The Nightmare Room 02 – Locker 13

R. L. Stine's Locker 13 is a creepy school story for 11 year olds about a boy who takes his lucky charms VERY seriously.

What happens

Luke Greene starts seventh grade in his lucky shirt, with his lucky black rabbit's foot in his pocket. Then he finds his name on the locker chart. Number 13.

As far as Luke's concerned, the whole year is ruined before it's even started.

His friend Hannah is the complete opposite. She finds money on the floor. She sinks basket after basket without missing. She wins a brand new car in a raffle at the mall! Luke, meanwhile, sits on the bench while an eighth-grade giant called Stretch makes his life a misery.

Then the strange things begin. A black cat hisses at him from inside his locked locker. Two glowing red eyes slide across a cracked mirror towards his face. And on Friday the thirteenth there's a tiny rubber skull with red glass eyes waiting on the locker floor. After that, Luke suddenly can't miss a shot.

It's very much like being inside Luke's head. He counts to seven three times, he kisses the diving board, he squeezes that rabbit's foot. He knows he thinks too much (Hannah tells him so). He's funny about it too, which makes him easy company.

And you can feel how badly he wants some of Hannah's luck. Who hasn't wished for a bit of someone else's? That's exactly where this second Nightmare Room book gets its chill. Nearly every chapter ends on a cliffhanger, so expect a lot of "just one more".

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Stretch is a proper bully. He knocks Luke flat on the court again and again, and at one point Luke is winded so badly he blacks out. There's also a nightmare about hair pouring out of Luke's nose and wrapping round him like a mummy (more gross than gory, but vivid!).

If your reader has been picked on and it still stings, those scenes might hit close to home. If they love a shiver with some yuck mixed in, they'll probably race through it.

What to read next

For another Nightmare Room book, try the first one, Don't Forget Me. Danielle is fifteen and jokes that she'd like to be an only child. Then her family moves into a creaky old house, and in the very first chapter she tells you she was about to lose her little brother for real.