Horror Book Spotlight: NIGHTMARE ON NIGHTMARE STREET By R.L. Stine

 

If you are an adult and miss reading R.L. Stine stories because you think the author only writes for kids, you may be excited to find that his latest release caters to…everyone! 

In fact, based on the author’s introduction, the book is for middle-grade readers, their parents, and for adults who read his books when they were kids! That means, us!

The author compares his work to an Everything Bagel, and just like the toppings, his book is not just for everyone, but has all kinds of horror. 

This should make for one terrifying read, right?

Let’s see what this book is about?

NIGHTMARE ON NIGHTMARE STREET Plot

Twelve-year-old Joe and his sister Sadie have moved to a new house with their parents. The house has all the trademarks of a horror movie, which keeps Joe on edge. As he goes to sleep, the lights flash, a creepy doll appears, and… twelve-year-old Shawn wakes up from a dream. 

Shawn and his sister Addie are living in supposedly the same house with their mother. Shawn’s first day at his new school is bizarre because all the teachers are wearing animal masks. When the day ends, Shawn is picked up from school by a stranger claiming to be his mother. But that’s not all. He’s told that he doesn’t have a sister. 

Both Joe and Shawn must make sense of the strange things happening to them and figure out what is real and what is a nightmare. 

NIGHTMARE ON NIGHTMARE STREET: My take on the Preview

The book starts with Joe’s father trying to calm his freaked-out son, who isn’t taking the new move too well. Joe is convinced he can hear cackling children on the stairway and that there are monsters in the garage. His parents remind him of his affinity for watching horror movies, which are behind his vivid imagination. 

Joe’s sister, Sadie, continues to make fun of him and insists he sleep with a night light. Joe keeps trying to convince his parents about a haunting, but is repeatedly reminded that the house is old and therefore creaky. 

Then a doll is found. She’s creepy, and Joe immediately freaks out about it being possessed. By the time the chapter ends, in true Goosebumps and R.L. Stine fashion, we get a cliffhanger. The basement apparently has gravestones. People are literally buried inside the house, but of course, the dad is nonchalant. 

Later, right before they are sent to bed, Joe thinks he sees a vampire bat flying about, but it is a pigeon. 

There’s more creepy stuff included, where we find out that Joe’s mother makes crochet human organs. At the end of the night, Joe spots a black cat and then shivers when he hears something Sadie can’t. 

Unfortunately, the sample ends before we get to Shawn’s part. 

READ OR SKIP?

READ.

Reading R.L. Stine’s books is like taking a trip down memory lane. The characters are always relatable, and their behaviors align with their age group. The parents are always oblivious to what is actually going on until the very end. Perhaps this story may be different. 

Every chapter is short and ends on a cliffhanger. What more do you want?

The interesting part would be to read how he would intertwine Shawn’s story with Joe, as indicated in the plot summary. 

Whether you’re an adult or a kid, you can’t ever tire of an R.L. Stine book, can you?

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