The New Girl

Fear Street #1

by R.L. Stine

The new girl is as pale as a ghost, blond, and eerily beautiful -- and she seems to need him as much as he wants her. Cory Brooks hungers for Anna Corwin's kisses, drowns in her light blue eyes. He can't get her out of his mind. He has been losing sleep, ditching his friends...and everyone has noticed.

Then as suddenly as she came to Shadyside High, Anna disappears. To find a cure for his obsession, Cory must go to Anna's house on Fear Street -- no matter what the consequences.

Anna may be the love of his life ... but finding out her secret might mean his death.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Childrens, Romance

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1989

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

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ * · Rating 2 out of 5]

no because what did i just read??? Cory was literally obsessed with Anna without ever having seen her before or knowing her name then like 3 days later he was saying he was in love with her? he was SUCH a creep at that ending? terrible, worst plot twist i ever read man

[Cecilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your boy is dumb and thirsty.

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my video where I read the first four Fear Street books and watch the Fear Street Trilogy on Netflix for the first time: https://youtu.be/24ilJNMauMU

I was not a big fan of the first Fear Street book, but I think I was entertained enough to give this one 3 stars. The twist was good but parts of it didn't make sense (the newspaper anyone?), and I just didn't really like any of the characters. Cory was incredibly weird and stalker-ish, which made him a hard protagonist to follow.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

De los primeros libros de la calle del terror que llegó a mí. La historia me llamó la atención bastante, con eso de que en la sinopsis te decían que la chica estaba muerta, ¿ como resistirse a una historia así?
Un chico que se enamora al ver a una muchacha sencilla y que nadie más parece ver, a partir de ahí hace lo imposible por dar con ella y eso lo lleva al extremo de ponerse a buscar en los registros telefónicos e incluso caminar entre las calles para ver si sale de alguna casa.
Un poco intenso este muchacho, pero la verdad detrás de alguien que pasa más desapercibido que un fantasma es un misterio al que no podría decirle que no.

[Obsidian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I at one point owned about every Fear Street book by R.L. Stine when I was a teen. I even had those special edition ones too. I don't even remember this first book and the title kept throwing me off (it's bad, no?) and at least this was short though (180 pages) so there's a reason the plot and character development was so bad.

Everyone in the town of Shadyside knows about Fear Street. A mad millionaire named Simon Fear once lived there and his burned out mansion is all that is left of him and his legacy (or is it???) there are always strange happenings on Fear Street which you would think have people avoiding it more.

"The New Girl" follows Cory Brooks. He's a high school gymnast who falls in love at first sight when he sees a new girl at his school named Anna Corwin. Cory tries to find out all he can about Anna, but when he finally gets her number and calls her home, someone tells him that Anna is dead. But if Anna is dead, who is the girl at the school who Cory finds himself thinking about all the time.

Well this book is honestly a mess. Cory is oblivious to everything around him. At least though when he starts to realize that things with Anna look hinky he tries to get the heck out of there as quickly as he can. I also applaud Stine for having more than three people in his books too. Cory has other friends he talks to as well as his friends and a mysterious stranger he keeps meeting on Fear Street.

My big issue though is 180 pages is way too short to develop a really good story. The whole book makes no sense when you get to the ending. And heck with the prologue, Stine already clues you into the so-called big reveal so I was not surprised when we get to it.

Stine does a good job though with description of people and places. He made Fear Street delightfully creepy.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volver a leer estos libros más de 10 años después de haberlo hecho por primera vez ha sido una gran decisión. Esta historia me enganchó desde el principio y, aunque el resultado es bastante predecible, no deja de ser divertido ver a Cory adivinar si la guapísima Anna es un fantasma, o qué oscuro secreto esconde esa rubia que le ha hecho perder la cabeza. La mejor parte es la descripción de la Calle del Terror: una misteriosa calle en el pueblo de Shadyside en donde ocurren un montón de suscesos siniestros y en donde se encuentra la mansión en ruinas del misterioso Simon Fear. ¡Sigue mi maratón de lectura de toda esta serie!

[DeTerrius Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm Back In Love

It's been some years since I have read the "Fear Street" series. I used to read them every chance I get, with every book that I could get my hands on. You couldn't pay me to put the books down. Everywhere I went, the books followed. Lately (I'm 23 now), I've been having the urge to re-read the series and also read the books I never got a chance to, and I'm glad I did. My love for this best-selling series have rekindled. This book started off slow, but when it picked up, it didn't let me go. Some things didn't have the effect that it could have on me if I was younger, but I was hurriedly flipping the pages to see how it would end, and I didn't expect the twist that I was given. I enjoyed it.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly suspenseful and entertaining, "The New Girl", R.L. Stine's first book in his '80s series for teens, Fear Street, is the story of a horny high school boy who falls in love (lust) with a girl who may or may not be a ghost. Whatever. As long as she puts out, he's happy. Until her brother shows up...

Stine apparently wrote this series before he started writing his more-popular and best-selling series for middle readers Goosebumps. Nobody could accuse Stine of being a stellar wordsmith, but he told creepy stories that kids of all ages absolutely loved.


Jack Black, as R.L. Stine, in the 2015 movie "Goosebumps"

There's a Netflix TV show based on Fear Street. I have not watched it yet. *

* 7/8/2025 addendum: I've since watched one of the four Fear Street movies, and I enjoyed it a lot. While not based on any particular Stine book, the movie definitely captures the creepy and fun vibes of Stine's novels. Word of warning: the films are not intended for children under the age of 13. Of course, for that matter, neither are the books...

[Roxie Voorhees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture it. Central California. Summer 1990.
Me, sitting by the 8 ft. kiddie pool, nose in book, bendy straw in kool-aid. Full of suspense and teenage romance, I read every Fear Street book I could get my hand on for three years! (Shout out to Tulare County Library) I, like many pre-teens, was so ready to hurry and grow up. Little did we know how overrated adulting actually is.

In this first installment of the Fear Street series, we are introduced to Cory, the star high school gymnast, and Anna, a "dead" girl. Like the description says, she's beautiful and constantly disappearing. Cory uses 411 to obtain her phone number and address. (The things you could get away with in the 80s!) Not at all being stalkerish, Cory drives over at 10 pm ("still early" according to Cory) and finds her crazy brother who says Anna is dead.

We are exposed to Stine's cliffhanger chapter ending expertise as this page turner unfolds. Anna and her crazy brother are not the only weird and unexplainable mysteries happening on Fear Street. By the end, Cory and his BFF corner Anna and figure out the truth; that some monsters are human. One thing is clear, this is not the last strange thing to happen on Fear Street.

Obviously, this series is meant for younger readers. The writing is solid even as its on the simple side. The teenage romance is limited to kissing, which I prefer. (I don't want to read about kids having sex ok) Since it was written in 1989, not one person carried a cell phone (could have helped a lot!) And Cory actually uses a ditto machine. Like dye your hands purple, ditto machine!

⭐⭐⭐ for being entertaining
.5 🌟 for Stine's ability to keep me hooked
.25 🌟 for the nostalgia felt while reading

Total: 3.75 🌟 rounded up!

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ Rounded down.
I used to love the Fear Street books as a kid.
It was the first big ass series I ever read.
Sadly these books are not as engrossing for me as an adult as they were for me at 9 years old.
I have a couple more in the home library that I will give a go to and see if this was a one off.

[Cameron Chaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for the first book in one of my favorite series. It's a solid start, but the books get better as they go. For my full review, check out my Fear Street reading vlog!

[julia ☆ [owls reads] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Girl was a pretty fun read, personally, but I do gotta agree with Lisa that Anna-obsessed Cory was annoying as heck.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I read the kindle version, I just like this cover better ... but I didn't like that they modernized some stuff. One guy has an iPod and then at the dance they're playing Kanye - that's no fun - especially when the dialogue is super '80s-sounding. And one of the girls talks about going to the video store and renting The Lord of the Rings, and they also have landline phones ... it's a weird mish-mash of old and new that they really shouldn't have bothered messing with. Just keep the original text.

It's possible I did read this back in the day though because I knew exactly where this was going, and a few parts felt really familiar. Or maybe it just wasn't the most clever mystery and was easy to solve. But wow, Cory sure is an airhead. Just completely oblivious and ... dumb. Not a great main character at all.

The whole premise behind this story was not that good or exciting and the writing was honestly sub-par, but this was the first in the Fear Street series so I'm confident his books get better and I'm not that worried about continuing on my nostalgia trip.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about a boy named Cory, who lives in Shadyside and goes to Shadyside High. He sees a pretty girl, who's as pale as a ghost, named Anna. He is soon attracted to her and wants her. As soon as he meets her, Anna disappears. The only thing Cory knows about Anna is that she lives on Fear Street, a street that's spooky and a little haunted. After her disapperance, Cory channges because he could not stop thinking about her, losing a lot of sleep, and leaving his friends to look for her. He becomes determined to find her and find out what happened to her and her secret. I thought that this book was overall good because it kept me wanting to find out what is happening to Anna. I enjoyed reading it and I think that these Fear Street books are interesting because they keep readers on the edge and I felt that it was one of those page-turners. I would recommend this book or series to anyone who likes R. L. Stine or likes to read mystery books.

[Latasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Brad

I read these books when I was a preteen & early teenage years. I decided to re-read the Fear Street series. Oh Brad. I hope you get smarter. I really do.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teen horror of the late 80s, featuring the greatest children's horror writer ever, RL Stine!

This wasn't bad. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I'd read it as a tween, but I was a wimp and not interested in the horror genre at all. Although...this isn't scary. It is fun, although I think what entertained me the most was the weird descriptions of Fear Street and the down of Shadyville that were highlighted in the ebook I borrowed from the library. I kept thinking, "why is this random passage being highlighted? Does it hold some higher meaning in the rest of the series?" Who knows, I'm not going to delve that deeply into Fear Street lore.

It probably would have been slightly more eerie if I didn't have Hairspray's "The New Girl in Town" stuck in my head on repeat while reading.

[Mehsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brand-new girl has arrived and Cory is totally head over heels when he sees her the first time.


I had to read a book for a challenge on my group and after some digging through the pages of my partner I stumbled upon this book. I was definitely interested as my mood at the moment is very much into horror/thriller. Plus, Fear Street! While it is a bit hit and miss at times I do love Shadyside and Fear Street.

Before I get what I did enjoy let’s start with what I didn’t to have that out of the way. I just wasn’t a fan of how Cory acted throughout the book. I know love makes blind and makes people do foolish things, but this was just beyond that. For quite a bit of the book I thought maybe Anna was a vampire or something (which wouldn’t be strange given she lives on Fear Street) because this just went beyond love. Cory makes mistakes, forgets about eating and how life works, ruins his gymnastics routines and his future (because I am sure he wants to continue this into college and sorry bro but then you need to pick up the slack), and he just heads out in the dead of night to go to Fear Street.
Plus, he was a dick towards his friends.

I could understand that due to this that he didn’t notice that Lisa, his best friend, was interested in it. But it did get, just like that part above, just silly with how oblivious he was. I AM pretty oblivious at times in these things so I recognised it, but I confess, but if someone shows that much interest in me, I can tell you I would know.

What I did like was how Stine wrote the mystery and what is up with Anna. I can tell you I had many theories on what could possible be happening, but I hadn’t expected that! I love it when a book can surprise me. Sometimes books are predictable, sometimes you can easily find the whodunnit, but in this one? You kept guessing and each time you thought you knew what was going on Stine would throw something in the way to make you second guess everything.

Anna? She was an interesting character and had me curious as to what was going on with her. At times it looked like she had split personalities. She would act sweet and demure and the next she would be mean and hurtful. It made her character much more interesting.

Later on the story gets in even more tension as Lisa is receiving threats and things are going wrong. I was definitely on the edge of my chair at those moments. I loved Lisa, I didn’t want her to die!

The ending was also pretty nicely done. It tied up everything nicely and it was very exciting (and the last pages very sweet).

All in all, I give it a 2.5 stars. It had good moments, but sadly Cory just wasn’t a MC I very much liked.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - 3.5 stars

The New Girl is the 1st book in the Fear Street series. It is a little fun, a tad creepy, with a little mystery and action. Loved it.

I am re-reading this series for nostalgic reasons.

This author was a staple in our house. My kids absolutely loved them, and to say I read these books with them once is an understatement. We read them many times as each of my three kids became old enough to read them. They still have them and are getting to read them with their kids.

[AFrolicInTheTomesXx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to start off by saying I really do love the fear street and goosebumps books, and all the other small series that go with them. However in my quest to reread them in order, it’s really not a surprise to find out that the very first of the series was not the best, and was actually kind of rough. I even remember never really liking this one too much growing up. If I had read just this one, I may have never continued with Stine! But I think I got a bunch for Christmas one year and continued them because I had them. I’m glad I did!

I also want to say this book is not the same as the first fear street movie. I see some people rating it badly because they’re trying to compare it with that. I even saw one person rate it badly because it doesn’t have lesbians lol. What? Yeah, while it’s not great… it definitely doesn’t deserve to be rated badly because of the movies. The movies are not based on the first 3 books! They’re different.

That being said I was kinda surprised to see how young and dumb the characters seemed, as fear street characters are actually supposed to be older than goosebumps characters. Our main Cory, was 16 in this. And even drove. But still had the mindset of a 10 year old. The plot is largely driven by him simply being stupid and instantly falling in love with a mysterious new girl…. For literally no reason. And when I mean in love I really mean obsessed. Which the obsession only gets worse when signs start to point to her being dead! Spooky right?

Except the prologue kinda gives away what’s probably going on in the beginning. So you’re left with no much to go on besides being annoyed by corys stupidity the entire time. The book does try to confuse you to keep some intrigue and mystery. It just isn’t complex enough to work.

Middle grade or not… I still would have thought the plot and cory were a special kind of dumb when I was younger (and I did).

The only interesting thing that happened in this book was the mysterious neighbor that lived near the “dead girl”, and his Doberman. We never get answers as to who they are and why they’re always snooping around. Maybe in another book? I don’t remember.

Def get hellhound vibes from the dog though.

Oh well… on to the next. I don’t fault this book, it just wasn’t for me. These books in general are a mixed bag.

[Hayli · Rating 1 out of 5]

The prologue spoils the conclusion. As intriguing as the prologue was, the rest of the book wasn’t nearly as exciting. This book is so extremely repetitive that you could read the first chapter and then skip to the last few and it would still make sense. There were times when crucial information is learned that the main character and author doesn’t bring up until the very end. This is the worst case of insta love I have ever read. The action was ridiculous and didn’t make sense and everything felt so sloppy. The dialogue was the absolute worst. There were so many uses of exclamation points! And he kept talking to himself! So there was a lot of telling and not showing. At one point towards the end, as the reader, I could gauge how one of the characters was feeling. Because the author made it quite obvious. But then the main character had to follow it up with him thinking to himself about the other character was feeling, as if we couldn’t tell for ourselves? It was all so sloppy. Also, the girl that Cory falls for is a pale, blue eyed, beautifully skinny girl. He constantly brings up her eyes and how beautiful she is and it is so annoyingly shallow.

I stuck with the book because, like I mentioned before, the prologue had promise and because of how quick of a read it was. I’m still thinking about picking up the next book, in the hopes that it’s better than this one.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to be honest and say that IF I ever read any of R.L. Stine books before, I don't remember them so I doubt I have. I needed a horror book and thought why not?

The story is really cute, although not to "complicated" and intricately woven for adults. But it's a fun and quick read and I can see why young people love his books. In this story, Cory is a teenager who eyes Anna and she piques his immediate interest. She's like an enigma to him. And there are reasons she is kind of a mystery to him because, of course, she has a secret. He becomes obsessed with her from the get-go and he eventually calls her house only to find some rather disturbing and weird news about her. More mystery...

There's also Lisa who is actually a pretty good find, if Cory would only notice her and pay her attention. She'd definitely be easier to catch as a girlfriend than Anna. It's kind of a love triangle. It's teenager-ish!

Overall the story was really cute, a bit predictable but I'm not so sure it would be for its intended audience. I thought the way the story unfolded and how the ending went was still crazy fun and even intense at times.

[Elizabeth Sagewood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve started re-reading fear street in publication order this year. Besides just the couple I read in 2020 and 2021, it’s been years since I read this series. Some of them I remember fondly but I can’t recall a lot of the specifics so I’m excited to dive back into the nostalgia!
The New Girl, the first in the series was an ok read with a satisfying twist at the end. I have to say though, in the grand scheme of things and knowing Stine’s writing quite well, this was far from being up there with the best in the series. 3.5/5 stars

[Andy Crow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cory's got a fixation that's bordering on obsession, and it's blinding him to everything else. The ending's practically telegraphed from the get-go, but the journey's so engrossing it makes for a perfect payoff. It's got romance, sensuality, and humor, all wrapped up in a delightfully creepy atmosphere. Screw the clichés... The Fear Street universe is my happy place.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have loved these when I was the target audience but its too late for me now, I fear. I missed out!

This is supposed to be the first book in the series but it was weird how we have random mentions of Fear Street and it's well-known history. Maybe it wasn't weird. It just gave me the sense that I had missed previous stories even though this is book one in the series.

Our main character is Cory and he's oblivious to everyone and everything. I expected The New Girl to have elements of witchcraft or possession or something because of the instant obsession Cory has with the new girl, Anna. He can't stop thinking about her, his entire life falls apart because all he cares about is seeing her again, and even when all signs point to shady goings on, he won't leave her alone. In the end, nope, apparently this is what I have to look forward to in raising three boys. Complete idiocy/lunacy because they saw a girl.

The twist at the end was fairly convoluted and I had mostly lost interest by then so I'm still not totally sure what happened but it seemed unlikely and convenient to me. But then again, this is YA horror in probably its original form, so I don't think it's fair to expect it to be super high brow.

Apparently the publisher decided to "update" this book (originally published in 1989) and added things like iPods (released in 2001) though there is never any mention of a computer. They also kept details that are profoundly 1990s-esque like landline phones and calling information to get someone's address instead of using MySpace or pre-Google search engines but, again, there was never any mention of a computer. It felt super anachronistic and I don't know why anyone ever feels the need to "update" books anyway.

Despite all the issues, I think this is probably still a very enjoyable thriller series for younger readers that have outgrown Goosebumps. Three stars for me.

[Katie (DoomKittieKhan) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an absolutely fun throwback young adult horror story! Like most people right now reliving their youth and in anticipation of the upcoming three-part Netflix movie inspired by the original Fear Street books, I’m making my way through some of the o.g. Fear Street stories starting with the first ‘The New Girl’.

While I was really looking forward to the nostalgia factor, the version of this book I read was re-printed in the early 2000s and had been updated for a more modern audience. iPods replaced Walkmans, cell phones replaced land lines, you get the picture. The ‘feel’ I was hoping to recapture had been mostly stripped away because of the reprint. Word to the wise, find the original print copies of these books if you want to dive into a 90s teen horror story.

In ‘The New Girl’ we meet star athlete, Cory, and the titular new girl, Anna. While Cory is enamored with Anna, she has the unfortunate habit of disappearing. This is coupled with her mysterious aura that gets into Cory’s head and he doggedly begins to pursue her. Especially after he turns up at her house only to have her brother tell him that Anna is actually dead.

The Fear Street books are known for their cliffhanger chapters and creeptastic prologues that give readers a glimpse into who the antagonist is right from the get-go.

Great summer reading and essential for any horror-loving preteen in your life.

[Branwen Sedai *of the Brown Ajah* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the nostalgia! These books are not the BEST written books, but they sure do bring me back to my middle school days of hunting them all down at the library and reading them every chance I had gotten! I am really enjoying this trip down memory lane! 😂

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really hate the updated modernized version, like there was no need to change movie and music names.

[Will Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for what it was.It was entertaining but loaded with plot holes. I think I will still check out some of the others from this series

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot how much I love reading R.L. Stine! Made me feel like a little kid again.

[Charlene (Char)🍁☕️📚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nostalgia! Everyone is really familiar with the fear street series and Shadyside of course. This book started it all and thus we go to the beginning. I’m definitely a fan of the fear street series.

This book is about Cory Brooks a very popular gymnasts at his school Shadyside. He has a chance meeting with the new girl named Anna Corwin. She tends to be a rare sighting on campus. Then their lives intertwine then begins a story of late night phone calls , late night drives and threats from unknown sources. One thing I’ll say about these books is these kids have little to no supervision at all and the fact you had to wait by the phone for a call.

Overall this book is a quick read I gave it four stars because Cory was a straight up creep some of the things he did in the book was uncalled for. Also, Cory was completely oblivious to the fact someone had a crush on him I definitely wanted to throw my book against the wall! Like get a clue. All and all despite the creepiness the book was a great read.
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