Dread Detention by Jennifer Killick - OPTIONAL

Dread Detention by Jennifer Killick , 200 pages.  Delacorte (Random House), 2022. $18  Language: PG-13 (36 swears, 0 "F") Mature Content: G Violence: PG (bullying, spider attacks)  BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL  APPEALS TO SOME  Four seventh graders are assigned to a Saturday detention. Their detention turns deadly when their teacher disappears and they suddenly seem to be hunted by carnivorous giant spiders. If they don't set aside their differences and work together, they could be spider bait.  The cover is fantastic. I really wanted to like this book, but the kids don't seem nearly traumatized enough. Their ability to crack jokes while being tracked by killer spiders seems out of place and loses the tension. Possibly the scariest part is that the students had to turn their cell phones in for detention, and had to face spiders without them. The four students come from a variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.  Michelle in the Middle