Common Sense Media Review
By Michael Berry
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Bug-monsters offer light horror hijinks in third volume.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Having battled demons and snake-monsters, Robert Arthur and Glen Torkells must now face off against a new antagonist, student council president Howard Mergler, who is actually a disgusting bug-monster in disguise. Hordes of wasps, roaches, and lice are infesting the middle school, and no one will believe that there is a connection to the supernatural. Aided by a ghostly girl and a two-headed rat, Robert and Glen must stop the six-legged apocalypse on their own.
Is It Any Good?
TEACHER'S PEST continues the humorous middle-school horror adventure begun in Professor Gargoyle and The Slither Sisters. It maintains the series' mix of goofy humor and monster mayhem and is likely to satisfy its core audience. But after three installments, some readers may want more of a sense that the overarching narrative is escalating to some kind of payoff, rather than just as series of encounters with random monster archetypes.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what makes a good horror story, and what makes a good horror comedy. What's both funny and creepy about bugs and bug-monsters in Teacher's Pest?
Can you imagine any of your teachers or classmates being monsters from another dimension?
How do you feel about the way the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series is going? Think you'll stick with it?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Eugene Smith
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Animals ( Bugs ) , Friendship
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Quirk Books
- Publication date : May 7, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 9 - 17
- Number of pages : 176
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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