A nonstop thrillventure about how to overcome your monsters!
Ballarini’s action-packed debut is amazing! An adventure roller-coaster ride with crazy chases, daring escapes, exploding teddy bears, enchanted weaponry, and an army of nightmares.
A rich, wonderful, and exciting world of characters and action. A superfun read!
Joe Ballarini’s book is an anthem for female friendship and the power that comes with it.
A reminder that monsters believe in you even if you don’t believe in them.
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting is scary, funny, clever, and filled with heart. Best of all, the main character, Kelly Ferguson, proves a smart, appealing, and very real hero. You will root for her, and then you will root for a sequel.
This new series gives babysitting a daring edge and sets up girls outside of the popular crowd as heroines. An entertaining debut.
This new series gives babysitting a daring edge and sets up girls outside of the popular crowd as heroines. An entertaining debut.” — Booklist
“An absolute romp of a book that will have kids everywhere howling for more. The writing is crisp and absolutely pitch-perfect for the middle-grade set. The story is exciting, funny, and very, very smart.” — San Francisco Book Review
“A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting is scary, funny, clever, and filled with heart. Best of all, the main character, Kelly Ferguson, proves a smart, appealing, and very real hero. You will root for her, and then you will root for a sequel.” — Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times Bestselling Author
“Joe Ballarini’s book is an anthem for female friendship and the power that comes with it.” — Ali Bell, executive producer Ghostbusters
“A nonstop thrillventure about how to overcome your monsters!” — John Lee, director of Pee Wee's Big Holiday
“A rich, wonderful, and exciting world of characters and action. A superfun read!” — Ian Bryce, producer of Transformers
“Ballarini’s action-packed debut is amazing! An adventure roller-coaster ride with crazy chases, daring escapes, exploding teddy bears, enchanted weaponry, and an army of nightmares.” — Callum Greene, executive producer of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
“A reminder that monsters believe in you even if you don’t believe in them.” — Adam Robitel, director of Insidious and the Taking of Deborah Logan
This new series gives babysitting a daring edge and sets up girls outside of the popular crowd as heroines. An entertaining debut.
04/01/2017
Gr 5–7—This shining gem in the campy monster drama genre is a step up from R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps." Meet Kelly Ferguson, a struggling 12-year-old who hasn't quite found her place in the middle school hierarchy. Then she accidentally discovers a team of monster-fighting babysitters. Their mission is to save kids from the utmost evil in the world, the Grand Guignol. This despicable, devil-like creature, who is also known as the boogeyman, preys on defenseless children left in the care of babysitters. When Kelly's charge, Jacob, is kidnapped right under her nose, she must work with the band of super babysitters to help rescue baby Jacob from the clutches of the vile Grand Guignol. The over-the-top humorous action, snarky dialogue, and engaging characters will keep readers hooked. The other babysitters, such as Liz, who is haunted by the disappearance of a sibling, each have interesting backstories. Liz creates A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting, which the sitters refer to when faced with a new threat. Excerpts from this handy manual are sprinkled throughout the narrative, adding an interesting dimension to the storytelling and world-building. VERDICT With shades of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this tale of a courageous heroine and her ragtag group of intrepid babysitters battling nightmare-inducing beasts makes for addictive reading. Hand this to fans of Chris Colfer, Rick Riordan, and Adam Gidwitz.—Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elementary School, Gastonia, NC
2017-03-15
Babysitting is Kelly's worst nightmare. Needing funds for summer camp, the white 13-year-old grudgingly takes a babysitting job. When her charge is kidnapped by leather-taloned beasties, Kelly discovers that the Boogeyman is actually real. Next thing she knows, Kelly is fighting monsters alongside a secret babysitting society, members of which are a moped-driving teen who looks like she stepped out of an apocalyptic future and three of Kelly's classmates; all are white save African-American Berna, whose hair is "wild [and] puffy." The stakes are high now, as it seems the stolen white 5-year-old has the power to dream dreams into reality, and the Boogeyman wants him in order to fill the world with living nightmares. Kelly, who has never been popular, discovers she's got some really surprising attributes, which increase her chances with her longtime crush, Victor from Guatemala (who's both exoticized and largely off the page). While the story never gets all that frightening, it has its moments, as in the titular guide's catalog of monsters, which includes the ghost of a woman eaten by her own cats. Grand Guignol, aka the Boogeyman, has a flair for the theatrical, and his snarky complaint exemplifies much of the dialogue: "I get called names like ‘creepy evil, twitchy goat legs' or ‘that scary man who keeps trying to eat me.' " A series opener that melds Goosebumps and The Baby-Sitters Club with ironic glue. (Adventure. 8-13)
