This is a funny, engaging children's book about a pet-loving, but irresponsible (his fish didn't live past the first day) Rex Dexter. His parents give him a "pet" chicken to look after and prove that he has what it takes to take care of a real pet. Of course, the chicken doesn't last long, and through a bit of a convoluted and somewhat predictable series of events, involving a old-fashioned carnival arcade machine (à la Big), he is cursed to be haunted by dead animals--starting with his chicken. More animals appear, and Rex becomes determined to help solve the mystery of how they are being killed, in the hopes of removing the curse.

There is a lot to like about this book, but I'm conflicted about it. I read the book with my 8 year old. He told me that he really liked it. Overall, it is a funny book, with many moments that my son loved and that made me chuckle as well. The central mystery of who is killing the animals is also well done. I guessed the outcome, but my son didn't see it coming at all. Plus, there is a good message hidden in the book about taking care of animals and protecting those that are endangered. But, there are some things about the book that I struggled with. First, and probably mainly, the main character Rex Dexter is an egotistical know-it-all who is basically insufferable (for adults, anyway). He makes negative, sometimes mean-spirited comments about friends and adults (especially teachers) and will never admit that he might be wrong. All of this is intended to by funny, but I didn't like it. I feel it was a negative model for my son and for other boys his age. I get that I am not the target audience for this book, but I don't think it's necessary for something to be mean to be funny.

Also, weirdly, the author uses many references in the book, but I felt that some of them were not at the right level for the young audience. For example, there is an extended discussion at one point about Hobbits and how they relate. There are a few 8-12 year old who might get that reference, I suppose, but most won't unless their parents are big fans. I mean, the books are complex for young kids, and the LOTR movies are nearly 20 years old now (and frankly too violent for a kid my son's age). Even the Hobbit movies came out when my son was a baby.

I think there are the makings of a very good book here, but I am reluctant to recommend it for elementary school aged kids. I hope that the author considers the reservations that some adult readers have, since I feel that with some tweaks, it is a series I would like to continue to read with kids.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC, allowing me to read and review this book before it is released.

Rex Dexter has always wanted a chocolate Lab. His parents deemed him too irresponsible for one after he accidentally flushed his goldfish down the toilet and let his pet chicken get smooshed by a steamroller. That is how he ended up with a group of endangered animal ghosts from the local zoo following him around and seeking his help to move on. As Rex and his best buddy, Darvish, try to deal with the group of ghostly animals, they realize the untimely demises of each these animals is anything but an accident. Rex plans to track a killer, navigate the annoying girl he has a crush on, and deal with his teacher who has a penchant for teaching fractions and does not seem to understand the importance of Meetings of the Mind.

Amusing enough story, and will likely find fans among Dan Gutman's Weird School readers or Katherine Applegate's Roscoe Riley Rules series. The big appeal is Rex's smart aleck cracks and the sheer silliness of zoo animal ghosts who have their share of wise remarks and tall tales. Good recommendation for those kids who do not enjoy reading.

What a fun, imaginative story! The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter was a wonderful distraction. I can't wait to share it with my kids! (Adults will love the humor too.)

Rex Dexter wants a dog, needs a dog, no, deserves a dog! And, not just any dog, but a chocolate Labrador. It's really too bad that his parents don't see that he's mature enough to have one and get him a chicken for his birthday instead. Rex and his best friend Darvish take the chicken on a walk to the pet store to buy supplies when they get distracted by an old fashioned carnival game. While Rex is playing the game and getting cursed by the Grim Reaper, his new pet chicken gets run over and flattened. The chicken's ghost comes back to "haunt" Rex by being his best friend and lots of fun ensues. Eventually, other ghosts of dead animals join the chicken, forcing Rex and Darvish to figure out the mystery of why they are still around. What unfinished business do they have?

Rex is egocentric and self-important, but he cares about his friends and the ghosts he sees. Darvish is funny and patient. This book is good, clean fun with no questionable content. Although I prefer Reynolds' picture books (<i>Creepy Carrots</i> and <i>Creepy Pair of Underwear</i> are both hilarious and clever), this is a solid middle grade offering and most kids ages 8 to 12 will find entertaining. Definitely recommended.

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Rex Dexter wants a pet more than anything, especially a black lab, but when his birthday rolls around his parents gift him with a pet....chicken!!!! Not having supplies for the chicken Rex and his best friend set off for the pet store with the chicken in tow. On the way there the boys find a fortune teller game (think the Tom Hanks movie “Big”) and decide to try their luck. While waiting for their fortune, Rex’s pet chicken gets smashed by a steam roller. No wonder why his parents said he isn’t responsible enough for a dog!! His fortune actually ends up being a curse that brings dead animals to his house. The dead animals need Rex’s help to find out if these zoo animals’ deaths are accidents or if they are being caused by someone on purpose.
This book is full of humor and sarcasm and would make a great read-aloud. I do think that some of the vocabulary used will be misunderstood by some children as some words seemed higher than a 4th or 5th grade level, which is who I think this book would appeal to the most. And I do believe some of the sarcasm will be lost on the children so that’s why it would be great as a read-aloud. I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to my students.

Rex Dexter is like any kid. He wants a pet of his own. Problem is his parents don’t believe he is responsible enough for a pet. (He kept his goldfish alive for mere minutes after it got home.). When his parents present Rex with a pet chicken for his birthday, it meets an unfortunate end a little over an hour later. Tragic right? Rex thinks not, he kept it alive so much longer than the goldfish.
When Rex is cursed with the ability to see dead animals, his pet chicken is the first. Then more dead animals start showing up and it is up to Rex, and his best friend Darvish, to figure out how they died so the animals can pass on to the great beyond.
This children’s novel is hilarious! I found myself laughing at multiple places throughout the book. Rex is not so smart but makes up for it in ego. Darvish, who has more brains, makes a great “sidekick.” The friendship between those two keep the momentum of the story going. There is a good amount of sub plots to keep the story interesting. I think that Mr. Reynolds has a winner on his hands. I can certainly see this being the next Wimpy Kid series.if you have elementary kids, you’ll want to pick this one up for them.

The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dextor is a well-written, humorous story of a middle school boy who tries to solve a mystery. Several dead animals visit him in hopes of getting help solving their murders. He is the only one who can see them, which is why they are drawn to him. He is finally able with the help of his friend Darvish to solve the mystery and bring the criminal to justice.
The story is told by Rex. He uses witty dialogue to relate the story. The characters are realistic .and relatable. I enjoyed the reading this book and I will recommend it to my students.

A very funny story! I kept reading and laughing. Rex wants a dog, but when his parents allow him a goldfish and then a chicken , things just keep going awry. Suddenly his chicken is flattened and it's ghost is following him around. Rex is cursed by the Grim Reaper, and haunted by a variety of absurd animal ghosts as he tries to solve the mystery of their sudden deaths. A great story for anyone that loves a mystery and a good laugh.

This was a fun, quick read. Rex is a great, egocentric tween boy who seems to be learning some lessons from his dead animal ghosts. He reminded me of the main character in the Last Kids on Earth series. I already have a couple kids in mind for this one.

What a snickering joy! Rex is an egocentric, opinionated, disrespectful, loud mouth who really deserves everything that comes to him, even if it's the ghost of a charred rhino. When Rex is cursed by the Grim Reaper and starts being visited by the souls of recently departed mammals (except for the shark that really doesn't count), he has to broaden his perspective and learn to take an interest in someone, or something besides himself, a change which will bring a small amount of relief to his exasperated parents, much put upon teacher, and manipulated school mates. This middle grade novel is sure to be a hit with rambunctious tweens and those who take an interest in them whatever the age!

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for making an advance copy of this title available for an honest review.

OMG- this book is hilarious! One caveat is that it's probably not the best for kids who have recently lost a pet. Other than that, highly recommend for all the giggling potential.

Many thanks to Net galley for an ARC. This is such a fun story and had me laughing out loud on several occasions. Perfect for young readers. Rex and Darvish are good friends and share a lot of adventures. Rex receives The Grim Reaper curse. Throughout the book, various dead animals flock to him.

The book is well written and has a good storyline. The characters are realistic and fun to be with.

I received this DRC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a teacher, I personally cannot wait to read this book to a group of fifth graders. As the fun Aunt and friend, I also cannot wait to buy a copy of "The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter" as a gift for every 9 to 12 year old I know. The perilous adventures of Rex in his determined jaunt for the chocolate lab of his dreams is boisterously merry at best. The character is witty and self absorbed, full of zingers and a joie de vivre that adults can only hope for. The upper elementary crowd will be in the floor for laughter on every page. If you love Captain Underpants, you are going to adore this book and its hopeful sequels. I for one want to read this book again and again.

Thank you again, NetGalley for such a great piece of writing.

I do think there will be kids who would read this book, just say video game and they will be hooked. However, this isn't something that I could give to a teacher or parent to read aloud, just to crude and dark.

Calvin and Hobbes meets Scooby Doo, and I think I liked it. More importantly, I think there is a contingent of upper elementary boys and girls who may appreciate it, as well.

Rex Dexter is a boy in desperate want of a dog, but I don't believe there is a dog alive who is in need of him. Sadly, while Rex's narration is reminiscent of Calvin (of the Calvin and Hobbes duo) in its lamentation of the lack of intelligence in people around him, this kid is definitely not on the same level as our favorite anti-hero boy-genius. He consistently displays poor judgment and embarks on hare-brained schemes, saved only by the dead animal ghost army that's built up around him and his long-suffering best friend Darvish. Rex even has a crush (which he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge) on the smart girl who sits in front of him in class (who is a Sami instead of a Suzy), and a dead rooster that follows him about whom no one else can see (the chicken is, unfortunately, much less witty than Hobbes).

The entire plot is reminiscent of a Scooby Doo 30-minute mystery:
Someone is picking off the endangered animals at the local zoo -- but who???
Cue the red herring with the suspicious name, the well-meaning but clueless adult scapegoat, and the actual nefarious villain, whom we discover later isn't truly evil, but rather just bad at everything, including being bad. The crime is solved by the under-appreciated sidekick, and the infuriating yet somehow charming hero trips along on his merry way, still blissfully self-involved and narcissistically positive that he did everything exactly right, every step of the way.

Other positives: no language, no innuendo, no real questionable content (body humor: the dead shark who keeps his jaws firmly clamped on the dead gorilla's hindquarters). A couple elementary-age crushes. All of the animals in the story are dead, and are killed in kind of sad ways (burning, drowning, crushing), but none of it is graphically described, and the fact that the animal characters are introduced after they've already died rather softens the blow.

It's a cute book, and I do think there are kids who would very much enjoy it. Perhaps fans of DoaWK and Captain Underpants, or those who enjoy the Erie Elementary series. Not a must-have for a school library, but if there's room in the budget, why not?

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eGalley of this book to review!

This was a very entertaining book about a kid who might be every teacher's nightmare. Except I tutored a kid like that I really liked him and I think I would have liked Rex in my class as well. LOL. He's not a bad kid, per se, but he has very high self-esteem and might be a bit delusional about his gifts and talents. And yet he's weirdly likable. And he's got a cool best friend, as well as a second bestie in the ghost of his flattened chicken. In this story, he is cursed by one of those carnival fortune teller things probably inspired by the movie Big to see dead animals. And he has to help them before they can "move on". So after his dead chicken comes back to him, he is visited by the ghosts of rare exotic animals who have died at the zoo in bizarre ways. Hilarity ensues as he tries to figure out the connection and why they are dying. I think many upper elementary/middle school kids would enjoy this hapless hero as he helps the animals, tries to pass his class, and tries to earn a pet dog. What I really enjoyed is that as "delusional" as he seemed, he did seem to learn as time went on, and by the end, he was definitely more mature as he accepted that the "curse" turned out to be a pretty cool thing. The writing was very solid and created hilarious visuals in my mind that had me laughing out loud throughout. I will definitely be recommending this book to some of my younger students!

Special thanks to #AaronReynolds, #DisneyBookGroup, and #NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Book Group for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter is a quick, humorous ride that I can see many middle schoolers (or reluctant readers) picking up in the future. There were many laugh-out-loud moments while reading, and I do love the use of “B-Day for Me-Day” and might have to use it in the future.

However, the Rex is pretty dense (or willfully ignorant in a way that will amuse middle schoolers) and overconfident throughout the book and this Obviously-Not-A-Middle-Schooler did grow tired of him never having to be responsible for his disruptive (or, quite often, rude) actions.

Main character aside, this book does open several good discussion topics, such as:
- Animal rights, especially concerning zoo animals,
- The purpose of zoos and what makes good animal habitat (both in zoos and in the wild),
- Doing things for passion versus doing things for recognition.

In all, this is a quick-paced mystery and detective story that's just as entertaining as it is full of ghosts and awesome animals. Thank you again to NetGalley and Disney Book Group for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

Perfect for those who like Max Brailer’s Last Kids on Earth series. Funny tale of a cursed Rex Dexter. The curse allows Rex to hear and see dead animals. The only way for the animals to go away is to solve the reason that the animal died. A touch of potty humor but a fun read that will make the reader smile frequently.

The concept of this book (kid that can't seem to keep a pet alive and then dead zoo animals visit him for help) seems so farfetched and a little disturbing. But this is such a good book. It is funny and Rex is a great main character. The animals and things that happen to Rex are hilarious. Kids will love this book!

This title was highlighted in recent training, and it was described as laugh-out-loud funny. I couldn’t resist requesting an advanced copy through NetGalley. I had high hopes The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter would be a title I could share with middle school readers. It did not disappoint. From the first page I really liked Rex. He has a distinct voice, and he is funny. While a little over the top when it comes to his confidence (think Gregg Heffley), which could be annoying at times, he’s a character that shows growth, and I like that. So will young readers, especially since the story is ridiculous and fun. An easy four stars for this book.