Naturally, in that process that process I came across a review that kind of struck with me as I read this, and I want to address that review now before any of us go further.

These books, and the series, are geared toward middle-grade readers. So please do no come into this series with adult expectations. We aren't the target audience. If you wanted something that makes complete sense and freaks you out. Find a different book.

Now onto my review.

I thought this was a solid middle-grade book, and the authors understand their readers' age group. Personally, I didn't find this scary, but a younger me who was totally afraid of the dark and had a flashlight by her bed. Yeah, she would have jumped at every one of those jump scares. It's also a solid haunted object story with two great young main characters. I found it fun and a quick read, and I wish my younger self had gotten a chance to read these before older me. But I appreciate that these are the core.

I won't compare it to Goosebumps, that's not fair. However, if your young reader likes that series, I would suggest this series as well. The books are smaller, but still a solid read. I like the large font as well, and the illustration in the pages breaks. I love a good illustration, no matter the book.

The thing I want to say those as someone who has gone back to read R.L Stine again, there is something I thought The Piano did better. It was nice to see parents who were present, paying attention, and knew what their children were generally up to. None of this running around amok, and I realize the era, and we still ran feral when not in school. But it was nice to see a middle-grade spooky book where the parents weren't blissfully unaware or borderline bad parents. This was a family that was scared together. I loved that for them.

So yeah, I liked this and will be working my way through these books, and I know the perfect place to donate them as I finished them. Because while I thought this first book was fun, and have high hopes to enjoy the others, I don't think this is a series I'll keep on my shelf. 

HAPPY READING!!