Warren the 13th: The Spooky Adventure Trilogy We Fell in Love With
Over the course of the last month, my son and I read through a trilogy of books together called Warren the 13th. We had absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into, other than the references to mysteries and puzzles and monsters on the back cover. But we soon realized that we had stumbled upon something very special that we’ll remember forever.
Disclosure: Quirk Books provided us with copies of Warren the 13th without any expectations for this article. All thoughts and recommendations are our own.
Our kids are currently 4 and 7, so the majority of our focus on Dad Suggests has long been on picture books. However, our son has turned into a voracious reader, particularly when it comes to graphic novels, and we’ve also developed a lovely habit of me reading a few chapters of a chapter book out loud every night. And that’s how we recently read through all 3 Warren the 13th books together, cuddled up on a soft chair in his bedroom every night for a month.
Without a doubt, the very first thing you’ll notice about Warren the 13th is the amazing, detailed art on basically every single page. And, don’t forget, we’re talking about chapter books over 200 pages long. There are literally hundreds of engaging and beautiful illustrations from artist and Warren the 13th creator Will Staehle, and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s genre-bending in a way that makes me wonder if we’d be correct in classifying the trilogy as picture books, despite their length.
And before I leave the subject of the art, I have to very explicitly point out just how truly beautiful these books are. The pictures are unbelievably engaging, bringing the characters to vivid life. Without fail, Staehle always provides exactly the image we would hope to see from the story. Sometimes even the dialogue itself is tied into the art on the page, which just goes to show how much care and planning went into the creation of these books. And each book of the trilogy is designed with a different monochromatic theme that ties the whole set together and makes it a true treasure and keepsake.
The author of Warren the 13th, Tania del Rio, is well known for her work in comic books such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and that experience in particular seemed to have a good influence on the Warren trilogy - seeing as a great focus of the plot involves witches and monsters and the generally mysterious. Honestly, this concept of a spooky-sounding theme is exactly what attracted my son and I to the books in the first place. But it turned out to be so much more than that.
Despite the fact that there are indeed evil witches and various monsters, at the end of the day Warren the 13th is probably better classified as an adventure story as opposed to a scary story. Maybe we can call it a spooky adventure. And I say this only to assuage any fears you might have of scaring sensitive children. The generally creepy theme still makes for a perfect spooky October read aloud, but keep in mind that many of the “monsters” in the book turn out to be misunderstood, friendly creatures. And the overwhelming theme of the book is in fact Warren the 13th’s unrelenting kindness and positivity.
Warren is in fact the 13th Warren in a long line of Warrens who have all been the manager of a very special, perhaps even magical, hotel - The Warren. The first book starts out a bit glumly with Warren very lonely, orphaned, and living with his incompetent uncle and evil witch aunt. But he slowly gathers around himself a motley crew of friends - each one as endearing as the last. He starts to build his own family. And truly this is where the secret of our love for Warren the 13th lies. We really fell in love with all of the wonderful characters in his life.
It’s impossible not to fall in love with Warren’s attitude as well - his unabashed devotion to his friends and his duty. He very often even refuses to give up entirely on his enemies. He’s quite a role model, and it’s easy to understand why his new friends all end up loving him so much. It’s also very easy to develop empathy for him. Mean characters quite often make reference to his toad-like appearance, and it makes us want to reach through the page and smack them in the face. Nobody talks to our Warren like that.
Without a shadow of a doubt, my son’s favorite character in the books is Sketchy - the mysterious octopus-like monster that Warren found in his hotel’s boiler room. Sketchy whistles to communicate and loves to draw using its tentacles, and it quickly becomes one of Warren’s closest friends and an important part of the story as well. And for my part, I’m partial to the mysterious mother/daughter team of Beatrice and Petula - perfumiers whose job it is to capture evil witches.
And while character development is undoubtedly a very significant strength of the trilogy, don’t underestimate the quality of the plot either. Our son has never in his life been hooked on a book more than with Warren the 13th. Every single night after I left he would read further in the books without me because he just couldn’t stop, and I’d have to catch up before the next night. And if you can relate to that feeling as a kid, you know that’s when you have something special on your hands.
Another fun twist that these books throws into the mix is that Warren is very good at solving puzzles, and several times throughout the trilogy you are presented with the opportunity to solve the puzzles along with Warren. And whether it was a riddle or a cipher or a crossword puzzle, our son ate it all up. He would always run the book to the printer and make a copy of the page so he could think and write on it. This was definitely a very nice touch.
I implore you, if you, like us, are constantly looking for a good new book to read aloud with the kids - or if you have a little voracious reader like our son that needs a new series to get hooked on - check out Warren the 13th. The trilogy makes for the perfect choice to celebrate the Halloween season in particular. And my son and I will remember our first time reading the books together forever.
You can find Warren the 13th on Amazon, or shop local with IndieBound.
What chapter books or read alouds has your family been enjoying this month? Have you or the kids read Warren the 13th yet? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!
