Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps #2)
by R.L. Stine
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Book Summary Information
Author: R.L. StineEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1992
ISBN: 0439568455
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Book Reviews of Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps #2)
Book Review: Top-Notch, Well-Crafted, "Goosebumps" Horror.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Stay out of the Basement" is easily one of the five best installments in the original "Goosebumps" series, a true classic. This is an entry that is loaded with fear, suspense, twisted discoveries, and clever, surprising plot turns...back when R.L. Stine used a genuinely dark, uneasy feel instead of false alarms and explanation points. He doesn't restrain the dread and tension; they dominate the story. And Stine proves that he can make even plants scary.
In this paragraph, I'll just give a brief description. Margaret and Casey are siblings who witness an alarming change of behavior in their father, a scientist who's spending most of his time in the basement conducting weird experiments on plants. When the kids go to investigate, the plants move and breathe. And their father is getting stranger and stranger...
What's so great about this story? This isn't a "parents-don't-believe-us" entry because the father IS the one at the center of the horror. It's truly frightening because these two kids suddenly can't trust/believe a parent who's plunged into madness. In fact, one of the greatest aspects of the book is the kids' reactions and worries. There's one shocking discovery after another, like the disturbing scene when the father's baseball cap gets knocked off and his hair has been replaced with leaves. It sounds silly, but when you read it, you can't deny that the scene is creepy...and uncomfortable. And that's just the beginning of several eye-openers. There's the scene when he's forcing them to eat plant food, for instance, that is just plain freaky.
All of this crescendo into a heart-pounding climax with an incredibly sinister twist that sweeps you off your feet. What's not only scary are the life-threatening danger and the graphic descriptions, but the realization that the kids don't know what to believe anymore. And if that isn't enough, the book closes on a freakishly twisted ending that'll leave you wowed. The final twenty pages are among the very best in all of "Goosebumps".
There are other, smaller things that make this a scary, creepy book. The moving plants in the dark basement. The moaning faces that are half-plant. Here, Stine knows how to use quality descriptions to help propel the horror. He's even skilled in building the tension at a preferable pace where there are many increments of frightening revelations.
I love a "Goosebumps" book that constantly surprises as a sharp page-turner. Like I said, it's a series classic, back from when Stine was at the top of his creativity.
Summary of Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps #2)
Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, he says. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they...meet...some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plant like tendencies. In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy-and seedy. Is it just part of Dr. Brewer's 'harmless' experiment? Or does Dad have more than just a green thumb...?Spine-Chilling Horror Books
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