Peter and the Changeling

Peter and the Monsters #3

by Darren Pillsbury

The third book in the Young Adult horror series PETER AND THE MONSTERS! Peter and his best friend Dill get stuck babysitting Peter's two-year-old sister for an afternoon, which is about the worst fate imaginable. Beth is a holy terror, the worst toddler in the history of the world. But as the boys discover when she disappears... ...she's not nearly as bad as the thing that takes her place.

Genres: Paranormal

140 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2011

About the author

Darren used to watch movies for a living. It's not as fun as it sounds. Now he writes the YA horror/comedy series PETER AND THE MONSTERS, about a 10-year-old boy who moves into his grandfather's creepy old mansion and bad, baaaaad things start to happen. PETER AND THE VAMPIRES (Volume One) is currently free on Amazon.

Reviews

[Steven Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terror and humor in equal measure.

Another five star story in the series! This one finds Peter and Dill babysitting Peter's obnoxious little sister Beth when she gets abducted into Faerieland and replaced with a changeling [read: troll baby]. Being a troll, regardless of age, it quickly proceeds to terrorize the duo who have to figure out how to defeat it and retrieve Beth before Peter's mom gets home [no trip to Faerieland this time!]. This is also the first story where the overarching series plot is hinted at.

[Brad Theado · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it

[Qt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Mike Kalmbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bottom line:

Fun, short read. Good for kids around the 4th grade reading level.

Review:

Peter and the Changeling is not as strong as the other books in the Peter and the Monsters series, but for what it was, I enjoyed it. It was much shorter than I expected based on other stories in the series, but I didn't feel like anything was left out.

Peter's adventures continue when his baby sister is kidnapped by trolls. He and his best friend, Dill, need to come up with a plan to rescue her.

The one objection I had to this story was the overuse of potty humor. Kids will probably enjoy it, but I prefer more intelligent jokes to "skid marks" and putting underwear on backwards. On the other hand, Peter does come up with some clever ways to capture the changeling.

This book is good for kids around the 4th grade reading level.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this third book, Peter and Dill are left to babysit Beth while Peter's Mom goes on a job interview. Beth isn't the easiest child in the world, but she becomes even stranger after she sits in a ring of mushrooms and starts eating them. A changeling takes Beth's place and Peter and Dill are all alone in finding a way of getting Beth back and getting rid of the changeling before his Mom and Grandfather returns home. To do this, they have to go where they've been forbidden to go--Grandfather's den and library. Excellent read for upper primary students.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather cute addition to the Peter and the Monsters series... if you can see a ravenous razor-toothed troll-baby as 'cute.'
Peter's bratty baby sister has always been something of a monster, but now? Suddenly sporting a maw of shark teeth, greenish skin and bloodshot eyes, this baby sister is looking a bit, hungry. Running from this wall-crawling monster baby are Pete and Dill, who'll have to commit to perhaps the strangest, deadliest rabbit chase in history, if they ever want to see good ol' Beth ever again.

[Alysa H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This installment was more on the comedic end of the funny/scary continuum than the preceding two, but it had its moments of kid-friendly horror. Perhaps a little too much of the slapstick side for my taste. I liked how the faerie ring folklore was incorporated, and also the hints for future installments and a larger arc for Peter's family.

[Tobyann Aparisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story! It was funny. I laughed out loud a few times. To think your baby sister who is the biggest brat just changing into this little thing. DO we keep it or NO?....... The art on the cover is very cute and man this was just funny I loved it.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

we read this as a family and found it very funny. I would not have read this to the kids a few years ago, due to the language and potty jokes.