Monster House: There Goes the Neighborhood...: A Novelization Based on the New Movie

by Tom Hughes (Adapter)

During Halloween, a scary house becomes a living, breathing monster that eats trick-or-treaters, and it's up to twelve-year-old DJ Walters and his friends to save the day, in this novelization of the upcoming movie that features the voice talents of Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhall, and Kathleen Turner. Original.

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monster House is one of my personal all-time favorite Halloween films, kids horror flicks, and movies in general. It’s got this vibe that feels unmatchable, has a sense of humor that is legitimately timeless, and goes places that equip it with a magical essence—and not to mention the most balls-to-the-walls climax I’ve ever seen. It’s seriously an absolute gem, and I’m glad it’s received recognition almost annually from indie YouTubers, mostly. With my stance on the movie out of the way… this is a solid retelling of that, albeit flawed in some aspects. The plot is intact, of which is already fantastic in my eyes. The characters are true to their screen counterparts and just as good, the key story beats are all there and delivered well, the writing is actually decent (mostly saying this because I’m still sore after Stranger Things’ sloppy-ish novelization), and the essence of what makes that movie so memorable is all intact here. But, I do wanna point out that—apart from some of my favorite jokes being toned down a bit—the pacing is quite iffy. There’s points where it’s just rushing, and it needs to take its time and not slush off three pages of material into a paragraph or two. Not the whole book is like this but it’s jarring af when it does randomly speed up from ten to a hundred. There’s also some scenes that should’ve been laid out differently. Oh, and there’s almost no way in hell this could’ve matched up against the movie even if it tried it’s damn hardest. Hire me if you do another novelization, I’ll make sure it’s S-Tier. Overall, 8.5/10. An absolute masterpiece—story wise… but dulled in this format thanks to pacing and removed umph. Still great though; read this if you love the film. Chowder fumbled the bag so hard lmao.

[Christopher Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best

[Super Piss Baby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book. Just like the movie. The characters and the writing style is very engaging.

[Drake Vanmeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all this a really good book. I love Monster House and think this a really detailed book of the movie.My favorite part has to be when they go into Nebbercrackers house and find his dead wife under a sheet of cement. My favorite character has to be Chowder. He just makes the book funny. I don't have much to say about this book just THAT IT IS AN AWESOME BOOK! But all in all, the author did a good job on this book and I thank him for that.

[Izzy B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book because it's not scary,but it's kin of scary. I'm only on chapter 8 in just 2 weeks. Another reason I like this book is because it's funny like when this guy Bones scares DJ and DJ falls one his bed and screams like a girl. I also like the cover because it looks cool.

[Dan Schneider]

great