The Monsters Next Door

The Bailey City Monsters #1

by Marcia Thornton Jones, Debbie Dadey

In the first installment in a series spun off from the popular Adventures of the Bailey School Kids books, Annie, Ben, and Jane investigate the strange habits of the owners of the Hauntly Manor Inn and their spooky young son. Original.

Genres: Childrens, Halloween

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Marcia Thornton Jones has published 131 books for children with sales totaling more than 43 million copies world-wide. Her works include CHAMP (mid-grade novel), RATFINK (mid-grade novel), GODZILLA ATE MY HOMEWORK (chapter book), THE TALE OF JACK FROST (picture book) and LEPRECHAUN ON THE LOOSE (picture book). She is the co-author of seven popular series including The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids, Keyholders, Ghostville Elementary, The Bailey School Kids Jr. Chapter Books, Triplet Trouble, Bailey City Monsters, and The Barkley School for Dogs.

Marcia has been listed as a top 100 author by the Educational Paperback Association and selected for the Children’s Top 100 Books list by the National Education Association, International Reading Associations Children’s Choice Award. Marcia's books have received many honors and have appeared on on the Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers lists,

Marcia, a full time writer living in Lexington, Kentucky enjoys presenting at schools and conferences. As a veteran teacher with more than 20 years of experience, she easily relates the importance of writing to students of all ages.

Reviews

[Amber Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED the Bailey School Kids series when I was a kid, but somehow Bailey City Monsters escaped me until I was an adult and no longer the target audience for these books. This first book in the series is short and sweet: the Hauntly family has come to town from Transylvania to open an inn in a giant spooky old house. The Hauntlys consist of Hilda, a scientist who looks like the Bride of Frankenstein's little sister; Boris, Hilda's husband, the main proprietor of the new inn and who appears to be a red headed version of Dracula; and their son Kilmer who bears a strong resemblance to Frankenstein's monster which leads the other kids to think he's maybe an experiment of his mother's. All three are incredibly sweet and kooky people and I really wish they existed in real life so I could be friends with them. I'm serious. I freaking love the Hauntlys. Anyway, they throw a Halloween party at the inn (snacks include rat's claws) and you can guess how that turns out.

Can't wait to read the next one...even though I'm almost 30 years old and these are targeted to elementary school kids :)

[James Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic, silly, and cute. All the reasons I loved it growing up.

[Jamille Parks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading these books as a kid growing up in school and I wanted to relive my glory days. It did not disappoint.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much happens, this book is mostly just setup for the series but the setup is promising...for a kids book series.

[Mandy Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annie and Ben have new neighbors. from Transylvania! with Halloween right around the corner, and the neighbors being related to Mrs jeepers, things just get creeper!

fun and entertaining my kids still love Bailey school kids