Scariest. Book. Ever. is the first book in the Goosebumps House of Shivers book series. R.L. Stine had revealed the title of the book during an interview on the Bullseye with Jesse Thorn podcast [1] It was released in September 2023 [2].
The cover depicts manbats flying out of the belfry of a creepy looking house in the background. One with a green humanoid face, orange and red eyes flies toward the reader, its mouth about to spew fire. The silhouettes of Betty and Billy can be seen running from the house.
Blurb[]
THE ONLY THING TO FEAR. . . IS EVERYTHING.
Twins Betty and Billy are visiting their Uncle Wendell at his secluded house in the Wayward Forest. What they think is going to be a boring stay quickly turns into a real nightmare. Wendell is in possession of the scariest book in the world. And someone is after Wendell. To keep the book safe, the siblings will have to plunge directly into the heart of the dangerous forest. There they must escape manbats, cannibal crows, and giant insects, among other horrors―and make it out alive!
Plot[]
Part One[]
Twin siblings Billy and Betty Arnold are visiting their Uncle Wendell for two weeks while their parents are on a business trip in London. They’ve never met him before but they have no other family to take care of them at this time. They hear he’s weird, as he lives all alone out in the forest, called the Wayward Forest. He has a big collection of books as well as crazy gadgets. The parents say the kids will have fun and be begging to not leave.
They arrive at Wendell’s house, which is more like a big tower, only for Wendell to not be there yet. They go inside where they eventually find him, and he is a big man with a spiky black beard. He tells them they’ve come at a bad time, as a book has been stolen. However, they can’t talk about it now so he sees them to their room.
He tells them their dog Bellamy must go to the backyard so he doesn’t wreck things in the house. The dog is put under the care of Wendell’s daughter Jesse, who the kids weren’t told about. Later, Wendell tells them about the Wayward Forest. It’s private land that belongs to his family, and most of his family are too scared to enter it.
Many strange creatures roam the place, as Wendell theorized they’ve evolved due to lack of human interference. He takes them to the basement where he keeps all his old books. He explains the stolen book he mentioned earliest is the scariest book in the world. He’s too scared to talk about what’s in it but he says if it is opened, evil will be unleashed into the world.
Somehow someone was able to steal it, so they must go into the Wayward Forest to find the thief, even if it kills them. They go to their room, where a bat with a human face swoops in. Jesse enters to get it away, saying this is a Man-Bat. The bat said “Get out” but Jesse tells them not to listen to it.
The next morning, the kids and Wendell head out. They hear noises coming from his shed and he says he keeps some dangerous creatures in there that he caught. Moving on, they see some rocks which turn out to be eggs that hatch giant cannibal crows. However, because they are cannibals, they just attack each other. After they kill each other, the group moves on.
Billy is then attacked by a giant flying tree bear, who are called that because they swing from tree to tree. He sneezed which startled the bear. Wendell says Billy must simply stare it down and show no fear. This fails because Billy slips up, but Wendell manages to tackle the bear. They run further into the forest but are stopped by a snake that grows a second head.
Betty saves Billy from the snake, but they notice that Wendell has vanished. They hear a scream and discover Wendell’s machete, stabbed into the ground. The kids attempt to go back to the house but get lost. They try to call for help but there’s no service. However, they use the flashlight on their phones to see better, as it is getting dark.
A Man-Bat attacks them. While Billy scares one away from Betty with the light, the light attracts some big moths. They run away, only to get caught in quicksand. Thankfully, it isn’t deep so Betty pulls him out. They make it back to the house, where they hear human shouts from the shed this time. They open the shed to discover a man in there, who reveals himself to be the real Uncle Wendell.
Part Two[]
This Wendell says he was locked in the shed by the thief looking for the scariest book ever. He says he doesn’t know Jesse, who must be working for the other Wendell. The man they thought was Wendell is known as The Bookworm, only he steals books instead of reading them. He lied about the thief and likely took them to the forest to get them lost.
They go inside the house, where Wendell shows them the book, which he hid it among his desert cookbooks as the thief would never think to look there. The book can’t be destroyed as the evil would escape, so instead it must be hidden from all the people who want to unleash fear on the world.
Wendell’s family has been protecting the book for centuries out here. Just then, the fake Wendell comes in alongside Jesse, who has a flame thrower. They say they torch his book collection if he doesn't hand over the Scariest Book Ever. He reluctantly does so, only for them to torch the books anyway.
The two run away but Wendell tells the kids he gave them a fake book, as he heard Wendell walking towards the room. He takes the kids down to a basement under the basement, where he keeps the real book in a safe that uses a combo only he knows. Suddenly, The Bookworm storms in, having not been fooled.
Wendell is forced to open the safe, which turns out to be empty. He reveals that the Scariest Book Ever doesn’t exist, as he made it up so his collection can be famous. Bookworm doesn’t buy this and wants to search the house for the book. While he does that, he locks the kids and Wendell in the safe.
Thankfully, Wendell has a key that he uses to get them out. He reveals to the kids that he lied and the book is actually real, he just hid it in the forest so a thief wouldn’t find it. They sneak out but Billamy barks happily upon seeing them, which alerts the Bookworm of their presence outside.
The dog attacks the Bookworm which lets them escape. They hide behind a mound of dirty, which turns out to be a big lump of worms. The group gets away, as Wendell leads them to a cave where he hid the book. It’s called The Cave of the Locusts, and upon entering they soon wake up the locust.
The locust approaches them, and is huge due to having time to evolve. Instead of attacking, the locust licks up a stray worm Billy had on him. Another locust shows up, and Billy tosses out the one worm he has left for them to fight over. The kids escape the cave but notice Wendell isn’t with me. A thin man in a green baseball cap suddenly approaches them and introduces himself as Uncle Wendell.
Part Three[]
This Uncle Wendell claims to be the real one, as the Wendell in the cave is a book thief called The Collector. He says The Collector pretended to be his friend and visited him many times, and Wendell told him too many of his secrets, only for him to turn out to be a thief. He says The Bookworm locked him in the attic but he escaped, and he tied up the Bookworm and Jesse. The 2nd Wendell walks up and now the kids must figure out who the real one is.
Billy gives them a test, saying they must tell them what Betty’s real name is. The 3rd Wendell gets it correct, which is Bethany. However, The Collector knocks out Wendell, and tells the kids to get a move on. He got the book from the cave, and now he can be a rich man. As they walk back to the house, Billy sneezes which attracts the tree bears.
The bears attack The Collector, which allows Wendell to take the bag with the book, as he has come to. They make it home and sometime later, Mom and Dad pick them up. The kids say they had a good time but want to wait before telling them their crazy story. At home, they unpack their bags to discover the scariest book ever, and a note from Wendell saying he is trusting them with it now.
They plan to put it in a storage dresser where it won’t be found. Before they do so, Billy asks if they can take a little peek at the book.
International releases[]
Audiobook[]
| Audiobook | Release date | Length | Narrated by | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
September 19, 2023 | 2 Hours, 42 Minutes | Pete Cross | Scholastic Inc. |
Gallery[]
An early sketch version of the cover was first revealed in the Fall 2023 edition of the Scholastic Trade Catalogue. The final cover is similar, but the bat creature on the front has a green monster face.[3]
Trivia[]
- This the first main series book to feature the original Goosebumps logo since the 2003 original series reprints.
- The tagline "The only thing to fear . . . is everything" is a reference to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's famous quote "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
- One of Robert Ball's concept designs for the Man-Bat was reminiscent of Count Dracula.
- The Man-Bats share the same name as the Batman villain Man-Bat.
- Page 57 contains a grammatical error: "Drool oozed from it curled fangs."