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The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (1993) by R. L. Stine ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I read the kindle version of this book. This was February’s choice from the book club that my friend attends in her state.
This Goosebumps book is Stine’s fourteenth entry in the series. I feel like the earlier in the series the book is, the more solid the story is. As I’ve mentioned before, Stine churned out practically one book a month for five years, (62 books in the first run) so it makes sense that the books get sillier and sillier as time goes on. This one is one of the better of the Goosebumps series.
Our protagonist, twelve-year-old Grady, has recently moved to hot, swampy Florida with his parents and sixteen-year-old sister Emily. His parents are scientists, and they have moved here to study a special kind of deer, swamp deer. Every day Grady likes to explore the swamp, though there have been stories of a swamp hermit who lives in the woods. He is told that the hermit is harmless, but no one is really sure.
Soon a random dog shows up, and Grady’s parents quickly agree to adopt the dog, who Grady names Wolf, since he looks so much like a wolf. Logical and imaginative! He also meets a boy down the street who happens to be his age named Will, and they become friends. A girl named Cassie, who is also his age, lives on the same street. They learn that Mr. Warner, another man who lived on the street has gone missing. Cassie suggests that it was the werewolf of Fever Swamp that might have gotten him.
When the full moon approaches, Grady hears howls in the night. There is a series of animal mutilations that happen, and the parents blame Wolf. When one of his father’s swamp deer is killed, that is the last straw, and he is told that he is going to have to bring the dog to the pound. Grady knows that the killer is not Wolf, and tells Wolf to run into the woods, much to his father’s dismay. Grady is determined to prove that it is not Wolf, and that night he follows Wolf into the woods to discover the truth. Spoilers ahead:
At first, I thought that the twist was going to be that Grady was actually the werewolf and doesn’t remember doing the killing. I guess I was partially correct, because, in the end, Grady is bitten by the werewolf, and the curse has been transferred to him. I didn’t think the swamp hermit was going to be the werewolf, because that would just be too easy, especially after his outburst when the kids encounter him in the swamp. He runs after them yelling “I’m the werewolf!” and it turns out that he is just having some fun after he overhears one of them talking about him. It crossed my mind that Cassie might be the werewolf, but why would she be the one to bring it up in the first place if that was the case? So I dismissed the idea altogether. A few pages before the big reveal, I soon realized that Will was going to be the werewolf, and when he disappeared suddenly after meeting Grady that last night, it was confirmed in my mind.
End of Spoilers
There is one part where he says that he puts on a pair of pale blue jeans and a black-and-silver Raiders T-Shirt. He quickly tells us that he’s not a Raiders fan. He just likes their colors. I thought this was so funny, because it seems that he’s defending himself, as if to say “Don’t worry, guys, I’m not a fan of that team. You can sit down now.”
There is an incident in the swamp when Grady is running and he accidentally steps on a snake and is bitten. Three times — THREE times — they use the word ‘poisonous’ when referring to the snakebite. Even the scientist father says not to worry, green snakes aren’t poisonous. They really should be using the word venomous. It was one thing when the twelve year old kid was saying it, worrying if the snake was ‘poisonous’, but when the father who is supposed to be a professional says that it’s not poisonous instead of using the correct terminology venomous, it makes me think that perhaps R. L. Stine did not realize the difference between the two words. Rule of thumb: If it bites you and you die it’s venomous, and if you bite it and you die it’s poisonous. Ha-Ha-Ha 🙂
I really enjoyed reading this book. All of these books take me way back. At first, I didn’t love that the setting was Florida. We have been having a cold spell here in Florida —- which I have been thoroughly enjoying —- and the book took me back to the gross, nasty days of August when you walk outside and feel like you’ve been submerged in a mist of warm water. I can say that Stine did do a good job in describing those days, though.
I liked that this book was a little gory, but I wouldn’t recommend it to those who might get queasy over animal murder. I’m going to give this a good four stars.
In 1996, the Fox network aired a television special of The Werewolf of Fever Swamp. It was split into a two-part episode, and was aired as episodes 18 and 19 in the first season of the Goosebumps TV series. I had not previously thought about checking to see if these Goosebumps books we’ve been reading got the television treatment, but I will for now on, and I will add my thoughts on the episode after viewing. For this one, the tv special had no resemblance to the story in book. They even changed the name of the dog from Wolf to Vandal. They totally left out the Cassie character, and the parents and sister had an altercation with the wolf, whereas they did not in the book. There’s even a scene where the hermit kidnaps Grady, which absolutely did not happen in the book. The atmosphere and music was really great but that’s about all that was good about the episode.
Coming up, starting in March, we will begin talking about Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. My friend Winterjoy and I will be reading and reviewing one story from that book a mont,h and I will post about it on the first Friday of every Month. Our first story is The Big Toe, a jump scare story that will probably be familiar in one form or another to most people. I compare a few versions of the story that I found pretty interesting.
See you soon!
