Night of the Goat Boy

Shivers #23

by M.D. Spenser

Lights out, campers! Nathaniel was one happy kid at Camp Spotlight, where acting was the way of the day. But at night, he and his tent-mates didn't dare doubt the campfire story of Goat Boy.

Genres: Horror, Childrens, Fiction

123 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 1996

About the author

M.D. Spenser is a children's author, journalist and music critic. Born in the United States, he lives now in the UK.

"The Enchanted Attic," Book 1 of his popular SHIVERS series of novels for children, was republished as an e-book in August 2011. It is available at amazone.com, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstory. Book 2, "A Ghastly Shade of Green," and Book 3, "Ghost Writer," followed shortly afterwards.


The rest of the 36-book series will be published as ebooks over time.

Also, an internet petition is circulating asking that the entire 36-book series be republished in paperback: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/md...

Reviews

[Austin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

An entirely uneventful and inconsequential story, with the only moment of significance taking place in the final chapter; a twist that reveals there may be some truth to an old campfire story, after all.

The rest of the story comprises of pranks and fakeout scares in this ripoff of Stine's camp books, making it inadequate even as a cash-in on what made those great.

My lack of detail in this review and plot summary is because, well, there isn't much to Night of the Goat Boy and even less worth saying about this one.
Overall I give it a 1.5⭐ rounded down. Not quite the worst Shivers book of the bunch but it's down there as one of the most boring and time-wasting ones. Can't recommend.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Night Of The Goat Boy intrigued me so much that I chose to read it on the fly.It wasn't even in my tbr for this month.The story starts off with this kid named Nathaniel telling us that he loves drama like theatre drama,not the cool kind.Nathaniel is really wanting to go this camp called Camp spotlight.His parents eventually let him go but not before hearing a conversation between his parents Nathaniel was not supposed to hear.His parents talk about how they use to go to this camp and are worried about Nathaniel's well being.His parents even state that maybe the camp has changed after all these years.When Nathaniel finally arrives at this camp he meets a group of kids he will be in tents with.He also spots a girl named Jillian that he thinks is pretty.His bunkmates are Brian ,Chris and Jacques I think.They have scenes of typical camp things like lousy food and stuff but the real fun begins with a campfire with ghost stories.We are introduced to Mr.Dingle the acting coach guy who I honestly kept picturing as Mr.Tingle from the Legend Of Zelda franchise.Mr.Dingle tells a lame story that none of the other kids really cared for. Mr.Dingle leaves and leaves some teenagers in charge while he's gone for a bit.And they tell the story about Goat Boy.And it's really awesome.This kid named Kenny lived on a farm nearby the camp.He couldn't afford to go to camp though and he smelled like goats,so kids began to make fun of him,calling him Goat Boy. They did this constantly until one day Kenny was fed up.He grabs a stick out of a nearby bonfire and torches a tent with sleeping campers inside. The kids escape unharmed, and when the parents come to pick them up to go home ,one of the children's dad finds out about what happend and that's bad news for Kenny, because the dad knows magic.He goes to the farm and puts a spell on the boy giving him the head of a goat.And that's the story. After the story is over they hear a goat sound but it turns out to be the kids telling the story pulling a prank. We soon learn this camp has a upcoming play called Your A Good Man Charlie Brown and our protagonist gets the spot of Snoopy. While rehearsals are underway a spotlight falls and almost ends Nathaniel.He finds a letter in his sleeping bag and it's from "Kenny". He also starts to hear sounds and smells something terrible outside his tent. all of this points to either Goat Boy being alive or the counselors pulling a prank. This book didn't flow as great as the last two that I read in the series, especially the parts about the play. but I was still somewhat intrigued.And I loved the dark nature of what the Goat Boy did.I was having an ok time until the last few chapters.That was disappointing. The very end was fine it ended pretty good,but the last few chapters really swamped this book down. The scariest part of this book was easily the farmer that Nathaniel Investigates.I give Night Of The Goat Boy probably a two out of five stars.I do want to point out one thing though.Their is a scene where Nathaniel is running away from a supposedly Goat Boy and one scene later he talks about how talking to the girl at camp is about the same kind of scary.I thought that was kinda cute.

[Carol Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this one was better than his earlier ones. It definitely had some good moments in it.

I loved the story and it's creepy moments but it just wasn't scary to me. The characters were funny and I wished that Jillian and Nathaniel would've at least hugged or held hands at one point. But i'm not the writer, it's a good book for readers entering the horror genre.

[Nader Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the characters, camp atmosphere too and the story wasn't bad at all but there were somewhat boring events.
Despite nothing terrifying happened, the ending was good for me but I wished the plot was more solid a little bit.

#VERDICT: (6.5/10)

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

A half-baked waste of time. The cover for this book is one of my favorites from the series, but the book’s contents don’t quite reflect that. The writing in this entry was a bit better than others, and I found the characters to be fun enough. There’s some teases towards a potential parental connection to the events of book (which goes shit fuck nowhere at end with reveals of already known crap) that had potential, which is the most I can say about that. I enjoyed the mystery in this one; the whole “Goat Boy” legend kept the story alive, alongside—sadly—the fakeouts, which were all pretty solid in themselves till the big reveal that made them fakeouts (sorry not sorry for the spoiler). Now to legit dunk my raisin cookie in this past-expiration-date-but-not-quite-spoiled milk: the book pulls a Fright Camp/You Can’t Scare Me, and it doesn’t work like the rare instance that was Are You Terrified Yet. Legitimately, nothing actually happened in this book until the very last chapter, which just pissed me off (hint: it cock teases the reader of what we wanted). It’s a fine read, but the reveal of what was happening behind 99% of stuff in the book minus a teeny little thing near the end was just the shitting of the bed. The reveal with the parents exists, and that’s about as much as I feel on it; it literally adds nothing and it’s just wasted potential for what could’ve possibly been a puberty allegory twist, or something in the ballpark Werewolf’s First Night from GB and other stories akin in ending. Just didn’t do anything, don’t even know why it’s there. And yeah, this one was just extremely disappointing and rubbed your face in it, though it was good up until then so I’m not gonna let that ruin this. Overall, 5/10. A dud for sure but could’ve easily been better.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

My sixth graders weren't too fond of this one. It's a pretty weird concept -- a demon goat boy at a summer camp for theater kids. It didn't keep their attention as well as The Sign of the Beaver and just plain wasn't good. Too many fake outs and gotchas and feigned danger.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one that I thought beat a lot of his other books in his series. It wasn't a boring waste of time it was a good picture in your mind kinda book. What he was trying to show off in scenes in this book says worth reading. Good job, m.d.spenser

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was probably my most read book as a kid. I was obsessed with the vision of the Goat Boy and could have red this at least 10 times.

[Autumn Ketchum · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first book for this series. Came in with no expectations and just wanted a fun buddy read book. Love a camp atmosphere, and the goat boy story was interesting. “Will you be my supper?” From Kenny made me laugh. Definitely a very slow burn, but fun.

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plus a star for the bad ass cover. A fun little camp thriller.

[Jason Harlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nathaniel goes to Camp Spotlight to enhance his acting skills while participating in a summer camp performance of Charlie Brown, but gets more than he bargained for when he finds out about the legend of the Goat Boy. This was about as entertaining as I wanted it to be but still had plenty of flaws. These middle-grade horror books typically have one or two cool moments and otherwise completely miss the mark, and I would say this is no different. I give this a 3/5 for keeping my attention throughout, but this was pretty weak.