The Pinkaboos, middle school fright-friendly books scare up courage

The Pinkaboos are a group of friends who are Frights that are being picked on at school. The bully, Vex, is an older student who picks on Bitteryly, Belladonna and Abyssma for no reason other than the fact that they’re younger than her. It’s the job of a Fright to help their assigned human conquer the fears that they encounter during a nightmare. Vex refers to them as Pinkaboos because they attend Fright School, and pink is the farthest thing from scary, isn’t it?

Bitterly is the main character, very good student at school who resembles a vampire. Belladonna is smaller than Bitterly, a bit of a bookworm and resembles a normal girl. Abyssma is a four-footed creature with horns and a tail, not surprisingly Vex tends to keep her distance from her.

Fright School exists in the education world somewhere between Monsters University and real life middle school. The students at Fright School get assigned a real-life girl, where they learn how to visit them in their dreams to help them with Bad Frights. As in real-life, there are good frights and bad frights. The Peakaboos help little girls conquer their dream fears, which in turn can help them do better in Fright School.

Bitterly is the first one to meet her little girl. This is a big deal and all of the girls in class are excited, nervous and unsure what to expect. Under the direction of their teacher, Miss Viper they learn how to help their humans, without using magic.

The longest chapter in The Pinkaboos is ten pages and almost every other page has a colorful illustration done by Bill Kelly. The pictures help break up the pace of the book-and provide another avenue for young readers to digest the book, very nicely. In the final couple of pages the book has tips on more things that kids can do, such as writing a story to overcome fears, there’s also a page on the science of fears, how to get over them and more.

The PInkaboos are written by Jake and Laura Gosselin and were inspired by their own daughter overcoming her nightmares. The first book in the series, Bitterly and the Giant Problem, as well as the second book, Belladonna and the Nightmare Academy are out now.

Upper elementary school and middle school girls will really like The Pinkaboos series. There aren’t any boy characters in the books. While the lessons taught in it are certainly ones that every child needs help with, the characters will resonate almost exclusively with girls.

These books retail for $7.99 and are a very good value for the money. It’s one that they’ll re-read a couple of times and share between friends. Parents can easily see small groups of girls calling themselves The Pinkaboos, and that’s a good thing.