Great book for the spooky season or any other day of the year! Fun characters with plenty of twists and turns. It is truly a bite above the rest.

These are the middle grade novels I wish I had when I were a kid. This story is so incredibly fun! Can't wait to see more from this author.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows a young boy who moves to a town where it is Halloween all the time. Caleb loses his dad and is not happy with the new Halloween town. When him and his new friend start investigating the town, things are quickly shown to not be as they seem in this town.

This was a cute middle grade book! It had some fun Halloween vibes throughout. I loved the Halloween town and the characters. I think the story was light but also dealt with some big issues like grief.

This would be a great book for Halloween lovers! I had a lot of fun reading it and I would recommend!

Very atmospheric and the descriptive details used really made me feel like I was truly in the Halloween season. Aside from the atmospheric vibes the book gives off I really enjoyed witnessing a character undergo and wrestle with their newly found grief for losing a parent and the aspects of childhood that I cant help but painfully reminisce. Rebelling against either an authority figure or even a parent seems to be a right of passage for tweens and our main character here has his hands full of rebellion at least rebelling against the whole Halloween wearing costume thing. I think this was a great coming to age tale told from a Spooky lens, but because of the fast paced-ness of the story it almost read as a really long Prologue to a bigger story.
I hope there is more to the story because I had so many questions after the ending.

Bring on Halloween!

I was so lucky to get to read an advance copy of Virnig's debut novel. It was all the things I needed this month—cozy, fun, mysterious, and teeming with vampires, werewolves, and witches. The town of Samhain is spookily enchanting. I loved escaping to it every night. Cale and his friend Tai are a wonderful tag team. I so enjoyed all the witty ways Cale chooses to dress up (in Samhain, everyone wears a Halloween costume every day), like scribbling "Go Ceiling Go!" on his hoodie to portray a ceiling fan. If you love Halloween like I do, this book is for you!

Calling all of the Halloween girlies
Oh my word, this is such a cute a book. When I was younger, I loved, loved the Bailey School Kids series as a kid, and reading A BITE ABOVE THE REST took me back to my childhood. This book is equally parts funny and thrilling, and has one of my newest favorite characters (Tai!). Five out of five stars.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a very cute, appropriately spooky middle grade novel. It made me think of Halloweentown at times.

I definitely would've loved this book when I was younger, especially during the fall. It was fun and funny and had endearing characters. The ending made me think it could be the start of a series. I could definitely see kids getting really into it if so.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

A great premise and a fun read. A Bite Above the Rest combines the real life issues of parental loss, a new town, and anxiety with
Halloween-style scary monsters and a fun new friendship. A mystery to solve brings all the part together. Kids will enjoy this - and the
ending makes you itch for a sequel.

This book was so spooky and fun and even dealt with some more serious subject matter

The town of Samhain was giving Halloweentown which instantly drew me in! Tai was so quirky and sweet and such a good friend to Caleb. She was exactly the kind of friend he needed to adjust moving to a new deal while dealing with the grief of losing his dad.

I’m curious to see if there will be a sequel!

Oh gosh, I really do hope this is the start of a series! It's so cute, and the ending is the perfect setup for sequels galore!

Eleven year-old Caleb isn't super thrilled to have to leave California and all his memories of his late dad. But his mom enjoyed growing up in small town Wisconsin and wants a similar (and also more affordable) upbringing for her kid, so here they are in the quirky town of Samhain. Immersively, if not outright aggressively, themed as a Halloween-town, everyone dresses up every day in a place which is always decorated for spooky season. Even the kids wear full-out costumes to school, which Caleb finds pretty strange in an already super disorienting, pumpkin-spice-filled environment.

Luckily for him, his classmate Tai has volunteered to show him around and help him get settled. Caleb immediately assumes that plucky, vivacious Tai already has lots of friends, before realizing that mixed race Tai doesn't really fit in with the rest of the Samhain denizens either. The two fall into an easy friendship, and decide to collaborate on a Social Studies project together with the aim of figuring out local government. Tai has a bit of an ulterior motive: her family is still mystified by a decision made by town council years earlier, and she wants to get to the bottom of it.

Their investigations into a seemingly dull bureaucratic issue, however, soon have them wondering whether the people behind Samhain are really just pretending to be monsters... or whether they actually are supernatural creatures preying on the unsuspecting. Soon, Caleb and Tai are racing to outwit some of the town's most esteemed residents, even as those closest to them are being targeted. But what could exposing the truth potentially cost them?

This was an absolute romp of a middle grade novel, as two outsiders work to explode a town's secrets while striving to protect their families. It's easy to sympathize with both Caleb and Tai, who have perfectly reasonable questions and reactions to some less than welcoming behavior. It's also a treat to see how the supernatural is handled here. As a Malaysian, when the witch next door introduced herself as Mrs Dukun, I got chills!

I also really enjoyed the big twist ending, and hope to read more of the town of Samhain and of Caleb and Tai's efforts to protect it. I tore through this book overnight and am super ready to press it on my kids once they decide they're ready for some spooky season reading, along with the exceptional first book in The Doomsday Archives series, <a href="https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/02/08/the-wandering-hour-by-zack-loran-clark-nick-eliopulos/">The Wandering Hour</a>. Scary, funny and with real emotional depth at their core, books like these make Middle Grade horror my favorite of all the horror subgenres.

A Bite Above The Rest by Christine Virnig will be published tomorrow August 6 2024 by Aladdin and is available for pre-order from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9781665946575">Bookshop!</a>

Witches, Vampires & Werewolves…Oh My!!

When Caleb & his momma move back to her home town, he realizes things may not be quite what they seem. Samhain celebrates Halloween all year round and even encourages wearing costumes every - single - day! If that isn’t enough, Caleb begins to question if all the decorations and costumes are really just pretend. Is the town really just obsessed with Halloween…or are the neighbors really monsters in disguise?

🎃 Halloweentown
🧛🏻‍♂️ Vampires?
🐺 Werewolves?
🔍 Sleuthing
🔮 Witches?
🫖 Cozy
📚 Research
🫶 Friendship
🏫 Middle Grade

I absolutely loved this! A Bite Above the Rest is such an adorable Middle Grade read! Touching on tough subjects of loss, fitting in, feeling like an outsider and starting over in a new town in such a cozy, lighthearted and relatable way. This cute & spooky read will resonate with readers of all ages!

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for sending me a copy!

I don’t read horror but this is a humorous, fun, entertaining, and unputdownable story that is also so unique! I can probably say it is not what I was expecting. The kids around me also loved it. Thank you for the gifted copy for review.

📖📖 Special Guest Book Review from A., age 11 📖📖 A Bite Above The Rest is a thrilling story of adventure of all kinds. From dealing with the loss of his father to figuring out a mystery of his new town, Caleb Fisher has his hands full. Caleb and his new friend, Tai, explore the town and find things that…well, you won’t discover in your average town. Things like a guillotine in the town square to Halloween and costumes EVERY DAY. While trying to return to his home, California, Caleb also has to manage keeping himself and his mother safe. But can he convince his mother to go back to California while staying alive? A must read for ages 10+ who enjoy all genres.

A Bite Above The Rest is an engaging Halloween tale that cleverly intertwines themes of bravery, camaraderie, and the quest for belonging. This bewitching story seamlessly blends elements of mystery, adventure, and the supernatural, perfectly balancing eerie moments with middle-grade humor.

What I Loved:
✨Halloween Town: where everyone dresses in costumes every day, houses look haunted, and decorations are up year-round
✨Caleb’s pun costumes
✨Fun Sketches from Caleb’s notebook
✨Witches, Vampires, Werewolves

Caleb, our sixth grade MC, and his sidekick Tia make the perfect duo: smart, funny, and full of heart! These two kids are so lovable that every reader will be rooting for them. Christine Virnig seems to have left the door slightly open for a sequel, and I really hope she writes it. I can't wait to read more about Caleb and Tia's next adventure in Samhain, Wisconsin!

A Bite Above the Rest was an entertaining fast paced Middle Grade. I did like Caleb and Tai but wish Tai was the central character as I found Caleb a little bit reckless.

I loved the atmosphere, plot and the pacing which were so well written and made the reader to want to keep on reading. But the final chapters and the ending didn't really match up as I was expecting certain scenes which sadly did not happen. This is why I did not give it 5 stars.

