Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Home Alone Novelizations #2A

by Todd Strasser, John Hughes

Follows Kevin McCallister as he has the time of his life in Manhatten while his family is in Florida

Genres: Christmas, Media Tie In, Fiction, Humor, Childrens, Film, Family

152 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

About the author

Todd Strasser is an American author of more than 130 novels for adults, young-adults, and middle graders.

His most recent novel is Summer of '69

Booklist review: "Drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll, those hallmarks of the summer of 1969, are all here, but there's so much more. In this loosely autobiographical novel, Strasser introduces 18-year-old Lucas, who is bright and sensitive but also a screw up…. The picture painted of the Woodstock music festival shows the dark side of peace and love, and the prevalence of drugs is on almost every page…The best part of the book, however, is the one that transcends eras: Lucas' introspection as he contemplates his place in the world."

Kirkus review: "Strasser perfectly captures the golden haze of youth and life on the cusp of adulthood. Readers fascinated with this time period will find much to enjoy... Vietnam, Woodstock, road trips, and acid trips: a sweetly bittersweet, surprising, even melancholy bildungsroman set against a world in flux. Groovy, man."

His most recent young adult novel is Price of Duty:
2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens
“Compact and suspenseful, the novel raises important questions about war.” – Kirkus 
“This thought-provoking book is both welcome and imperative.” – Booklist * (starred review).
"Rather than attempting to sway the reader, it offers awareness." - VOYA 
“Tightly wound and compelling ... appropriate for an older middle school and high school audience. VERDICT: Highly recommended.” – School Library Journal 

Bio: Todd was born in New York City. When he was young his parents moved to Roslyn Heights, New York (Long Island). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary school and then attended the Wheatley School for junior high and high school. His best subjects were math and science. He also liked to read, but he had trouble with spelling and grammar, and didn't do well in English. His favorite sports were tennis, skiing and fishing. Todd went to college at New York University for a few years, and then dropped out. He lived on a commune, then lived in Europe where he was a street musician.

All the while, Todd wrote songs and poems and lots of letters to his friends back home. Finally he decided to try being a writer. He returned to the United States and went to Beloit College where he studied literature and writing.

After college, Todd worked at the Middletown Times Herald-Record newspaper in Middletown, New York, and later at Compton Advertising in New York City. In 1978, Todd sold his first novel, Angel Dust Blues. He used the money to start the Dr. Wing Tip Shoo fortune cookie company. For the next 12 years, Todd sold more fortune cookies than books.

Todd now divides his time between writing books and speaking at schools and conferences. When he's at home, he likes to spend time with his children and dog, Cooper. He still likes to play tennis and ski, but his favorite new sport is surfing.

Reviews

[Nayra.Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

وحدي في المنزل:من اجمل افلام الفنادق و الكريسماس والدنيا؛ مهما كنت مطحون مقهور؛ رؤيتك لانتصار الصغير علي الحمقي الكبار؛ سيمنحك راحة

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

If Kevin McCallister had lived in Geneva, none of this would ever have happened.

[Sunshine Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a book written by Todd Strasser. I enjoyed the movie, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, so I was excited to read the book!

(Not in the movie) The book comes with a Prologue, a scene where Harry & Marv are being taken away in a police car. They pick the car door lock and slip out to escape. The two bad guys go to the McCallister house where Kevin outwits them yet again and they end up back in police custody.

(Not in the movie) The story starts in Dec. 1992 at the Illinois State Penitentiary at night. Marv & Harry are in prison with plans to escape.

Home Alone 2 takes place in a matter of days: December 22 - December 25.

The book doesn't have chapter numbers, but rather location, dates and times as the story continues.

I love New York at Christmastime. Kevin explored: the World Trade Center towers, Chinatown, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and of course, the Plaza Hotel.
👉 "Coming to New York could be the greatest accident of my life!" (pg. 75).

December 24th is the longest day in the story, as it starts with Kevin eating pizza for breakfast in a limo and ends with him setting booby traps for bad guys that night. Pizza was his only meal that day (pg. 99), so he pulls 'Operation Ho! Ho! Ho!' on a near empty stomach.

In the book, Kevin tells the limo driver to pick him up from the toy store at 3:00 p.m. only to change his mind last minute, "Better make it 3:30 p.m."
👉 He should have stuck with his original time, because Marv & Harry spot him at 3:15 p.m.

It would seem like Kevin only starts 'Operation Ho! Ho! Ho!' as a good deed to erase his bad deeds (each good deed counts extra on Christmas Eve).
👉 I feel like Kevin had enough evidence to charge Harry & Marv of the crime. He didn't necessarily need to booby trap Uncle Rob's house.

Pages 117 - 135 (an entire 20 minutes in the movie) was the booby trap scene at Uncle Rob's house. 👉 It was hard to read and hard to watch as some (if not all) attacks could seriously injure or kill someone.

The book has a lot of cartoon-ish sound effects:
"Zing! Zing! Zing!" (pg. 121), "Bonk! Clank! Plunk!" (pg. 122), "Ker-splash!" (pg. 123), "Thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk!" (pg. 129), "Whomp!" (pg. 128), "Pow!" (pg. 140) ... to name a few.


------------------------------------------
There are slight differences from the book and the movie:
📍
Book: Johnny: "Merry Christmas, ya two-timin' floozy!" (pg. 63).
Movie: Johnny: "Merry Christmas ya Filthy Animal"
📍
Book: Kevin tries after-shave lotion and screams at the burn on his cheeks (pg. 69).
Movie: No scene exists
📍
Book: Kevin was watching Pink Panther cartoons inside the limo (pg. 73).
Movie: Kevin was watching The Grinch cartoon inside the limo.
📍
Book: Harry & Marv rob Duncan's Toy Chest at 9:30 p.m. and was at Uncle Rob's house at 9:50 p.m.
Movie: Harry & Marv rob Duncan's Toy Chest at midnight and was at Uncle Rob's house very late.
📍
Book: Marv gets smacked three times by the same woman
Movie: Marv gets slapped two times by the same woman
📍
Book: Kevin steals a bag of Doritos from the minibar (pg. 99).
Movie: Kevin steals cookies from the minibar
📍
Book: Kevin and the Pigeon Lady watch ballerinas dancing to the 'Nutcracker' at Radio City Music Hall (pg. 104- 105).
Movie: Kevin and the Pigeon Lady watch a concert in a loft above Carnegie Hall and hear a performance of "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful."
📍
Book: The Pigeon Lady has an apartment (pg. 105).
Movie: The Pigeon Lady seems homeless
📍
Book: Staples attach Marv's hat to his head (pg. 121).
Movie: Marv isn't wearing a hat
📍
Booby trap differences:
Book: Marv rips his eyebrows, mustache and goatee off due to a cloth with glue on it (pg. 123 - 124).
Movie: Marv gets electrocuted
📍
Kevin's handwritten letter to Mr. Duncan is different in the movie and in the book (pg. 147).
📍
Kevin sets off fireworks at the park (not in book).
📍
Ending is different. In the movie, the dad realizes the high cost of the hotel charges and screams.
------------------------------------------

My book comes with eight pages of color photos from the movie.

👉 I remember the hype of the Talkboy tape recorder. I owned the pink Talkgirl recorder!

Is the Book "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" better than the Movie version?
Find out on my Blog Series titled Book Vs Movie:
👉 https://www.sunshinerodgers.com/movie...

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great movies never die. Novelizations of great movies are sold for 5 cents at garage sales.

Macaulay Culkin will always be that precocious little boy who tortured criminals to me.
Nevertheless, I'm hoping for one of the following from him:

A. A return as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 4: The Revenge
An adult Kevin goes psycho and becomes a house burglar himself, thus completing some sort of weird cycle in the films.

B. A tell-all in which he reveals his steamy affair with Catherine O'Hara during the shooting of Lost in New York.

[Nourhan Elkafrawy · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Yasmin M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahh....childhood :) there was a time we would collect everything with home alone on it, the books, the board games :)

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Home Alone by John Hughes
8 out of 10


This is one of the comedy classics, although it loses somewhat, if not a great deal, when seen now, almost thirty years since its premiere.

It surely has to do with different standards, the evolution of politically correct standards and a much more drastic perspective on parenting.
Fierce in the sense that many if not most viewers of this film would rather condemn the parents rather than laugh at the outcome of a rather senseless losing of a child, on the way to Europe.

An extended family, with adults, cousins, adversarial siblings and a chaotic setup has planned a Christmas vacation across the ocean.
Before they go, they are visited by a kind police officer, played by Joe Pesci, who warns them about the dangers faced by those who abandon their houses unprotected.

But we have systems of defense, lights will go on at pre programmed hours and they mention other valuable information.
Important, because the cop is actually a robber, interested to know what the defenses are, if any, and then use the spying to avoid any traps.

His name is Michael and his partner is Marv, a somewhat deranged- if they are not both rather slow and thick, considering what an eight year old would do to them, special as he certainly is - individual.
Marv has the habit of letting the water flow in the sink, in the houses they had robbed, as a signature and that could be used as evidence.

The reunited families prepare to leave, they set the alarm clock for their early departure, only during the night, as in the Seinfeld episode with the marathon runner and the exceptional installation in Kramer's flat, the electricity is down and they are late for their flight.
In the rush,one of the elder children counts the rest, and there are about ten or eleven of them, and finds that they are all ready, because he has included a visiting boy from the neighborhood.

