Substitute Creature: Substitute Creature (Tales from Lovecraft Middle School, #4)

by Charles Gilman

When a giant nor'easter dumps a blanket of snow on the village of Dunwich, Massachussetts, Robert Arthur and his friends find themselves marooned inside Lovecraft Middle School. The kids have no choice but to spend the night-while snacking on cafeteria food, sleeping on classroom floors, and facing off against a mysterious substitute teacher who may have a sinister secret. The latest adventure in the Lovecraft Middle School series features more adventures, more outrageous monsters, and another terrifying lenticular cover!

• ISBN10: 1594746400
• ISBN13: 9781594746406
• Publish Date: 24 September 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 24 September 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Quirk Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 176
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781594746406

Reviews

[stressedrach]

I do not know where Charles Gilman got the idea for this series but I praise him. Substitute Creature is as good as, if not better than the previous books in the series. My daughters have both loved reading the series. Robert is the hero and this time he is saving his mother and class mates from being eaten by the Old Ones.

This didn’t let us down at all. The main characters are growing up in front of our very eyes, having read all of the series you will notice this.

The book cover is fantastic and certainly a selling point directed at children. It’s creepy but not enough to cause bad nightmares and full of adventure.

It was well written and the illustration is brilliant. I have a 7 and 16 year old and they have both read it cover to cover and asked if there will be another book.

[celinenyx]

My favourite book in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School yet!

A huge blizzard traps Robert and his mother together with the concierge and a substitute teacher in Lovecraft Middle School. Soon Robert and Karina, the ghost of a girl that can't leave the school, discover that the blizzard is a cover unnatural creatures to enter the world.

I loved the monsters in Substitute Creature. They're scary and adorable at the same time, and the illustrations made my day. After all the gross insect-like monsters we've encountered so far, it was great to have a bit more cuddly monsters. I liked the setting of the snowed in school, being unable to have contact with the outside world makes it all seem more real somehow.

There is some slight romantic development between Robert and Karina which is absolutely adorable. Middle grade book romance is the best. YA books should take a page from this on how to have a sweet but non-scary crush on someone.

I also feel like the stakes are getting higher in every book. Although Substitute CreatureM doesn't end on a cliffhanger, there are a lot of unresolved questions that I'm sure will be addressed in the next book. I'm looking forward to the next book, I feel that Mr Gilman is improving his writing in every new release.