Scream: The Human Flytrap by Jack Heath, paperback novel, 138 pages, published by scholastic Australia in 2015.

Some very odd things happen in Axe Falls, the beach-side town where Josh and his sister Yvette live. There have been unexplained disappearances, and strange occurrences, but things are about to get even stranger for Josh when his parents move them into a spooky old house. Their new neighbour seems to be a crazy old lady screaming at them to leave, there are weird noises, and he’s sure he’s seeing impossible things out of his window. Combined with his best friend, Dale’s out of control science project, Josh is having a rather unusual and confusing week, but it’s about to get a lot worse!

The Human Flytrap is the first book in a new and exciting series called Scream for middle to upper primary school students. These books aim to get your heart pumping, your spine tingling and your skin prickling with goosebumps! For maximum effect, try reading these at night (stormy or windy if possible), under the covers with a torch when the rest of the household is asleep! This was how I read the Goosebumps series when I was a child, and if was great at getting me in the right mood for a fright!

I read this book quite quickly and really enjoyed it. It was an engaging and exciting read. The characters are well developed, and I really got a sense for Josh especially. He is very brave and empathetic. I liked all of the main characters actually. They are all good kids experiencing a crazy situation, but helping each other through. We will probably get to know them even better through the series. Some of the teachers at the high school are pretty strange and intimidating though. I think they might be involved in the funny happenings in town, perhaps they are even relics of the old asylum building that houses the school. I’ll have to keep reading to find out.

As an adult I wasn’t too scared, though reading about the giant sized flytrap did have me glancing over to my baby venus flytrap a bit more often than normal! My third grader is enjoying reading the Scream series. She says that she wasn’t too scared while reading The Human Flytrap, it is “fun scary”. Younger readers might find it too frightening, but it really depends on the individual child as to how they will react to books like these.