The Girl Who Cried Monster

Goosebumps Presents #1

by Megan Stine, R.L. Stine (Creator), Charles Lazer (Based on Teleplay By)

"Do you like monsters? I do. I love telling monster stories. Especially to my little brother, Randy. He's a total scaredy-cat. But now I have a little problem.

"See, it all started when I went to the library. That's where I met Mr. Mortman. He's a really creepy librarian. And one night, after the library closed, I saw Mr. Mortman eat a whole bowl of tarantulas for dinner! That's right, he's a real live monster. And now he's after me... for dessert!"
—Lucy Dark

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Tv, Canon, Fantasy

57 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1996

About the author

Megan Stine is the Editor-in-Chief of Real U Guides and the author of more than 100 books for young readers including Trauma-Rama, an etiquette book for teenagers published by Seventeen magazine, and several titles in a series based on the popular 1990’s television series Party of Five. A frequent writer of books in the enormously popular Mary-Kate and Ashley series, she is the best-selling author of Likes Me, Likes Me Not and Instant Boyfriend. She has worked with CBS and ABC in developing comedy and drama television pilots, and has written comedy material for a well-known radio personality in New York.

When she isn’t writing, she is a portrait and fine art photographer and a contributing photographer for the Real U series of guides.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my very first review for the Goosebumps TV Presents book series.I first discovered the series with my readthrough of My Harriest Adventure.I actually thought that book worked really well in this format.This one is The Girl Who Cried Monster though,a book I've read two months ago.The story follows Lucy Dark,a girl that loves to scare her younger brother randy with Monster stories.This time while playing in the yard she mentions the Toe Biter,and no not the Razor Toothed Toe biter,just the Toe Biter.Randy gets scared and runs away inside,and Lucy gets lectured.She gets told to go to her Summer reading program with Mr.Mortman.She goes to the library with her rollerblades intact.She hears humming and sees Mortman transform into a monster.He eats crickets and stuff,and now Lucy must try and prove he is indeed a real monster.She goes and tries telling her parents and they do the whole "There is a monster at the library".Doesn't anybody every say hi anymore" thing.She goes back to the library and of course Mr.Mortman transforms agian,this time eating a tarantula instead of turtles.He doesn't eat snails either.She brings a camera to take a picture for proof.The flash goes off just like in the actual book and he chases her.The whole card catalog scene happens,but it's not as inpactful as the original source material.This was a fun book,but it did feel like I was just rereading something I just read eventhough I already forgot a good bit of the original book.A few other things that i dont remember the book having was the mall scene,Mortman knocking a bowl of crickets.There is also a good bit of Monster Mortman dialogue.I give The Girl Who Cried Monster TV Presents book a four out of five stars.The biggest complaint I have is the middle section of the boom with the color photos.It spoils the ending and this is halfway through the book.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why do these books exist? And why did I buy three of them? What was I thinking?! Luckily this is the last one. These aren't the original Goosebumps books of the same name, but rather little 60-page novelizations of the single 22-minute TV series episode for each book. If that sounds ridiculous it's because it is.

The font is laughably large in these TV books, probably because they'd otherwise be like 20 pages and not even something they could publish and sell. For context, the font in these TV books is about twice as big as the real full-length books in the Goosebumps series, and that font is already huge.

The story was okay here, as with all three TV books I've read so far (don't worry, I'll never read another one, so you won't have to see any more of these reviews from me), but overall it was pretty "meh". The ending for this particular story, even in the original book, is one of the most nonsensical and ridiculous in the series, in my opinion. It's really dumb. Also a scene happened in this TV book that legitimately made no sense.

The girl grabbed for the developed pictures at the photo shop, and she drops them, but then she admonishes her brother for causing it to happen? And her parents then send the brother away because of this? What the hell? She dropped the pictures, not him. That makes no sense.

Anyway these books are just a Scholastic money grab. Don't read them or seek them out in the used book market. They're not worth the paper they're printed on, and have no good reason for existing when you can just read the original book or watch the TV episode to experience this story.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a surprising thriller that has monsters and a shocking secret. It also has pictures from the movie. The book is one of the books that you read for fun and it only takes about 20 - 40 minutes depending on your age. Read if you like humor (or scary) books.

[Alejandro Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was funny and gross because a monster ate a insect.My opinion on the book is i like it so much.I would recommend this book to my brother because he likes this books.

[Kooshmeister · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent enough novelization of the TV episode, if a little on the weird side. It's a novelization of a TV episode based on a book. How odd. Oh well. Interestingly enough, despite being the first book in the Goosebumps Presents series, it wasn't actually the first episode. I will say this, though. It pretty accurately captures the episode.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The typical quality of this series

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still an entertaining story with the added plus of pictures from the show.

[Julietta Bunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was AWESOME. I read it in one day!!!

