Ah, middle grade fiction, and horror fiction at that. It always makes me smile when someone mentions Goosebumps or Fear Street. These were the series—Goosebumps especially—that ultimately sparked my interest in reading, first and foremost. Thank you, R.L. Stine. I am forever in your debt.
Not only was collecting the books fun (it may be surprising that I never did actually collect all of them back in the 90’s), but reading them was by far my favorite thing. Through R.L. Stine, I was brought into the wonderful world of reading. And it stuck. Now, I love all things horror. Movies. Books. Memorabilia. Clothing. Toys. You name it, I’ll probably want to eventually own it. And of course, I love reading. When you combine reading and horror, two of my favorite things, you can never be steered wrongly.
I remember being home sick from school one day. It was overcast, rainy and cold out. I felt crappy, but then I pulled out my copy of The Headless Ghost and began to read. The environment outside was perfectly suited to reading a horror novella (all the Goosebumps books fall under the novella category, though some of you may disagree with this). Under the covers, my head nestled on a pillow, my reading light on as I began turning pages. If I seem to be gushing nostalgia, it’s because I am. I just can’t help it. I love these books so, so much. As a kid, I used to say to my Mom, on overcast or rainy mornings, “Hey…it’s a Goosebumpy day out there!” I love rainy days! I am one of THOSE people. *Grins*
And those COVERS. Let’s all take a moment to remember that Goosebumps would not have been the same were it not for the beautifully done illustrations by Tim Jacobus. Each cover, he took some scene from the book and then vividly rendered them in all their spooky glory. The covers of today (done by different artists) may be a cool way to introduce more kids to the Goosebumps series, but they don’t hold a candle to Jacobus’s covers. I am in the (slow) process of recollecting all the original Goosebumps books (#1-62). I’m certainly getting there! Some of the original editions included bookmarks inside, or trading cards. Whenever I come across one of those, I usually try to buy it, because they are rare. Even editions that say “trading cards inside” rarely have them intact. Hard to find, surely.
I must have momentarily had an episode of sheer mindlessness when I sold my entire Goosebumps collection to a mother for only $12 at a garage sale. *Gives myself the side eye, rolls eyes* What on earth was I thinking?! I spent years of my childhood collecting those books, and then poof! Gone, just like that. Well, now is the time to right that particular wrong. I possess most of the Goosebumps. It’s just a matter of time, and I will have them all over again. At any rate, on to the review.
Plot: Stay Out of the Basement is the second book in the Goosebumps series. Margaret and Casey have a botanist father experimenting with his plants in a fashion not done before. He wants to successfully make a plant that is also part animal. He was recently fired from his job, but hopes to get it back soon. In the meantime, he has turned the entire basement into his own private plant greenhouse. The kids’ mom is away caring for a sick relative for most of the book; so, it’s just Casey, Margaret, and their weird father.
Naturally, the kids are curious to know what Dad is doing down there. He won’t take them aside and tell them, so they decide to go exploring. He keeps the door locked tight, but it just so happens Casey knows how to pick a lock—and he’s only 11! When they get down there, it’s hot and humid, and there are grow lights and plants all over the place. Of course, these aren’t just ordinary plants. They’re—bizarre. Like, some of them seem to be breathing. And moving around. Some are tree-like. Some have tendrils or vines. Some bear fruit. Stine makes a great effort to make the plants scary and foreboding. Imagine if your dad was doing all that stuff in your basement! Pretty creepy.
You may have guessed something was bound to go wrong. The kids decide to go into the basement. Casey gets a bit hot under the collar, so he takes off his shirt. They hear Dad returning, and rush back up the stairs as fast as possible. Only then does Casey realize he left his shirt down there. He rushes back to get it before Dad can find it, proving they were down there—after expressly being told to stay out of the basement at all times! He’s taking too long down there, Margaret thinks. She goes down to see what’s keeping him. Casey gets back, just in the nick of time!
Things get even weirder from then on. First, Margaret sees Dad…eating something in the kitchen. Sounds pretty normal, right? But in this scene, he’s really wolfing something down as though he has never eaten before in his life. She checks the trash can, and is shocked by what she finds. This is not the first shocking thing, as luck would have it. She wants to tell Casey all about it, and wishes her Mom would come home.
Margaret and her brother are tossing a Frisbee, when Dad walks outside, only to be struck in the head. He wears a Dodgers cap, which the Frisbee knocks away, and he just so happens to have leaves growing on top of his head where hair should be. Curiouser and curiouser.
Dad’s boss, Mr. Martinez, comes by to see how Dr. Brewer (AKA Dad) is getting along with his experiments. The trouble is, the kids don’t see Martinez leave the house. Even more bizarrely, the kids also hear moaning coming from the storage closet in, you guessed it, the basement.
Casey decides to fly a kite, and asks if Margaret would like to join him. She agrees. They look for the kites; but strangely, they find items that are out of place there. Could it be some type of clue as to what’s making the oddly human-like sounds in the storage closet? Could it have something to do with all these plants? The rest of the book unfolds even further mysteries, and a very wacky explanation is soon forthcoming.
Ending: One thing about Stine’s books: you can always expect a twist ending. R.L. likes to end each chapter on a mini cliffhanger. The purpose behind this, he says, is to keep kids invested and to keep them reading. I am living proof that yes, even 28 years later, this stratagem does, in fact, work.
Final Thoughts: This book was well written and a classic, without any doubt. Why is it a classic? It’s vintage Stine, at his very best. Also, don’t forget the Goosebumps TV show, where Stay Out of the Basement is proudly featured. After the craziness of Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps #1), Basement is a welcome reprieve from people’s eyeballs coming out of their skulls (a heavy scene, given the fact that seven and eight-year-olds read these books!). Now I know why I was genuinely scared by Goosebumps!
Grade: A – for delicious horror scares and some heavy concepts, such as job loss, a sick relative, and even darker things (you will have to go read it to find out about these!). The scares are great and numerous, and as I said, each chapter ends in a mini cliffhanger. I think it’s easy to see why Stine is so popular with his audience! And I don’t just mean children. He has a veritable legion of 30-something fans that love these books, and got hooked in the 90’s, just like I did! And, he maintains a rigorous working schedule to this day! As a writer, I aspire to be even partially as successful as R.L. Stine has been.
Have a good day!