Teacher’s Pest by Charles Gilman Review

Tales From Lovecraft Middle School: #3

Teacher’s Pest, written by Charles Gilman, is the third book in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series. A collection of fantasy horror stories set in a school, aimed at the young adult market (12 years old and upwards, although or I would say that is it written well and easy enough to read so would also be good for children aged from 8 or 9). Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, an author of weird tales and scary stories, adult readers may recognise some of the inspiration as the school is set in Dunwich, Massachusetts.

In books 1 and 2 of the series (Professor Gargoyle and The Slither Sisters) we saw 12-year-old Robert become friends with the school bully, Glenn, and Karina, a ghost. They discovered an alternative universe within their state-of-the-art school (made from recycled materials – although some materials may have been obtained from a very strange and haunted house) where a war to take over the school, humanity and the world is in progress and being taken over by monsters disguised as humans. Book 3 continues with an outbreak of super headlice and a large bug infestation.

Teacher’s Pest is packed with action, lots of bugs and bugs in human form. It also develops the characters more with dramas at home being expanded on and emotions from the main characters, including Karina the ghost, becoming more relatable.

For readers that love a bit of horror, bugs and adventure, Tales From The Lovecraft Middle School will delight all younger readers. It is freaky, scary (not too much to frighten 9 years old) and a brilliant story.

With bugs, monsters, two-headed rats, ghosts, alternative universes and gateways to the other dimension hidden throughout the school children will delight in the story and get lost in the adventure and suspense.

As the story and the series progresses, the characters are developing more and becoming more rounded whilst the secrets behind the school are slowly revealed. The story flows very well throughout the books as individual pieces and as a series very well, capturing the readers attention.

Teacher’s Pest is a humorous, easy to read book. Whilst it is part of a series it can be read as a standalone novel, but I would recommend reading the series in order to fully enjoy the story.

And for those of you not familiar with the books, they have a really unique stand-out feature that will definitely appeal to readers – they have holographic / morphing covers. Teacher’s Pest has a cover featuring a pleasant looking boy in his bow tie and holding an apple that when the book is rotated slightly morphs into a rather large ugly bug in a school shirt and bow tie.

Charles Gilman has written another excellent instalment of the Lovecraft Middle School series. Its short chapters make it an easy and fast read, just be warned that because it is written by an American author and set in the USA the spellings and terms are American English.

If you love ghosts, monsters, the supernatural, two-headed pet rats and lots of adventure then Teacher’s Pest and the Tales From The Lovecraft Middle School series makes excellent reading for children aged 9 years upwards, with a very eye-catching cover.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £12.99 (Hardback)

For more information, visit lovecraftmiddleschool.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.

DISCLOSURE: I was provided with a free copy of this book for the purposes of writing a honest and impartial review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This review uses an affiliate link which I may receive a small commission from if you purchase through the link.

Click here to read more reviews of books by Charles Gilman