Kevin aka Macaulay Culkin is left...

Home Alone

A serious and also comic game would start between him and the malefactors.
In the first place, he manages to fool them with a complex arrangement of shadows, mannequins.
Harry and Marv drive their van to the house and think that there is a party there.

The false policeman is puzzled by this change, since he has asked in an alleged official capacity and learned about the trip to Europe, France more exactly.
They soon find that the eight year old is alone.

But he has all the tricks to play against the villains.
He sets Harry's hair on fire.

Shoots them both, not with real bullets, but still causing a lot of pain.
There are feathers, wind machines, ice on the stairs...

You name it, the weapon, trick, trap is used in this vicious, amusing battle of wits.

Who wins?
You can only imagine.

Trump is present in Home Alone, alas.
One good reason to avoid the film.

I am not sure however which is the unlucky feature.
Was it the sequel?

I have not seen him in the original, Home Alone I, but then I did not pay it full attention.

[Wes Hazard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rare instance where the movie was better. Based on a comparison between the two it looks like Strasser was given the original film script to base this novelization off of and that he never saw the completed film. Let’s be honest, you watch the Home Alone movies for Kevin’s impish delivery and the booby traps. Neither really translates to the page so if you have seen the movie before reading this you’ll be disappointed and if you haven’t I imagine you’ll be disappointed and confused. I will say the book has 100% more grown male nudity in it than the film and you get some insight on some gags that were never shot but there is no real reason to read this especially in 2018.

[Dina Sarhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

الجزء الاول اجمل من الثانى

[Gabriel Kuhnert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book"Home Alone two"by Todd Strasser takes place in new york. This story is about a boy named Kevin Mcallister who accidentally takes a flight to new york instead of going to florida with his parents. I chose to read this book because i like the home alone series.

This story starts off with Kevin and his family preparing to go to a trip in florida. Kevin then goes to the bathroom and finds someone there in the shower and he records him singing in the shower. Shortly the person sticks his head out of the shower and says this “Get out of here you nosey little pervert or i'm gonna slap you silly !!!!!!!! which comes in handy later on in the story and Kevin then leaves. Kevin and his family are in the airport the next morning but Kevin accidentally takes a plane to new york insted of Florida. When Kevin gets there he realizes he has his dada credit card and checks into a fancy hotel but one of the people that work there get suspicious.. Kevin then the next day goes to the toy store and uses a limo to get there. After Kevin leaves Marv and harry find him and Kevin runs from them. Kevin then tries to go in the hotel but the staff said that he stole the credit card and he runs from them too. Kevin is now in the park in the night with crazy people. Marv and Harry find Kevin and he runs to an old house and sets up traps for them which they fall for. After that Kevin is running from them and then slips. Marv and Harry take him to the park and Harry pulls out a gun and says he is going to kill him. Just before he could pull the trigger an old lady pops up and throws bread crumbs at Harry and Marv which are covered in sticky stuff. Police then show up and arrests Harry and Marv. Kevin after that is reunited with his mom and family. They stay at the hotel and the next day they wake up to find lots of presents under a tree.


I thought the ending to this book was good because Kevin got the bad guys arrested and he got reunited with his mom and his family. My favorite part of this book is when Kevin gets Harry and Marv arrested.


This book does not have a similar connection to the other books i have read. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes home alone.

[Book Addict Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I bought this from a charity shop, or it might have been the 50p shop (seriously). I loved the film and I loved this book, unfortunately it is now lost somewhere in my house but I remember reading it many times.

[Zzadisorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

very impressed!

[Daniel Bustos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nunca había leído un libro que hubiera sido escrito a partir de la pelicula. Fue muy interesante.

[Vardatariq · Rating 5 out of 5]

good movie

[JoeBlack · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as the amazing Xmas classic film. Perfect!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although his hotel room is great [meaning lots of toys and junk food], Kevin McCallister finds himself facing another Christmas separated from his family. They’re in Florida . . . and Kevin’s in New York. And the only good thing about that is that Buzz isn’t around to make life miserable by pushing the blame for something . . . anything . . . on him.

But Kevin isn’t the only one in New York . . . his home-burglar “friends” Marv and Harry are in the city, too. They have plans for a better Christmas than they had last year. Knowing the duo, their plans probably aren’t legal.

Will Kevin find out that Marv and Harry are in New York? If he does, what will he do? And what will happen to the two bumbling burglars?

The blockbuster film, “Home Alone,” gives rise to a sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” filled with the same slapstick humor that made the original film so popular. Based on John Hughes’s screenplay, this book closely follows the events as they unfold in the film. [Eight pages of color film stills are included in the book.]

It’s all in good fun . . . Kevin emerges victorious and the bumbling burglars once again draw the short straws, leading to the predictable denouement. But, for fans of the franchise, especially middle-grade readers, there is much to appreciate in this laugh-out-loud romp through New York City.

Recommended.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similarly to the first Home Alone novelization, I was unaware a written adaption of the second movie existed until my husband surprised me with a vintage paperback of it on Christmas!

I found this book to be more true to the actual movie and a bit less offensive (although it was still fatphobic, constantly described homeless people as "disgusting", and had two unnecessary scenes with sexual undertones). In a few cases it even provided more context to a few movie scenes & themes!

In general I found this to be an average read that was made exciting by picking apart the differences between media formats. A few light-hearted notes:

• the "gangster" movie says "Merry Christmas ya two timin' floozy"...CAN YOU IMAGINE?!
• its apparently canon that the entire family is aware of the wet bandits and how Kevin protected the house?!
• the original writers really thought Harry having an ulcer was plausible for a child to understand and mentioned it several times
• the book opens with a dream sequence that includes 2 'booby traps' eventually used in Home Alone 3 in 1997

If the Home Alone franchise is also a favorite of yours, I think this would be a fun book to experience during the holiday season but not at all "necessary".

[Staceywh_17 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm getting so caught up with everything Christmas right now and what better way to do it than spend it with Kevin McAllister and the Sticky Bandits!

Seperated from his family for Christmas again, Kevin has a whale of a time in NYC with his father's credit card as he tries to avoid being captured by the Sticky Bandits who are out for revenge after the events of last Christmas.

The novel stays true to the film right down to the unforgettable aftershave scene and the humour of the concierge who was played by Tim Curry in the film.

A quick, enjoyable and entertaining read, definitely one to reread over the festive period.

[Annabelle Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin is on his own by himself again, in New York. The McCallisters were supposed to go to Miami for Christmas, but when they got there, they found out the Kevin wasn't there, again. This book was fun and enjoyable to read. This book is not too hard and not too easy. Harry and Marv are back, The family loses Kevin, Kevin is ok with it, it's just like part 1 but in New York. Everyone should read this book to see what's going to happen to Kevin in New York City.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again poor little Kevin gets separated at Christmas - his family goes to Florida and he ends up in New York - and by using his Dad's credit card he gets booked into a lovely hotel charging everything he wants and manages to run into the criminals who had bothered him last Christmas! A cute entertaining Christmas story.

[Diba Roshan · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب‌های "تنها در خانه" به ماجراهای پسربچه‌ای باهوش و زرنگ به نام کوین مک کالیستر را بازگو می‌کند. او در قسمت نخست داستان موفق می‌شود دو سارق به نام‌های مارو و هری را دستگیر کند. اما ماجرای قسمت دوم این داستان به تعطیلات کریسمس سال بعد مربوط می‌شود که بار دیگر خانواده پرجمعیت آنها تصمیم می‌گیرند به فلوریدا بروند. او به هنگام سفر، در فرودگاه خانواده خود را گم می‌کند و اشتباهی سوار هواپیمای نیویورک می‌شود و در آن شهر، با زیرکی و استفاده غیرقانونی از کارت اعتباری پدرش در بهترین هتل شهر، هتل پلازا، ساکن می‌شود و برای خود مقدار زیادی اسباب بازی و خوراکی تهیه می‌کند، غافل از این که دو دشمن خلافکارش از زندان فرار کرده در نیویورک به سر می‌برند. کوین سرانجام در اثر یک اتفاق با آن دو روبه‌رو می‌شود و در پی آن، ماجراهای پر حادثه‌ای خلق می‌گردد.

[ǫᴜɪʀᴋʏ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍᴇʀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could actually see the movie in my head. :) It has the feel of the books I read when I was in elementary school, when you know it's a little childish but it's going to be a reread and you'll think of it fondly later on anyway. I loved it, great for getting in the Christmas mood!

[Brandon Kazimir · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting with these movie-based chapter books to be able to take a peek into the original script that the authors are working from - dialogue is slightly altered and certain scenes are added or absent.

[Zanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love movie novelisations because they either make the movie that much more unhinged or you read them and go wow i see now why this was a movie because it absolutely does not work in any other format (guess which one this was)

[The Lady Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those movies/books that we didn't question as kids but seriously WTF?

[David Lipely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Watch the movie...

[Ranette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very fun book about a kid being lost in NYC

[John Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

My sister read this to me when I was in middle school, so I think that counts - like an organic audiobook.. haha

[Ryan Thompson]

Came across an audiobook version read by Tim Curry!

[Sara Dorris · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's almost exactly like the movie! I was able to listen to it on YouTube.