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Night at the Museum #1

Night at the Museum: The Junior Novelization

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Here is a novelized version of the new hit comedy film released by Fox Studios in December ’06. It’s an expanded version of Milan Trenc’s picture storybook for children, The Night at the Museum, which was first published by Barron’s several seasons ago. On his very first night at work, the night guard at New York’s Museum of Natural History begins to see the museum’s exhibits come to life. He tells his son about the many strange things he sees each night. At first reluctant to believe his father’s fanciful tales, the son begins to see Dad in a new light when he, too, spends a night at the museum. He discovers that his father’s amazing world is real. The film’s unusual and entertaining story, starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Van Dyke, is faithfully recreated in this funny and fanciful novelization for young readers.

139 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

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349 people want to read

About the author

Leslie Goldman

55 books4 followers

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5 stars
120 (31%)
4 stars
108 (28%)
3 stars
104 (27%)
2 stars
38 (9%)
1 star
12 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
Profile Image for Linkchoo.
20 reviews1 follower
February 7, 2020
This was lame. I loved every second of it. Don't judge I'm only human.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
239 reviews4 followers
June 25, 2013
Loved the movie. My boys love the movie. The 7-year-old made me read this to him. Ugh. The movie was SO much better.
10 reviews
March 4, 2014
I recently read Night at the Museum by Leslie Goldman.The way I think of this book is that this is a decent one to read because it is creative and it is easy to understand what is happening in this story. I feel that this book is a good one to read because you can learn what is in a museum and learn about what's in there.

The setting takes place in a Natural History Museum in New York and there is a grown up man named Larry that works there as a security guard and at night all the props that are in the museum come to life which is creative to write about. Larry is a single man that had no job until now. The conflict to this story is when Larry’s relatives come to the museum during the night time and somehow they turned bad and took over him and the museum.

This book is a good one because it is creative and it is good to read so you can see what is in a Natural History Museum.I can feel the resolution is when Larry fixed up the Museum at the end when there was a disaster with his family relatives.

I would recommend this book to people who love natural history museum's and dramatize books and Movies like this one. My favorite part of the book was when Larry first found out that at night all the materials in the museum come to life.
15 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2012
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 139 pages

Brief summery: Night At The Museum is about a guy named Larry who got a job as a night guard at a museum. He goes to the job interview and he got the job. He doesn't really stay at jobs for to long because he gets fired a lot. So when he went to his job at night the museum come to life. He knows nobody will believe him and they didn't but he knew that it did. Later in the story if you read it you will see deferent things Larry does to keep it under control.

What i like/dislike about this book: I like this book because I thought it was cool that the museum came to life at night also I thought it was cool what Larry does to keep the museum under control. Overall, it was a good book.
2 reviews
March 13, 2015
I think this book is interesting and the plot is wonderful. I like the main character Larry very much because he won't give up when he was facing difficulties, and he have a high responsibility to take care of the artifacts. I highly recommend this book to my family and friends because I'm sure they can have fun while reading this book.
4 reviews1 follower
March 13, 2015
I think it is too difficult for me to read as it is too boring for me.
This book has many words that I do not know , so I am not very enjoy to read .
But , if you want to improve your English , you can read this book .
1 review1 follower
March 13, 2015
I think this book is interesting and the plot is amazing.I would like to recommend this book to my friends.
Profile Image for MinJi.
57 reviews
August 7, 2018
It’s really cute and brilliant idea that many museum exhibits become alive at night. Also, it was fun to follow Larry’s narration.

The movie is better because the story seems more vivid when it’s visualized, but it’s an interesting story. I love the imagination that old things get lives back at night in the museum. Especially, when the museum is one of my favorite places in NYC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Lady Earth.
269 reviews9 followers
February 8, 2023
Igazi meseregény: egy apa harca a fiának a megbecsüléséért – és hogy végre rendes munkát találjon magának. Ám a varázslatos múzeum éjszakai történései egybekovácsolják őket, és Larryból is embert faragnak a múzeum lakói sőt még a gonosz öregfiúk egyletét is legyőzik. Rövid, szórakoztató kisregény és aranyos mint a belőle készült film.
Profile Image for Lucy.
805 reviews31 followers
April 11, 2018
I found this on a list for "I only watched the movie" - Unfortunately I failed to realise that this book was brought out after the film so I didn't really get any secret or missed scenes, it was exactly the same as the film.
Profile Image for Eowyn .
54 reviews1 follower
December 12, 2023
The movie is such a comfort movie to me ever since I was a child. Book does the same job, and even gives a little more information on the characters and setting. Loved this as a kid, love it now.
I also 100% had a crush on Ahkmenrah (played by Rami Malek) at one point. Still a cutie.
Profile Image for WhatShouldIRead.
1,551 reviews23 followers
December 23, 2024
Though I've seen the movie I've forgotten some of the instances that happened. This book seemed to follow it pretty closely though I have to say that Larry seemed like a real jerk at the beginning of the story. Still, it was fun enough to spend a few hours with.
Profile Image for ForgetMeNot.
86 reviews
June 26, 2025
This book is almost identical to the movie but with less dialog between characters. If you haven't seen the movie, it would be nice to read first to see if you like it but other than that, I would recommend the movie over the book & as a bookworm, that feels wrong to say.
Profile Image for Jon Crane.
3 reviews1 follower
July 19, 2017
it was cool how all the statues came to life
Profile Image for Desi.
26 reviews
September 4, 2017
As far as I know, the book was written after the movie was made. I've always enjoyed the movie, so it was only natural to enjoy the book as well.
3 reviews
Read
March 4, 2020
interesting. I feel fresh because I have already seen in the move.
1 review
June 26, 2022
I read the book and watched the movie, and they are both SO GOOD!!! I recommend this to Every. Single. Person. In. The. Universe. It's that good.
Profile Image for Katiem.
101 reviews12 followers
August 10, 2022
For a Junior Novelization this book sure does start at a plodding pace. We almost gave up, but we kept with it and it did pick up somewhat. Not a favorite, but not the worst thing I read this year.
Profile Image for Julia.
30 reviews
September 8, 2023
Yes, I’m counting this towards my yearly reading goal. And yes, it’s one of the better film-to-book adaptations I’ve read (though the bar is LOW for that).

