Review Detail

I don’t know who enjoyed this book more: my son or me! The Nightmare Formula by Tommy Greenwald is the first in a brand new series featuring our favorite duckling trio: Huey, Dewey and Louie from Ducktales. The book follows the triplets as they become Student Ambassadors and go to their first assignment, a two month stay in Berlin. No story about the triplets would be complete though without a mystery to solve. The Nightmare Formula will put your sleuthing skills to the test as the triplets explore their new home away from home.

The book begins with Huey, Dewey and Louie being called to the principal’s office, something that is never good. The triplets are told here that they have been chosen as International Student Ambassadors from the National Association of Studious and Talented Youth. For the next year, they will travel to different countries as a part of their exchange program. Excited and ready for the adventure, the triplets set off for their first stop, Germany. Here they will stay with the Kellers and their niece Sophie.

Once in Germany, the boys quickly take to their new home. They like Sophie, soccer, and the new friends they meet at school. However, it doesn’t take long for them to notice that something is wrong in their new town. People are seeing things that aren’t really there, things that scare them and make them do funny things like run around screaming when there is nothing there.

Told mostly from Dewey’s point of view with the occasional help of Huey and Louie, The Nightmare Formula will appeal to older elementary school readers with its humor and touch of suspense.