Halloween is also the night of the full moon, so the transformation is extra powerful. The resulting trouble ends up in a confrontation with his mother in which Russell demands that she stop treating him like a baby.Finally, on Halloween Russell takes the last step and transforms into a hideous winged creature. Unfortunately, Russell finds himself acting in a most monster-like fashion, behavior he cannot control.

Using the ring seems to have the side effect of making Russell bolder and more pugnacious, resulting in a fight with Eddie in the cafeteria and a confrontation with Russell's father that finally gets him listening to Russell.Emboldened by his ability to turn into a scary monster, Russell decides to wear his monster shape as his costume for his class Halloween party. Russell, of course, ignores this warning. The instructions also say that each turn of the ring will make the transformation bigger and scarier, but warns of possible side effects. Elives magic shop, where the mysterious proprietor sells him 'what he needs', a ring.The ring, it turns out, is magical, and by following some instructions included with it, Russell can turn himself into a monster complete with fur, horns, fangs, and claws. While fleeing his nemesis, Russell stumbles onto Mr. He is also tormented by the class bully Eddie. To Russell's chagrin, his father doesn't listen to him, and his mother babies him. It is also a silly story about dressing up and having fun on Halloween.Russell, the central character of the book, is a fifth grader who is fascinated by monster (owning a huge collection of monster comics) and even though some of his classmates say it is 'kid stuff' is excited about the prospect of dressing as a monster for Halloween.

The first of the Magic Shop books, The Monster's Ring is a story about growing up, facing your fears, and learning how to confront difficulties without losing your head.

The Monster's Ring by Bruce Coville