This book is a nice blend of science and horror that our future biologists, botanists, and chemists of the world will definitely appreciate. I like any small novel that has siblings or cousins of both genders as characters. There's a realness about them. There's a vivid sense of life likeness about any story that features brothers and sisters. This book benefits from such a cast. Since I don't live in the US, and since children's tv shows aren't lifelike, books like this really make the American family come to being. Both first books of the Goosebumps series have kids playing. Focusing on kids while not relegating adults is a balancing act. This book is partly well written. There's some surplus screaming going on though. This side of the story is fake. No matter, though. It all adds to the quaint charm of this book. my two favorite parts of this were where their dad tried to feed them some gross green stuff for lunch in the most insistent, evil, and maniacal way ever. id have thrown that shit in his face and ran the hell out of that house😭.

Stay Out Of The Basement did seem slightly heavier than Welcome To Dead House in terms of its themes. Reading this as an adult, I was able to see so many different issues that I did not notice as a child, issues that Margaret and Casey (the two adolescent protagonists) probably overlooked as well. Some of the themes/issues include: man vs nature, grief over familial illness, work/life balance (we TOTALLY get that in the Atlanta metro area), and so on. Ginger Wald a former nature camp survivor and her twin brothers, Nat and Pat end up lost in the woods where beaver/bear-like monsters calling themselves Beasts challenge them to a dangerous game of tag called Beast from the East.

With this one, she knew a lot of what was going to happen because she had already watched the tv episode based on this book, but even so, she still enjoyed it, and tomorrow night we get to start a new one. However - this really reminded me of a Island of Dr. Moreau or Frankenstein kind of story, where some crazy guy who has just a bit too much scientific understanding and time, and not quite enough forethought or ethics, gets it into his head to play God and create a new species that was never intended to exist. They may technically succeed, but what kind of life is it for the being that was created? They don't have a place in the world, they can't reproduce, and they are generally treated as an abomination. It's inevitable that these experiments will always be the ones the suffer for the "scientific method" that was used to bring them into being - and the ones responsible are never truly held accountable in any satisfying way. (At least to me - and I think death is too easy a punishment for those who deserve far worse for causing such suffering in innocent creatures needlessly.) So she doesn't get any lunch? What abled 11 year old can't make his own sandwich? I do want to mention that if it was just that I wouldn't have cared, but it keeps going with Casey just driving me nuts. This book is undeniably kitschy, and then - BOOM! - the author drops some serious science into the mix: DNA, genome mapping, reproductive isolation, genetic modification and transgenics. These topics are explored in simpler terms, but they're nonetheless present: Amanda and Josh Benson move with their parents Mr. and Mrs. Benson into a creepy old house in the strange town of Dark Falls and meet new friends who are unlike any kids they have known before.

I liked this book a lot better than WELCOME TO DEAD HOUSE. The writing is better, the characters are actually a bit developed, and the storyline itself is more compelling. Who didn't enjoy being creeped out by INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS? Gabe Hassad is spending Christmas vacation in Egypt with his uncle Ben and cousin Sari. He is invited to explore a tomb by his Uncle Ben, an excursion on which he gets lost, and encounters some of its ancient residents in the form of mummies. Lo reconozco, tanto la mayor como yo estamos enganchadas a esta colección (a la peque poco a poco la estamos adentrando en el lado oscuro 😂). Acabamos uno y pensamos intercalarlo con libros de otra temática pero nos es imposible. Se nos va la mirada a la balda donde está la colección completa pensando en el siguiente, y es que Stine sabe lo que hace, sus libros son pura adicción, ideales para iniciar a los peques a la lectura, perfectos para aquellos más atrevidos, amantes del misterio y pasar un poco de miedo. Comic book addict Bradley Skipper Matthews finds out his favorite comic book supervillain the Masked Mutant is real, but a visit through the lair has Skipper losing his grip on reality after seeing comic book panels with himself as the hero. While staying with his weird grandaunt Kathryn, Evan Ross visits a funky old toy store and buys a dusty can of monster blood. It is fun to play with at first until Evan notices something weird about the green, slimy stuff--it seems to be growing, and growing.

I digress. The kids snoop around to see what dad's working on, and they find creepy plants in a equatorially hot basement (again: paying for this excess summer heating how?) and things get weirder from there - but in a pretty predictable way. Once again we have a brother and sister combination. Once again we have a "just moved here" story. And once again we have a couple of kids encountering weird stuff and questioning themselves constantly to find out why they should be freaked out by it. Over and over and over. "Why am I so afraid? Why does this weird thing bother me so much? Why am I nervous and scared?" I dunno... maybe because your dad is acting like a weird imposter and hasn't talked to you in 3 weeks and has leaves growing out of his head and bleeds green now??