The Well is a great Halloween book, very creepy! It was a fast read and would be great for reluctant readers, especially boys, but girls will like it as well. The story was well written, and the language was easy to read and follow. I liked the foreshadowing, but I think the authors could have done more with Amelia’s house in the story; however, the authors do a really good job developing the character of Cooper and Cooper’s family. I felt sorry for the creature in the well, and hoped that somehow he would be able to get out. I know he was pretty mean, but hey, two hundred years alone in a well will do that to you, right?
As much as I enjoyed the book, there were a couple of flaws. First, there were too many current culture references; when a book has a lot of current culture references, the shelf life for it is pretty short. We librarians like books to have staying power. Second there was a hole in the plot toward the end. Whipple seemed to appear out of nowhere. He went from being dead to showing up in Cooper’s lap while Cooper was in his Dad’s car. Meghan was also a little too forgiving and seemed to believe everything a little too easily. She was also pretty wimpy, but then this does seem like a guy book and wimpy girls go along with the territory. In all I’ll give this one 4 stars, I was surprised I liked it so well.
