The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena (Goosebumps #38)

## He's no fun in the sun!

With hushed whispers, R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series started showing signs of a worn-out welcome in the 20s or 30s, but I've been finding it really hard to pinpoint any book to really separate the eras of quality. The series just goes up and down, with some books good, others great, and the occasional stinker. The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena is a stinker.

[N.B. This review includes images, and was formatted for my site, dendrobibliography -- located here.]

This entry is as silly as the title suggests. Nicole and Jordan Blake are two youngsters tired of the SoCal heat. Their father, a well-known photographer and an absolutely dreadful parent, is hired to venture into the Alaskan wilderness to track down the show more cryptozoological beast of the title. People have been going missing, and so many accounts of this folkloric beast are cropping up that folks are starting to believe.

To this SoCal family, snow is the real myth they're interested in finding. This job is just an excuse to feel some cooler weather.

Since this is a Goosebumps novel, the abominable snowman of the title is, of course, very real, and very threatening. In a plot twist uncomfortably similar to Spielberg's the Lost World, the dad safely brings back the snowman to Pasadena, storing him -- alive, encased in ice and magic snow -- in a giant cooler in his dark room. And he escapes. And wreaks havoc.

It's too ridiculous. The siblings are an interesting enough pair, but the father is a complete jerk who continually puts his kids in danger for personal profit; and the stereotypical portrayal of Alaska is too over-the-top (tundra, glaciers, crevasses, snow caves, snow rises, dogsleds, one-horse towns -- we see it all within a couple square miles). Plot threads themselves seem connected by unrelated happenstance.

For these reasons, this book's a real stinker in the series. It failed to capture either the horror or the zany humor of the preceding entries, and ends up wallowing somewhere in the middle where nothing much works.

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (1992–1997):
#37 The Headless Ghost | #39 How I Got My Shrunken Head show less

Jordan Blake and his sister Nicole are fed up with Pasadena’s year‑round heat—until their dad gets assigned a photography trip to Alaska, where a real winter awaits. But their cold-weather escape turns chilling when they face a mysterious creature: an Abominable Snowman stalking their family. R. L. Stine delivers a frosty, fast‑paced horror adventure full of suspense, sibling teamwork, and snowy terror. A delightful twist on classic monster tales, perfect for Goosebumps fans craving a chilly scare.

This is one of those Goosebumps books that you see rather often. The creature was prominently featured in the trailer, and the title gets touted around. I'd like to say it's because of the artwork, but all the Goosebumps artwork is pretty iconic and fun. Much like the Animorph morph covers, they are emblazoned in every 90s and early 2000s kids memory likely as not. Unfortunately, though, this book is likely an iconic Goosebumps title for other reasons. Reasons I can't really fathom.

The book features two kids and their dad trekking up to Alaska, as their dad has been tasked with finding and photographing the Abominable Snowman. As far as framing plots go for Goosebumps books, this is pretty typical. The kids are excited to go, as living show more in California they've never seen snow. Naturally, in Alaska, they soon discover that snow can be a pretty frightening thing. I give the book credit for showing how frightening trekking through the tundra can be - the fall into the crevasse is a very real worry and the smothering snow is likewise terrifying. Nevertheless, this book didn't evoke the beautiful claustrophobia that, say, [b: The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb|125601|The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (Goosebumps, #5)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328867783s/125601.jpg|120966] did.

The creature was barely in the book, and a lot of aspects of him went utterly unexplained. His ending, for instance, seemed to leave ample room for a sequel that never came. There were fairly inadequate explanations given for a lot of the phenomenon, and Arthur's behavior in particular just made little sense to me overall. It could've been interesting, could've done more, but... well, it's Goosebumps. I'm curious why this one is so memorable to so many people. show less

An atrocious mess.

Jordan Blake and his sister Nicole live in California, and they're sick of the good weather. Their dad is a photographer who is easily distressed by Jordan's weak pranks.

Their dad goes to Alaska to search for the abominable snowman, and he figures it'd be a good idea to take his kids along with him.

Well, surprise, it wasn't.

Basically there's no way I can describe how truly terrible this book is without going into the ending, and I'm not going to do that. But rest assured that it makes no sense whatsoever. Not even in the kind-of-funny absurd way Goosebumps sometimes manages to pull off. It's rather sad, because it easily could've gone in another direction.

Great going, Dad! :P But I can tell you as someone who was raised in a place with shitty, cold winters, these kids would have been more than welcome to trade households with me if they wanted snow so bad.

Jordan and Nicole are very excited to finally see snow during their trip to Alaska, even if it does entail chasing an imaginary creature. The abominable snowman, however, turns out to be real, and they bring him back home. Jordan has to free him to save his sister and their yard, but he escapes and runs away.

#38 "He's no fun in the sun!"
Jordan and Nicole are brother and sister. They live in sunny Pasadena. but they're tired of the hot weather and never having a true winter with snow. so when their father gets called to Alaska to photograph a mysterious creature found up there they are happy to tag along for the ride. But when they end up getting chased by The Abominable Snowman things get a little hairy!