Beyond Locker 101

By: Karen Stegman-Bourgeois, Wyatt Leadbottom

Narrated by: Armand Lane

Wyatt has moved with his twin sister, Genevieve, to a crazy town with an even crazier school. The classes are questionable enough, with a spelling test on the first day of school. When "dance" is given as a word, the entire class gets up and dances. How is anybody supposed to learn a thing with such nonsense? Art class is just as crazy when the kids have to paint fruit - but not a still life. They actually have to paint the fruit!

And there are so many mysteries for Wyatt to solve. Mrs. Byrd is missing, there is a teacher who Wyatt thinks is a vampire, and not even Genevieve believes him, and there is a giant, hairy beast somewhere who is afraid of cats.

Wyatt discovers the reflection of the school where the monster lives, but his race against time is critical when people are changing into mysterious things.

©2023 Karen Stegman-Bourgeois (P)2025 Karen Stegman-Bourgeois

Road Trip with Kids!

We needed something for a 3 hour drive with the kids, ages 8-12. This was the perfect story. kept everyone engaged. Full of silly hijinx, it's like the love child of Harry Potter and Wayside School. I thought it was a little more childish, but my 7th grade kids really loved it and laughed along with the younger kids in the van.

Armand is a great reader, too. Definitely an adult, but speaks convincingly as a middle school student. I think the mark of a good narrator is that you forget he's a narrator and just hear the story from the character's voice.

The story is clean and funny. Wyatt and Genevieve move to a new town and a new school where a bunch of weird stuff happens. Wyatt isn't content to just blend in. He wants to figure out the strange occurrences at school and so risks getting into trouble or danger from a Snoodraggle. The teachers can't seem to keep their minds on important lessons and each have their own quirks that derail class time in hilarious ways. These side stories really keep the pacing of the story engaging.

My kids have already gone back and relistened to their favorite parts and quote the story quite often. So we've gotten our money's worth out of this short little gem.