Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Nostaligia Read: Goosebumps Triple Header by RL Stine

Goosebumps: Triple Header
Author: RL Stine

My oldest son read Goosebumps books in the 90's and also watched the DVDs back in the day. Often his rewards for good grades or getting his chores done was a new RL Stine book. Many of his old books were passed to my 4th grader who loves them just as much.

Lately I've been reading a lot of children's books. Some are ones I loved as a child, and others are ones I always wanted to read but never did. Because my sons both enjoyed Goosebumps books, I decided to read one! Why not? I'm always up for a good scary story!

RL Stine published more than 62 Goosebumpbs books from 1992-1997. More than 350 million Goosebumps books have sold, and the book series inspired more than one television show, a movie and lots of merchandise. For my journey into fear, I chose Goosebumps: Triple Header Book 1. It has not just one story, but 3! I like to live dangerously!

I had to have just the right atmosphere for enjoying Goosebumps. My son told me that Netflix has RL Stine's Haunting Hour on instant view. So, I went into my room, turned the show on my tv, snuggled up with the cat, and started reading.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the nifty 3D cover art. I can see kids picking up this
book just because the cover looks great! It certainly got my attention! The picture shows a three-headed headed monster. Three stories....three heads. Makes sense. The first story is about an annoying old lady who doesn't let death stop her from making the family she lived with miserable. The middle tale is about one family's appearance on a game show that goes shockingly wrong. And, last but not least, the final tale relates the horror of alien sponges that can look like humans. Every tale is introduced by a bit of banter from the three-headed monster, whose heads are named Slim, Lefty and Righty.

Cheesy horror mixed with cute humor.  This was a fun read! These books always were creepy, humorous fun! The stories had a light scary edge to them, but nothing was age inappropriate. They were more cute than scary. I'm glad I took the time to read one. I may just read others when I need to lose myself in a fun, quick read. It was a nice way for me to unwind after work today!

And, as an aside, The Haunting Hour is really well done! It's a bit like a kid's version of Twilight Zone. Interesting, well done stories.....a bit of scare, but nothing too over the top.





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