Fuzzy Mud

Louis Sachar's Fuzzy Mud is a creepy, clever school thriller for 9 year olds that starts with a shortcut through the woods.

What happens

Tamaya is in fifth grade at Woodridge Academy, a private school in Pennsylvania. She's the girl who does as she's told. Her friends have just started calling her a goody-goody for it, and it really stings.

She walks home every day with Marshall, an older boy from her street. Today he wants to cut through the woods, which they're not allowed in. Tamaya can't work out why. You soon find out. A boy called Chad has made Marshall's life a misery, and he's waiting on their usual corner.

They get lost, of course. Then Tamaya notices a puddle of dark mud with a yellowish fuzz hovering over it. Leaves have fallen everywhere except on the mud. And Chad turns up.

What Tamaya does next is brave and very out of character. By bedtime her hand has started to fizz. And the rash doesn't stay on her hand.

Between the chapters are pieces of a secret government hearing about a lab making fuel from a tiny man-made creature. One that doubles every thirty-six minutes. Little sums keep popping up too. 2 × 16 = 32. 2 × 32 = 64. You don't need to love maths to feel uneasy about where that's going!

It's as much about being good and being bullied as it's about the mud. Marshall is mean to Tamaya because everyone's mean to him, and he hates himself for it. That feels very true.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Chad beats Marshall up in the woods, punching him in the face and kneeing him in the head, and the bullying before that is nasty too. If your reader is being picked on at school, this could hit close to home. For a reader who likes a mystery with real stakes, it's gripping.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, try Louis Sachar's Holes. Stanley Yelnats is sent to a camp in the desert for something he didn't do, and the camp turns out to be much stranger than its name.