Poison Ivy - 30 Tales to Give You Goosebumps #19

Today's tale is called "Poison Ivy." One time while camping my brother set up his tent in bare feet. His feet became horribly covered in poison ivy. They began to blister and ooze after awhile. It was horrible. Will this story be scarier than my brothers affliction? I doubt it, but let's see.

Much like the first stories in More Tales to Give You Goosebumps this story takes place at sleep away camp. Matt gets sent there, much to his dislike. These kids NEVER like being sent to camp. Did everyone hate summer camp growing up? 

So camp may not be totally great but it wasn't totally horrible... at first. At night Matt hears strange scratching sounds. While checking up on them he sees the patch of poison ivy... moving around. It has long tendrils and he barely escapes. Naturally none of the guys believe him. In the morning though, the whole baseball field is completely covered in poison ivy. Half the kids in camp have itchy rashes by the afternoon! Counsellors armed with weed wackers and weed killer go off to deal with it never to be heard from again.

The next night, things got even worse. The poison ivy spread to cover their cabins. The weed is alive and scratching at their door. It seems like there is no escape but something makes the killer plant retreat a little. It's Matt's annoying bunk mate aftershave! The plant must hate the smell! I didn't know plants could smell... but then I also didn't know plants could move around like that. Thankfully the preppy kid brought 12 cans of the stuff. They slowly and efficiently make the poison ivy retreat from camp and corner it to the lake. With it gone, finally they can go back to trying to have some fun at camp again. It would be easier to have fun if there wasn't a swirling black cloud coming there way. What could it be? Oh that's right... preppy kid's aftershave attracts mosquitoes.

My Thoughts

Growing up I never really remember getting poison ivy rashes. I may have once, but if so it was mild. I also never went to summer camp though I did go for occasional overnight or weekend camping with my family in a tent. Despite not having strong memories of the consequences of poison ivy, I do remember being worried about the potential. I don't think I could have successfully identified the plant, but it was a fear of getting it while out in the wilderness. In fact I seem to remember having arguments about a plant being or not being poison ivy with my friends. I am not sure what the argument really achieved since we were not about to touch the plant either way. Oh well.

So, as a story that kids can kind of relate to, I think this sort of works. Kids have probably been warned about poison ivy. They may have dealt with it first hand. Or they may have been warned about it and then gone off to camp for the first time and have lingering worries. That is the thing though, they are more worries than FEARS.

It is kind of hard to be scared of poison ivy to the degree this story wants you to. The imagination struggles to think of it doing anything worse than giving you a rash, even if it spreads very quickly. Yes it is said that two camp counselors disappear while dealing with it but we don't really know how. What did the plant do to them exactly? Tear them limb from limb? Why? Eat them? How? it's not a venus fly trap. Did it just grow around them and suffocate them? Maybe.

Perhaps children with more active imaginations can think up horrible things for the plant to do to them much better than adult me. As it stands, I am going to have to consider this story more as a "goofy" one that a frightening one. And yes, Goosebumps is usually pretty goofy too, but at its best it can still deliver a fright. While it is silly, I wouldn't classify it as funny. I guess "fun" would be an ok descriptor.

While I wouldn't consider this the definitive "camp story," I think it would be an enjoyable read for kids at camp. Or it could even be a fun one to read to your kids BEFORE they go to camp. Might just give them a little something to worry about. Maybe.

My rating: 2 killer poison ivies out of 5

Tomorrow is the final book of More Tales to Give You Goosebumps and it is called "The Spirit of the Harvest Moon" I assume it is about a literal spirit. Could be fun. It also seems to bring a close to the summer theme of this book. After that we will begin the final portion of the reviews for the book Even More Tales to Give You Goosebumps. Should be fun!

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!