ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week ending 1st March 2019: "The Demon Headmaster: Mortal Danger by Gillian Cross (OUP / Oxford Children's Books)

Stare into the eyes of one of the most feared characters in children's fiction (and children's TV if you have a long enough memory!).

"The Demon Headmaster: Mortal Danger" ushers the return of that hypnotic and scary denizen of the school office and this time it could be curtains for the young protagonists unfortunate enough to get a new head teacher at their school. A strange head teacher...who...must...be...obeyed...at...all...costs.

Sorry, you really do get drawn in by the eyes on the cover. Young Lizzie doesn't really think anything of it when her school gets a new head teacher. In fact the school seems to have improved loads.

Kids are allowed to actually do things they really enjoy, and what's more, the school seems to have an unlimited budget to hire in special experts from outside to make all the kids aspirations come true!

Best of all, Lizzie thinks she's in with a chance to win the adventure trip of a lifetime through a special school competition. Enlisting the help of her pals, Lizzie doesn't realise that anything is amiss until it's too late, and that all too familiar voice - and the complete obedience of the pupils at school - points to something more sinister.

Lizzie could in fact really be in mortal danger this time!

I think the setting, the characters and the whole atmosphere that Gillian whips up around The Demon Headmaster books just makes them utterly compelling. Either that or she's genuinely hidden some sort of hypnotic device in the cover to make us love these so much.