Creature Teacher: The Final Exam

Goosebumps Most Wanted #6

by R.L. Stine

The infamous, Most Wanted Goosebumps characters are out on the loose and they're coming after you! Catch them all, undead or alive! It doesn't take long for Tommy to find out he's in big trouble. His whole family is obsessed with winning and he's being sent off to a special camp to help make him into a "winner." When Tommy gets there, he sees that something isn't right. All of the kids are so competetive. It's almost like their lives depend on it. Can Tommy survive The Final Exam?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Chapter Books

133 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2014

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

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 'Most Wanted' line seems a strange one for this entry as the forementioned teacher Mrs. Maaargh had only previously featured in one other Goosebumps book.

Admittedly I'd not read that one though I instantly knew that this was going to be one of the more sillier Stine titles.
As the villain of the story straight out admits that they intend to eat the lowest ranked camper at Winner's Island.

Our protagonist Tommy doesn't share his family's obsession of being the best and finds himself sent to the camp.
The fact that every choice he makes pretty much backfires and sees him rooted to the bottom of the table does add a interesting element, whilst shades of 'Camp Jellyjam' also feature prominently.
In truth this just feels like Stine turning out another one.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite and it was a bit too gross for my liking. :/

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very reminiscent of the first creature teacher only this time it’s not at a school it’s at a camp and it’s still really good!

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mrs. Maaargh is back in a new Goosebumps adventure for the first time since 1998's Creature Teacher, and her appetite for human kids is no less voracious because Paul Perez escaped becoming her lunch in that book. When Creature Teacher: The Final Exam starts with twelve-year-old Tommy Farrelly being sent by his parents to Winner Island Camp for two weeks to fine-tune his competitive instincts, he's not thrilled, but he doesn't think his life is in jeopardy. That changes when he meets The Teacher: a slimy, odiferous monster who's taken over Winner Island so she can eat the kid ranked last in the camp's games at the end of the session. Similar to her food chain chart in Creature Teacher, Mrs. Maaargh keeps a comprehensive student ranking in Creature Teacher: The Final Exam, and the kid who finishes with the poorest record will never leave Winner Island.

Unfortunately, Tommy is two days late for camp. That puts him behind everyone else, perhaps too far to make up the difference. The employees at Camp Winner Island are too scared of Mrs. Maaargh to do anything but cater to her demands, and The Teacher herself has it in for Tommy, singling him out as the boy she expects to make a meal of soon. Tommy meets a pair of new friends at camp, Sophie and Ricardo, but learns he can't trust them very far. They're as terrified as Tommy is of being eaten, so it's in their best interests to sabotage him so he becomes the sacrifice for Mrs. Maaargh. Yet whenever Tommy elects not to follow their advice, it turns out they earnestly meant to help him avoid The Teacher's wrath, and he watches helplessly as he settles to the bottom of the camp ranking. Only a miracle could bail Tommy out now. Does he have a brilliant idea to evade Mrs. Maaargh's jaws when they prepare to close around him?

Creature Teacher: The Final Exam raises a question or two for readers of the first book starring Mrs. Maaargh. Where is her son, Marv? Does his absence from Creature Teacher: The Final Exam indicate that his mother ate him for telling Paul Perez the secret to her undoing? We can't be sure the events of Creature Teacher predate those of this book, so it's possible Marv hasn't been born, but technology in the two novels suggests timeline progression. Mrs. Maaargh's weakness in the earlier book won't be her downfall this time, however; Tommy must come up with an original plan, and escaping with his life will make him the biggest winner on Camp Winner Island.

This is one of the more thematically interesting books in the Goosebumps Most Wanted series. Tommy is conflicted by the necessity of depending on his fellow campers for help against Mrs. Maaargh even though they often double-cross him. When faced with a monster, is it best to band together against the beast or go every man for himself, hoping it isn't you who ends up eaten? "But...what if we all worked together?" Tommy asks Sophie and Ricardo. "What if we all stood up to...Mrs. Maaargh and refused to play their game?" Tommy's "friends" appear to have made their choice, but there's sufficient ambiguity in what happens to leave us wondering. Was Ricardo on Tommy's side or not? I'd give Creature Teacher: The Final Exam one and a half stars, and I guess I'll round up to two. This is one of the better Goosebumps Most Wanted books, and I appreciate that R.L. Stine brought back a villain from the Series 2000. Goosebumps fans will like the story structure and its surprises.

[UK Goosebumps · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion this is one of the best modern day goosebumps books. It feels like a 90s goosebumps book and has the same feeling and story line of the series 2000 creature teacher. I like how stine didn’t just directly copy the original story of creature teacher and add new characters. He made a new story with interesting characters and a good story line to keep you wanting to read. Such a good book. Love how he kept Mrs Magggghhhh the same and didn’t change the main villain to much witch adds to the nostalgia and 90s feel of the original villain. 5/5

[Bri Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s one of Stine’s sillier and more juvenile concepts, so not necessarily that creepy, but this was still an enjoyable and light read.

[Austin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

If we're comparing this book in light of the first Creature Teacher, this is a very lackluster sequel. It doesn't have near the suspense, gross-out horror, or cleanly implemented humor of the first book. This one is a more by-the-numbers Goosebumps title following structure of past camp titles such as Horror at Camp Jellyjam and Ghost Camp. This time around the infamous Mrs. Maaargh is the main antagonist and threat of the story, but she doesn't feel as threatening. This book has the same goofy, more cartoonish feel of many modern entries and is in line with the other Most Wanted books. It lacks any sort of progression and doesn't have as coherent a plot as its predecessor. It also lacks that darker, edgier tone of its Series 2000 counterpart.

Even with the original aside, I wasn't particularly impressed with this one. It's not terrible as a standalone, and perhaps much better than some of the other Most Wanted books, but feels too formulaic for my tastes and it left ne disappointed overall. It goes the more humorous route towards the ending and leaves me thinking I can't take this book too seriously.

2 / 5

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a Goosebumps book in about 23 years. I randomly received this one and BAM BABY, BACK INTO GOOSEBUMPS. Goosebumps hasn't changed much in all this time. I really like the premise of this one, it's demented on a few different levels. The monstrous Mrs. Maaaargh is oozing and belching and genuinely scary. The parents in this are also really bizarre, chugging hot-sauce and treating everything as a competition. It's nice if you like Goosebumps, I guess.

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good camp book 4/5

[Tiffany Spencer]

Creature Teacher: The Final Exam
Tommy Farrelly’s parents are sending him to Winner Island Camp. The camps slogan is Winners Are Always Winners. Tommy thinks he’s already a winner. He makes A’s and B’s and has good friends. But in his family you have to be the BEST day in and day out. His dad played middle lineback on his college football team and went to the national championship. Now he’s a football coach. His mom is the vice president at a bank and his sister (whose six) won a National Spelling Bee against high school students.

On the way to the boat (that will take Tommy to the camp), he and his family stop at ANDYS FISH SHACK. They make everything a competition so they race to the table. Tommy is last. When he complains that he doesn’t see why he has to go, his dad says its just for 2 weeks and itll toughen him up. His mom reads a brochure that says "When you arrive, you are a LOSER. But losers NEVER leave Winner Island."

Tommy doesn’t have a good feeling and tries to get out of it by telling his dad that he doesn’t want to come back someone different and that he’ll have the disadvantage because he’s two days late to camp. His dad tho says it will only make him toughter. On the boat, Tommy sees another brochure with his Uncle Felix (whose over the camp) on the front and it says “At my camp, you won’t just win, you’ll win BIG-TIME. We EAT LOSERS for breakfast at Winner Island.” Tommy tells himself it’s just another sports camp trying to sound unique. He tries to text his friend but remembers at this camp there are no phones and no internet.

The bad feeling rises again and Tommy reminds himself it’s only two weeks. Jared drops him off and tells him he hopes he has a good time and he hopes he’ll see him in two weeks. Tommy is greeted by Robb (who takes his things). Then Tommy hears shouts *There were dozens of kids, and they were all battling. Shouting and groaning and grunting. Shoving, wrestling, tossing each other to the ground. A huge, horrible free-for-all. There are two counselors standing there not even trying to step in. Robb says they’re doing their morning warm ups.


Fortunately, he doesn’t have to join in. He goes to Uncle Felix’s office and sees a sign on the door th A winner doesn’t let a little sign stop him. A winner just steps forward and does what he wants at says DO NOT KNOCK. So, he waits and waits and waits. When Uncle Felix comes out, he tells he failed the first test.. A winner doesn’t let a sign stop him. He just steps forward and does what he wants. He says he’ll introduce him to the teacher that will whip him into shape. Then he explains why everyone keeps calling him “dog”. It’s a dog eat dog kinda place.

Felix tells him to report to J and he says that Robb took his things to Cabin 12. Felix says there is no Robb. He just *got* robbed. Ok this IS kinda not funny but funny. He did say his name was ROBB! Felix tells him he learned his first lesson. DON’T TRUST ANYBODY! Robbie gets lost trying to find his cabin. He runs into a girl named Sophie who has mixed feelings about this camp. She says she *thought* she wanted to be a winner but… (we don’t get to know the rest). He says he needs help finding cabin J. She says there are no letters. Just numbers. So, he should be in 12. When he thanks her she says they’re not supposed to help each other. They’re competing. If they do they’ll get eaten.

She tells him its not a joke and he’ll see that when he meets “the Teacher” (Mrs. Maaargh) She says she’s a monster and they’re there to feed the monster. She eats the losers. She says he’ll probably be the one eaten. Then she runs off because “they’re always watching”. Tommy finally finds the cabin and steps inside. As sson as he does, he’s hit with cold water.

The guy apologizes and says he thought he was someone else. They’re having a water war. His name is Ricardo and he’s Tommy’s new bunk mate. Ricardo says his stuff got stolen to by Steele when he first got there. Ricardo says they have to be tough because of the monster. Then Sophie rushes in and says the teacher heard about Tommy and says she wants to eat him tonight-and can’t wait-. Tommy blows it off. Ricardo says he didn’t believe it either at first.

She just showed up here on the island and she’s there for a free meal. Felix is terrified of her and won’t do anything about it. He says she can eat one camper if she promises to let the rest go. By now Tommy is fed up with “the joke” and says he’s going out to find her. They both scream no, but he’s already out the door. When he gets to her office, a guy walks out and says she’s in a bad mood. His shirt is ripped. This lady is enormous and wearing one of the ugliest monster mask he’s ever seen. So he walks up to her, says she’s not fooling anyone, puts his hands to the side of her face, and tries to pull the mask off. It doesn’t come off! It’s her face.

She tells him he has to be punished, hands him a spoon, and tells him to pick her nostrils. Tommy yells noooo, throws down the spoon, and runs out of the office. He ends up on the beach and finds the boat that brought him there. He figures the boat can take him away from Winner Island and makes himself comfortable in the bottom. He doesn’t see Jared. He hears a sound and then hears a sound. THIS BOAT IS PROTECTED BY A VENOMOUS RATTLE SNAKE. Then he sees the snake and tries to run away from it.

Felix has found him -on the boat- because there are cameras everywhere. He tells him that a winner never quits. Nor does he try to escape. He admits to know about . Mrs. Maaargh. He says she’s not a bad teacher. She just gets hungry. He then guides Tommy back to camp. Tommy asks what he plans to do to him. He takes him back to where the teacher has her daily class, but Tommy sneaks to his office to use his phone to call his parents. When he picks up the phone, liquid squirts him. The liquid is purple and won’t come off. There’s nothing else to do but go to Mrs. Maaarg’s class.

She tells them they call her the teacher because she teaches them what they need to know and what they need to know is how to keep her happy. She shows them her Weight Watcher’s chart. It means they wait and watch to see who she’ll eat on the last day of camp. She never sends the biggest loser home because it wouldn’t be fair to the parents. Ricardo’s name is in the middle. Tommy’s name is at the bottom. Sophie’s name is next to last because she helped him. She says she’ll give them several test and the test will determine whose the toughest. Today they’ll have an Earth Science experiment-how many worms they can eat-.

Determined to be a winner, Tommy manages to swallow the worm. The kids are staring at him. The teacher says he failed. She says it was the test of courage. A test to see who wouldn’t eat an innocent earth worth. Yet, this lady is eating bugs and rats. When Tommy brings this up she says she has an excuse. She’s a monster. Sophie later says she has an idea. There’s a field with flowers. Tommy can bring her flowers the next day and apologize to her for getting off to a bad start. He gets them and gives them to her but she’s allergic and spews yellow snot all over him and now she’s furious!

Turns out Sophie and Ricardo knew. They tell him they’re his friends but they were trying to teach him not to trust any one. They shoot down the idea to stand up to Felix. Two big dudes them snatch up Tommy and drag him down to the mud pitt. They tell him he missed sports hour so now he gets to play mud tag. They tell him to try to run and then they’ll tage him. Mrs. Maaargh is watching -grinning-. It’s a short match. Tommy is thrown face down into the mud. When he gets back to the cabin he sees on the door MONSTER MEAT INSIDE. But now he knows what he needs to do is survive. He’ll find somewhere to hide until the boat comes back.
He'll have to hide out for 8 days. He sneaks out one rainy night and finds … his duffle bag in the middle of the woods. He decides to go back to the cabin and sneak out when the weather is better. When he’s unpacking he sees that his parents have packed his favorite chocolate cherry sauce. He gives some to Ricardo and it burns. He says that’s what he gets for tricking him with the flowers. Its hot sauce.

His family puts it on everything. He says his family packed it because they want him to man up and start using it. After this, Ricardo agrees they should help each other. Then he tells him about “Bat Run Night”. Mrs. Maaargh takes them out late at night. Turns on lights and they all get bombarded with bats. If your lucky they don’t bite you. The last standing is the winner. The trick is to spray bug spray in your hair and they won’t bother you. They’ll just cling to everyone else. He tosses the can to Tommy before he leaves for the tetherball tournament.

Tommy decides not to trust Tommy and ends up getting attacked. Tommy says he really was trying to help this time. Everyone else used the spray. Tommy decides he can now trust Ricardo and gets him to tell him the next part of the test. It’s the underground caves. There are these underground caves on the other side of the island. It’s pitch-black inside them. Lake water flows like a river through the caves. It twists and turns and curves around. They have to swim through the water to the end of the underground caves in total darkness. The trick is to have a pen light and he gives him one and tells him to carry it on him tomorrow.

When Tommy tries to use the pen light it has no light and no batteries. Bert comes for him and swim him out of the cavern. He failed the final exam and the other guys made it. When confronted Ricardo plays dumb. He says he thought they both had batteries. Tommy calls him a liar. Ricardo says he was trying to help. He says he’ll help him with the last part of the exam and leaves before the teacher can see them talking. It’s announced Sophia wins the Underground Cave Swim. She tells him not to fall in the Quick Sand Pit-the sand gets in her teeth-.

Mrs. Maaargh explains the next test. They get down on their hands and knees, move across the ladder, and try not to fall in the pit. Tommy is on the ladder and Ricardo tells him the 10th rung is a fake. If you grab its loose and will break off. But he falls off and he gets sucked down into the sand on the 7th rung. Burt comes to the rescue again and pulls him up. The teacher says don’t think of himself as a loser. Think of himself as a good meal.

Ricardo blames the counselors he heard. He says they tricked him. Sophia calls him a hero for saving them. Mrs. Maaargh is served Tommy on a platter. She’s about to eat him when … she starts to gag. He’s poured his Bombs Away hot sauce all over himself. She runs into the lake and starts to swim away. Everyone parties for 2 whole days. A new teacher shows up with two heads. Mr. Baaargh says camp will continue as normal and too keep their eyes on the chart. At the end of camp, he’s going to eat 2 of them.

My Thoughts:
Toward the end I kind of got a small laugh when the creature teacher flips out and takes off running and running and running into the sea, but sometimes books in these series just feel rushed. At first, I wasn't looking forward to it because I thought *sports camp* (groaning). Luckily it wasn't about that and more about the teacher.This teacher… She’s gross looking sure but is that enough to carry this story? Ok she *does* eat a rat whole. Just the thought of that is enough to give you nightmares the rest of your life but what else. I was thinking over this book and I thought she likes to *say* she’s going to eat the students. Could she have given a demonstration by eating the kid who scored at the bottom every day? Only Felix wouldn’t know. What if she ate Felix? She sounds a lot like Mrs. Gorf from the Wayside School books. Use it. Play around with it. Twist it in some way. Mrs. Gorf got eaten by Louis the yard teacher. Let this lady be a monster disguised as a human. Just bring her out some more some kind of way. Just a thought.

Rating: 5

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

My final Most Wanted reread, and it’s the legendary sequel to Creature Teacher with a camp twist on the original concept. Upfront, I hate this series. Most Wanted is dog shit. But this is one I looked fondly on, and I’m glad it’s still just as good as I remembered. The highest praise for this book is the characters and story. Our main is solid and has the worst and most unbearable parents I’ve seen in a long time. Like, they’re not even bad, just stuck-up bullshitting fucks, ya know? They add to the main character’s drive. Plus, the side characters are nice and Mrs. Maaargh is great here, just as good as she was in ‘98. The story is extremely cool as a concept and in execution, with it being a Camp JellyJam remake but with Mrs. Maaargh and less mystery (in a good sense). It’s fun and was one of the more stand-out ideas from modern Goosebumps. The twist at the end is great, the story wastes little time for once, the dread is super nice, and the ride is quite enjoyable. As for downsides, the story is relatively repetitive. I like these challenges but it kinda got old with it being a rinse-and-repeat cycle for 70 pages of the story. Big yawn. There’s also the annoying element of trust used here involving the main side character, which was just dumb. Also, shitty final page. Couldn’t have seen that coming. Overall, 8.5/10. It was great. A banger to say the least. Total Drama Island ahh story.

