THE TILTING HOUSE by Tom Llewellyn

A.R. Book Level: 4.5
A.R. Points: 5.0
Pages: 150

In this story, brothers Josh and Aaron move with their parents and grandfather into the Tilting House—a big, creepy old house where all the floors are literally tilted 3 degrees and where it looks like a madman scratched insane scientific formulas all over the walls.  Their creepy adventures involve meeting a talking rat (who is also hungry for revenge), thwarting the plans of evil funeral directors, and digging for a body in their crawlspace as they solve some of the mysteries of this weird house.  This book was more episodic in nature, meaning that it told the characters’ adventures almost separately, whereas in most kids’ books the characters are working towards some goal or quest or personal growth.  These kids are more or less just having adventures… but they’re entertaining adventures!  It’s a quick, fun read that will appeal to fans of Lynne Jonell’s  Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, and Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark and Grimm.