[Verba Non Res · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of – I´m afraid – many books by this author that I have read. It's another iteration of the same effective formula: a protagonist, adolescent or pre-teen, discovers something monstrous about an adult (sometimes, more broadly, discovers something monstrous about the world), but no one believes him, and so he is exposed to a series of of absurd dangers to try to prove it or to fight alone against the monstrosity. The covers were also very attractive. Narratively, always short chapters, full of cliffhangers, and some convoluted plot twist that is almost impossible to anticipate, since Stine is not one of the authors who sow clues. In the case of The Girl and the Monster, the final twist is terrifying in more ways than one, since while the librarian does indeed turn out to be a monster, so are the girl protagonist and her family. The fact that she forgot this critical fact for most of the story is almost insulting to the reader; when I read it, however, it seemed to me that this selective amnesia added much more horror to the conclusion. It practically traumatized me.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was rummaging through my old book collection cuz I was looking for another book and ended up finding this old Goosebumps novel, a direct novelization from the TV series.

There is a more in-depth version The Girl Who Cried Monster if you're interested :)

I got all nostalgic while reading this!! Brought back memories, of the TV Series and it was Goosebumps that fueled my love for horror and monsters in the first place!

A very quick and fun read for all, though I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the more in-depth version that explores the story in more detail.

[Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a premise of "The Girl Who Cried Wolf", it replaces it with monsters. It's the premise, where the female character tells the stories to her brothers about the monster all the time. So when she actually sees one in real form, no one believes her, but it's not the story itself. When Lucy encounters a real-life monster, the local librarian who mutates and transforms into a bug-eating, amphibian-munching monster, no one believes her. actually, it's is how the story is told. Lucy, she has a fascination with monsters stories, she likes to scare her younger brother, she talks about them so much that people got tired of hearing about it.

[literacyineverycorner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The nostalgic series, in which I read one of the book.
So, it basically talks about a girl who loves scaring her younger brother by reciting horror stories and making him belive its real, but everyone is sick of her stories at one point. But one day she sees a real monster and when she tells people about it no one believes her therefore she goes on finding clues that will make people believe her.
Overall it was a good read, but at some point you start getting bored of it. And there was a good plot twist at the end of the book.

[Kyanna Lentz]

nice

[Chase Burton]

wasn't as good as the other goosebumps in my opinion.

[Secret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy goosebumps as a quick and easy read, and this did not disappoint.

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for what it is.

Pretty solid adaptation.

[*smiles:D*(deanna) · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was awesome
**caution: spoilers**
what happens is Lucy's librarian is a monster and he eats crickets and tarantulas. as soon as she finds out she goes to the library all the time at night to watch him and she tells her friend about it and he doesn't believe her so he tells her to go get proof so she goes again and takes a picture of him in the act then he sees her and chases her so then she takes his cards with stuff for books on them and throws them on the floor and even though he's a monster he's still a librarian so he stops chasing her to pick up his cards and she gets away. she makes it to her house and there is nobody home then the librarian comes to give her, her backpack but she wont let him in the house so he makes him put it on the front porch. her parents finally came home later. her parents already knew about her telling monster stories all the time she already told them about the librarian anyway so now she has proof but they have to get the film developed. so she bugs her parents and they say yes. they get the film developed and her parents say wheres the monster and she says you see he's a monster so he doesn't show in the picture then her bother knocked her over and she dropped the film and then the librarian picked them up and handed them to her. then her parents invited him for dinner and then he came over and said what's for dinner her parents said you are for dinner and ate him.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I have a plan that before I die I want to read every single R.L.Stine book, mainly because R.L.Stine got me into reading/writing. I used to love Goosebumps when I was about 8, then I grew out of them. I haven’t read very many of the books, but I’ve seen every T.V. episode. I love buying used books and usually I can find Goosebumps ones for pretty cheap, so I pick them up when I find them and I read them every now and then. While I know this isn’t a normal Goosebumps and it’s based off the T.V. show that was based off the original book, I thought it was horrible. I know he didn’t write it Megan Stine did, but it was boring, and so childish, but I think that’s just showing how much my reading levels have advanced. If I would have read this when I was about 5-6 I might have enjoyed it, but then again who knows, I’ve always been kind of picky with books.

[Vighneshat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Girl Who Cried Monster by R. L. Stine is Goosebumps book number 8 in the original series. The Girl Who Cried Monster is an updated take on the classic fable The Boy who Cried Wolf. The girl is obsessed with monsters, always acting like they're real, discovers a real monster, and no one will believe her. The tale runs pretty typical until the twisted ending, which is totally out of the book. But I liked it overall

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is about a girl who cried monsters the library person is a monster and one day there parents invited him for dinner and he said what are we going to eat to night and the parents said well it was going to be a surprise but you!! so they ate him and the girl said that her parents are monsters and that she was going to grow her fangs and was going into tranning

[Mitali]

meh

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy, creepy, creepy, and I thought the boy who cried wolf was bad

[Sophia]

i read it i thought it was ok

[Zaemal]

its quite a mysterious adventurous and a horror-filled book.
i suggest that every one should read it.
you will have a great time while reading this book.

[Martin Guzman]

This book was relay crispy and she discovers something new about some 1 in there Naber.I like this book and it has a good spooky part I like that.I will recommend it to any 1 who like scary books.

[Anastacia]

nice

[A.J. Hard]

Like how it's the same story with pictures from the episode