EDIT: I completed my side quest of 2024! This page features my initial comments after reading each of the books. You can find compiled entries below:
Apparently I didn’t write one for books 52-62 and it’s been too long for me to write anything of substance now, so… oops.
Here’s my top five Goosebumps books!
I’m attempting to read all of R.L. Stine’s original 62 book Goosebumps collection, after being inspired by discovering a box of my original copies at my parents’ home when I went to visit over Christmas. Instead of hauling them back to Korea, I signed up for a couple of digital library cards from my home state so I could read them for free on my Kindle. Initially I was planning on reading them in order, until I saw that there was a 16 week waitlist for the second book. Since they’re “monster-of-the-week” books with a few exceptions, I’ve decided to read them as I borrow them from the library and make short notes on the books here.
All original book cover images can be found here.
A full list of R.L. Stine’s books in pdf format can be found on the right side of this page on his homepage.
1. Welcome to Dead House (July 1992)
A classic opener to the series that I did not remember at all. Good foreshadowing, not too scary. I feel like this premise has been fleshed out more by authors and film makers for adult books and movies but it’s still a good, solid premise (distant relative leaves a house to you in their will, but once you move in, you start noticing some strange things about the neighborhood). / finished January 2024, #1/62
2. Stay Out of the Basement (July 1992)
It took me a couple months and at least two library renewals to finally finish this while waiting for the doctor. I was bored. I wonder if this book was the first encounter of the “you’re the phony/no YOU’RE the phony” trope for a lot children. It wasn’t done very well and could have been edited, though. The ending was cute, though. / finished April 2024, #7/62
3. Monster Blood (September 1992)
Arguably the most well-known Goosebumps book, it’s pretty exciting from start to finish but there are a lot of pieces missing from the book. I’m curious to see what will happen in its future installments, as I know Stine has written quite a few Monster Blood sequels. I’m also beginning to wonder about the appeal of old and/or abandoned toy/costume shops that seem to keep appearing in the series. All I remember from my childhood was KB Toys in the mall, before the entire mall became pretty much abandoned. Is Middle America lined with failing businesses with creepy owners? / finished July 2024, #18/62
4. Say Cheese and Die! (November 1992)
Easily one of the most memorable covers of a Goosebumps book. A lot of people seem to feel conflicted on this one on Goodreads, mainly with the idea that these tween kids break and enter an old abandoned house and proceed to steal a creepy camera, but I wasn’t bored at all while reading and I also didn’t feel (then, nor now) like I need to go break into an abandoned house in search of a good time. / finished June 2024, #13/62
5. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (January 1993)
When I was in the 7th/8th grade, I really wanted to become an Egyptologist, specializing in the 18th Dynasty. The 18th Dynasty was home to some of the biggest names in Egyptian royalty: Tutankhamun, Akhenaten, and two queen regnants–Queen Hatshepsut and Queen Nefertiti. It’s debated that during the reign of Akhenaten, the world’s first monotheistic religion was developed, as Akhenaten formally installed Aten, a sun god, as the primary deity. This, however, ended after his death and his successors went back to worshipping multiple deities that included a sun god named Amun.
This book spins its tale around an Egyptian-North American family that travel to Egypt for the parents’ work. The son is left with his cousin and uncle, who works as an archaeologist and takes them on a tour of one of the great pyramids. The book itself wasn’t that good, as the descriptions of Cairo were very vague and lacked the solid setting Stine has created with his other work, and some of the plot was weird, but it wasn’t as xenophobic as I expected from a book written in the early-mid 90s to be. To give credit where credit’s due, I think this book, being set in another country, was a good thing for a franchise that, thus far, focuses primarily on (white*) North American children. / finished February 2024, #4/62
6. Let’s Get Invisible (March 1993)
This book centers on a mysterious mirror locked away in an attic that has a light chain that, when pulled, makes the individual invisible until the light chain is pulled again. The first half of the book was really sleepy and really boring, but it wasn’t until the kids decide to start a competition to see who can stay invisible the longest did things get interesting.
Reading children’s and YA literature as an adult has been a trip. I’m used to the “one more chapter and then I’ll go to bed” feeling, but the Goosebumps collection takes this into overdrive, with each chapter having a killer cliff-hanger that would certainly see your kid hiding under the covers with their flashlight.
I enjoyed the twist ending as there was a little more foreshadowing than in some of Stine’s other books, but Grammy and Poppy could easily have had a book written on their characters–since, after all, the mirror was theirs in the first place. / finished February 2024, #5/62
7. Night of the Living Dummy (May 1993)
Arguably one of the more popular Goosebumps books, I didn’t remember this one at all. I was actually somewhat surprised that Slappy, the notoriously evil ventriloquist dummy, was not actually the villian in this, the first book of the Slappy arc.
The twin sibling rivalry was annoying, but maybe that’s how it really is, especially when you’re at the age the twins are. There seemed to be a few plot holes in this book, or things that just didn’t make sense at the end of the book. / finished February 2024, #6/62
8. The Girl Who Cried Monster (May 1993)
This one I remember. I couldn’t recall the twist ending exactly, but I knew it was coming. There was a distinct lack of foreshadowing here that works for a YA book but would not work for an adult book, where the reader expects more build up and payoff. I’d recommend this book to my more advanced students who like scary stuff, as it isn’t too scary and the twist is fun to talk about. / finished January 2024, #2/62
9. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (July 1993)
Another book I only vaguely remember. The twist at the end has no foreshadowing, but I can understand why 8-10 year old me loved the series as a whole. At every turn, in this book especially, something weird and unusual happens, sending the reader into an almost panicked spin as they try to figure out, like the protagonist here, just what is happening. / finished February 2024, #3/62
10. The Ghost Next Door (August 1993)
This book is more complex than other Goosebumps books. Dare I say that I, an adult, was on the edge of my seat near the end trying to figure out what was actually going on? Well played, Stine. Well played. / finished June 2024, #16/62
11. The Haunted Mask (September 1993)
I vaguely remember this book, but once you start reading it, you know where the story is going to take you. Reminiscent of the great Twilight Zone episode “The Masks” (which was the only original episode of the Twilight Zone directed by a woman, Ida Lupino), a young girl known as a scaredy-cat who has constant pranks pulled on her finally gets her vengeance Halloween night thanks to a grotesque mask from the new Halloween mask store in town.
Frankly, I loved this book. It was simple. It was perfect. It was whittled down to its bare essence; the jump-scares weren’t too much, neither were the chapter-end cliff-hangers. I curled under my covers to start reading it and before I knew it, I had finished the book. I’m sure my younger self did the same, and that is one of the reasons why I’m re-reading this series… to experience the same goofy horror I did as a child, the same desire for and love of reading. / finished May 2024, #8/62
12. Be Careful What You Wish For… (October 1993)
This one was predictable and pretty boring. The whole “three wishes” trope isn’t new, nor has anything new been done with it for a long time. / finished June 2024, #17/62
13. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (November 1993)
Something tells me Stine had a traumatic experience around music lessons as a child…
This book was a mess. I liked the premise of a haunted piano, and creepy piano school and schoolteacher, but then … robots and… ghosts? Memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.
I still have nightmares that I dropped out of marching band my senior year. One morning I was absolutely convinced I had done so and was filled with regret because had I hung on for one more year, I would have received a varsity letter for band… and then I remembered, duh, I was in marching band from the fifth grade on.
Maybe I should try my hand at writing a YA book centered around an experience in marching band, because I have loads of interesting ones. A band member could easily have gone missing during the Fall Festival… / finished July 2024; #20/62
14. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (December 1993)
Again with the random plot twist that has no foreshadowing. Still a better love story than Twilight. And there isn’t even a love story. Also, there’s mention that the protagonist wears an item of clothing of the Raiders logo, not because he likes the team, but he just likes the black and silver colors. Ah, the days of the Charlotte Hornets teal and purple trend… which, yes, I participated in. I even had teal and purple rubber bands on my braces at one point in time. / finished September 2024; #41/62
15. You Can’t Scare Me! (January 1994)
This one was a big letdown. I expected a different ending. There was all this build up, only to finish with a whimper. I still think my imagined ending was better than what was written, but it would also have been too close to the ending of another book in the series. The book also reminded me of a joke from a friend a long time ago, when I was living outside DC. We had been discussing cryptids and monsters. “If there was a cryptid living in the woods of PG County, what would it be?” “Rabid.” / finished August 2024; #33/62
16. One Day at Horrorland (February 1994)
I distinctly remember reading this book (and it’s very of-the-time teal-and-purple color scheme) at my parents’ house during 4th of July. I remember reading it in one-sitting and loving it, and I basically did that again this time.
This is one of Stine’s masterpieces, and it led to a video game named Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland that terrified me as a child (being chased down a maze by a mummy) and also had a captivating cameo from none-other than Jeff Goldblum, in addition to other books.
I can’t quite put my finger on what makes this book better than the others. The transitions are smoother, and the foreshadowing packs a more suspenseful punch (or should I say, pinch) than it does in some of the other books. It is a delight to read and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. / finished May 2024, #10/62
17. Why I’m Afraid of Bees (March 1994)
A weird little book reminiscent of Piano Lessons Can Be Murder. I imagine that both the piano academy and the Person-to-Person company exist in same, nondescript, yet still creepy, building.
I’m a little confused by the ending. I thought the ending would be different, but as it is, it doesn’t make much sense. The very end, and witnessing the aftermath of the experiment, was a fun little thing to discover. / finished September 2024; #39/62
18. Monster Blood II (April 1994)
I like where Stine took this sequel. It involved the same cast, but a different location, after Evan has moved to Atlanta, and mistakenly told all of his classmates about Monster Blood which doesn’t garner him any friends. Look at the cover, you can tell what happens. The ending was an easy way out of the current story arc, but it mirrored one of the things discussed in the first book, so I’ll let it slide. I mean, the book is 20 years old, I kinda have to. / finished August 2024, #35/62
19. Deep Trouble (May 1994)
I went into this book not knowing what to expect. It has more of a fantasy twist than the other books in Stine’s collection, but I thought it was a really cute concept that was executed well. I’d recommend this one to those who aren’t into horror but want to try on a Goosebumps book. / finished June 2024, #14/62
20. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (June 1994)
I’m pretty sure this was one of the Goosebumps television show episodes I watched, as I quickly skimmed through some clips online and it seems very familiar. Overall, the book was rather meh, but had promise had it not been a YA book. This is the kind of book that my elementary school made our parents sign permission slips to read, and that is pretty ridiculous. I wish I could say we’ve come a long way but… here we are. When I get a chance, I’ll watch the episode and update here. / finished July 2024, #22/62
21. Go Eat Worms! (July 1994)
What a mess this one was. Plot holes galore. The ending reminds me of an experience I had in the fourth grade that led to some nightmares. / finished August 2024, #25/62
22. Ghost Beach (August 1994)
I figured out what was going to happen right away in this book, but it was still a pleasant read. I think this was in part due to the setting of New England, which is very reminiscent of the initial setting of the other book I’m currently tackling (again), Moby Dick. / finished September 2024, #40/62
23. Return of the Mummy (September 1994)
And we’re back in Egypt with Gabe, Sari, and Uncle Ben. I’m glad I find these character likeable, even if they’re a bit annoying. I didn’t know where this was going, but Stine clearly left himself a little out for the possibility of a third book following the crew. It is refreshing to read a Goosebumps book that doesn’t take place in a middle-class suburb. / finished August 2024; #26/62
24. Phantom of the Auditorium (October 1994)
I fell asleep reading this one. This one is reminiscent of so many other stories and brings nothing new to the table. I didn’t find the characters very likeable, either. I could see the scenes pretty clearly in my head, which makes me wonder if it was one of the stories chosen for the Goosebumps TV series. / finished August 2024, #24/62
25. Attack of the Mutant (November 1994)
Based on cover art alone, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be interested in this book. I’m not a big superhero fan. But this was a fantastic little story. The protagonist is a big comic book collector, much to the dismay of his parents, and one day comes across a building that looks exactly like the headquarters of a supervillain in the one comic book he’s obsessed with. He returns a few days later, and the building is gone, but he goes home to read a new comic stating that the building was cloaked in an Invisibility Cloak… could it be? I really hope they made this into a TV episode, although with the special effects of the late 90s, it probably wasn’t as visually appealing as it could be if it were done today. I’m willing to overlook some of the plot holes of the book, because I enjoyed it that much. This is up there with my favorites so far. / finished August 2024, #34/62
26. My Hairiest Adventure (December 1994)
I wasn’t looking forward to reading this one based on the cover, but once I got into the story, I remembered reading it long ago. It was an enjoyable, although a little sad, read.
27. A Night in Terror Tower (January 1995)
I felt some of the foreshadowing in this book was too overt, but that’s adult me speaking. Usually the foreshadowing has a steady hand behind it, but this one blew the plot before it even got the ball rolling and I believe any 12-year-old picking up this book would have guessed what is happening right away. I would have loved more of the London setting, as this is one of the few books that takes place outside Middle America. / finished July 2024, #21/62
28. The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (February 1995)
I seem to recall this one pretty well, but I didn’t recall the ending until I got to it. This was an enjoyable read with a good plot that moved along at just the right pace, and for once, a bratty character gets their justice. / finished December 2024, #54/62
29. Monster Blood III (March 1995)
Who names their kid Kermit in the 1990s? I digress. I like how the story unfolds, but the background is a bit unbelievable, the whole kid-genius thing. It was a fresh take on the Monster Blood series, however, which was a good thing because I really worried the sequential books would be boring. I can only wonder what the next book (which was also the last in the original 62-series) holds… / finished August 2024, #36/62
30. It Came From Beneath the Sink! (April 1995)
This was the final of the trio of Goosebumps my school’s library had (How I Learned to Fly and Monster Blood were the other two). This one was really nothing to write home about. New house, strange thing under the sink, turns out to kill it you have to… I think a large appeal of the Goosebumps collection for tweens and teens is that they are written in settings that are naturally scary for them: new house, visiting relatives you don’t really know, growing up with siblings, etc. They’re both relatable as well as fantastical, and there’s something magical about Stine having struck that gold, especially in the mid 90s when I was at the right age to be reading his books. / finished July 2024, #23/62
31. Night of the Living Dummy 2 (May 1995)
Slappy’s back… and up to no good in this story. Something felt missing to me in this book, and I found the ending set-up to be unbelievable. I liked the twist at the end, however. We’ll see what else Slappy gets up to in the next installment. / finished May 2024, #12/62
32. The Barking Ghost (June 1995)
This book is sooooo slow at the beginning. The ending is funny and cute, but if I were a kid, I might have a hard time getting into this one just because of the slow and predictable start. / finished December 2024, #58/62
33. The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (July 1995)
I wasn’t looking forward to reading another camp book, as I never went to summer camp as a child. In this tale, the trailer connected to a car comes loose and the two kids inside it barrel down the hill, winding up at Camp Jellyjam, where the motto is “Only the Best” and something feels a bit… off. It was amusing to read this after having finished The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre and safe to say, I don’t plan on eating jelly anytime soon. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, perhaps it was a little scarier than some of the other books in the series.
Worth noting is the first mention of the first black character, a girl at the camp. / finished August 2024, #31/62
34. Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes (August 1995)
I feel like “revenge” of the lawn gnomes is a misleading title because we, as humans, don’t really do much to lawn gnomes other than just place them in our yards for decoration. The book goes a little into some made-up lore of gnomes being real creatures that were kidnapped, but it’s not enough to warrant the “revenge” title in my opinion.
I only have good memories surrounding lawn gnomes, as it became something of an on-going joke with my paternal grandfather that we would get him a lawn gnome for every holiday. After he passed, we would also place lawn gnomes on his gravestone. I’m not sure where the whole idea came from or if he even liked lawn gnomes.
This was a quick read before bed, and definitely a story that would resonate more with a twelve-year-old (as they all are in this series). / finished July 2024, #19/62
35. A Shocker on Shock Street (September 1995)
First thoughts: a One Day at Horrorland knock-off. Second thoughts: I remember this ending and there wasn’t enough foreshadowing in the book for it to have hit the right way. / finished December 2024, #56/62
36. The Haunted Mask II (October 1995)
There’s only two of these Haunted Mask books in the original 62-book series, right? Okay, good. Because while I loved The Haunted Mask, this is a concept that could go on forever and become incredibly redundant and boring. I did enjoy that the book directly follows The Haunted Mask and shares the same characters, as well as the odd little dance. When you get to it, you’ll understand. / finished June 2024, #15/62
37. The Headless Ghost (November 1995)
This was a pretty solid book throughout. I feel like Stine got better at his descriptions of place as the series went on, as I could really see the places described in the story. / finished October 2024; #47/62
38. The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena (December 1995)
I really enjoyed the Alaskan setting of the first half of the story, but I’m curious as to what happened to one character. I also don’t know if I totally buy the ending. I absolutely love finding out what the snowman likes to eat. It was genius and hilarious, perhaps one of my favorite moments in all the books I’ve read thus far. / finished September 2024, #42/62
39. How I Got My Shrunken Head (January 1996)
This one felt a little weird, plot wise. Right from the beginning, I thought it was weird that the family would just let their child go to a jungle with his aunt’s coworker without any real notice–just a letter that was apparently “lost” but ah, I guess those were the days. Now, they could have just pulled up WhatsApp/Kakao/Skype/etc. and done a video call with the aunt from a remote corner of the jungle. I mean, my parents let me put my home address, age, and hobbies in a magazine when I was around 12 years old that was given to children all over the country who visited Frisch’s Big Boy and the idea of doing that now seems incredibly scary. There’s always a little surprise at the end of the Goosebumps books. Sometimes I find them frustrating, but this one felt just right. / finished December 2024, #52/62
40. Night of the Living Dummy 3 (February 1996)
I must admit that I don’t necessarily understand the love for the Night of the Living Dummy arc. Maybe it’s because I don’t find puppets particularly scary. This was a nice end to the arc, however, and the plot was a bit more complex than some of the other Goosebumps books. / finished October 2024, #48/62
41. Bad Hare Day (March 1996)
This was one of those books that I somewhat remember reading. As far as Goosebumps books go, this seems sloppy and put together at the last minute. The parents are also absolutely insufferable in this one. / finished September 2024, #44/62
42. Egg Monsters from Mars (April 1996)
There have been accusations that Stine used ghostwriters at some point in his career. If he did, I would highly suspect this book. Something about the writing style and pace seemed much different the others in the collection I’ve read, and by this point, I’ve read a lot.
That being said, I strangely enjoyed this one, although I wasn’t looking forward to it because it sounded really cheesy. I also wasn’t a fan that the copy I got from the library could only be accessed on the Libby app and not through Kindle, but I managed to knock it out on my tablet pretty quickly.
Throughout reading this collection, a small town has appeared in my head, with all the major locations of the stories I’ve read. I don’t think they’ve all happened in the same universe, but certain books could certainly be claimed to be from the same universe. / finished December 2024, #55/62
43. The Beast from the East (May 1996)
Even though the term “beast from the east” is a term to mean wintry conditions in the UK, here it’s used in a very different way–it’s the name of a twisted game of tag played by strange creatures in a forest. I was a little wary of this book at first, but I ended up really enjoying the plot and the main character. / finished December 2024, #57/62
44. Say Cheese and Die–Again! (June 1996)
They wanted a sequel, and this is what they came up with? I liked the beginning–of course the kid would write a report about what happened in the first book for his “nonfiction” report and fail–but then it just spiraled for me. I don’t like the blurb on the cover of the book, either. I wish Stine would have gone into the background of the inventor of the camera instead, but then again, that wouldn’t be a book for children, presumably. / finished August 2024, #30/62
45. Ghost Camp (July 1996)
Another one that I remembered, although I didn’t realize it until halfway through the book. The ending is pretty easy to guess. I’ve heard that this is the one of the scarier Goosebumps books, but I’d have to disagree. I think more could have been done with the the story. / finished December 2024, #62/62
46. How to Kill a Monster (August 1996)
Wow. Not only one of my favorite covers, but this almost exactly explains a recurring nightmare I had as a child featuring a staircase, piano, and a monster chasing me. The most ridiculous thing about this book was the fact that the grandparents left the key in the door’s lock… The ending was a pretty solid one as well. / finished September 2024, #43/62
47. Legend of the Lost Legend (September 1996)
I really enjoyed the ending on this one. And the forest in the middle was an interesting one. However, this book did not come together at all. The ending was good, but it would have been better attached to something else. / finished December 2024, #53/62
48. Attack of the Jack-O’-Lanterns (October 1996)
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. For starters, it was one of the books that I had to be put on a waitlist twice for, although I was reading it around Halloween time. I enjoyed the book and found the scares to be really interesting, but the plot twist… I have thoughts on some of the plot twists in Stine’s book as they relate to childhood imagination and wonder. This one was not a good plot twist as there was literally no foreshadowing. / finished December 2024; #51/62
49. Vampire Breath (November 1996)
I knew the beginning was going to tie into the ending. I somewhat recall the tunnel scenes, but I was actually not looking forward to reading this one for some reason. It’s not that I don’t like vampires, I just wasn’t feeling the updated cover or the title. I believe this is the only vampire Goosebumps book, and probably for good reason. / finished November 2024; #49/62
50. Calling All Creeps! (December 1996)
This is another one that I enjoyed that I thought I wouldn’t. The story of the boy who gets endlessly bullied probably resonated a lot with me as an awkward tween, and the ending is one of those imaginary “if only” endings.
Spoilers ahead: I knew that Ricky shouldn’t put the seeds in the macaroni and cheese because it was foreshadowed that kids only ate pizza and hamburgers from the hot side. I had a feeling that Iris was the Commander due to the fact that she had the initial idea to bake cookies for the bake sale, but it’s never disclosed who the Commander really is, and that’s really annoying. Iris is a brand new student at the school and the gang of four came last year, so the Commander has to be someone else. I’m not sure if there is a way to have written an ending that revealed the true identity of the Commander, however, as that wasn’t the point of the entire story. / finished August 2024; #28/62
51. Beware, the Snowman (January 1997)
Again one of the ones I was not looking forward to read. Disappointed in the ending, as I had more hope for the abilities of the protagonist. / finished November 2024; #50/62
52. How I Learned to Fly (February 1997)
I really hated the characters in this one. And of course, this is the only Goosebumps book my school’s library has, and my students have been asking me when I’m going to be finished reading it because they want to read it next. It was miscatalogued as a reading level 13, when it should be around a 3 or 4, so I told them that once I finished reading the book, I’d return it so they could check it out. Unfortunately, this was a real dud of a book. Maybe the students will enjoy it, since it isn’t a “scary” book. / finished May 2024, #9/62
53. Chicken Chicken (March 1997)
Wow. This one was bad. Really bad. There’s nothing more to say. / finished October 2024; #46/62
54. Don’t Go to Sleep! (April 1997)
Kid sleeps in the guest room and suddenly, every time he awakens, he has changed into someone–or something–else. This one took me for a tail spin as the ending went up and down plot-wise as it became a wild goose chase, and felt like a ghostwriter wrote it, to be honest. I would not be surprised at all if a ghostwriter wrote this book based on Stine’s outlines, because the writing felt different, although the ending was clearly Stine’s. / finished December 2024, #61/62
55. The Blob That Ate Everyone (May 1997)
Apparently I also decided to read this back in 2008 and only gave it two stars. This time around, I’m giving it three, because while the story is hackneyed, it is also the exact kind of story that I probably wrote when I was 12. Man, Stine really tapped into the mind of the average 12-year-old weirdo with this one.
This is the second book in the series to mention a black character. / finished August 2024, #32/62
56. The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (June 1997)
I think I remember either reading this one or watching its episode on the TV. There was little foreshadowing to the ending, although I really enjoyed Della’s character a lot. This book could have been expanded a bit to solve some of the plot holes. / finished September 2024; #37/62
57. My Best Friend is Invisible (July 1997)
Well, that was interesting. The title is misleading, for starters–it’s not the “best friend” that is invisible, but a random invisible boy that finds his way into the protagonist’s bedroom one night. The ending has a major plot twist that comes out of left field, but is reminiscent of another book in the collection. / finished August 2024, #29/62
58. Deep Trouble II (August 1997)
I understand why it was hard to find a copy of this one. It’s a mess, the characters are not interesting at all, and the plot is all over the place. / finished September 2024, #45/62
59. The Haunted School (September 1997)
I decided to spend a prep period scouring my school library’s shelves, looking for either the icon apple logo or the iconic “Goosebumps” writing and came across 3 additional Goosebumps books in the library. The first one, “How I Learned To Fly,” was a total dud and had been so miscatalogued that they didn’t have a corresponding quiz so my students couldn’t check it out of the library. The others have quiz numbers, so I quickly read this in one sitting so I could give it to one of my students before their next class.
I’m a sucker for school-related horror, perhaps owing to my own horrendous time in school. I enjoyed this, but felt that there were a lot of holes and a lot that could have been expanded upon. This would have been really interesting as a novella geared towards a more adult audience and I think limiting it to a YA novel hindered what could have been a really awesome storyline.
I handed it off to my student today. It was the talk of the class, as they all wanted to look through it, and were gaping at the fact that it has chapters. This is precisely why I’m thankful the Goosebumps series exists–it’s an excellent bridge between the land of children’s books and slightly more difficult chapter books. / finished May 2024, #11/62
60. Werewolf Skin (October 1997)
Stine had me until the end. I was really trying to figure out who the werewolves were. I enjoyed reading this, but was really unhappy with the ending. Bonus: our second specific non-white character in Arjun, an Indian student at the school.
Spoilers ahead: I thought the story would end with the admission that the boy’s Aunt and Uncle were werewolves and he was sent away to stay with them for a while during the full moon on a Halloween so he could try on his own werewolf skin for the first time. A sort of, “Surprise! You’re a werewolf!” The ending had the biggest plothole ever–if Hannah wore her own werewolf skin, then she only stole one from the boy’s Aunt and Uncle, and therefore only one of them was “cured.” Also, the “cure” was to burn the werewolf skin, not steal it and not allow the werewolf to wear it during the full moon. The editors should have sent this back for a tightening. / finished August 2024; #27/62
61. I Live in Your Basement! (November 1997)
This was a fun, spooky read. Again, though, it felt like a ghostwriter wrote this. The plot was up and down and had lots of twists and turns, but it was a pleasant book and Stine’s humor came through. / finished December 2024, #60/62
62. Monster Blood IV (December 1997)
I really enjoyed this spin on the Monster Blood series. However, I would have written the scientist out of it entirely. I’d rather just imagine different versions of monster blood out there, existing. The scientist was just an odd addition to the book, to the point where I don’t even feel the need to point out that it’s technically a spoiler because nothing really happens with the character. This rounds out the Monster Blood arc nicely, I think. / finished September 2024; #38/62
Koffee & Kpop 