[Nathan Ibanez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goosebumps Most Wanted #6 is about a kid named Tommy which lives in a family that are "winners" and wants Tommy to be a "winner" too. So they send him to this camp which will make him a winner. He then finds about that the worst loser will get eaten by Mrs. Maaargh. I like this book because it has a lot of horror and the funny twist at the end. This book is for the people who like horror and cool twists. Once again, read Goosebumps Most Wanted #6.

[Weathervane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gruesome! Heavy on gross-out humour and tending towards humour than fear. One of those Goosebumps stories set more in the land of the bizarre than real life. Almost cartoonish at points. I still enjoyed it.

[vicky sadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love mike skylander boy and i love mike cause he is hansum

[Haaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was ridiculous. But good. I read it all in one sitting.

[Brendan D]

This book is called goosebumps creature teacher:the final exam this book is about how his family his very competitive and they want him to be but he doesnt really care and so they send him to winners island so he would learn how to get better and faster. He showed up the the camp a few days late so he didnt really know what was going on in that camp. This dude told him his name was robb and said he would take his bags to his cabn and he robbed him. So you cant really help or else you will get ut at the bottom of this chart and the person at the bottom is the loser and mrs. maaargh will eat them so nobody wanted to be there and he was there the whole time he was at the camp and he tried to call home and it was a set up because when you put the phone next to ur ear it would leave ink on the side of ur face and so they had these final exams and there were 2 events and he lost in both of them so she was going to eat him put she started licking him and his mom packed hot sauce in his bag and he rubbed it all over him and it was burning her mouth and she left the island and they all partied and they couldnt do anything about it.
This book is very entertaining to me and like they made it like where you could get really into it but you cant just hop in a couple chapters in to know whats going on in this book and know where everything is at and what everyone does in this book because the loser board could get confusion if you dont know what it is because if you just read that he was at the bottom of her chart isnt going to make sense to you.
I do recommend this book to people who like things like competition and things because this book is all about competition and other things like you dont wanna call home and not wanna get eaten by mrs. maaargh because she looks scary and yeah

[Cyrano · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I liked about R.L. Stine Creature Teacher: The Final Exam is that it showed a kid from a family of all winners named Tommy and how Tommy was decent. For example Tommy talks about how he mostly get A's and B's and how everything is not a competition for him. Another thing I liked was that in the camp you have to decide weather to trust some of the characters or not and you really have to think about it. Another thing I liked was that since Tommy's family got him in the camp when it was two days late that costed Tommy a lot of problems. The last I liked was that Tommy outsmarted the teacher and put the hot sauce his family gave him to good use. This is all the things I liked about R.L. Stine Creature Teacher: The Final Exam I recommend this book to 5th graders and older.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Closer to 2.5. Basically the same as the first Creature Teacher from Goosebumps 2000, except at a camp instead of at a school.

Gotta say, though, either I’ve read way too many Goosebumps lately or they just don’t do it for me anymore. Once you can ID the Chekov’s gun no problem, there’s not much fun to be had.

[Azra's Book Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it so much I kept thinking something good would happen but its goosebumps the only good thing that happens is at the end and then something bad happens and it leaves you wondering what will happen next I wish they made a second book that ends the story!!!

[Madison W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left me speechless. This was amazing! Unfortunately, I didn't realize there were more of these before I read this, the final one. Otherwise, I think that what Tommy did was incredibly smart. If you've read this you'll probably know what I mean. If not, buy it and read for yourself.

[Philip Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The STARTLING RETURN of MRS. MAARGH......was about what you'd expect from a Goosebumps. Could have done with more character work, but that's not what these stories are. Kids dug it, so no complaints from me.

[Gabriel V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, the book has lots of challenges.

[Evan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beware the island. Beware the teacher.

[thebookishlarkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book to read to pass time. I read it for just about 2 hours and I really enjoyed it, just as I have all those other Goosebumps books since I was young.

[Bencreed743 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaaaaawwwwssssoooommmmmeee

[Rin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where's the original creature teacher?

I've been trying to find the original but i don't think there's a Kindle version. This definitely wasn't the book I was looking for.

[Noctowl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro más de Goosebumps,no es excelente pero si estás aburrido un domingo no es una mala lectura

[ABHINAV SMART · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice Book.

[Isaac Philippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is funny and I really liked it!

[Ryder Mearns]

I LOVED It!!!