For all the above reasons A Bite Above the Rest receives 4 stars but if this is a series I would 100% carry on with the series

4. 5 This is such a fun read for spooky season and all seasons. The main character is hilarious because he comes up with the most creative Halloween costumes that are smart puns. Halloween is not his thing but he just moved to a town with his mom (after his Dad passed away) and everyone dresses up every single day. He finds a great new friend and they start to investigate why her family was denied to open an amazing store in town. There's too much vampire in the mayor and it's not the only supernatural creature living about. It's unexpected, fun, and well-written. Emotional but also funny in good measure. I love the cover a lot.
Thank you publisher for the copy.

First up a big thank you to the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book. This was one of my most hyped books... but I just couldn't connect with it. I am still not entirely sure what it is, though well, two things are clear. I just didn't like how our MC wasn't doing the costume part seriously (I mean I would absolutely LOVE to dress up because it is not a thing in my country) and I didn't like the bully who just decided the new kid is fine prey. Ah yes, and the fact that the MC lost his dad still so early ago... my dad is still alive, but he has Alzheimer and we don't know how long he has, so seeing someone mourn his dad, even forget at times he died, it was just a bit too close to me.
What I did like:
-Are those monsters or people?
-What is up with this town? I am so curious about the Halloween stuff.
-What is up with our MC's newest friend and what is her secret???
-The cover was just so cool!

So I am giving it a 2 star because there were stuff I liked. :)

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Aladdin for the eARC!

A BITE ABOVE THE REST is a funny, spooky, heartwarming middle grade story about Caleb, a shy middle grader who moves to the Halloween-themed town of Samhain shortly after the death of his father. While Caleb's initially skeptical about the idea of Halloween in general, he soon comes to learn that his new home is more than just a tourist trap—and that if he wants to keep his mother safe, he'll have to figure out what's really going on in Samhain.

This was such a fun, sweet story, and Caleb was an adorably relatable protagonist. I loved his growing friendship with Tai, and LOVED all his hilarious Halloween costumes (I'll have to borrow some of those for future Halloweens!). The story was funny and fast-paced, but also dealt with Caleb's grief and his journey towards healing after the death of his father. This is a perfect read for Halloween or for any time of year, and I'm really hoping that there will be a sequel!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my e-ARC of A Bite Above the Rest!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
🎃 could eat pumpkin spice whatever all year round
🧛‍♂️ believe your mayor is actually a vampire
👻 love Halloween and want to celebrate it every day
🧜‍♀️ have ever been bewitched by a mermaid

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

When Caleb’s mom decides they are moving to her childhood home in Wisconsin, Caleb is not thrilled. Moving schools, states, and time zones would be bad enough, but Mom’s hometown is Samhain, a small and ridiculously kitschy place where every day is Halloween.

Caleb is not a fan of Halloween when it only happens once a year, so Halloween-obsessed Samhain is really not the place for him. How is he supposed to cope with kids wearing costumes to school every single day? And how about the fact that the mayor is so committed to the bit that City Hall is only open from sundown to sunup to accommodate his so-called vampirism? Sure enough, Caleb becomes an outcast at school for refusing to play along with the spooky tradition like the other sixth graders. Luckily, he manages to find a friend in fellow misfit Tai, and just in time, because things are getting weird in Samhain…or make that weirder.

But there’s no way the mayor is an actual vampire, and their teacher absolutely cannot really be a werewolf—right? Caleb discovers Samhain is so much stranger than he ever could have imagined. As one of the only people who realizes what’s happening, can he save a town that doesn’t want saving?

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This was such a fun and creative middle grade novel! I loved Caleb and his interactions with Tai! She helped him come out of his shell a lot after moving to a strange new town where Halloween is basically a year round event. While I did guess that the town was full of monsters, I actually expected to find that there was simply valid explanations for everything, but I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t the case! And that ending! Please tell me we’ll see a sequel in the future!

Despite the creepiness, it was a thoroughly fun read. I'm curious if the city Caleb recently moved to is indeed frightening, and if all of Caleb's thoughts about vampires, Witches and werewolves are just his imagination, so I can't put it down. I expected this to be a typical middle grade book with some fantasy elements, but it turns out to have a profound message.

I love Caleb and Tai's friendship. Caleb's bond with his mother is very heartfelt. Caleb was first timid and overcome with grief after losing his father, but I loved seeing him grow strength through his investigations with Tai. with an ending that leaves room for a sequel; I hope this becomes a series.