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Shadow Zone #11
My Teacher Ate My Homework
Frustrated fifth grader Jesse fashions a voodoo doll of his boring, overbearing teacher as a joke, but when the doll comes alive to seek revenge, he finds there are worse things than too much homework.
- GenresYoung AdultChildrens
123 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 1995
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 8, 2022
My Teacher Ate My Homework was the first Shadow Zone book to feature Bill Dodge's cover art—the first ten each used an illustration by Jeffrey Lindberg, Renee Grant, or Samson Pollan—but other than that cosmetic change, the story was what we'd come to expect. Eleven-year-old Jesse Hackett leads a busy life in Cape Sorrow, North Carolina. His parents own the Blue Bay Cafe and pour all their free hours into keeping it viable. Jesse is responsible for his six-year-old sister Annabel, and that takes a major bite out of his social life and the time he has for homework. Mrs. Augusta Fink, who teaches Jesse's sixth-grade class, is less than understanding; he wishes the old woman would leave him alone. Jesse doesn't imagine there's anything he can do to be rid of her, though, until the evening he goes on a shopping trip with his friend Cody Glimcher and Cody's older sister Geneva. They stop in at a small storefront none of them has noticed before, and Jesse feels drawn to a back room where he finds a doll that bears a spooky resemblance to Mrs. Fink. He feels a strange urge to buy it, and though the lady who runs the shop protests that it's not for sale, eventually Jesse leaves with the doll. Even he is puzzled why he wanted it so badly.
Jesse didn't mean to harm the doll, but when he goes to school the next morning, the real Mrs. Fink has minor injuries that correspond to the doll's mishaps the night before. Jesse has a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach; he's heard of voodoo dolls, but they're a myth, right? This has to be a coincidence. His doubt vanishes when a few more unintended injuries to the doll affect Mrs. Fink, but these maladies are serious enough to send her to the hospital. At home, Annabel is infatuated with Jesse's doll and wants to play with her. He does his best to keep his sister away, and this instinct is validated when mini Mrs. Fink comes to life. She forces Jesse to do letter-perfect homework and extra chores around the house, threatening to hurt his parents or Annabel if he refuses. The doll goes lifeless anytime Jesse tries to show someone she's alive; even Cody doesn't believe him until he catches the doll committing a violent act himself. Jesse and Cody are at a loss how to defeat the evil being, who has taken over Mrs. Fink's life as she lies somewhere in a coma. Cody's sister Geneva is into spiritualism and matters of the occult; maybe she knows a way to destroy the doll and restore Mrs. Fink to life. If she doesn't succeed, Jesse and his family might not survive.
This book broaches several strong themes. Are teachers out of touch with the pace of modern life, leading them to be too hard on students? Or are students lazier and more disrespectful than they used to be? Can dark thoughts motivate a decent kid to do terrible things to someone they dislike? If a demonic presence takes advantage of those thoughts, who is more to blame, the kid or the demon? My Teacher Ate My Homework is packed with deep themes, perhaps too many for a book of this size and scope. I rate it one and a half stars because the story logic doesn't line up well in a multitude of ways, but if that weren't an issue, this might be the best Shadow Zone book of all. It's not easy to write a juvenile novel that's thoughtful and truly scary, and I appreciate that J.R. Black always makes the attempt. Even if the result is occasionally subpar, Shadow Zone is one of the better Goosebumps alternatives of its time.
Jesse didn't mean to harm the doll, but when he goes to school the next morning, the real Mrs. Fink has minor injuries that correspond to the doll's mishaps the night before. Jesse has a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach; he's heard of voodoo dolls, but they're a myth, right? This has to be a coincidence. His doubt vanishes when a few more unintended injuries to the doll affect Mrs. Fink, but these maladies are serious enough to send her to the hospital. At home, Annabel is infatuated with Jesse's doll and wants to play with her. He does his best to keep his sister away, and this instinct is validated when mini Mrs. Fink comes to life. She forces Jesse to do letter-perfect homework and extra chores around the house, threatening to hurt his parents or Annabel if he refuses. The doll goes lifeless anytime Jesse tries to show someone she's alive; even Cody doesn't believe him until he catches the doll committing a violent act himself. Jesse and Cody are at a loss how to defeat the evil being, who has taken over Mrs. Fink's life as she lies somewhere in a coma. Cody's sister Geneva is into spiritualism and matters of the occult; maybe she knows a way to destroy the doll and restore Mrs. Fink to life. If she doesn't succeed, Jesse and his family might not survive.
This book broaches several strong themes. Are teachers out of touch with the pace of modern life, leading them to be too hard on students? Or are students lazier and more disrespectful than they used to be? Can dark thoughts motivate a decent kid to do terrible things to someone they dislike? If a demonic presence takes advantage of those thoughts, who is more to blame, the kid or the demon? My Teacher Ate My Homework is packed with deep themes, perhaps too many for a book of this size and scope. I rate it one and a half stars because the story logic doesn't line up well in a multitude of ways, but if that weren't an issue, this might be the best Shadow Zone book of all. It's not easy to write a juvenile novel that's thoughtful and truly scary, and I appreciate that J.R. Black always makes the attempt. Even if the result is occasionally subpar, Shadow Zone is one of the better Goosebumps alternatives of its time.
October 12, 2020
jest creepy ale bardzo fajne
October 4, 2022
This was really the only day I knew I could do this one so here it is. So I covered a camp book from this series a bit ago and a couple years ago,m I did one of the movies based on them. This month I'll be doing the other one, which is based on this book. I wanted to read it before doing the review in a couple weeks and this was my best chance. I do wanna read Undead Express if I ever get acess.
So I wanna some stuff for the movie review but I wanna focus more on the movie there and who knows if every detail will make it in. I'll try and tow that line. Anyway, this one was pretty solid. We have this kid Jessie Hackett who is dealing with a strict teacher, who is harshing his mellow, man. One day he ends up at this little shop that wasn't there yesterday and goes into a backroom.
You know where this is going. He finds a doll which turns out to be a voodoo doll, and he makes it look like his teacher. He does bad things to it on accident and they happen to her. This actually worries him and the doll comes to life. Things spiral from there.
There's actually a bit to this one, I don't know what will come up in the movie. Basically, this is more layered than what I typically see. There's a bunch of little things that play a part in the larger story nicely., There's class stuff with the family that plays into his life being hetic, which helps explain his mind set.
Jesse is dick-ish in a way that mostly works, as he learns that Mrs. Fink isn't so bad and her feelings about her treatment are important. I see why he's like this mostly, but he's a dick to his perfectly fine sister for no one reason. She's only slightly bratty. There's also an older sister to the friend who is kooky but nice.
We don't get bad parents either, they're pretty understandable. It feels like it avoids all the classic trappings, and even the ones we get aren't too bad. Not a ton of big scares but the ones we get work. The pacing is solid, not taking too long to get going. It can be a tad rushed at times, the climax works but could have been more drawn out.
The doll makes for a solid villain, and weirdly morally amphibious too, although mostly bad. There's a solid look at the dynamic between kid and teacher, showing how both sides can make things a bit hard on the other. Both Jesse and Fink have things to learn. That is so wild, I figured Fink would be let off free for a few honestly bad things she does.
It's not perfect in every way, but it is well done. Writing is decent, it's easy to read and of course has a few vocab words, even if a couple exclamations were a bit much. The chapters have titles and some were amusing.
It's one of the more balanced of these kid horror books, which I respect. There's a couple clunky bits here and there, but nothing too bad. Even the logic, while spotty, at least ties into the themes well enough to not bad as it could have been.
Granted, this is another evil doll type story involving it being a wannabee slave owner lol, but at least this one tries harder to get their victims. Overall, it has some interesting stuff going for it and it becomes a well rounded story where the characters learn things in a decent way.
Title is a lie though, it's the doll modeled after the teacher who eats the homework. Bah. Anyway, a pleasant surprise and a solid read, I'd rank it above Scream Around the Campfire personally. We'll see how the movie pans out, but before now, it's a solid one.
Next will be starting the Halloween reviews. I swear Slappy Beware is coming but it'll be later than I want because it just isn't opening up to me. Either way, see ya then.
So I wanna some stuff for the movie review but I wanna focus more on the movie there and who knows if every detail will make it in. I'll try and tow that line. Anyway, this one was pretty solid. We have this kid Jessie Hackett who is dealing with a strict teacher, who is harshing his mellow, man. One day he ends up at this little shop that wasn't there yesterday and goes into a backroom.
You know where this is going. He finds a doll which turns out to be a voodoo doll, and he makes it look like his teacher. He does bad things to it on accident and they happen to her. This actually worries him and the doll comes to life. Things spiral from there.
There's actually a bit to this one, I don't know what will come up in the movie. Basically, this is more layered than what I typically see. There's a bunch of little things that play a part in the larger story nicely., There's class stuff with the family that plays into his life being hetic, which helps explain his mind set.
Jesse is dick-ish in a way that mostly works, as he learns that Mrs. Fink isn't so bad and her feelings about her treatment are important. I see why he's like this mostly, but he's a dick to his perfectly fine sister for no one reason. She's only slightly bratty. There's also an older sister to the friend who is kooky but nice.
We don't get bad parents either, they're pretty understandable. It feels like it avoids all the classic trappings, and even the ones we get aren't too bad. Not a ton of big scares but the ones we get work. The pacing is solid, not taking too long to get going. It can be a tad rushed at times, the climax works but could have been more drawn out.
The doll makes for a solid villain, and weirdly morally amphibious too, although mostly bad. There's a solid look at the dynamic between kid and teacher, showing how both sides can make things a bit hard on the other. Both Jesse and Fink have things to learn. That is so wild, I figured Fink would be let off free for a few honestly bad things she does.
It's not perfect in every way, but it is well done. Writing is decent, it's easy to read and of course has a few vocab words, even if a couple exclamations were a bit much. The chapters have titles and some were amusing.
It's one of the more balanced of these kid horror books, which I respect. There's a couple clunky bits here and there, but nothing too bad. Even the logic, while spotty, at least ties into the themes well enough to not bad as it could have been.
Granted, this is another evil doll type story involving it being a wannabee slave owner lol, but at least this one tries harder to get their victims. Overall, it has some interesting stuff going for it and it becomes a well rounded story where the characters learn things in a decent way.
Title is a lie though, it's the doll modeled after the teacher who eats the homework. Bah. Anyway, a pleasant surprise and a solid read, I'd rank it above Scream Around the Campfire personally. We'll see how the movie pans out, but before now, it's a solid one.
Next will be starting the Halloween reviews. I swear Slappy Beware is coming but it'll be later than I want because it just isn't opening up to me. Either way, see ya then.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews