This is the second book in the series Malcolm at Midnight. I did not read the first book and I think it would have been better if I did. There were many references to occurrences from the first book. That being said, I was still able to follow the story.

Malcolm is a classroom rat living at McKenna School. The animals that live at McKenna all travel around the school at night and are part of the Midnight Academy. In this story, they have found out that the school may be closed and they are worried that their Nutters (children) and Lankies (adults) will all be sent to different schools and they will not be together. They set out to find a hidden stash that has been referred to in stories. The premise is good, but I found the story long and drawn out and it took a long time to read as I kept setting it aside. The story is geared to middle school students and the idea of animals solving the mystery of the hidden stash will be interesting but I am not sure if they will stick to the book. Lots of facts about animals are given in footnotes which is also a good idea. I did love the illustrations in this book and hope that the next one in the series is a little more concise.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )