Goosebumps book 20: The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight - It’s a field of screams!

WOW. It has been awhile. But don't worry, I have still been keeping up on my reading, I just lacked internet access for the past month.

Brief Summary: 

Jodie and Mark are visiting Grandma and Grandpa on their farm, but things are weird. Grandma won’t make pancakes and Grandpa won’t tell scary stories and resident farmhand Stanley won’t stop talking about his “superstition book”, which is never described beyond that. The kids start seeing things, it’s as if the 12 new scarecrows are coming alive! But that couldn’t be, Jodie thinks it’s Stanley’s teenage son, “Sticks”, playing tricks on them. And as expected, things get wildly out of control from there. 

Spoilers and Review:

This is pretty standard Goosebumps, but I have some questions. Almost immediately we meet Stanley the farmhand who is described as “weird” and “not very smart” and we are clearly being led to believe that he has some mental differences, and I’ll be honest, I was pretty unsettled by the way Stanley was portrayed, because he is also presented as “the bad guy” or at least the root of the problem, and his entire character development is inconsistent because most of the time he is entirely sweet and well-meaning but also for some reason is blackmailing his bosses to do everything his way or else he’ll send the scarecrows after them? It didn’t make a lot of sense and I didn’t care for it, it made me uncomfortable.

But other than that, the scarecrows are actually pretty scary, even though their intentions are never clear, like when all the scarecrows rip their own heads off and keep attacking SO THEY SET THEM ON FIRE was such crazy imagery and I LOVED IT. But seriously, someone’s gotta get that superstition book away from Stanley because the “twist ending” involves Stanley bringing a full sized taxidermy BEAR to life. Nope.

The Rating: 

Definitely not the best story but a fun scary monster. 

1. One Day at HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Why I’m Afraid of Bees (#17)
4. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
5. Deep Trouble (#19)
6. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
7. The Haunted Mask (#11)
8. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
9. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
10. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
11. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
12. Let’s Get Invisible! (#6)
13. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (#20)
14. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
15. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
16. Monster Blood (#3)
17. Be Careful What You Wish For… (#12)
18. You Can’t Scare Me! (#15)
19. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (#5)
20. Monster Blood II (#18)

Next is Go Eat Worms which I imagine is a pretty self-explanatory title. 

Goosebumps book 19: Deep Trouble - Just when you thought it was safe...

Brief Summary: 

Betcha didn't think this book would be about mermaids, because I certainly did not. Billy is staying with his scientist uncle Dr. D on a boat where he's studying some sea life or something. When some people from a zoo show up and convince Dr. D to find a mermaid for their zoo, Billy wants to be a part of the expedition, and what do you know, he finds a mermaid, but he feels a little weird when they lock his new mermaid friend up in a tank! And then she gets kidnapped! And the kidnappers try to drown Billy and his family! Yikes! 

Spoilers and Review:

The ocean both fascinates and terrifies me. I panicked every time Billy went swimming in the ocean in the middle of the night. The cover is misleading because there is not a lot of shark action, and Billy keeps mentioning a sea monster that I would like to know more about, but honestly it was such a dramatic tale! 

Let me just say that one time I was babysitting a five-year-old and the game she made up for us to play was one where we were mermaids kidnapped from our homes by humans who sold us to the circus. Replace the circus with the zoo and tell it from the perspective of the humans who kidnapped us and you have this book.

Except in this book the humans change their minds about the morality of their decisions once the mermaid is re-kidnapped from them, and almost drown (too scary) and then free the mermaid back into the ocean. 

Oh and the betrayal! Alexander, Dr. D's assistant who can't cook, turns on them all and tries to kill them to make money off a mermaid! The drama! I maybe should've seen that coming but I did not. 

But again, why the sea monster? Hopefully the sea monster makes an appearance in Deep Trouble II.

The Rating: 

I don't know how to rate this one because it's such a different vibe, but I loved it for that. I had to do some other rearranging to accommodate ranking this one. 

1. One Day At HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Why I'm Afraid of Bees (#17)
4. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
5. Deep Trouble (#19)
6. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
7. The Haunted Mask (#11)
8. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
9. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
10. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
11. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
12. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
13. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
14. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
15. Monster Blood (#3)
16. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
17. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
18. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)
19. Monster Blood II (#18)

Coming up next is The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, another one I know nothing about.

Goosebumps book 18: Monster Blood II - He's one hungry hamster!

Brief Summary: 

Evan is back and he has moved to Atlanta and everyone is SO MEAN to him, especially his science teacher and this kid named Conan, and for some reason no one believes he found a magic can of slime that endlessly expands and also makes things grow. Weird. Andy is also there for some reason and she brought some monster blood which was obviously a terrible idea. One thing leads to another and somehow the class pet Cuddles the hamster ends up 10 feet tall and it's up to Evan to save the day.

Spoilers and Review:

I didn't enjoy the first Monster Blood that much but this one was even worse.

First of all, literally no action occurs until over halfway through the book. It's just Evan being bullied by Conan and also his teacher which infuriated me and Andy wore some ridiculous outfits which was great and then they break into this kid's house which was not that fun or entertaining and there's no monster blood action at all until page 83 out of like 120. 

Long story short, Evan is tormented constantly, Andy gives some monster blood to the hamster, the hamster grows to 10 feet tall, Evan decides to eat some monster blood to fight off the giant hamster, it's not going to work, then suddenly everything is back to normal because the monster blood apparently expired just at that exact moment.

In the end Evan acquires Cuddles the hamster and Andy's parents send her NEW MONSTER BLOOD in the mail setting us up for another sequel yet to come.

The Rating: 

This one was not a winner. Nothing happened for most of it and then when things finally did happen they were stupid. 

1. One Day At HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Why I'm Afraid of Bees (#17)
4. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
5. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
6. The Haunted Mask (#11)
7. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
8. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
9. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
10. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
11. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
12. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
13. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
14. Monster Blood (#3)
15. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
16. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
17. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)
18. Monster Blood II (#18)

Next is Deep Trouble which I actually read before writing a blog post for this one! Oops!

Goosebumps book 17: Why I'm Afraid of Bees - He's no ordinary human bee-ing...

Brief Summary: 

This Goosebumps meets Animorphs special (don't get me started on the Animorphs) stars Gary Lutz, a 12-year-old boy who hates his life. Gary's sister is mean and her cat is worse, his neighbor is a beekeeper and Gary HATES bees, and all the neighborhood kids are always bullying him. So when Gary finds an ad online that suggests he could switch places with someone for a week, he decides to go for it. But something goes wrong in the transformation and Gary finds himself in the body of a bee! Lots of chaos ensues. Will Gary ever get his human body back?

Spoilers and Review:

So this book had a slow start, but once I was in, I was IN. It starts off for the first 6 or so chapters and all I could think was Poor. Gary. Seriously, he is picked on beyond belief. But it really makes me feel for him. 

Then he decides to try to switch places with another kid, Dirk, which is already a great concept, very sci-fi, love that. But anyways something goes wrong and Dirk ends up in Gary's body, Gary ends up in THE BODY OF A BEE, and the bee ends up in Dirk's body! (Side note I would love a story where we follow the life of that bee in a human body, I wish we got more of a story about that, but all we get is a human boy buzzing around trying to drink pollen.) 

This book was mildly educational, because Gary was buzzing around learning things about bees which was fun for sure, and he's like really freaking out because he wants his body back and he keeps trying to talk to humans who can't hear him because he's a bee. And Dirk is really rocking it in Gary's body so when the bee-Gary finally tracks down the body switch lady, she's like "bad news, Dirk won't give up your body, I guess you're stuck as a bee." Yikes. 

Gary is actually kind of getting used to being a bee and gets his revenge on some bullies and also Dirk in Gary's body, and we're happy for Gary.

And then Gary DIES. He stings Dirk in the nose and DIES. And somehow wakes up and everyone is back in the right body again? Sure, we'll just pretend that makes sense. 

So now Gary is happy with his new life and somehow he and Dirk become friends but Gary seems to have a little bit of bee left in him because in the end he tries to drink some nectar from a flower! Classic. 

Mostly this book was Gary buzzing around as a bee trying to get people to notice him in various ways but it doesn't work at all and he just gets slapped around a lot. It was excellent.

Bonus points for an entirely misleading title and cover. He is not a bee with a human head and actually by the end he is not afraid of bees anymore.

