Goosebumps Revisited #0

Setting the stage for Goosebumps…

It’s early 1993 and a young Steve L Clark is at his desk in Mr. Mowry’s 4th grade class. A fresh stack of Scholastic book order flyers have just been handed out. I’m an avid reader at this point already, so I’m quick to flip through the few pages to see what’s new. My eyes freeze on a cover. Framed in a drippy red border is a cover featuring a family barbecue with one gruesome exception; the whole family are skeletons! If that weren’t enough, the title of the book is Say Cheese and Die! The word Goosebumps at the top of the cover slams it home in oozing font.  

Little Steve was already a devout fan of horror movies (thanks to my big bro Donald), but horror fiction wasn’t really on the radar. I had briefly attempted to read some Stephen King, but I wasn’t quite ready for that level of prose. Until this time, my favorite books to read were Encyclopedia Brown which I borrowed from the public library on repeat. I wasn’t sure what Say Cheese and Die was all about, but I had to know. Kudos to my mom and dad for always supporting my love of reading and buying me books from the Scholastic book orders. A couple weeks later, the book arrived, and a fan was born. It was the cheesy horror I loved, fine tuned to a young reader’s level. Match that with beautiful cover art, and I was hooked. I quickly discovered Say Cheese and Die was the fourth book in the series. I got the first three books shortly thereafter, and didn’t miss another release until deep into the series. 

A new Goosebumps book became an event. When I wasn’t getting them from the book orders, I remember going to our nearby K-Mart (remember those?) to pick up the newest release. I had every book until around the forty mark. By then, I had shifted into older reading. Mixed in with the Goosebumps were R.L. Stine’s other series, Fear Street. I liked those, but they didn’t hold quite the same charm as Goosebumps for me. The natural progression happened, and Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Anne Rice became my go to authors. Though I wasn’t reading them anymore, I kept my collection. I loaned them out to nieces and nephews and then passed them down to my own children. They never caught on with any of my kids, though my daughters both enjoyed the tv series. Now, as a forty-year-old man, I’m casually watching out for the books in the series I’m missing and hope to complete the set. 

I recently started reading them again as a combination of nostalgia and as a palate cleanser between heavier books. I know I’m reading them through the rose-tinted glasses of my youth, but I’ll be damned if they aren’t still a fun read. Thus, the idea to do this Goosebumps Revisited blog series was born. This is what I have in mind…

Each blog entry will feature three books as I read through them in chronological order. I will give my thoughts on each one as I remember it, then my thoughts upon reading it now. This will be the case until I get to the back end of the series. Those last twenty or so books will be first-time reads. I will keep a rolling top 10 list on every post, adding to it as we go. I have put together a top 10 list as I remember them now. When it’s all over, we’ll see how the re-read top 10 compares to my original list. Who doesn’t love a top 10 ranking? 

Here we go. My top 10 favorite Goosebumps book as I recall them from memory. 

• One Day At Horrorland

• The Headless Ghost

• The Girl Who Cried Monster

• Phantom of the Auditorium 

• Monster Blood

• The Horror at Camp Jellyjam

• Say Cheese and Die!

• Night of the Living Dummy

• The Haunted Mask

• A Night In Terror Tower

If you grew up on Goosebumps, I hope you come along on this journey with me. Leave comments. Let me know your favorites. Which ones did you hate? I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s do this. As the books proclaim…

Reader beware, you’re in for a scare!