A Ghastly Shade Of Green

Shivers #2

by M.D. Spenser

Be very afraid of green!!!

Jason's mother takes him and his little brother on a vacation to Florida. . . Instead of the beach, they go to the edge of the Everglades. Alligators bellow and plants grow so thick they almost blot out the light. This is not fun! Jason does not like this place at all. Then the really weird things begin. . . Keepsakes disappear from his dresser. His beagle winds up missing. Jason suspects burglars, but the truth is more frightening. And Jason must make a desperate effort to save his family--and himself from THE TERROR OF THE GREEN. . .

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Childrens, Young Adult

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 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

[Jason Harlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve-year old Jason travels from Kansas to Florida with his botanist mom and three-year old brother Timmy. Jason is pissed about having to hang out in the Everglades rather than riding Space Mountain or having fun at Universal Studios. His mom has a plan to make the family rich off of the Everglade sawgrass, but soon enough, the jungle takes on a life of its own. This was a weird one! I don't usually like the sci-fi subject matter, but this one, for some odd reason actually works. The main character Jason is a pervy twelve-year old and his mom is a complete enabler! The Snake-Eye character was actually kinda creepy and is further proof that M.D. Spenser doesn't hold much back despite writing for kids. There are a lot of Wizard of Oz and other classic literature references here, which I thought was an odd choice. Oh, and an animal gets murdered! This may be the most dramatic thing I'll ever say on here, but if you put my Lord and savior R.L. Stine in a blender with Jon Athan, you'd end up with M.D. Spenser. This gets a 4/5 from me.

[Austin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not quite giving this a 1 star rating, more like 1.5 / 5
(Note: This is my first Shivers book read as an adult. I know I read at least a couple of these when I was younger but don't remember them)
The writing wasn't good. I was surprised by some of the violence, language, and level of detail used. This book (and I'm guessing the series in general) is slightly more mature and edgy than the Goosebumps books. However, this particular entry in the Shivers series was very bland and boring for the most part. I really didn't care for it but I'll try some of the other books in the series to see how they are.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

M.D. Spenser probably isn't as gifted a storyteller as Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, but he has his moments. A Ghastly Shade of Green is a considerable improvement on the first Shivers book, following a family on vacation who are about to find themselves in a death struggle with nature itself. Jason, age twelve (and a half!), is excited to be leaving Kansas to spend a week in sunny Florida with his three-year-old brother Timmy and their mother. Jason looks forward to having lots of fun, maybe at Disney World or Universal Studios. Those expectations crash when his mother pulls the car up to a ramshackle cabin with miles of jungle on every side. This is the Everglades, she announces, a haven for exotic flora and fauna. As a botanist, this is the sort of vacation destination she loves, but Jason is bitterly disappointed. What a waste of a trip to Florida, he grouses.

Jason's mother brought them here for good reason. She believes the local sawgrass can be distilled into an effective fertilizer, which could make her family fabulously wealthy. Being rich appeals to Jason, even though he's loath to spend a week in the swampy jungle so his mother can analyze the sawgrass. He hates the thought of alligators, spiders, and other creepy critters just beyond the cabin door, so he loudly objects when his mother decides to leave him and Timmy at the cabin for a day while she goes to get the airboat for her research in the 'Glades. He'll be fine here with Timmy for just twenty-four hours, won't he? Jason doesn't have much choice, but he feels anxious as his mother departs. This place spooks him.

Subtle signs that an intruder entered the cabin last night are upsetting, but there's no solid proof. What kind of burglar takes nothing and leaves a trail of green, plantlike goo? Jason tries to stay calm, but it doesn't help when a fisherman who calls himself "Snake-eye" shows up for a visit, a man with a brusque personality and sense of humor who has lived in backwoods Florida for years. Jason doesn't trust him, and he's relieved when Snake-eye leaves, but the danger is only beginning. Predatory animals are bad enough, but it turns out to be the trees, vines, and shrubs that are stalking Jason and his little brother. When their dog Tannin goes missing, it's up to Jason to find the beagle while keeping Timmy safe, but what are their odds of survival if the 'Glades select them for extinction? Is the old Indian legend true, and Jason's family has somehow upset the local plant life enough for it to murder them? Emerging from this nightmare alive will take courage and luck, but Jason and Timmy are more tenacious than they realize.