The Rating: 

I was not prepared to enjoy this one as much as I did, but it was honestly awesome. I don't even know if I can explain why, but it's getting 3rd place! 

1. One Day At HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Why I'm Afraid of Bees (#17)
4. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
5. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
6. The Haunted Mask (#11)
7. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
8. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
9. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
10. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
11. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
12. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
13. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
14. Monster Blood (#3)
15. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
16. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
17. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

Join me next time for Monster Blood II. 

Goosebumps book 16: One Day At HorrorLand - Enter, if you dare...

Brief Summary: 

Lizzie and her brother Luke and his friend Clay and also their mom and dad get lost trying to find Zoo Gardens so they settle for HorrorLand, a theme park they've never heard of. When they get there, their car immediately explodes! It seems like they might be stuck in HorrorLand forever! They go on rides like the Doom Slide where they might slide forever, and the House of Mirrors, which tries to crush them, and there are some bats and lots of employees in scary monster costumes and all the families have crying children and lots of stuff goes down. They finally find Mom and Dad and go on one last ride down a river in coffins before heading home, but the gates are locked!

Spoilers and Review:

Theme park horror is one of my favorite genres ever so obviously I was thrilled about this one. The ambiance is incredible and all of the rides were so well done and I would LOVE to go to HorrorLand, seriously it's the best.

But before they even get to the rides their car actually for real explodes, which I thought would somehow be a lie like most of the scary things but it isn't! It's wild. 

I loved this one so much that I don't even have much else to say because it was just so incredible, except the ending. I mean it wasn't bad necessarily but in many cases the end of the book makes the entire story better, but in this case I think it ruined it a bit.

First, in the middle of the action with the family trying to escape, they have the monsters come out like, "thanks for your participation in our TV show on the Monster Network!" Or whatever, which is so classic, and then they take it even further and they end up trying to escape from the park in some sort of horror game/race challenge scenario, and they barely escape from some horrible creatures and then an announcer is like, "3/5 survived!" -- chapter break -- "no, scratch that, 5/5 survivors!" and they all have to make a run for it again and find out that if they pinch the monsters they will deflate which is awesome and then they steal a bus from the park and drive home, only to find a hitchhiking monster that's like, "we forgot to give you your free passes for next year!" 

Actually looking back on it, the ending wasn't so bad. I think my opinion is just tainted because I watched the TV episode before writing this and the TV episode skipped all the good parts of the book and ended in a horrible stupid way. 

The Rating: 

I loved it, it was so action-packed, so much was happening the whole time which is honestly unusual for these books, and it's my favorite sub-genre of horror, I'm giving it 1st place.

1. One Day At HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
4. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
5. The Haunted Mask (#11)
6. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
7. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
8. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
9. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
10. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
11. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
12. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
13. Monster Blood (#3)
14. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
15. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
16. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

Join me next time for Why I'm Afraid of Bees. Spooky.

Goosebumps book 15: You Can't Scare Me! - They're coming for you...

Brief Summary: 

Courtney is the worst and so Eddie and Hat (??) decide to try to scare her for a change but are wildly unsuccessful. Also, mud monsters.

Spoilers and Review:

This was a weird one. For one, it was not at all scary. Nothing scary actually happened until the very end, which happens sometimes in Goosebumps, but even then the end was not that fun either. Eddie was just running around trying to scare Courtney (who was SO annoying) and then in the end they get chased by mud monsters which is not even that scary! I can't. Even the cover is gross colors. 

Highlights include when Courtney throws some BEES and Eddie because that's a super wacky thing to do. 

Also, I quite enjoyed the legend of the mud monsters, while not that scary, it was thorough. Apparently in this town when it was founded a very long time ago the poorest settlers built a village of huts along the creek and the townsfolk were real jerks and refused to share the water supply with the mud villagers and they were all starving and sick and then a rain storm BURIED THEM (dark) and now they're some sort of mud zombie who rise up once a year on a full moon. Classic, mildly cool, not that scary though. 

The Rating: 

I've been going back and forth about putting this one in last place because in my mind I really hated The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb but could it have been that bad? Because this one was truly not great. I mean I obviously loved it, but I'm skeptical. In the end I've decided to put it at 14 out of 15 because at least this one was super weird, way weirder than a run-of-the-mill mummy story.

1. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
2. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. The Haunted Mask (#11)
5. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
6. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
7. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
8. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
9. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
10. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
11. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
12. Monster Blood (#3)
13. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
14. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
15. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

Well the next book is One Day At HorrorLand which is the one I have been waiting for, because my favorite genre of horror is carnival/circus/amusement park horror. 

Goosebumps book 14: The Werewolf of Fever Swamp - Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?

Brief Summary: 

I don't know, something about moving to Florida because of swamp deer and then some werewolf stories and a swamp hermit and a stray dog or whatever.

Spoilers and Review:

So Grady moves to Florida with his family because his parents are scientists (classic) and are trying to introduce swamp deer (a real animal, I Googled it) into Florida swamps. Obviously. 

I'm just going to run through the highlights real quick. First of all, the swamp hermit is my favorite character, he's the best. He's just an old guy who lives in a shack in the swamp and lives off the land and at one point just to scare them chases them around and yells, "I'm the werewolf! I'm the werewolf!" which is honestly horrifying, he's my hero. 

There is a dog in this book and he saves the day several times and we love him. I love dogs. Bonus points because he didn't even die, though the scariest part of the book for sure is when Grady's dad thinks Wolf the dog killed a bunny and one of his precious swamp deer and tries to take the poor thing to the pound and it is implied that he would be euthanized. He got away though, don't worry.

Then there is this really scary part where Grady gets bitten by a snake and all but blacks out in the middle of the swamp. That was also in my top moments. 

Overall, I was intrigued by the swamp fever stories and the swamp hermit was amazing but there was not that much werewolf to be honest. 

But then, get this, in the end, the swamp hermit isn't even the werewolf, it's Will the neighbor boy! I won't lie, I did not see that coming at all but probably should have. I still enjoyed the twist. 

And a beautiful cover, one of my favorites so far. Honestly I should make a separate ranking of just the covers.

The Rating: 

I obviously still enjoyed it because I can't help myself, I love all of them. 

1. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
2. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. The Haunted Mask (#11)
5. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
6. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
7. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
8. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
9. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
10. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
11. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
12. Monster Blood (#3)
13. Be Careful What You Wish For... (12)
14. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

#15 is You Can't Scare Me which as usual, could mean anything. See you there.

Goosebumps book 13: Piano Lessons Can Be Murder - Play it again, hands!

Brief Summary: 

Jerry finds an old piano in his new house and decides he wants to take piano lessons. Dr. Shreek, his new teacher, is pretty intense and keeps telling Jerry how nice his hands are. Weird. The piano school is an old, rundown building and there are some freaky rumors going around about it. Also, there seems to be a ghost lady haunting Jerry's piano, and the janitor at the piano school makes all kinds of crazy contraptions. 

Spoilers and Review:

It was pretty obvious that in the end someone was going to try to cut off Jerry's hands because is literally on the cover, but it definitely went about reaching that conclusion without making all the most obvious choices.

I really liked the gray piano ghost lady with droopy skin and a gray skull. It was like two spooky stories in one because we got the ghost and the piano school. And then the teachers were robots and the janitor was the real mastermind which was another fun addition. 

Then there is this really classic bit where Jerry's parents don't believe him about the ghost, which happens in literally every Goosebumps ever, but in this case it was so extreme that they sent him to therapy which was a whole new level. 

The imagery of the recital hall full of pianos being played by floating hands and bald humanoid robot teachers nodding along was amazing and the resolution of the ghost showing up and then the ghosts of all the hands come out in gray dust and carry Mr. Toggle away is also awesome. 

The Rating: 

I actually really enjoyed this one. It had a lot of really cool imagery which made it actually pretty scary. I debated where to put it and originally placed it below Let's Get Invisible but eventually concluded that my reluctance to place it higher was just that the first seven books really feel like the "originals" and I feel like they should always be higher. So here we are. 

1. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
2. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. The Haunted Mask (#11)
5. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
6. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
7. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
8. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
9. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
10. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
11. Monster Blood (#3)
12. Be Careful What You Wish For... (12)
13. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

Coming up next is The Werewolf of Fever Swamp. I'm not particularly fond of werewolf stories but that's because they all sort of seem the same, and I would not be surprised if R.L. Stine has some tricks up his sleeve... 

Goosebumps book 12: Be Careful What You Wish For... - It might come true.

Brief Summary: 

Samantha Byrd is really tall but also bad at basketball and gets made fun of a lot. Then, she meets a mysterious woman in the forest who grants Samantha three wishes. What could go wrong, am I right?

Spoilers and Review:

Honestly I didn't particularly care for this book. The "genie granting three wishes and it doesn't go as planned" trope doesn't do it for me. But I do love Clarissa "the Crystal Woman". I aspire to be not just a crystal woman but the Crystal Woman. 

I mean it obviously had its moments, I definitely want to know more about the friend how always gets grilled cheese packed in his lunch even though he hates it and bonus points for being a basketball story. I also liked the part when Judith accused Sam of being a witch, it appealed to me. 

And then the main character got turned into a bird in the end which was pretty funny. The TV episode on the other hand has an entirely different ending for some reason but I can't say that I have a preference between the two options really.

I think that's all I have to say about this one. It didn't do it for me.

The Rating: 

I mean I still liked it more than The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb but definitely pretty low on the list. 

1. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
2. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. The Haunted Mask (#11)
5. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
6. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
7. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
8. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
9. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
10. Monster Blood (#3)
11. Be Careful What You Wish For... (12)
12. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

Next is Piano Lessons Can Be Murder which is one I've been looking forward to for sure. I'm intrigued.

Goosebumps book 11: The Haunted Mask - If looks could kill...

Brief Summary: 

Everyone is always trying to scare Carly Beth because she scares easily and that's funny. This Halloween, Carly Beth has a creepy mask that will help her get her revenge for sure, but at what cost? 

Spoilers and Review:

So basically what goes down is that Carly Beth gets her scary mask and scares her friends and is thrilled to be scary instead of scared for once but then she keeps getting super angry and can't seem to control herself and almost strangles her friend at one point and steals candy from small children. 

Meanwhile her mom made this sculpture of her daughter's face and Carly Beth steals it to take trick or treating as an extra prop and then at some point throws it on the ground and leaves it behind.

Once she realizes she can't get the mask off she runs back to the store where she got it from and the store owner tells her that he didn't want to sell her the mask because he knew she wouldn't be able to take it off, something about creating faces as experiments and keeping the failed outcomes in the back of his store or whatever, and then he explains that the mask can be removed once with a symbol of love and then all the other masks chase Carly Beth down the street and she finds her head sculpture and somehow that allows her to take the mask off.

Then she goes home and hugs her mom and her little brother puts the mask on! The horror! The end. 

This story is so unique and specific to Goosebumps that it has become an instant classic to me. The trajectory that Carly Beth follows from scared to scary to a combination of the two is very compelling, and the idea of being unable to remove a tight mask from your face is honestly pretty scary. It's a very relatable panicked sensation. 

I think the ending was a bit sloppy. I think the piece about the shop owner who created the mask leaves a lot of unanswered questions and then the solution about only being able to remove the mask once with a symbol of love while ignoring the other time she already took off the mask kind of lost me. 

I will say that the TV episodes are probably even better than the book which I don't think I've thought about any of them so far. (I don't know if I've talked at all about the TV show but I've been watching the corresponding episode(s) after each book I've read and let me tell you, they are a hoot and a half.) The on-screen version really cleared up most of the loose ends that the book leaves which I appreciate. 

The Rating: 

For being so unique and so classic I'm going to have to give this one a pretty high ranking! But then I also realized I can't stop thinking about Welcome to Camp Nightmare which I found to be truly horrifying so I think I'm actually going to move that one up to first, and then entirely rearranged my ranking again. Surprise! Definitely still subject to change, I still have my doubts about my overall ranking. 

1. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
2. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. The Haunted Mask (#11)
5. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
6. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
7. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
8. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
9. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
10. Monster Blood (#3)
11. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

The next book in the line is Be Careful What You Wish For...

Goosebumps book 10: The Ghost Next Door - There's a strange new kid on the block...

Brief Summary: 

There's a new boy next door and Hannah thinks he could be a ghost for a lot of reasons that I won't get into here because it would not be brief in any way. 

