Graveyard School (novella series)

Graveyard School is a series of children's horror fiction novellas created and authored by Tom B. Stone. The series contained twenty-eight books which were published by Bantam Books from 1994 to 1999.

Overview

The series take's place in the fictional town of Grove Hill, although sometimes the books take place at a secluded summer camp or, in one book, on an island. The main characters are usually preteen boys and girls who experience supernatural phenomenon which are often mentioned in other books but are never fully referenced. The characters have a hard time explaining it to the adults and teenagers around them who never take them seriously, save for a few. Some of the main characters of one book are usually seen in other ones although they are merely background characters most of the time.

Grove Hill Elementary School gained the nickname Graveyard School due to Graveyard Hill, the abandoned graveyard right next door to it. The school is run by Dr. Morthouse, who has gained infamy from the students due to her cold, cruel, and frightening personality, along with the possibility that she has a silver fang in her mouth which they often catch a glimpse of. She is aware of the events that happen in her school and is, apparently, part of it. The vice-principal, Mr. Hannibal Lucre, is overly sweet to the students, and is known for the damp, squishy noise his sweaty hands make when he rubs them together. Amongst the most feared of the faculty is the janitor, Mr. Bartholomew, nicknamed Basement Bart, because he spends practically all his time in the school basement which spreads for miles, and can always be seen dressed in army attire. Even though no one actually sees him in the halls, he pops up from time to time whenever someone causes a mess or is about to get into a fight.

Another section of Grove Hill is Slime Lake, a lake out near the woods known for the green color of the water caused by the mysterious slime that can be found in it. Living inside the Lake is a monster nicknamed Nessie, whose existence is known only by a few people in order to protect her.

The kinds of threats the kids usually deal with are ghosts, vampires, and mummies, along with one-of-a-kind creatures such as a demonic Easter bunny, a haunted school bus, resurrected dinosaurs, wish-granting spiders, a skateboarding Skeleton, and other such monsters.

Each book usually contains puns and references to other books, and each contain an activity at the end such as crosswords, ad-libs, and science experiments.

List of Books

#"Don't Eat the Mystery Meat!"
#"The Skeleton on the Skateboard"
#"The Headless Bicycle Rider"
#"Little Pet Werewolf"
#"Revenge of the Dinosaurs"
#"Camp Dracula"
#"Slime Lake"
#"Let's Scare the Teacher to Death!"
#"The Abominable Snow Monster"
#"There's a Ghost in the Boys' Bathroom"
#"April Ghouls' Day"
#"Scream, Team!"
#"Tales to Scary to Tell at Camp"
#"The Tragic School Bus"
#"The Fright Before Christmas"
#"Don't Tell Mummy"
#"Jack and the Beanstalker"
#"The Dead Sox"
#"The Gator Ate Her"
#"Creature Teacher"
#"The Skeleton's Revenge"
#"Boo Year's Eve"
#"The Easter Egg Haunt"
#"Scream Around the Campfire"
#"Escape from Vampire Park"
#"Little School of Horrors"
#"Here Comes Santa Claws"
#"The Spider Beside Her"

Characters

Grove Hill Elementary School Students

*Park Addams: Parker, or Park as he is called, is one of the most frequently used characters in the series. Known for his baseball cap, he is an avid baseball fan and was on the Grove Hill All-Stars junior baseball team.
*Jaws Bennett: Jaws, real name Alexander, claims he can eat practically anything, "even roadkill". He is the only student at Grove Hill who enjoys eating the disgusting school lunches the cafeteria makes.
*Kirstin Bjorg: Kirstin is class president of the sixth grade and is friends with Algie Green. However, she does have a secret no one at school could ever suspect.
*Roy Carne: Roy is Eddie Hoover's right-hand man.
*Stacey Carter: Stacey is a dog-lover who makes money walking dogs. She is Maria Medina's best friend and keeps a bulldog named Morris as a pet.
*Kyle Chilton
*Jackson Crowder
*Ken Dahl: Ken is school bully Jason Dunnbar's right-hand man and is quite literally a dunce.
*Jason Dunnbar: Jason is the school bully and is enemies with Kirstin Bjorg and Algie Green. He was once the only kid elected for class president, until Algie nominated Kirstin and helped her win.
*Nathan Ebro
*Jordie Flanders: Jordie is sometimes called the "Human Computer" by her classmates because she is the smartest kid in school. She has a hard time excepting that something supernatural can happen and always tries to find a logical explanation, until it's too late.
*Marc Foster: Marc is the twin brother of Terri, and although the two look alike, you can tell which one Mark is by his more serious attitude.
*Terri Foster: Terri is Marc's twin sister, and when compared to him, she is much more carefree and has a generally sweet personality.
*Algernon Green: Algie was originally the new kid at Grove Hill Elementary. Known for his glasses and his short ponytail, Algie makes money on a paper route and has been on both the school's soccer team and the town's little league team.
*Christopher Hampton: Christopher is a well-known miser among his fellow students and used to have a personality similar only to Ebeneezer Scrooge, until one certain Christmas...
*Polly Hannah: Polly is well-hated among the kids of Grove Hill for being a suck up and a teacher's pet, and she knows it. Despite this, Polly never seems to care what the other students think of her, and practically always gets her way. She can be identified by her clothes, which are usually pink, pale blue, and butter yellow.
*Jeep Holmes
*Eddie Hoover: Eddie is rivals with Skate McGraw for the title of best-skater, until they had a near-death experience and Eddie switched to board games.
*Bentley Jest: Bent is the school's reinging prank master, and is known to wage all-out war on his teachers. He stopped for a while though, when one of his pranks seemed to have actually scared a teacher to death.
*Alex Lee
*Skate McGraw: Skate, real name Ryan, is a skateboard enthusiast, as is his cousin Vickie.
*Maria Medina: Maria is best friends with Stacey Carter, and is well-known for having a collection of oversized polo shirts.
*Raul Perez: Raul is David Pike's best friend.
*David Pike: David is Richie Pike's older brother, and is usually suffering due to whatever scheme Richie gets pulled into.
*Richie Pike: Richie is David Pike's younger brother and resident dinosaur fanatic.
*Tyson Walker: Tyson is Grove Hill's biggest soccer fan.
*Blue Russell: Blue is the second new kid to arrive at Grove Hill. He was placed in Mrs. Storch's homeroom, and began to realize that her students weren't exactly normal.
*Ariadne Spinner: Ari, although relatively not known for social interaction, is known for her obsession with spiders.
*John Melvin West: Mel is the third new kid to arrive at Grove Hill and is the resident artist.
*Vickie Wheilson: Vickie is Skate McGraw's cousin, and while she is also a skateboarder like him, she is known for her bright red hair and the loud colors she wears.
*Mark Wolfson: Mark is known for his odd appearance, such as his large hands, feet, ears, and the stubby hairs growing on his chin. He is about 8-years-old and is Skip Wolfson's little brother.
*Skip Wolfson: Skip is known for what his dog Lupe did during one of Grove Hill Elementary School Pet Day, and for his fear of buses. Skip's little brother, Mark, has an unusual secret.