The New Girl, by R.L. Stine

R.L. Stine's Fear Street:The New Girl is about Cory Brooks a teenage boy in Shadyside High School. One day he was in the cafeteria standing on his head with a tray of spaghetti balanced upright in his right hand. He was dared to do this by his best friend David. Then his eyes focused on a blonde girl in an old fashioned Blue dress on the other side of the cafeteria. Her name is Anna Corwin. From the first moment he saw her he immediately fell in love. He was obsessed with her. He couldn't sleep for a few nights in a row. He managed to get her phone number and then he called her one night. Her brother picked up the phone, Brad. Cory said if it was the Corwins house and he said yes. Then Cory asked if Anna was there and then suddenly Brad was screaming and saying "Anna is DEAD!", then he hung up. Cory tried again a few nights later, still he said the same thing. Then the same night he decides to go there just to see if Anna is alright. She lives on Fear Street and on Fear Street there is said to be many unsolved cases of murder and strange creatures that lurk during the night. Cory is afraid of the street, but still he came. She jumped in his car, and out of nowhere kissed him very hard and for a long time. Then when Cory asked if she was alright, Anna looked out all the windows then ran out of the car. Days passed by and he told David all about it. One day Cory’s close friend Lisa found a dead cat in her Locker. She thinks that it was Anna but Cory can’t see Anna doing something so wrong. Lisa thinks that Anna did it because she is jealous that they are friends (Cory and Lisa). Homecoming dance was near and Cory went with Lisa. She has been friends with him ever since. During the dance Lisa went to go use the restroom then fell down the stairs and known saw who pushed her down. Cory found out that it was Brad. The next day he found Anna at school and held her tight and said that they need to talk. Anna told Cory about how Brad is crazy and killed their sister, Willa. A few nights later Cory goes down to Anna’s house to free Anna and confront Brad…

I would definitely recommend this to some of my friends. This is one of R.L. Stine's books that I actually enjoyed reading. Some of my friends are avid readers, so I would recommend this book to them. In the book I liked the way Stine announced the characters to the scene. I didn't really like it when in almost every other page one of the characters were ether laughing or annoyed at someone else, but I think that it helped the story flow better. I guess that it was a really good book because when I read the book it was over the weekend and I didn't even stop to play video games. I liked the book so much that I was reading over one hundred pages a day. By the time I knew it I was done with the book and then wondering what else to do. When I came to the part where Anna was explaining about how brad is "Crazy", I wanted Cory to ask some questions to Anna about who she really was. I also would have changed Cory’s personality in general because he just completely ignores Lisa’s ideas and opinions. Whenever she talks he just complete ignores her questions, and changes the subject and talks about someone else. Whenever Cory talked about Anna around Lisa, Lisa always got jealous. So in return when he talked about her, she pushed Cory away. If I wrote the book I would change those parts so she would just change the subject back instead of pushing her friend. R.L. Stine just made it so obvious that Lisa was ignored by Cory. Also when Cory and Lisa found the dead cat in her locker I would have liked it if Cory went to go talk to her and say if it was her or not. Even if he likes her or not still it would have been better if he did that. Just before they found the cat Anna, Cory and Lisa were all talking together in the middle of Lisa’s locker. I liked that parts when Cory sneaked out and went to Fear Street, because of the streets nature. Apparently the street is supposed to be haunted. Every time he went in his car to go to Fear Street and ultimately see Anna, he had the since to turn back and try to call again, but there was something telling him to go and talk to her, that’s what I personally liked from the book.

Reviewed by Aren, Grade 9

Pacific Park Library