Spoilers and Review:

I already knew going into this one that Hannah would turn out to be the ghost because I accidentally saw a spoiler about it at some point recently so it could just be that I already knew what to look for, but it seemed pretty obvious to me where this book was going. I don't have a lot to say here because this book was mostly just Hannah writing really mean letters to her friend Janey and following the boy next door, Danny, around and spying on him because she immediately drew some crazy conclusions that he must be a ghost for no real reason at all. 

I will say that it was a lot darker than I expected it to be. I thought the twist where she finds out she's the ghost would be at the very end, but instead it came with like 30 pages left to go and then she had to run into a burning building to save her new friend because his stupid friends accidentally caused a house fire. I mean in the end Hannah was in a crazy standoff with a hooded figure trying to murder a kid and take his place or form or some nonsense and it got wild.

Then the part at the end when she goes "home" to be with her family, I mean it's solidly dark, but definitely not my favorite. I prefer the stories that are either super unique and creative, or have the craziest twists, and this one seemed to miss the mark on both of those things unfortunately. 

The Rating: 

This was the 10th Goosebumps book that I've read on this journey so I'm going to take the opportunity to rearrange my current ranking a bit. Most of them will stay at least somewhat the same, but there are a few adjustments I would like to make towards the middle range and also the more I think about it, the more I believe Welcome to Dead House deserves to be moved up. 

1. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
5. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
6. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
7. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
8. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
9. Monster Blood (#3)
10. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

#11 is The Haunted Mask which I've heard is the best Goosebumps book there is. 

Goosebumps book 9: Welcome to Camp Nightmare - It's the little camp of horrors!

Brief Summary: 

It's Billy's first time at summer camp and it's pretty weird. His campmates keep disappearing and the counselors and camp director don't seem to care! None of their letters are being sent and the only phone doesn't work so there is no way for Billy to get help. What could be going on?

Spoilers and Review:

Let me start by saying this is the scariest one so far. Like the idea of being at summer camp and having your friends go missing and none of the adults believe you, in fact, having the adults actively deny that they were even there in the first place, would be horrifying for a child. I think the total is like five of Billy's friends who disappear and no one cares! And then the thing with the letters not being sent and the phone not being real, I mean it's honestly a real for real horror movie scenario.

And there's this crazy part where one kid gets bitten by a snake and it swells up a bunch and no one will treat it, and there's this other part where the counselor maliciously throws a baseball at the back of another kid's head and essentially knocks him out which is wild, I mean it gets pretty serious.

The twist ending also got me, I was trying to figure out the whole time how they would make it kid friendly in the end because all I could think was that the counselors were some sort of monster and they were feeding on the campers, like they trapped them there to eat them, but, well let me explain it first. 

So we get to the last few chapters, the entire camp is told they are going on an early morning hike through the woods, then they all stop and are handed GUNS and are told to SHOOT THE MISSING CAMPERS FROM THE GIRLS CAMP! They turn out to be tranquilizer guns but STILL! That is so freaking scary. 

Anyways, Billy is all defiant and says he won't do it and shoots the director instead and the director is like "yay congratulations you did it you passed!" And all of a sudden all the kids are back and Billy's parents are there and everyone is okay and the explanation is that Billy's parents are scientists and wanted to take him with them on an upcoming expedition and it was all set up by the government to test him. 

Which, I mean, I would've been satisfied with just that to be honest because it was not the ending I had anticipated, but then Billy finds out his parents want to take him to "the most dangerous place in the universe" and Billy is like, "where?" and his parents are like, "a very strange planet called Earth," and I was like "OMG AMAZING" because that little tidbit was just so unnecessary and I was thrilled. 

I will say that I then told my roommates about the story and the ending because I live for the twist endings and they were like, "yeah obviously that's what happened" so maybe no one else was surprised or impressed but I sure was. 

The Rating: 

This was a hard decision for me but I'm putting it at #2, because as much as I love Stay Out of the Basement, this one was honestly so scary the whole time and I felt like there was plenty happening throughout the story and the twist was like cool and then taken too far which is really all I could ever ask from Goosebumps I think. So here we are. 

1. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
4. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
5. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
6. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
7. Monster Blood (#3)
8. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
9. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)

#10 is The Ghost Next Door which I'm pretty pumped for because I think I've heard about this one for some reason which probably means it'll be a fun one.