(Read this book via the Internet Archive)
1,165 reviews5 followers
December 24, 2023
This is my favourite movie. This book was great. It didn't add anything... but it also didn't remove anything vital from the story. It was short and sweet and I loved it.
Profile Image for Allie.
170 reviews8 followers
January 23, 2025
Not entirely accurate to the movie, and I wish it had been, but it was still really good!!!
58 reviews
August 30, 2025
Kocham film. Jednak pomimo to nie rozumiem, dlaczego powstała książka. Jakby odebrano filmowi całą magię.
Profile Image for scl.ashx.
463 reviews329 followers
January 3, 2025
Larry’s misadventures as the clueless night guard are amusing, but they lack the charm Ben Stiller brought to the role. Honestly, if you’ve seen the movie, you’re not missing much here.
10 reviews
Read
June 6, 2014
I recently read, Night at the Museum by Leslie Goldman. The book takes places in at New York’s Museum of Natural History. The main character Larry. Larry is the one who watches over the Museum at night. Some of the other supporting characters are Nicky Daley, Larry's son, Dr. McPhee, Larry's boss, Jedediah, Octavius, Cecil Fredericks, and Theodore Roosevelt.

In this book there are a couple of problem one of the first problems are that Larry can’t get a jobs and he is about to lose his house because he can’t pay his rent , then the other problem was that all Museum displays ran out of the museum and made some evidence that the they came out the museum.

I would recommend it to kids that are 1st to 6th grade because it’s not a very realistic book. On a scale to one ten I would give this book a 6 because it’s not a book that gets you hooked from the very beginning. All in all the book was good for if one need a book to get out of the way.
Profile Image for Hailey Story.
61 reviews4 followers
December 13, 2013
The theme of this book would be survival. When Larry is working his night shift and has to run away from a dinosaur he has to survive that until he realizes the dinosaur didn't want to do anything mean to him. When Larry gets tied down by the little guys he has to try and figure out how to escape them. This book shows that even though most of the things are dead or plastic in the museum that doesn't mean you still cant use your imagination. The dinosaur can be a symbol in this book showing Larry that he needs to focus on his son, Nick and start to care about him more. This is a good book to read if your into crazy stuff like this and what might happen at a museum when your not there...
Profile Image for Michelina.
39 reviews1 follower
January 6, 2015
I liked this a lot and it was easy to imagine were they were since I have ben to the museum of Natural History. It is about a a guy named Larry who gets a job at the museum as a night watch man. He finds out on his first night that every thing in the museum comes to life at night. Larry's job is to keep every thing inside. Larry finds out that the other night watch men are moving to Florida for retirement. One night when Larry brings his son Nick to work he hears a noise coming from the loading dock and sees the other watch men were taking the tablet witch brings life to everything in the museum. In the end every thing in the museum sides together to stop the crooks.
1 review
March 13, 2015
I think this book is very interesting.It have a lot of Funny plot that make me laugh so much.My favourite character in this book is the easter island statue because it is very funny it ask larry to give him chewing gum by saying'Dum Dum give me Gum Gum'it made me laugh so hard.I highly recommend this book to people of a ages especialy Family with Kids because this book can improve thier family relationship by reading the story and laughing together.
Profile Image for Yordan Dimov.
75 reviews8 followers
February 5, 2017
Лека и приятна за четене романизация на първоизточника и от 1993г. Не е кой знае какъв шедьовър в широк обем, но е подходящо за разпускане и за четене на децата преди заспиване. Има поучителна частица, а могат да се научат интересни неща от историята през различните епохи и управления. Но като оценка толкова й стига. За тези които решат да й отделят време и да я издирят, че изданието е от 2007г. и на ново трудно да се намери - весело музейно приключение!
3 reviews
March 19, 2015
I think it is interesting and funny,because it have some part are quite fun,it can learn more about history and some things it can move and talk with the main charater.I also think this book have some sad moment,it is the monkey man go out to the museum and reurn to dust, i think it is the sadness part in this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews

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