‘Gargoyle Hall’ provides tweens with spooky fun

"Use your head!"

That's what your parents, grandparents, even your teacher says all the time. Use your head. Think things through. Don't stop looking for the solution because you're close to an understanding — even if, as in the new book "Gargoyle Hall: An Araminta Spookie Adventure" by Angie Sage, you have to go somewhere else to find it.

Like any good detective, Araminta Spookie loved a mystery. She and her sidekick-best-friend, Wanda Wizzard, were really talented at solving them, and that was a great thing, because Spookie House was positively filled with mysteries!

First of all, Araminta's Uncle Drac wasn't sleeping with his bats, which was a mystery. And then he told the girls that they couldn't go into the Bat Turret, which was another mystery. And then there was the mystery of why Aunt Tabby and Great-Aunt Emilene were planning on sending Araminta away to boarding school.

That was the saddest mystery of all because Araminta didn't want to go. Sure, she'd been the cause of a little trouble … but was it really that bad?

Great-Aunt Emilene must've thought so because it wasn't long before Araminta was on the steps of Miss Gargoyle's Academy for Girls, right in front of Miss Gargoyle herself! As round as she was tall, Miss Gargoyle was waiting for Araminta, accompanied by two skinny, identical girls who both looked like vultures.

Araminta was not happy, but what else could she do except try to figure out the mystery of why she was there? Uncle Drac hinted that it wasn't her fault. Sir Horace the Ghost said he would come quick, if she needed him. Even Wanda, who'd quietly stowed away in Araminta's trunk (along with one of Uncle Drac's little baby bats), was at the academy for support, but things just weren't adding up.

Who were the Vulture Girls, and why were they so weird? Was it safe to trust the blocky woman called Matron? Why was Miss Gargoyle locked in her room at night? And the biggest mystery of all: What was The Beast that howled all night in the hallways?

Like any good detective, Araminta had to know!

It took me a while to figure out a lot of things in this book. I couldn't quite get a bead on the characters, how they related to one another or even why. Eventually, it hit me that, though there's nothing on the front cover or inside flap to indicate as much, "Gargoyle Hall" is the latest in a series.

That's important to know because Sage's gently spooky tale is cute, but it'll be much better if readers have the full story. Once they do, 8- to 11-year-olds who are prone to nightmares but still crave a few mysterious chills should be able to handle Araminta Spookie quite easily.

My advice would be to start your child at the beginning with a couple of the earlier books to get the gist of the story before tackling this one. If you don't, readers of "Gargoyle Hall" might be in over their heads.

— View publishes Terri Schlichenmeyer's reviews of books for children and teens weekly.