What do you think?
Rate this book
Stranger Things Junior Novelizations #4
Stranger Things, Season Four: The Junior Novelization
This expanded junior novelization retells the fourth season of Netflix’s iconic series Stranger Things—and includes 8 pages of full-color images from the show!
It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down. This 320-page junior novelization retells the thrilling fourth season of Stranger Things and includes eight pages of full-color images from the show.
Welcome to the world of Netflix's hit series Stranger Things. Follow Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, and their friends for mystery, suspense, and adventures in 1980s Hawkins.
It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down. This 320-page junior novelization retells the thrilling fourth season of Stranger Things and includes eight pages of full-color images from the show.
Welcome to the world of Netflix's hit series Stranger Things. Follow Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Max, and their friends for mystery, suspense, and adventures in 1980s Hawkins.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 14, 2026
About the author
Matthew J. Gilbert
90 books31 followersRecently named a New York Times Bestselling Author, Matthew J. Gilbert has written several licensed books for some of the world’s biggest franchises, including Stranger Things, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Some of his most notable titles are: the best-selling Little Golden Book, “I Am Jack Skellington,” “Hawkins Horrors: A Collection of Terrifying Tales,” and the official junior novelizations for Netflix's Stranger Things. He is also the co-author of the popular “Classroom 13” chapter book series. In addition to his author life, he’s a former Nickelodeon staff writer, an amateur screenwriter, and a poet when the mood strikes him. He currently lives in far-too-sunny California with his wife, and his loyal cat sidekick, Pepe.
You can follow him on Instagram at @mattgilbertwrites and find him on YouTube as well.
Some of his most notable titles are: the best-selling Little Golden Book, “I Am Jack Skellington,” “Hawkins Horrors: A Collection of Terrifying Tales,” and the official junior novelizations for Netflix's Stranger Things. He is also the co-author of the popular “Classroom 13” chapter book series. In addition to his author life, he’s a former Nickelodeon staff writer, an amateur screenwriter, and a poet when the mood strikes him. He currently lives in far-too-sunny California with his wife, and his loyal cat sidekick, Pepe.
You can follow him on Instagram at @mattgilbertwrites and find him on YouTube as well.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
September 12, 2026I’ve been withholding my thoughts on these novelizations until the very end, but I felt the need to comment on this one. I know it’s a lot to pack an entire season of a show into these short chapter books and then adapt them for younger readers. It’s certainly no small feat. As a result, it’s led to certain scenes from the show either being cut down or just being completely cut altogether. So there might be certain lines here and there or “big” scenes from the show not quite hitting the same when reading these novelizations.
I would argue that, so far, this book in particular suffers the most from that. Again, I get that this season was jam-packed, so it couldn’t have been easy trying to squeeze everything into a short chapter book. But at a certain point, the story and pacing reeeeally start to suffer when you try to condense everything. Specifically, the Russian subplot. I almost wonder whether they should’ve just cut it out altogether and wrote around it, for how little it’s even touched on. Compared to every other arc that gets the proper story time and detail, the Russian subplot is basically reduced to a drive by info-dump that reads like, “Oh yeah, so Hopper’s alive and being held in a Russian prison. Then Joyce and Murray come to save him and then at some point they have to fight a Demogorgon and then it’s time for them to return to Hawkins. The end!”
I’m only slightly exaggerating.
I honestly feel bad for younger readers, because I feel like they’re just going to be SO lost and have tons of questions. Or who will ask their poor parents who are reading to them and they’ll either be totally confused or, if they’ve watched the show, have to try to fill in the gaps on their own. I mean, ideally the point of these books is to introduce the world of stranger things to younger readers who maybe aren’t of age to watch the show on their own. So most likely they aren’t watching the show to be able to reference back to it. It’s literally this book’s job to paint the picture for them and to be able to tell that part of the story. And if the reader can’t understand what’s going on from the book alone? Then the book has failed them. Hell, I’ve watched the show—and thank god I did because I don’t even know if I would’ve understood what was fully happening just from the book alone.
And this is unfortunately what happens when you cut corners. When you try to condense a story of this caliber for young readers. At a certain point, it’s going to make the story suffer and so many things just aren’t going to make sense. I actually wish this series of books would’ve been adapted for a slightly older age group—like maybe middle grade or young adult. That would make more sense and allow for a better adaptation that would actually do the original story justice while fixing some of the issues that this novelization occasionally runs into.
I would argue that, so far, this book in particular suffers the most from that. Again, I get that this season was jam-packed, so it couldn’t have been easy trying to squeeze everything into a short chapter book. But at a certain point, the story and pacing reeeeally start to suffer when you try to condense everything. Specifically, the Russian subplot. I almost wonder whether they should’ve just cut it out altogether and wrote around it, for how little it’s even touched on. Compared to every other arc that gets the proper story time and detail, the Russian subplot is basically reduced to a drive by info-dump that reads like, “Oh yeah, so Hopper’s alive and being held in a Russian prison. Then Joyce and Murray come to save him and then at some point they have to fight a Demogorgon and then it’s time for them to return to Hawkins. The end!”
I’m only slightly exaggerating.
I honestly feel bad for younger readers, because I feel like they’re just going to be SO lost and have tons of questions. Or who will ask their poor parents who are reading to them and they’ll either be totally confused or, if they’ve watched the show, have to try to fill in the gaps on their own. I mean, ideally the point of these books is to introduce the world of stranger things to younger readers who maybe aren’t of age to watch the show on their own. So most likely they aren’t watching the show to be able to reference back to it. It’s literally this book’s job to paint the picture for them and to be able to tell that part of the story. And if the reader can’t understand what’s going on from the book alone? Then the book has failed them. Hell, I’ve watched the show—and thank god I did because I don’t even know if I would’ve understood what was fully happening just from the book alone.
And this is unfortunately what happens when you cut corners. When you try to condense a story of this caliber for young readers. At a certain point, it’s going to make the story suffer and so many things just aren’t going to make sense. I actually wish this series of books would’ve been adapted for a slightly older age group—like maybe middle grade or young adult. That would make more sense and allow for a better adaptation that would actually do the original story justice while fixing some of the issues that this novelization occasionally runs into.
July 28, 2026
catch me weeping actual tears about eddie munson yet again
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews