Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story

by R. L. Stine

Overview

Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story is a funny, scary middle-grade send up of A Christmas Carol, about a boy who hates Christmas, from bestselling Goosebumps author R. L. Stine.

Rick Scroogeman hates Christmas. He can't stand the carols and the pageants. He can't stand the lights and the mistletoe. But what he hates the most is having to watch the old movie A Christmas Carol every year at school. Since his name is Scroogeman, all of his classmates start calling him Scrooge. And he hates being called Scrooge.

But everything starts to change when three ghosts visit him. At first, he thinks it's a dream. But then he realizes that it might be a nightmare. A nightmare that could become real.

"Stine brings his characteristic humor and light scares to a reworking of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, set at Oliver Twist Middle School. . . . It’s eerie holiday fun." —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250129550
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	10/10/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	152,051
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

R. L. Stine is the author of the bestselling Goosebumps and Fear Street series, as well as the stand-alone novels It's the First Day of School . . . Forever! and A Midsummer Night's Scream and his adult novel Red Rain. He lives in New York City with his wife, Jane, and their dog, Minnie.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

October 8, 1943

Place of Birth:

Columbus, Ohio

Education:

B.A., Ohio State University, 1965

Website:

http://www.rlstine.com

Editorial Reviews

"Stine brings his characteristic humor and light scares to a reworking of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, set at Oliver Twist Middle School. . . . It’s eerie holiday fun." —Publishers Weekly

It's the First Day of School . . . Forever!:

"As usual, Stine delivers the hilarity and horror that readers love, and his mastery of sustaining mood will not disappoint. . . . Kids will love the twist at the end." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Stine's signature blend of horror and humor, combined with an unexpected ending, offers a fresh view on a familiar idea." —ABC New York

From the Publisher

09/26/2016
Stine brings his characteristic humor and light scares to a reworking of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, set at Oliver Twist Middle School. Twelve-year-old Rick Scroogeman relentlessly bullies his classmates, tormenting Josh Cratchitt, who has a stutter, and sabotaging the school play (thousands of ants are involved) after learning that he was denied a part because the other students are afraid of him. Stine sticks to the rough outline of the Dickens story line while including ample twists, chilling situations, and jokes: Rick is accidentally visited by Marley’s ghost, who is haunting the wrong house, and Rick’s version of the Golden Rule translates to “Do it to others before they do it to you.” The Ghost of Christmas Past, a hooded figure, whisks Rick to a long-ago school, where he gets a taste of bullying from students who mock him and trick him into diving into a pigpen. The Ghost of Christmas Present allows Rick’s peers to speak for themselves, and the final ghost offers Rick a vision of a terrifying, zombie-filled future. It’s eerie holiday fun, and Stine resists making Rick’s eventual turnaround too sugary-sweet. Ages 9–12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2016
Gr 4–7—Rick Scroogeman is a pathological bully, enjoying the harmful pranks he pulls on one and all. He has no clue that the "fun" he inflicts makes him the most hated kid in middle school. That is, until he is forced to see the error of his ways by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. At first, Rick makes light of being the target of bullies in the 1800s and the hardship of a modern family, but when he witnesses his schoolmates' disdain, he finally starts to get the message. However, Future Ghost hammers it home by dropping Rick off at Dead Middle School, where the zombie students try to pull him into his own grave. Scared straight, Rick does some good deeds and claims to be happier now that he's a good guy…although he still pulls a mean prank to end the book. Mild horror situations like zombie students and walking snowmen do not redeem the self-centered first-person narrative of this modern-day Christmas Carol. VERDICT Stine certainly has fans, but this labored effort is not his best and, honestly, the first 50 pages, in which Rick brags about his mean antics, are more horrifying than the ghosts and zombies. Not recommended.—Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal