It Came from Beneath the Sink!

Goosebumps #30

by R.L. Stine

THEIR LUCK'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN THE DRAIN...

Kat and her brother, Daniel, are so lucky. They just moved to a new house with tons of rooms, two balconies, and a lawn the size of a football field!
But all that good luck is about to run out.
Because there's something really evil living in their new house.
Something that's moving. Watching. Waiting.
Something that comes from beneath the kitchen sink....

Genres: Horror, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery

132 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was great! One of the first ones I read, and re-read several times. Perfectly creepy and definitely had me double-checking all the cupboards in the house for a little while.

Definitely one of the better books of the series.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was better than it had any right to be, being about an evil kitchen sponge as it is, but it still wasn't very good. I did enjoy the parts of the story where the kids are reading books on mythology and discover the sponge may be an evil mythological entity that causes bad luck though. And there's a mini shock reveal at the end involving a potato that I also enjoyed. Overall though, this is a pretty "meh" original series Goosebumps book, in my opinion.

2.5 stars

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

#30 "It's warm! It's breathing! And it doesn't do dishes!"
Something is lurking under the sink in Kat's new house. Something her nightmares are made of. Something dark and scary... What can it be?

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

And it made me wish that I had never opened that cabinet, never reached under the sink, and never found the spongy... thing.

Because now it was too late.

Too late for us all.

This book is severely creepy. I was creeped out by it as a child and I still am upon this re-reading.

Kat and her little brother Daniel move to a new house. There, they discover something under the kitchen sink. Something that looks like an old, dry brown sponge. But they soon notice that it is warm. And pulsing. And has beady little eyes. And people start getting hurt - their dad falls off a ladder, Daniel's friend steps on a nail, etc.

It turns out that the sponge is a Grool - a bad luck charm that brings pain and misery to whoever "owns" it. However, you cannot give away the Grool (or throw it away) or you will die in 24 hours. And even though they try their hardest to destroy it (running over it with their bikes, throwing it in the garbage disposal, burying it in the backyard) the Grool always snaps back. Can they ever get this evil thing out of their lives?
...

Dark, creepy, sinister - this is one of the scarier Goosebumps novels (even though the premise sounds ridiculous). I would put it right up there with the Living Dummy Subset in scariness levels.

P.S. The dog, a cocker spaniel, is named Killer.

P.P.S. R.L. Stine is always creating kids with unique and adult tastes. Here, we have Kat, who likes lasagna, really sour garlic pickles, and mocha-chip ice cream.

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 2 out of 5]

A creepy children’s horror story about something evil lurking under the sink. One of the scarier stories from this series that I’ve read.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another Goosebumps book that was released in the U.K. around the same time as the TV episode, I always instantly think of that version first.

It’s a fun playful entry in this series, you can tell Stine loves he’s 1950’s ‘B Movies’.
Surprisingly a story about an evil sponge like ‘Grool’ is highly entertaining. Feeding from people’s bad luck is such a great concept.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

The hottest of hot garbage.

I read this for our podcast Teenage Scream, which dissects the best (and worst) of 90s Teen Horror.

https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was great! Loved how the tension was build. The story was at times creepy and I wondered how it would end. Good read.

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent a month re-reading all 62 original Goosebumps books to see if they still hold up today, you can check out my 3.5 hour vlog here: https://youtu.be/2C73xc1FS5o

You can also check out my entire ranking of the original Goosebumps books from worst to best here: https://youtu.be/lBfaxCOwAnA

[Lotta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Siis apua. Tässä tarinassa on pesusieni, joka löytyy päähenkilön uuden talon tiskikaapista. Sieni ei ole kuitenkaan mitenkään tavallinen, vaan se hengittää ja sillä on silmät???? Tän jälkeen alkaa tapahtua kaikkea epäonnista ja päähenkilön kirjastosta lainaamassa kirjassa kerrotaan sienen aiheuttavan kaiken epäonnen ja lopulta omistajan kuoleman??

Rippistä. Tän takia en tiskaa.

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 3 out of 5]

Η ιστορία αυτή νομίζω πως περισσότερο από οποιονδήποτε άλλο, μπορεί να τρομάξει τις μαμάδες μας. Κάπου βαθιά μέσα τους, είμαι βέβαιη πως τις τρομοκρατεί η ιδέα του τι κρύβουν οι σωληνώσεις των σπιτιών μας. Πέραν της πλάκας, το βιβλίο αυτό ισορροπεί αρκετά καλά ανάμεσα στην κωμική και την τρομακτική πλευρά του, προσφέροντάς μας μια ευχάριστη αναγνωστική εμπειρία, άσχετα από το ότι δεν μπορεί να μείνει αλησμόνητη. Ο λόγος που ίσως να έχει συντηρηθεί όλα αυτά τα χρόνια στη μνήμη μου, να είναι η τηλεοπτική του μεταφορά που ήταν όντως απολαυστική.

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE when the endings of one these books totally flips everything and leaves you searching for a sequel further down the series! Fun book that reminded me of being a kid and overcoming what my parents and other adults couldn't see or believe. 4 stars!

[Goodreeds User · Rating 3 out of 5]

the monster is a sponge.... what the fuck?

[Martha Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Que estrés con este libro, pero estrés del bueno porque no sabía como iban a salir del problema los hermanos protagonistas. Me ha gustado, aunque el final me dejo un poquito preocupada.

Especial Spooky 2022 11/14

[Shruti (Hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your mother's worst nightmare, a disorderly under-the-sink-space. Just kidding, I really don't remember anything from this book but the cover looks promising!
A reluctant 4 out of 5 whatevers.

[Shadyside Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was awfully silly I must say. Usually I enjoy that but this one lacked a good plot. I felt like we were chasing a demon sponge around the whole time lol.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A evil sponge? Well this is what this story is about. It is about a sponge that is found in the sink of the house. What this sponge does is that it causes bad luck for anyone that has possession of it. The owner of the sponge cant throw it out or else she will die in a day. This sponge laughs as the owner gets all these curses and things coming their way.

Eventually the sponge dies when you reverse the effect. If you can't kill it by hatred why not make the sponge not like you anymore. So Kat the main character gives love to the sponge and eventually it dies and changes color. All the other bad things that happen eventually reverses and everything is back to normal.

What I like about this book is that it is very creative. At first from looking at the cover I thought the book was really about something like the bogeyman. It ends up to be a evil sponge that has a lust for evil. I recommend this book for anyone that likes horror books. It is very suspenseful and short to read. It makes the book fun and enjoyable. Also the book has a really good hook to get you in and also the goosebumps series are also really good overall!

[David Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

The evil version of Spongebob SquarePants! The cover is misleading, you think there's a real monster, but its actually just a sponge. When the sponge was first introduced into the book, I thought it was dumb..and I still do, but I enjoyed it, if that makes sense. RL does a great job in making the sponge entertaining. The book was told through female first person. As you know I love so I got through the book rather quickly. The "curse" was consistent. Everyone that touched the sponge got hurt in some way, which also made the book entertaining, looking forward to see how people would get hurt and it started early in the book. Unlike most Goosebumps books, the excitement doesn't begin in chapter 15 or 20. In this book it began I believe right in Chapter 2 Very fun good book.

[Kadi P · Rating 3 out of 5]

A super quick installation in the never-ending Goosebumps series. It wasn’t particularly well-crafted or even very scary; the protagonist was average and the plot was middling.

Thankfully, the ending wasn’t terribly rushed, but the ‘kill-‘em-with-kindness’ conclusion felt like too easy a win.

If anything, I didn’t go into this with high expectations considering it is Goosebumps. But even within the world of Goosebumps this was a massively tame horror book. And if it doesn’t succeed at scaring you, is there really any point in reading this one?

[Mika (Hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might be one of the worst books I read from Goosebumps. Don't get me wrong; I love the Goosebumps series, but this book wasn't for me. I was put of from the dogs name (killer, who would name their dog like this?) and the ending. Imagine not being able to eliminate the evil so you start being kind to it and plop it's gone. What. The whole plot just felt trashy. Huge disappointment, but perhaps the next book will be better.

[Aily · Rating 4 out of 5]

ho finito di leggere questo libro proprio ieri ma sto pubblicando oggi la recensione perché questi sono stati giorni pieni di febbre e influenza per me e onestamente sto respirando da entrambe le narici solamente adesso lmao.
tornando a noi.. è il primo libro che sono riuscita a leggere in questo 2025 e me lo stavo portando dietro da un po', devo ammetterlo. però è stato bello, particolare!
innanzitutto non lo avevo mai letto e durante la mia infanzia ho letto quasi tutti i piccoli brividi quindi è una bella novità; secondo di tutto, è stato davvero carino. avvincente e simpatico, forse con un paio di buchi di trama, ma è stato bello leggerlo fino alla fine e scoprire quale sarebbe stato il plot twist che caratterizza questi libriccini. spero di riuscire a collezionarli tutti e a realizzare uno dei tanti sogni della me piccolina✨️ ci vediamo al prossimo libro (sempre che io riesca a leggerne altri - si spera)

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurd, hilarious and in the same time quite creepy! Another five star hit by R.L. Stine. Read the review in Bulgarian here:
http://citadelata.com/%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D...

[ally anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh🤨
this is definitely something that would prevent me from going to sleep if i was 6 BUT… i know it’s intended for a younger audience so i’m not the one to judge🤘🏻

[Ayu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Act 3.5/5⭐

Review lengkap akan aku up di akun bookstagramku @booksfairy__

[Delaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I'm way to0 old for this book, but it felt dumb for even kids

[Isabella Nitti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bellissimo, ma come mai si trovano il Lanx?

[kinsley]

bro this is the most slept on goosebumps book… the grool?!?! the ending?!?? slaps

[Luke F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read the book Goosebumps: It Came From Beneath the Sink by: R.L. Stine. I thought it was a very good book because it was suspenseful and it always kept me guessing. It was suspenseful because when they lost the grule (the thing that came from beneath the sink) the encyclopedia about it says that if the grule is given away or lost the owner of the grule will die within a day. It kept me guessing because before they knew what the thing that came from beneath the sink was they were trying to figure out what it was and there's all sorts of possibilities so I was constantly guessing what it was. My favorite part of the book was when they finally figure out what the thing that came from beneath the sink was because that's when things really bad start happening like when they lose the grule and their dog goes missing. I think R.L. Stine did a great job writing this book because he describes thing s very well like how he describes how their new house is big and how all the balconies are right next to each other. The genre of this book is science-fiction/horror/thriller. I would give this book 5 stars and would recommend this book to everyone.

[Sharise Love]

OMG it sent shivers up my spine! I wasn't able to hold sponges after a while and didn't trust spongebob for a while either...LOL

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright, definatly kept me away from beneath the sink for a while... lol