“Did he tell you I was a scary old witch?”
Twelve-year-old Evan Ross, an only child, is sent off by his mother to stay with his kooky, deaf great-aunt Kathryn, a large woman with black hair and a deep voice. She is about 80-years-old (though she later claims to be 112-years-old). She also has an “evil” black cat named Sarabeth. Evan’s mother and father are heading out to Atlanta to search for a house since Evan’s father recently transferred jobs. Great-Aunt Kathryn’s house has a great many old dusty books on myriad topics and she wears a strange bone pendant around her neck.
Evan brings along his dog, a cocker spaniel named Trigger. In the neighborhood, Evan meets fellow twelve-year-old and only child, Andrea “Andy,” who quickly becomes his friend. They walk down to an old antique toy store where Andy can purchase a gift for her cousin. On one of the shelves, Evan spots a blue canister with an old fading sign that reads “Monster Blood: Surprising Miracle Substance.” Back at the house, Andy and Evan open the canister (despite being warned by Kathryn to “be careful”) and as they toss around the strange green substance, Evan’s dog Trigger accidentally swallows some of it.
Over time, Evan gets bullied by a pair of twins in the neighborhood (Rick and Tony, the Beymer twins) and his dog Trigger starts to rapidly grow while the remaining “monster blood” exponentially expands in the garage, swallowing up this like a spider with a disturbing sucking noise. Evan tries to warn his great-aunt, but she disregards his concerns (a recurrence of the adult gaslighting trope replete throughout the Goosebumps series). At one point, Evan falls into the “green gunk” and narrowly escapes so he and Andy try to return it to the store –only to find the store has mysteriously gone out of business. They stuff it into a garbage can, but it is soon released and takes over Kathryn’s house.
The “monster blood” swallows the Beymer twins and a bird before it comes for great-aunt Kathryn. She shrieks: “Get out… Save your lives! I made this thing! Now I must die for it!” She points over at her black cat, Sarabeth, who suddenly transforms into a fearsome red-headed woman –a witch—who has been keeping Kathryn under a spell all this time. Apparently, it was Sarabeth who initially caused the “monster blood” to come alive. Sarabeth starts shouting at the children: “All of you must die.” But –predictably– Trigger saves the day. He attacks Sarabeth, knocking her into the “monster blood” until she is swallowed up and killed.
In the end, Trigger is returned to his normal size and the “monster blood” recedes into a small clump. Evan’s mother returns to pick up her son (and great-aunt Kathryn has a story to tell her) while Evan and Andy decide they will stay in touch after he moves to Atlanta. Andy asks Evan if she can hold onto the last remaining “monster blood,” but suddenly it is nowhere to be found…
All things considered, Monster Blood is a pretty mediocre Goosebumps outing. Why was Sarabeth holding great-aunt Kathryn under a spell? What was the deal with Kathryn’s pendant? Did Sarabeth create the monster blood? Or did she merely cast a spell causing it to come to life? Is great-aunt Kathryn also a witch? In my view, this one can be set aside as a fairly bland filler story. It leaves much to be desired but somewhat amazingly, it inspired a handful of sequels in the Goosebumps saga. At least the cover artwork by Tim Jacobus is once again terrific.
Stine, R.L. Goosebumps: Monster Blood. Scholastic, Inc., New York, NY, 1992.