Scholastic, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0545821261
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
The Goosebumps Survival Guide is the newest monster survival guide to come our way. It’s based on the movie Goosebumps, which is in turn based on R.L. Stine’s enormously popular Goosebumps, series and its related franchises. Does the book live up to its hype? The art is pretty cool, done in typical garish Goosebumps style. and integrates screenshots from the movie. The book tells you about the Goosebumps monsters, such as the Godzilla sized praying mantis, and zombie pirate One-Legged Ben, each in turn. Accompanying text identifying the monster includes the name of the book or books the monster appears in and then a short block of text from that book, But the problem is that the book does not live up to its title. In most of the book, the entries do NOT tell you how to survive an invasion or defeat the monster, and if the entry does include that information, it is not really helpful. For example, with the Godzilla-sized mantis the books says you have to squash it with your foot, but the REAL question is: How do you squash something that is bigger than you?. So that is what I saw while reading the survival guide. I did find helpful information on Slappy the Dummy, who has an extended six-page entry. When it says that Slappy is afraid of termites you might be able to defeat it by releasing termites nearby, because termites love to eat wooden dummies. So all you Goosebumps fans (and monsters) alike might like this when you are about to settle down for a long winter’s nap. But readers beware because you might have some unexpected visitors while reading. Recommended for elementary school and children’s libraries, especially because of the media tie-in, but with reservations for young monster hunters.
Reviewed by the Monster Kid
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