Branching into chapters: Junior Monster Scouts: The Monster Squad by Joe McGee, illustrated by Ethan Long

 Wolfy, Franky, and Vampyra are Junior Monster Scouts. They enjoy exploring the woods and practicing their special skills together, despite the grouchy Baron von Grump and his mean crow Edgar. When the three scouts find an upset village boy in the woods, they must not only convince him that they're friendly monsters, not mean as all the stories say (stories made up by Baron von Grump) they must also figure out a way to save the whole village from von Grump's grouchy plans.

Cheese festivals, bargaining rats, missing kittens, and one super-grumpy baron abound in this light-hearted series starter. Readers will pick up more of the allusions and jokes if they know the classic monster stories of Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as the Pied Piper, but even without these cultural touchstones it's still a funny story. The monsters are a bit heavy on the good-deed-doing, but there's enough fiascos to lighten the moralistic tone and while kids may not be lining up to become helpful Junior Monster Scouts, they'll certainly be lining up to enjoy the next book in the series.

If you have kids who love the classic monsters and prefer more silly to scary in their reading, this is a good addition to your beginning chapter collection. The black and white illustrations are sparse, so this isn't one that will appeal to readers just working their way up from early readers, but for readers who are fairly fluent but not quite ready for more challenging authors like Dav Pilkey and Michael Fry, this is a fun choice.

Verdict: I'd pick 13th street over this series, since it includes the silly-scary element but also has a more culturally diverse setting and unique plot, but if you're looking for additional titles on top of what you already have, this is an acceptable option.

ISBN: 9781534436770; Published 2019 by Aladdin; Borrowed from another library in my consortium