Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Honestly this is a strong 3.5 star read (I rounded it up to 4 stars). I know that Stine says in the beginning this is a book where everything can happen (it does) and it’s for the adults who used to read his book as kids (ehhh) that was great but the overall story itself felt very young. All of the characters are pre-teens. I was hoping for a more Fear Street teens in danger vibe. Instead the book felt very low stakes horror. I do have to agree though that the ending was a surprise and I think it will delight young readers.
Nightmare on Nightmare Street follows a family who has just moved into one of the streets I would avoid if I were moving anywhere. A young boy named Joe wants his family to move since he insists the house is haunted. Most of the few chapters are Joe’s family and his slightly older sister Sadie making fun of him and insisting the house is not haunted. When Joe falls asleep though something terrible happens and then the book shifts to a young boy named Shawn who also wants to leave and not go to Nightmare Academy. The teachers are weird and the school is weird. Joe and his sister Addie are forced to go to school where strange things occur. The book flips back and forth between Joe and Shawn and you wonder what is going on with both kids.
As I said above, a good book for young readers. Nothing too scary I would think or nothing at that age that would have scared me. You do have to wonder at the adults in this one since they all seem to be way too dismissive of the things that are going on.
I wish that Stine had spent more building up Nightmare Street. But if you get to the ending, you can see why he may have skipped any world building.
The ending as I said was clever.
