Kidsreads.com - GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND #3: MONSTER BLOOD FOR BREAKFAST! by R. L. Stine

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R. L. Stine

Goosebumps HorrorLand Series Feature

ROTTEN SCHOOL

MOSTLY GHOSTLY

THE NIGHTMARE ROOM

GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND #3: MONSTER BLOOD FOR BREAKFAST!
by R. L. Stine
Scholastic Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780439918718
Ages 9-12
160 pages

Not everyone deals with a Worm at breakfast time, but athlete and inventor Matt Daniels gets a visit from one every morning. Worm is actually the neighbor kid, Bradley Wormser, known far and wide as "Worm" for good reason. He’s so tall and skinny that he looks just like an enormous worm with glasses. He's also a mooch, who eats up everything left on the breakfast table.

Bradley will go to any lengths to get food, including dropping a dead fly into someone else's cereal …and then eating the cereal (he spits the fly out!) Pretty disturbing, to say the least. Just to complicate matters, Bradley and Matt’s moms are partners in a party catering business. So it's not like Matt can ever get rid of him.

One morning, Bradley is being particularly annoying. He pulls a can out of his backpack, daring Matt to open it. The can is empty, but it emits a stench like you wouldn’t believe. It's so bad that it nauseates both Matt and his sister, Livvy. But later, Bradley shows Matt something intriguing. It's supposedly a rock from Venus that he bought off the Internet, hoping to win the big prize for the most original science project.

Matt knows it can't be a Venusian rock, especially since it, uh, is actually labeled "Made in China." Bradley chucks the rock, which hits their science teacher's car --- and then he blames Matt. It can't get any worse, right? Oh, yes, it does. Bradley cheats off Matt but makes it look like they're both cheating. Of course, they get caught.

But that's just the beginning of Matt's problems, because when Bradley uses Matt's laptop, he leaves a page open called MONSTER BLOOD. Matt can't close the page, and a creepy voice whispers over and over, "Enjoy your Monster Blood…" Matt panics, yanking the cord and then the battery from the laptop. But nothing closes the page or stops the voice.

Matt's life continues to nose-dive, with science project setbacks, strange men demanding he return "it" and a silly putty type of plastic egg that turns out to be anything but "silly." Author R. L. Stine pitches us some cool plot curveballs in this enjoyably creepy thriller, ending with the next chapter in the continuing HorrorLand theme park saga, in which Matt is thrilled with his surprise invite to the park, where he meets Billy and Sheena Deep.

Two girls have disappeared, and Sheena becomes invisible. And no matter how many times Matt tries to reassure himself that the horror theme park staff is just playing tricks on customers, he can't help being terrified. Billy is scared to death, too. But when they attempt to get help from two park MPs ("Monster Police"), the cops seem to believe that Matt and Billy are trying to play games with them. Soon, the two boys find themselves in the worst predicament of all. Will they live long enough to find the vanished girls? Will they be able to help Sheena?

This installment ends with an irresistible cliffhanger, leaving readers with the urgent question "When can I get my hands on Book #4?"

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

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