How I Met My Monster

March 15, 2013
Goosebumps "most wanted" monsters return in all-new tales intended to terrify. Twelve-year-old Noah "Bean" Bienstock is frightened of monsters, and he's been having awful dreams of a huge, dark beast dragging him underwater. He's so bothered by the dream that he sees monsters everywhere: running down the street, in the school's pool, even in his best friend's apartment. He knows they're real, and he's sure they're after him. Could Monroe, the new kid in Sternom House Apartments, be the monster? Could it be Harlan, the bully who takes Bean's lunch money every day? Why isn't Bean's best friend Lissa more helpful? Why aren't his parents more supportive? Is he going crazy? When the dream changes, and the monster tells Bean he's next, Bean really wigs out. Stine's new Goosebumps subseries recycles monsters that starred in the original volumes. The writing is repetitive and formulaic, but it's a formula that has worked for over 20 years: silly/scary covers with only a few frights inside, chapter-ending cliffhangers resolved in the first few sentences of the next chapter and a twist ending. Bean's first-person narration is full of hyperbolic, goggle-eyed mugging and lots of horrifying italics! Nothing new to see here; for hard-core fans only. (Horror. 8-12)

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August 1, 2013
Grades 3-6 Noah Bean Bienstock has monsters on his mind. He is having recurring nightmares about being drowned by one, though his parents are convinced they stem from being anxious about swim team tryouts. On the chubby side, with glasses, Bean is shy, nervous, and unpopularand the nightmares are only making things worse. Bullied on the way to school by an oversize classmate, Bean is not the kind to fight back, even though his best friend Lissa tells him to stand up for himself. Surrounded on all sides by monstersboth real and imaginaryBean has to face the monster within us all. From the latest Goosebumps series, this entry does not break any new ground, but why mess with success? Fans of anagrams will have an immediate clue about what is happening thanks to the name of the apartment building where Bean and his friends live. Have a few copies on hand to meet what's sure to be high demand.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)