Pennsylvania School Librarians Association
2007 Young Adult Top Forty Fiction Title
School Library Journal - Bethany A. Lafferty; Clark County Library
Gr 3-6–Three fantasy titles meant for struggling readers. Each book introduces a main character who is grappling with unknown circumstances. There is little or no character development, but the easy style and appealing subjects may interest the target audience. In the first volume, JP is sucked into his video game and must use his superior gaming knowledge and skills to make his way to the final stage. In Trapped, David finds a drainpipe that looks like a perfect spot for skateboarding, even though he has been warned about a tragic accident that took place there just the year before. In Haunted Playground, Gavin encounters some very strange children at a playground while using his metal detector to find lost treasures. This narrative has a few awkward phrases and transitions that can lead to confusion even for advanced readers. The spooky atmosphere in each book is established rather quickly with suspense that lasts until the very end. While there is little literary merit to these books, they are suitable additions for libraries searching for hi/lo materials.
February 1, 2008Pennsylvania School Library Association - Ginger Bardi
This is a high interest book for the struggling middle school reader. David is moving into his new house thousands of miles away from all of his friends. He is sure he will hate it and then sees a boy about his age with a skateboard in a big pipe not far from his house. When he investigates 3 other boys warn him to stay away; they are forbidden to skate in the pipe since the accident. But David can hear someone riding a skateboard far inside the pipe and decides to investigate. Mystery.
May 1, 2008VOYA - Sarah Cofer
David is not excited about moving to a new town until he meets some fellow skateboarders at a huge concrete drainpipe. The boys tell David about an accident involving two skaters who were in the drainpipe and warn David to stay out. David cannot resist skating the drainpipe and decides to go in by himself. David thinks he hears someone skating deep inside, so he goes further into the drainpipe to investigate. Suddenly a storm strikes, and David knows he must get out of the drain before it fills with water. He drops he flashlight and starts to panic in the pitch black when a skateboarder glowing with an eerie green light grabs him and tells him to follow him. Ghost or not, David has to trust him to get him safely out. This suspenseful and scary story is just right for struggling middle school readers. The open ending creates discussion and an opportunity for readers to draw their own conclusions. The incredibly short story with spaced-out text makes it feel like a younger read. But the creepy ghost tale packs a punch with an urban-legend feel. Like other books from the Shade Books series, it is a high interest/low reading level book, with black-and-white illustrations, a glossary, writing prompts, discussion questions, and Internet sits.
February 1, 2008The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Book
Publisher Stone Arch has a particular focus on hi-lo fiction in a range of genres and formats, and some of their strongest entries are imports, as with these two titles in their fantasy line from Australian authors James Moloney (Black Taxi, BCCB 5/05) and Shaun Tan. Moloney’s Trapped tells of skateboarder David, determined to skate in a local storm drain but finding there more than he bargained for. The Haunted Playground stars Gavin, whose nocturnal metal-detecting hobby leads him to a playground populated with weirdly out-of-date kids who are unnervingly eager to ensure he stays and plays with them. The retitling of both books results in giving away more plot than is advisable, and readers can happily forego the discussion questions and writing prompts in the end matter; behind those packaging issues, however, lie tow compact, nicely spooky, easily readable ghost stories with genuine individuality. Tan’s moody, intense black-and-white art confers sophistication upon the books, suggesting edgy magazine stories rather than stodgy nutritional reading. All the more useful for their appeal to readers of various levels of literary expertise, these will give reluctant readers a good shot at experiencing some genuine pleasures in decoding text.
December 1, 2007Pennsylvania School Library Association - Jeannie Bellavance
Curiosity gets the better of David when he decides to skateboard in the huge drain pipe near his new home. He’s been warned by the local kids to stay away because of Simon and Justin. His parents remind him of the dangers of flash floods, but still how dangerous can it be? As he enters the pipe, he thinks he hears someone but there’s no one there. Tension builds the deeper he goes and then the ground begins to shake…. Will he make it out or be another victim? Stone Arch publishes Hi-Low books and this one will not stay on the shelf. It is well written and very suspenseful. There are discussion questions, a glossary, and writing prompts which will be valuable to teachers. Skateboarding; ghosts.
January 23, 2012Booklist - Carolyn Phelan
As his family drives through their new town, David spies an enormous concrete-lined drain pipe with obvious skateboarding potential. His dad mentions that when the wet season begins, the drain can fill up in seconds, and the local kids warn him away with a hushed reference to “Simon and Justin.” But David soon returns to the spot with his board and a flashlight. The story quickly ratchets up from benign to scary to downright spooky as David ventures into the pipe and encounters Simon and later Justin, while overhead, rain begins to fall. Offering the winning elements of skateboarding, a ghost, and danger, the book delivers a good, straightforward adventure with a surprise ending. First published in Australia in 1996, this was written by the author of The Book of Lies (2007). Appealing and accessible to an unusually broad range of readers, the book features short words, brief sentences, large type, plenty of white space, and many effective black-and-white illustrations by Tan, the creator of The Arrival (2007).
December 15, 2007
