The Werewolf's First Night - 30 Tales to Give You Goosebumps #11

I've finished the first book in the 3 book collection that is 30 Tales to Give You Goosebumps. You can check out all the review so far right here. This is the second in the "Tales To" series, creatively called More Tales to Give You Goosebumps. It promises 10 more spooky stories. The first of these spooky stories which I'll cover today is "The Werewolf's First Night." I wonder if the werewolf in question is from Fever Swamp... Let's find out shall we.

Brian was headed to Thunder Lake (not Fever Swamp.) They have a camp there for kids, while the parents have fun golfing at the resort. Rumor is there are werewolves at the camp, and naturally that has Brian worried. He is also a bit worried because it's his first time at the teen camp and at 12 he's gonna be one of the youngest people there. Luckily he's not alone because there is a ginger kid named Kevin who is 12 years old too.

Of course there are the older kids. One is named Don and while Brian is the batter during baseball he swears he sees wolf fangs in Don's smile.  Proof of werewolves?

Next he hears wolfish sounds outside his cabin. Is it Don? No, another kid running through the woods like a wild beast. Must be a werewolf.

Even Kevin his potential ally seems to be under the curse. Brian swears he sees him eating raw meat. Now there is no one he can trust.

There is going to be an overnight campout in tents and a full moon combined. This is the worst possible combination. Brian's parents, of course, will not let him get out of it. Face your fears dammit!.

The night of the campout was full of worry. Worry that soon seemed to be well founded. Wolf howls fill the air. Brian finally sees one of the campers covered in hair, with sharp fangs. Then the rest come into view. All werewolves.

Then a new surprise. They take off their wolf masks. Yes, it was all a hazing ritual for the new camper. All a prank.

But then an even newer surprise. Brian growls and sprouts fur. There are claws on his hands and fangs in his mouth. The moon is full and Brian is ready to feed. Maybe camp isn't so bad after all.

My Thoughts

GOD DAMMIT! HE DID IT AGAIN! This story was just like "Vampire's Night Out." Ok so maybe kind of in reverse? In that one all the kids thought the new kid was a vampire, and they wanted her to be because they were all really vampires too. In this one the new kid is afraid all the other kids are werewolves but then it turns out he really is one. GAH. FIGURE OUT A NEW TWIST DAMMIT.

It's stories like these that make me feel like R.L. Stine just has an outline for everything he writes and just fills in new names locations and monster types. There needs to be a bot that auto generates Goosebumps books. I mean, there is already one that auto generates their covers.

This really feels like several other Goosebumps books. Merge Werewolf of Fever Swamp with Welcome to Camp Nightmare and Horror at Camp Jellyjam. Then you just have to smash it all down so it fits on 5 or 6 pages and you have this story.

Rating: 1 teen wolf out of 5

Well More Tales to Give You Goosebumps didn't start off with a bang. Tomorrow we'll see if "P.S. Don't Write Back" can lift our spirits a bit. I theorize that this is what R.L. Stine puts at the end of all of his responses to fan letters... Anyway, catch ya tomorrow!