I really enjoyed Mr. Van Pelt's Summer of the Apocalypse but this book was a bit bizarre and the stories didn't make any sense, none of them. I was quite looking forward to this book and I was really disappointed in the stories and the characters.A giant spider in the classroom that the administration does nothing about? Weird little dwarves, kids with "special talents" was over the top for me. There is a mixture of sci-fi, horror and fantasy in the stories and none of them seemed to hit it off with me and I am a huge fan of sci-fir and horror and of Mr. Van Pelt's.Perhaps I will just stick to Mr. Van Pelt's novels as his short stories left me scratching my head.