Monster Blood

Infobox Book
name = Monster Blood
title_orig =


image_caption =
author = R. L. Stine
cover_artist = Tim Jacobus
country = United States
language = English
series = "Goosebumps"
genre = Horror fiction
Children's literature
publisher = Scholastic, Inc.
pub_date = September 1992
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 128
isbn = 0-590-45367-X
preceded_by = Stay Out Of The Basement
followed_by = Say Cheese and Die!

"Monster Blood" is the 3rd book in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series.

Plot

While his parents have to go house-shopping in GA, Evan Ross is sent to stay with his weird great aunt Kathryn. He buys a dusty can of "Monster Blood" from an old toy store, and meets a girl named Andrea, also known as Andy. The two are at first optimistic about the slimy green liquid, but after Evan's great-aunt visits and asks to "look at the can", strange things start to happen. The Monster Blood becomes stickier and slimier than ever, and begins to grow rapidly upon exposure to air. It then starts to absorb anything it can. Evan's dog Trigger consumes some of the monster blood and gradually begins to grow larger as well. Evan erroneously believes that his great aunt is a witch.

The real villain is Kathryn's cat Sarabeth, a mean cat with sharp claws who turns out to be a witch in disguise. In the final confrontation, Sarabeth attempts to use the Monster Blood against them, but can't control it and is absorbed into it. The Blood then shrinks into nothing, releasing all those trapped within it, except Sarabeth herself. Trigger also returns to his normal size.

Tagline

"It's a monster blood drive!"

Properties of Monster Blood

This book marks the introduction of the substance, Monster Blood. It is green in colour and slowly expands to a great size when released from its airtight container for the first time. No explanation for this has been given, although magic has been implied to be the reason (at least in the TV adaptation). The Monster Blood is also portrayed as a living evil entity, capable of attacking people if they are close enough (Evan is almost drowned in the bathtub containing Monster Blood). In addition to its growth properties, any biological creature that consumes Monster Blood will slowly grow to monstrous size, the main plot point for the following books Monster Blood II and III. Monster Blood is also known to be sold and kept in a plastic egg, just like silly putty. This is known from the third book in the Goosebumps Horrorland series, Monster Blood For Breakfast, where there are two kinds of Monster Blood: One that is only a twelve-hour SAMPLE of Monster Blood, when the other is LONG-LASTING Monster Blood. Monster Blood is also used and mentioned in the "Give Yourself Goosebumps" series in the book Escape from the Carnival of Horrors.

Television adaptation

Monster Blood was adapted into an episode of the "Goosebumps" television series. In this version, Sarabeth is actually a witch who created Monster Blood, but couldn't control it and ended up turning herself into a cat when Kathryn discovered that Sarabeth was practicing witchcraft and Sarabeth tried to use the Monster Blood to kill Kathryn. Kathryn then took the Blood and stored it in a jar kept in a spare room until Evan and Andy discovered it.

An original reprint, "More Monster Blood", featured the return of the Blood on an airplane as Evan was traveling to Atlanta. Also on the plane is Julia, a girl similar to Andy, Curtis (who is based on Evan's cousin Kermit) and Conan. They find that the Monster Blood hates airline food, and by forcing a great deal of such food into its body, they were able to defeat the Blood. But Evan found out that an ant ate some Monster Blood, and grew to the size of a human!

Monster Blood The Collector's Edition

Since the release of Monster Blood For Breakfast, Scholastic made a remake of the original Monster Blood novel. The book has a "slightly" different cover where it is raised, to where you can feel it. The book also has "Behind The Screams" in the back, Bonus features (or bonus "Creatures"), and an interview with R.L. Stine.

ee also

*Monster Blood II
*Monster Blood III
*Monster Blood IV
*List of Goosebumps books