Muscle growth in Goosebumps and other non-MG literature

[Neekko]

I remember one of the Goosebumps books having muscle growth in it. It was one of the choose-your-own-adventure types. You find two boxes of Cheerios in the woods and when you ate from one, you gained super-intelligence, and when you ate from the other you turned into a hulking muscle freak. It was one of my all-time favorite Goosebumps books. I kept rereading it just to get to the muscles and all that clothes tearing. There was a possibility where a troll would take away your muscles, though. Boo.

There's another book I reread constantly as a kid called Help! I'm Trapped in My Gym Teacher's Body . There really isn't any growing (unless you count visits to the gym), but it is about a high schooler switching bodies with his muscular gym teacher. At one point while trying to switch back, they end up just switching heads instead, so the teen had the huge body and the teacher became skinny. Poor him!

Do anyone of you know of other books that have MG moments?

[CelticMuscle]

Around the World in Eighty Days (Jules Verne) 1872
As for Passepartout, he was a true Parisian of Paris. Since he had abandoned his own country for England, taking service as a valet, he had in vain searched for a master after his own heart. Passepartout was by no means one of those pert dunces depicted by Moliere with a bold gaze and a nose held high in the air; he was an honest fellow, with a pleasant face, lips a trifle protruding, soft-mannered and serviceable, with a good round head, such as one likes to see on the shoulders of a friend. His eyes were blue, his complexion rubicund, his figure almost portly and well-built, his body muscular, and his physical powers fully developed by the exercises of his younger days. His brown hair was somewhat tumbled; for, while the ancient sculptors are said to have known eighteen methods of arranging Minerva’s tresses, Passepartout was familiar with but one of dressing his own: three strokes of a large-tooth comb completed his toilet.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Jules Verne) 1863
He was conversing in the Danish language with a tall man, of robust build. This fine fellow must have been possessed of great strength. His eyes, set in a large and ingenuous face, seemed to me very intelligent; they were of a dreamy sea-blue. Long hair, which would have been called red even in England, fell in long meshes upon his broad shoulders. The movements of this native were lithe and supple; but he made little use of his arms in speaking, like a man who knew nothing or cared nothing about the language of gestures. His whole appearance bespoke perfect calmness and self-possession, not indolence but tranquillity. It was felt at once that he would be beholden to nobody, that he worked for his own convenience, and that nothing in this world could astonish or disturb his philosophic calmness

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne) 1868
Ned Land was about forty years of age; he was a tall man (more than six feet high), strongly built, grave and taciturn, occasionally violent, and very passionate when contradicted. His person attracted attention, but above all the boldness of his look, which gave a singular expression to his face.

Twenty Years Later (Alexandre Dumas) 1845
"Your arm is still strong enough, is it not, Porthos?"

Porthos unbuttoned his sleeve, raised his shirt and looked complacently on his strong arm, as large as the leg of any ordinary man.

"Yes, indeed," said he, "I believe so."

"So that you could without trouble convert these tongs into a hoop and yonder shovel into a corkscrew?"

"Certainly." And the giant took up these two articles, and without any apparent effort produced in them the metamorphoses suggested by his companion.

"There!" he cried.

"Capital!" exclaimed the Gascon. "Really, Porthos, you are a gifted individual!"

"I have heard speak," said Porthos, "of a certain Milo of Crotona, who performed wonderful feats, such as binding his forehead with a cord and bursting it--of killing an ox with a blow of his fist and carrying it home on his shoulders, et cetera. I used to learn all these feat by heart yonder, down at Pierrefonds, and I have done all that he did except breaking a cord by the corrugation of my temples."

"Because your strength is not in your head, Porthos," said his friend.

"No; it is in my arms and shoulders," answered Porthos with gratified naivete.

"Well, my dear friend, let us approach the window and there you can match your strength against that of an iron bar."

Porthos went to the window, took a bar in his hands, clung to it and bent it like a bow; so that the two ends came out of the sockets of stone in which for thirty years they had been fixed.

"Well! friend, the cardinal, although such a genius, could never have done that."

[agreatguy6]

Oooo, 20 Years After has been sitting on my shelf for a hot minute now. Motivation to read 3 Musketeers and 20 Years After? I think so >3

I only remember because this thread reminded me of the book.

Amazon.com: Hercules Doesn't Pull Teeth (The Adventures of the Bailey...
The book Hercules Doesn't Pull Teeth, although does not have muscle growth, had a hulking dentist that kids assume is the son of Zeus, the dentist father where Hercules takes over for the time being.

[MGN]

I remember another Give Yourself Goosebumps book, "Little Comic Shop of Horrors," where one of the early choices puts you in the body of a superhero. Don't remember too much, but I recall that the books describes you looking down and being unable to see over your pecs.

Then there's Conan "The Barbarian" Barber in Monster Blood II and III...

[leedwards2005]

I remembered that story from "Goosebumps" -- Monster Blood 3 .

Also , writing.com have some MG stories there .

[Ohme123]

Wish there was somewhere where you could read these Goosebumps stories online. I remember another one where you eat a peanut butter jelly sandwhich or something and you start to become a giant. Not really muscle but still clothes tearing.

[wishboycmh]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before, but Goosebumps: Horrorland - Monster Blood For Breakfast has a story with growth in it. :-)

[SeanMcGuire]

Originally Posted by Ohme123

Wish there was somewhere where you could read these Goosebumps stories online. I remember another one where you eat a peanut butter jelly sandwhich or something and you start to become a giant. Not really muscle but still clothes tearing.

I wish there was somewhere to read them online, too! :/

Originally Posted by wishboycmh

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before, but Goosebumps: Horrorland - Monster Blood For Breakfast has a story with growth in it. :-)

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. And it was surprisingly good, too. I was always bummed that the Monster Blood books never had any muscle growth, so I was happy when the Horrorland one did.

[Berzerkerjoe]

One book that you might be interested in is Marshmallow Muscles http://ecx.images-amazon.com/../indexes/images/...aL._SS500_.jpg

[Neekko]

Originally Posted by SeanMcGuire

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. And it was surprisingly good, too. I was always bummed that the Monster Blood books never had any muscle growth, so I was happy when the Horrorland one did.

Oh my! Now I must read this one! I'll be honest--I haven't read all the Goosebumps books, just ones that suited my fancy. I kinda stopped reading after Goosebumps 2000 had just started.

[wishboycmh]

I would check out the one I mentioned...I read it again the other day and it's a pretty good growth scene for a kid's book! haha

[darkluster4]

Originally Posted by Berzerkerjoe

One book that you might be interested in is Marshmallow Muscles http://ecx.images-amazon.com/../indexes/images/...aL._SS500_.jpg

Care to give us an abridged teaser of the story?

[Berzerkerjoe]

Well it's about a guy name Pete and he's trying to gain muscles. It's been a while so i forgot most of the story. Sorry.

[Otaru_grower]

I remember that book! Marshmallow Muscles. Kid has fitness parents and they always want him to go to the gym. He wants to finally go for sports because of a girl. It's a very sweet story and has believable muscle growth. The hottest part of it was his parents knew a bodybuilder that owned his own gym. The guy was absolutely HUGE and used to be a skinny little nerd, but his wife pressured him to be bigger. He wound up splitting up with her because his huge muscles were all that she cared about so he moved back to his farm.

The body switch gym teacher book by Todd Strasser was really hot. I recommend it. I'm not ashamed to say it still gets me hard.

[penguin101]

I managed to find a copy of Monster Blood for Breakfast, mostly because R. L. Stine is one of my favourite authors. But I thought I'd isolate the muscle growth section and upload it for anyone to download.

Here's the link to a folder of scanned pages.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OY4NLQ30

Enjoy.

[wishboycmh]

Awesome! Thanks penguin101!

