Maudlin Towers: Curse of the werewolf boy by Chris Priestley

Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408873083
(Age: 8+) Highly recommended. Themes: Horror, Werewolves, Teachers, Time travel. "Mildew and Sponge don't think much of Maudlin Towers, the blackened, gloom-laden, gargoyle-infested monstrosity that is their school. But when somebody steals the School Spoon and the teachers threaten to cancel the Christmas holidays until the culprit is found, our heroes must spring into action and solve the crime!
But what starts out as a classic bit of detectivating quickly becomes weirder than they could have imagined. Who is the ghost in the attic? What's their history teacher doing with a time machine? And why do a crazy bunch of Vikings seem to think Mildew is a werewolf?" (Publisher)
This is a well written story. When two young boys Mildew and Sponge find themselves in a school for the not so bright in a gloomy part of England with strange things happening around them they are forced to investigate. The main characters are interesting and funny. They manage to stumble onto a great number of events without meaning to and see things that they don't understand at first. As the story progresses you start to piece together all the happenings and how they fit together. Mildew and Sponge draw you into the story and keep you wondering what they will get up to next, and how they will get out of some of the situations they get themselves into.
The boys find out what happens when they learn that there is a time machine in the school and how time travel is not always what it's cracked up to be.
I highly recommend this book to boys 8+.
Karen Colliver