The environmental message is heavy-handed and the writing occasionally amateurish, but M.D. Spenser spins a surprisingly evocative story in these pages, on par with a number of books from the original Goosebumps series. The stakes are high for Jason; he typically thinks of Timmy as an annoyance, but finds out over the course of the adventure that he will put his own life on the line without hesitation to save his brother. I appreciate the literary and film allusions sprinkled throughout A Ghastly Shade of Green; I may not have detected them all, but they include Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (page thirty-one), Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (page forty), Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (pages forty-nine and fifty), William Shakespeare's Hamlet (page one hundred six), and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (page one hundred twenty). I also like Eddie Roseboom's cover art, depicting a subtle, pervasive menace in a way comparable to Tim Jacobus's original Goosebumps covers. A Ghastly Shade of Green had potential to be better than it was, but it's pretty good for a "knockoff", and gives me reason to return to the Shivers series for more.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason's botanist mother takes him and his little brother on "vacation" to the Everglades - in reality, she really just wants to experiment on sawgrass, trying to get rich. She promptly dumps the kids off at the cabin and leaves for the whole day to research her project.
Except her experiments anger the plant life, causing the trees and vines to come alive. A palm frond chokes out their poor beagle. A tree pulls little Timmy out the door. Jason almost gets bit by a coral snake. Then they have to swim through alligator infested waters. Mom *still* isn't home, therefore remaining totally oblivious to the vengeful vegetation, but luckily, the swamp hermit, Snake Eye is around to save the boys.
Terrible vacation, even worse parenting. 👎

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt it was time to return to the ripoff realm to get to wrapping up another cycle of them. The randomizer figured I should return to Shivers. Our last visit gave us an especially good ones. I turned to the Shivers randomizer and with is our first early one, being our second entry. It's also our first to be one of the Bob Knotts one. You see, through sleuthing I found out some entries were ghostwritten by Robert Spencer Knotts, his website even backs it up. One of the ones listed is this. Yes, ghostwriters only 2 books in. That Publisher's Weekly thing stated the series was a MT Coffin situation even though we know Mr Spenser/Don Melvin indeed exists but whatever.

Speaking of him, I found a tweet of his saying this one wasn't one of his favorites. Given this coming from Mr. No Regrets, this got me very worried. Having read it...I wonder what his deal is as I honestly liked this one, or at least more than I expected. It cuts it close though.

Jason Lastname is going on vacation to Florida with his mom and brother Timmy, without his dad who is a scientist out in Alaska for 6 months drilling for oil. That sounds bad but it fits the angle this has. He's disappointed to see they are staying in the Everglades instead of someplace nicer. See, Mom is also a scientist (a botanist, we found Dr. Berwer's new friend) and wants to do some work. There's some sawgrass that has a chemical that could make a good fertilizer. If it's true, she can help farmers grow things faster and they'd get rich off that.

Soon after starting this, strange things start to happen and soon the plants start attacking. That's basically what we have here. Yep, much like Pool Ghoul we have an enviormental message. Lovely. To start with the negatives, Jason is annoying at the start, whining about not liking all this and just being a general nuisance.

Although he does get better, as he starts to get some badass moments and tries hard to protect his little brother despite how he can be. Hey, a decent sibling thing, don't mind seeing that. He's no Sam from Camp Massacre but he starts r0ugh. There's a few jokes that fail, like references to Wizard of Oz that are dumb.

It's on the nose about the environmental thing at first, it's slow to start, and it ends on a dumb joke just to match the dumb opening line. Also, there's a rather upsetting thing that happens which they just forget to address in the end. Let's say it's the obligatory shockingly dark Shivers moment, and it's something Stine would be proud of.

As for the writing, I can see ghostwritting as the more egregious flaws in the series, like the fake outs, are toned down a lot from the usual. The writing quality isn't great, due to some overuse over exclamation points and such, but it is a cut above the usual in places with decent descriptions of the location. it's also a bit high brow with a reference to William Blake of all things.

But on the other hand, it has a Native American legend in it, so MD had a hand in at least some of it.

I mostly liked this one for the danger. You'd think it would be lame given the set up but the plants do make for a good threat, doing a dark thing that raises the stakes. The way things escalate works and there's a solid amount of action once it gets started. There's also a few sobering moments I liked that made this feel a tad more real despite the silly idea and flaws.

I liked the mom, she's a rare decent parent being fairly smart, getting involved eventually, and mostly having nice moments with Jason. As for the environmental thing, it's basically just a backdrop, an excuse to get us into the evil plant stuff and it's not as annoying as it was in Pool Ghoul. There it was just weird and felt like a Captain Planet episode. This at least feels like a proper horror story.

And the person ruining the environment isn't the typical evil developer, but someone who is otherwise nice and isn't evil, eventually learning that doing this for money is bad. The resolution is abrupt but not terrible for what we have.

So overall, it balances out to be an enjoyable and better than expected experience. It starts slow but then gets int0 some solid action and darker stuff. It has annoyances but once it gets going they aren't bad as usual for these. I'm not sure if it goes into Decent or Good, it has less impressive elements than say Guess Who's Coming to Dinner but given I didn't expect much, it did offer more than expected. And this actually had an ending.

It's not perfect but for what I got, it was fun enough and is on the better end for the series. Given how Gnarly Book Reviews and even MD himself feels, I liked it well enough. And yes, much better as an environmental story than Pool Ghoul. Didn't expect to like it but there ya go.

Anyway, next time we're going back to Deadtime Stories. i'm picking that one myself because it's tied to next week's Animorphs and I wanna tie in. See ya then.

[Pulp_Fiction_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting here was fantastic, we're deep in the Everglades and you get a very humid, secluded feeling throughout. There's one shocking scene and it builds to a tense climax. There's also clearly a message in here about what we're doing to the environment and about accountability which was a nice touch. I enjoyed this but felt it was missing something to push it over the edge. Bizarrely the author kept sneaking in pre 1960 movie references which I can only imagine was to entertain themselves ('Wizard Of Oz' gets three references and 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof' and 'Some Like It Hot' also get dropped in, in a sneaky, fun way). 3.5 stars rounded down.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six volumes into this series, and I finally found an (arguable) gem. Taking a lot of familiar footsteps of The Werewolf Fever Swamp, this story quite slapped. The idea of living plants gets me quite a bit, and it was unrelenting in that regard. There’s plenty of action and stellar sequences, and it accumulates for a very fun time. The characters are well-written and have some great moments, there’s a really dark moment in here halfway through where someone may legitimately bite the dust, and the exposition here is some of the best I’ve seen from this series. It’s pretty much the same exposition in The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, but strives away hella past that point. The plot is engaging and there’s a lot of intrigue, and all-in-all, this was just a really solid piece of work. However, there’s some flaws, which I’ll barrel through. There’s some directional unclearness throughout the second half and it’s hard to tell where we’re trying to go, and truthfully, it didn’t do much apart from the advertised madness. There’s some light filler, though very good filler, and the death halfway through is brushed over so quickly it’s hard to believe. No mourning, no character effects—nothing. The ending is rushed hella (my biggest issue, honestly) and it was quite abrupt. Also, there’s a message—unsurprisingly about environmentalism—that feels really hammered in at the end, and it didn’t land well. With all these nitpicks in mind, the book being as fun as it is almost made up for it. Almost. Let alone, they’re not bothering me much—apart from the ending stuff. Overall, 8.5/10. I could easily bring it up to a nine one day, but for now, this is still the best Shivers book that I’ve read, but that’s hopefully bound to change. Someone ring the Lorax.

[Bryan Robertson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was proctoring the NY State Mathematics Examinations today in 4th grade (they neglected to tell me beforehand so I forgot my book at home). I decided to read this book off the shelf because it was about the Everglades (which I know a lot about). Man oh man is there a lot to pick a part of this temu goosebumps. First, the mom a botanist is married to a guy who drills oil in Alaska? Really does that make any sense? A botanist being in love with an oil fracker? Not to mention how this “botanist” wants to dredge sawgrass from the Everglades to “get rich”. Not to mention the extreme inaccuracies of the plant life, and only mentioning introduced species. Not to mention this botany professor pointed out a red mangrove in the middle of the glades (it’s literally a saltwater plant, existing on the edge of the glades.) Also the main character was a little baby, and there was NO suspense about anything. This book is an indoctrination to fear nature instead of supporting it. As someone who has depicted the Everglades in a fictional story, this read was embarrassing. To be honest I only got 60 pages in but it was getting worse and worse. DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS READ THIS.

[Carson hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Whiter Shade of Pale and Procol Harum? Made me wonder if this author was from the 70s!

[Chris Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5 stars. Not bad! My first foray into the "Shivers" series; this was somehow both more fake but also more real than Goosebumps... I couldn't get over, near the start of the book, the 12 year old boy talking about wanting bikini girls. In contrast Goosebumps books are relatively Puritan and sanitized.

At the start none of the characters were particularly likeable, which makes it harder to read. But there was some development and I didn't mind any of them as much near the end.

The setting of the remote Florida Everglades was interesting and I think well conveyed.

I guess this is pretty common in horror books but I felt like the best parts were in about the second quarter where interesting things are starting to happen but the mystery isn't out of the bag yet. The scene at night with a banging on the roof and a flashlight in the dark was genuinely creepy. The rest had a lot of action and it all moved pretty quickly.

I love the cover and title... The shade of green practically glows in the dark.

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read this book as a wee mite, I was enchanted by the everglades (absolutely did not want to go anywhere near them, though.) Forever after any story set is a bog, swamp, or mire climbed to the top of my list. During this re-read, I was still enchanted by the setting, the story a big rougher than I remember. The dog dies, if that's a deal breaker for you. Snakeye is downright creepy at his introduction, he was very aggressive and I was wracking my brain trying to remember if he was about to do something horrible that I had blocked out. This is not M. D. Spenser's best story, but it did hold better than my Goosebumps re-reads.

p.s. Mom was the villain, no true botanist would injure the everglades for profit.

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh... okay so I get that this is a Goosebumps knock off series. The first books of both had a mysterious new house and ghosts. Now book 2 has a scientist and killer plants.

I just couldn’t get behind this books story. It’s filled with wizard of oz jokes (bleh) and while the threat is always a threat, it’s just too stupid for my brain to imagine trees and shrubs just walking around. Plus the alligator attack? 😂😂😂

The whole book is a tale of being good to the environment and I just can’t fathom how or why their mom thought any of this would be a good idea and it all stops because she’s like oh ok I’m being bad so I’ll stop and the trees just walk away... 🙄

[Jess reads more · Rating 5 out of 5]

This creepy summer read about a boy who holidays in the tropics of Florida with his mum and young sister was well paced and a fun read!

The hot humid sun blares down on our main characters and you get the sense of isolation from the main character and setting. The plants start to come alive through legends and turn evil at the thought of damaging the delicate ecosystem of the Everglades.

A great summer creepy read!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a victim of time. It just doesn't stand up well, and some of the things that happen aren't the best to read, and would be potentially triggering as a kid reading it. But there's just a lot that wouldn't happen anymore so it reads as unbelievable as well. Like parents leaving a small kid in charge of their very young sibling in a hut with no power while they venture off all day in the Florida everglades alone on an airboat.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly enjoyable. A simple killer plant story that could've used some embellishment but overall I had fun with this one. It lacked a bit of the "bite" that the later Shivers books have but there is still a bit of grisliness here despite the goofy tone the early chunk of the book sets. I'm being generous with 4 stars but I honestly enjoyed this better than Ghost Writer. 3.5 stars rounded up.

[Micky Parise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Haven't read a juvenile mystery book in awhile. Very entertaining. Recommend.

[Daniel Livori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary

[Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book I've read in the series
Do not read! Bad book

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so rude!

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, we're just not going to mention the dead dog? Jesus.

There are some creepy elements in here that work but I was too distracted by the absent parents.

[David Bennett Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I can now say that I've read a children's horror book where the monster kills the family dog and its *not* a fake out.

[Melissa Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pet dog died 😥

[Sarah Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fine, but a lot of repetitive nature

[Hannnah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was a great book that kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to read on and on, as I kept reading i noticed a misspelled word in my book, I was supposed to be asleep at this time but I seemed to have been not able to stop reading the book maybe because it was a very mysterious book. I is a great book for booktalk, only some of you may know what this is, and it kept me on he edge of my seat and it was very interesting to read. I would recommend this book to people who like to read mystery books and thrillers.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a boy and his family. The go to the Flordia ever glades and the forest starts to attack them.

I LOVE Shivers books but this was probably my least favorite one. It started out good but then it kinda went downhill from there it got kind of boring but still kept you intrested enough to finish it.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Old Children's Book. Liked it as a kid, but haven't read it in years.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really cool. Reminded me a bit of R.L. Stine's Stay Out of the Basement. Would recommend for fans of that. And always be respectful towards plants.

[Lydia Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really scarey