[BastianLe]

There is also one that's about a guy who starts weightlifting, then he takes steroids. Again not muscle growth, but he describes his changes and the like.

[agreatguy6]

I remember there was one about a kid with a thing for comic books, and his friend turned out to be a superhero/villain/something, and grew to be really big and choked the dude til he passed out.

I remember thinking it was REALLY hot as a kid. Well, that's not what I thought, it actually made me extremely uncomfortable, but I realize that was what happened now xD

[wolfotehmoon]

Another one: Warriors of Alavna . Two teenagers (a jock and a large, butch girl) get sent back in time to the Roman invasion of the British isles. They join up with the defending forces, and are made to train with the group's warriors to prepare for a coming attack. The boy turns out to be a berserker, and goes into a blind rage quite a few times, and the girl (who's mistaken for a guy, which leads to her conscription) has magic powers and turns into a man just in time for an *ahem* naked sacred tattooing ceremony. There's also some pretty good descriptions of the warriors themselves, and a bit of a shower scene.

[dodoria21]

K.A. Applegate's series "Animorphs" had a couple MG moments as well. The kids chose large animals to be "battle morphs" and in several books the narrator would describe the feeling of growing into that animal. Two of the books that stood out to me as I read them were "The Invasion" and "The Absolute".

In "The Invasion", the narrator Jake described morphing into a tiger during one of the battles. In this book, the kids hadn't learned to morph tight clothing so their clothes would rip off. The sentences went something like "My arms bulged and rippled. They were massive! My shirt ripped"

And in "The Absolute", the narrator Marco described his muscles bulging as he morphed a gorilla. The lines went "My chest and shoulders bulged. Stomach rippled. Biceps. Deltoids. Pecs. I was beefy. Buff" That one stood out the most. Later in the book he briefly describes his muscles bulging again

[Neekko]

If this is necroing, my bad!

Anyway, long time no see! Last night I just started a book by John Saul called Creature . One of the reviews on the Amazon page says (with growth-themed content bolded):

"Another in the horror sub-genre of dreadful experiments performed on an unwitting small town. The idyllic Silverdale, Colorado is the site of Tarrentech Industries' research facility. Tarrentech has rebuilt the fading Silverdale, providing jobs and more, and now virtually owns the town and its inhabitants. But Tarrentech is conducting growth-hormone experiments on the high school football team, under the guise of a vitamin and exercise regimen. The boys begin to display amazing strength, and an almost murderous aggression both on the field and off. Tarrentech covers up by directing the boys to kill anyone who questions their behavior--even their own families. Entertaining for readers who want horror/suspense fiction of any kind, or where Saul's best selling novels ( The God Project , Suffer the Children ) are in demand."

I purchased this book for that one reason and I am excited to see where the story goes!

[bi_guy]

Well i don't know if anyone else already mentioned it, since i didn't read the ENTIRE post lol, but if you read Spooksville #6, which i happened to do when i was younger, it has the four main characters get stuck in a witches castle and each draw a talisman that binds over their necks and causes one to grow old, one to grow young, one to become beautiful and shine [eventually she shines too much and starts to fade] and lastly the other kid can't stop growing muscles. Needless to say my young imagination was quenched. its a fun read, and a pretty good book.

[Muscle_Knight]

Originally Posted by bi_guy

Well i don't know if anyone else already mentioned it, since i didn't read the ENTIRE post lol, but if you read Spooksville #6, which i happened to do when i was younger, it has the four main characters get stuck in a witches castle and each draw a talisman that binds over their necks and causes one to grow old, one to grow young, one to become beautiful and shine [eventually she shines too much and starts to fade] and lastly the other kid can't stop growing muscles. Needless to say my young imagination was quenched. its a fun read, and a pretty good book.

I remember reading that as a kid - the MG in it was awesome if I remember correctly. Would love to get an e-copy of it but there doesn't seem to be one around...

[dodoria21]

i remember spooksville as a kid. I don't think I ever read the one you're talking about, but now I wish I had. I enjoyed the few books of that series I read

[avono]

lurker here, don't want to be a thread necro but what other recommendations are still out there?

recently discovered this gem my be we should we start tagging books in good reads ...

[cantbe2big]

I remember reading this book in middle school.

Amazon.com: Help! I'm Trapped in My Gym Teacher's Body...

[darkknight]

Some strories I can't believe haven't been mentioned:

"Night In Werewolf Woods". A Choose Your Own Adventure "Goosebumps" book that had one of the choices being turning into a giant hulking monster or becoming very smart. I remember some great descriptions of strength, one involving a nerd character lifting up a tree and going "The power!" or some such. Also another scene in which the lead character walked down a staircase and found himself having to descend sideways because his shoulders were too big!

"You Are A Monster" from the "Choose Your own Adventure" series had a kid being injected with gorilla and bear ADN and turning into a massive monster. He grew over 7 feet and was "the strongest thing in the world". It also has werewolf-like descriptions in which he grows hair, fangs, etc.

"The Knight" by Gene Wolfe is a great young adult fantasy story about a young kid transported into a fantasy world. Early into the story an elf maiden turns him into an adult knight. There are many descriptions about how huge he's become and how he gets used to having so much strength and size.

[CactusSmasher]

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned MG in the "Animorphs" series of books, and I remembered another instance of MG that the poster bypassed. In "The Experiment," the group acquires chimpanzee DNA, and Ax describes his arms becoming bulky and muscular as he transforms. I remember checking that book out of the library many times as a kid for that one specific scene.

[popebuck1]

...but there was a book (something in the Goosebumps genre, if not the actual series) where a boy finds a magic ring that turns him into a muscle-bound flying demon by night. The author really kind of lovingly lingers on how handsome and strong the kid's demon-self is, which makes me think the author must be one of us on some level.

Anyway, the kid makes the mistake of using the ring three nights in a row at the full moon, and so at the end, even though he's given the ring back by then, it becomes clear he's going to KEEP turning into the demon every month. The way it's written, it's like a clear metaphor for a gay identity. Now I just wish I could remember the title!

[dodoria21]

Originally Posted by CactusSmasher

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned MG in the "Animorphs" series of books, and I remembered another instance of MG that the poster bypassed. In "The Experiment," the group acquires chimpanzee DNA, and Ax describes his arms becoming bulky and muscular as he transforms. I remember checking that book out of the library many times as a kid for that one specific scene.

Yea that was me who mentioned animorphs and yes I definitely forgot this one. It's been so long since I read them. I may need to go to the attic and bring em out so I can relive some of my childhood

[MGN]

Originally Posted by popebuck1

...but there was a book (something in the Goosebumps genre, if not the actual series) where a boy finds a magic ring that turns him into a muscle-bound flying demon by night. The author really kind of lovingly lingers on how handsome and strong the kid's demon-self is, which makes me think the author must be one of us on some level.

Anyway, the kid makes the mistake of using the ring three nights in a row at the full moon, and so at the end, even though he's given the ring back by then, it becomes clear he's going to KEEP turning into the demon every month. The way it's written, it's like a clear metaphor for a gay identity. Now I just wish I could remember the title!

"The Monster's Ring" by Bruce Coville. Guy was my favorite sci-fi/fantasy author as a kid.

[Raymansundance]

It's not muscle growth but as a kid there was help I'm trapped in a gym teachers body. The title pretty much describes the book.

[Ihsan]

Does anyone still have the Goosebump pages that penguin101 uploaded? Megaupload has ceased to exist and i really want to read them.

[penguin101]

Fear not. I still have them....

[Kyrosan]

I'm rather curious to read that "Witch's Revenge" growth sequence...

[bulgo]

Originally Posted by Kyrosan

I'm rather curious to read that "Witch's Revenge" growth sequence...

Same here. Been looking for ebooks... no luck.