The Girl Who Cried Monster

The Girl Who Cried Monster!

Author	R. L. Stine
Language	English
Series	Goosebumps
Genre	Horror fiction, Children's literature
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	May 1993
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	137 p.
ISBN	0-590-46618-6
OCLC	33063052
Preceded by	Night of the Living Dummy
Followed by	Welcome To Camp Nightmare

The Girl Who Cried Monster is the eighth book in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. The title is a reference to The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Plot

Lucy Dark is spending her summer vacation tormenting her six-year old brother with minor scares and participating in the local library's reading program. It is called 'Reading Rangers' and run by the unpleasent Mr. Mortman (who always has wet hands). He encourages Lucy to read the classics, but she is only interested in monster tales.

In a failed attempt to retrieve forgotten rollerblades, Lucy sees Mortman transform into a monster while feeding his pet turtles. Lucy tries to tell her friends and family, but no one believes her because of her monster obsession. She uses the reading club to hide in the library again and witnesses Mortman transform for a second time. She sees him eat a turtle.

Lucy runs to the locked door and realizes the door is locked from the inside. She makes it out of the library again. She runs home and sees her friend Aaron, who she then tries to convince that she saw a monster. He doesn't believe her. She goes into her house and tries to convince Randy about Mr. Mortman, but he too doesn't believe her. Mortman shows up at her house to return a forgotten bookbag and ask if she stayed behind. She lies. Mortman leaves as her mother shows up.

Lucy bribes Aaron into spying on Mortman as again, no one believes her. Aaron sees him transform but is unreliable later. Another round of hiding in the library nets Lucy photographic evidence, but Mortman sees her and gives chase. Lucy escapes. Her film ends up showing an empty desk; Mortman seemingly does not resolve on film.

Lucy and Aaron tail Mortman home. She sees him eating several live fish, snails and eels from an aquarium. Aaron does not, as he is looking for a ladder. Lucy is caught but gives a convincing cover story. She is later forced to attend the Reading Rangers meeting. Mortman locks the door and makes her feel threatened. She spills part of a card catalogue, distracting the adult and allowing her to escape. She meets up with Aaron, who had seen Mortman transform and is willing to talk. Lucy's parents, upon hearing the news, invite Mortman for dinner. Halfway through, Lucy's family reveal they themselves are monsters. To the cheers of the kids, Mortman becomes dinner.

Novel/Television differences

• Lucy only makes two trips to the library, one of which is to take Mr. Mortman's picture.
• Mr. Mortman's monster form differs slightly from the book. Instead of a swollen, balloon-like head with needle-like teeth and bulging eyes, the librarian's head grows scabby, pulsating skin, his teeth turn green, and his eyes grow out on stalks like a slug.
• Mortman eats tarantulas and crickets rather than turtles and flies. He also never eats fish from an aquarium (although there are two aquariums in his office).
• Lucy's friend Aaron is black instead of white.
• Lucy escapes from Mortman at the library by crawling between his legs as he stands over her, rather than by knocking a card catalogue over.
• Mr. and Mrs. Dark transform into snakelike monsters rather than simply growing fangs.
• Mr. and Mrs. Dark are revealed to have suspected Mortman's true identity for some time prior to inviting him to dinner, rather than becoming convinced when Aaron corroborates Lucy's story.
• Aaron arrives immediately after Mortman is eaten, wearing a monster mask, causing the Darks to briefly mistake him for another monster (however he takes the mask off and Lucy's parents don't eat him).

See also

• List of Goosebumps books