My Weird School 13 – Mrs. Patty Is Batty!

Dan Gutman's Mrs. Patty Is Batty is a spooky, silly Halloween story for 8 year olds about a school secretary who's a little bit TOO into Halloween.

What happens

It's the thirteenth My Weird School book. Mrs. Patty runs the front office and keeps Halloween going all year round. There are cobwebs on her desk, skeleton earrings and always a pile of sweets. She's told everyone her house will have more than anyone in town.

It all kicks off the night before, which in A.J.'s town is Mischief Night. He and Ryan sneak out to cover Andrea's tree in toilet paper. Nobody remembers to unroll it first (you can probably guess how well that goes).

Then it's costume day. Michael and Ryan come as zombie sportsmen with axes in their helmets. A.J. is a killer zombie penguin from outer space, which is a costume we can all get behind. There's a parade, and a mishap with Emily's queen costume that the whole playground sees.

After school Mrs. Patty mentions the Halloween Monster, who steals children's sweets. Then A.J.'s friend Billy turns up dressed as an "underwear-wolf" and swears her house is haunted. So do they still go?

Being American, it's candy rather than sweets, and Mischief Night is when kids play pranks. None of that will slow your reader down.

A.J. talks straight to you the whole way. Every few pages there's another "first rule of being a kid". He'll refuse to tell you something and then tell you anyway. It's scary in the way a ghost train is scary, with far more giggles than shivers.

It's worth knowing the boys fib to their parents so they can sneak out to Andrea's, and nobody tells them off. Billy's ghost story is gruesome too (a husband poisoned, and his head in a bucket in the basement). And when Emily's costume rips, everyone laughs at her in her underwear.

A child who frightens easily, or who'd hate being laughed at like Emily, might find bits of it uncomfortable. If yours loves a silly sort of scary, it's just right.

What to read next

If they're after another Halloween with the same gang, try It's Halloween, I'm turning green. Michael plans the trick-or-treat route for the most sweets possible, and Billy's underwear costume makes a comeback.