September 26, 2023 by Blackstone Publishing
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
**Spoiler Alert. Don't read if you don't want to know the ending!**
Amy's younger brother Arnie has always been unpleasant, but Amy's parents don't seem to care. When she has a slumber party for her birthday, he goes out of his way to ruin whatever he can, but there are bigger problems, too-- Amy sees a monster with red eyes and black quills in the house, and she's worried that the monster will attack her friends. This is especially worrisome after the monster gets into the over and leaves quills on the pizza. There are other problems in Amy's house as well; both of her parents have been out of work, and her mother wants her to be nice to a classmate neither she nor her best friend Lissa like very much because Marta's dad might have a job for her. Arnie continues to get in trouble, cutting off a classmate's ponytail, dumping insects into the girls' cake batter, and writing a rude word on Amy's forehead while she is sleeping... on the night before picture day. Amy, already stressed by her parents' situation and the thought of having to sell their house, continues to see monsters around the neighborhood, but few others seem to notice them. When Arnie has a birthday party, the girls decide to exact revenege for his myriad idiocies. After seeing a You Tube video about slime, they mix up a giant batch and dump it on him at his party! It has horrible consequences (highlight to read): Arnie turns into the monster, and because the slime clogs his pores, he can't turn back. He breaks out of the garage and terrorizes the neighborhood, but is calmed down by smoothies from Orange Julius. (Which still exists. Go figure.) His parents knew this; in fact, they adopted him BECAUSE he was a monster and felt sorry for him. In the end, a friend of the family's who works in film production sees the monster Arnie on the news, rampaging, and thinks he would be a good star of future monster movies, solving all of the family's money worries.
Amy's younger brother Arnie has always been unpleasant, but Amy's parents don't seem to care. When she has a slumber party for her birthday, he goes out of his way to ruin whatever he can, but there are bigger problems, too-- Amy sees a monster with red eyes and black quills in the house, and she's worried that the monster will attack her friends. This is especially worrisome after the monster gets into the over and leaves quills on the pizza. There are other problems in Amy's house as well; both of her parents have been out of work, and her mother wants her to be nice to a classmate neither she nor her best friend Lissa like very much because Marta's dad might have a job for her. Arnie continues to get in trouble, cutting off a classmate's ponytail, dumping insects into the girls' cake batter, and writing a rude word on Amy's forehead while she is sleeping... on the night before picture day. Amy, already stressed by her parents' situation and the thought of having to sell their house, continues to see monsters around the neighborhood, but few others seem to notice them. When Arnie has a birthday party, the girls decide to exact revenege for his myriad idiocies. After seeing a You Tube video about slime, they mix up a giant batch and dump it on him at his party! It has horrible consequences (highlight to read): Arnie turns into the monster, and because the slime clogs his pores, he can't turn back. He breaks out of the garage and terrorizes the neighborhood, but is calmed down by smoothies from Orange Julius. (Which still exists. Go figure.) His parents knew this; in fact, they adopted him BECAUSE he was a monster and felt sorry for him. In the end, a friend of the family's who works in film production sees the monster Arnie on the news, rampaging, and thinks he would be a good star of future monster movies, solving all of the family's money worries.
Strengths: Slightly reminiscent of Don't Stay Up Late, this will go down as smoothly as an Orange Julius for readers who want Goosebumps style horror with a dash of tween friend and family drama. This is a bit goofier than a lot of his books; think Slappy, Beware rather than Stinetinglers. This is super fast paced, easy to read, and even includes great illustrations by Kathryn Galloway English. I can see reluctant readers zipping through this and being very pleased with it.
Weaknesses: The ending is a great example of deus ex machina and just had me scratching my head. What?
What I really think: Stine is always in demand in my library, but I'm having trouble locating a hardcover copy through Follett. Even Amazon doesn't seem to list it, but by golly you can order a bazillion different kinds of slime there! I'll order a copy if one is available.
What I really think: Stine is always in demand in my library, but I'm having trouble locating a hardcover copy through Follett. Even Amazon doesn't seem to list it, but by golly you can order a bazillion different kinds of slime there! I'll order a copy if one is available.
Kids and Stine. Even in high school libraries they liked him and his books. Gore, I guess. Hop on over to my blog if you'd like to join in on some quotable fun. I'm taking over for Freda until she gets well for the Friday56 meme where we publish quotes from page 56 of the book we are currently reading. Loved to have you join us. Friday56 Quotes
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