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| Book cover, courtesy of http://goosebumps.wikia.com |
In
the genre of horror, I selected R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps: How to Kill a
Monster." If you've never heard of him, you may have been living under a
rock...I mean, he is one of the most popular writers of horror fiction for
young people. The back of the book's bio for Stine even goes so far as to
declare him "the most popular author in America," though this has
almost certainly changed in the 15+ years since this book was written.
"How
to Kill a Monster" tells the story of Gretchen and Clark, two siblings who
are being left to visit their swamp-dwelling grandparents for a week while
their parents to Atlanta, Georgia for business. The two children soon find that
their potentially-boring trip is going to be anything but, hearing loud roaring
noises in the middle of the night and finding strange, locked rooms where
Grandpa has been leaving stacks of food.
Like
many Goosebumps titles, "How to Kill a Monster" wastes little time
getting to the action, spending only a couple of chapters setting up the plot
and ending each chapter on a thrilling cliffhanger. Another traditional
Goosebumps theme that this title continues is that it lacks a strong,
philosophical meaning that titles like "Almost Perfect" and "The
Outsiders" have.
I
would likely not recommend this book to older teens who are looking for
material that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. This book is written
with older children and young teens in mind, but it can make for a short,
entertaining read if that's what the reader wants. Older teens may find R.L.
Stine's "Give Yourself Goosebumps" series of
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories to be more to their liking or they might want
to just avoid Goosebumps altogether.
"How to Kill a Monster" was one of the Goosebumps books adapted into an episode of the television series and is viewable here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTeZHYVq3VM
Stine, R. L. How to Kill a Monster. New York: Scholastic, 1996. Print.
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