The Girl Who Cried Monster

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**Title** **The Girl Who Cried Monster!**

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

The Girl Who Cried Monster is R. L. Stine's eighth Goosebumps novel. It deals with a girl who believes her librarian is really a monster.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Television Episode
4 Trivia
5 Differences Between the Novel and the Television Episode
6 External Links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Believing her librarian to be a monster, Lucy tells her friends and parents only to be met with skepticism. She then visits the library with a friend and witnesses conclusive proof that the librarian is in fact a monster. She later returns with a camcorder and records the librarian in more incriminating acts which the girl takes home and shows her parents. The parents mysteriously decide to invite the librarian over for dinner, and promptly become monsters themselves and eat him alive. They then tell their daughter that other monsters are dangerous and that they came to their current home only to escape other monsters and raise their children in peace.

[edit] Characters

Lucy Dark: She is the female protagonist of the story. Lucy is obsessed with monster stories and has told so many of them that her family and friends are sick of her doing so.
Mr. Mortman: The creepy librarian and antagonist of the story. No one knows that he can transform into a monster until Lucy inexplicably stumbles upon his transformation because she forgot her rollerblades. Note that the Mr. Mortman can only transform into a monster if he eats crickets and other insects.
Aaron Messer: Lucy's best friend. Like everyone else, he is sick and tired of Lucy's childish antics.
Randy Dark: Lucy's gullible little brother. He always gets frightened to death whenever he hears of Lucy's monster stories.
Mom & Dad/Mr. & Mrs. Dark: Lucy's parents. It is they who are really weary of Lucy's monster stories. They provide the fuel for the story to progress. First, they ignore Lucy's claims that she has seen a real monster. Second, they decide to invite Mr. Mortman to dinner after Lucy attempts to capture him on a camcorder although he did not cast a reflection. Finally, the parents provide the twist to the story; they are monsters, too. And the reason why the parents invited Mr. Mortman for dinner was because he was the "dinner" all along. Note that unlike Mr. Mortman who needs to eat insects to provide stimulation for his transformation, the parents can transform at will. They reveal to Lucy and Randy that they're not "fully" developed, but will eventually grow to be a monster just like them.

[edit] Television Episode

This was one of the few Goosebumps books that was made into an episode of the Goosebumps TV series.

[edit] Trivia

This story was based on the fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

[edit] Differences Between the Novel and the Television Episode

First, in the book, the parents simply grow fangs and eat the librarian, whereas in the episode, they grow fangs, but their heads also change shape with reptilian-like features.
Second, in the book Lucy and her family resume their normal business after "suppertime." In the episode, Lucy's friend crashes in right after the "dinner," just right in time for a slice of pie for dessert. He's unaware that Lucy and her whole family are monsters, but they pose no threat to him.
Third, in the book Aaron was aware that Mr. Mortman was a monster, although he nor his knowledge of the librarian played an important role at the end.
In the book, Aaron is a freckle face Caucasian, although in the episode he was an African-American.