Goosebumps

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This article is about the book series by R. L. Stine. For the bumps that form on skin, see Goose bumps.

R. L. Stine with some of his creations.

Goosebumps is a formerly popular American series of children's horror fiction novellas created and authored by R. L. Stine. Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997, the last one being Monster Blood IV.

Like the later Harry Potter novels, the Goosebumps series was often challenged in libraries; the novels were 15th on the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 1999 [link].

The series spawned a gamebook spinoff, also written by R. L. Stine called Give Yourself Goosebumps. Several of the titles in the series were made into movies; the series also inspired a television series named Goosebumps which ran from 1995 to 1998. The book The Haunted Mask inspired two videos. The series even inspired two board games produced by Milton Bradley; "Terror in the Graveyard" and "Escape from Horrorland".

In December 1998, Goosebumps was relaunched as Goosebumps: Series 2000. However, the new series did not last long due to declining popularity. There are 25 Series 2000 books, including two sequels to an original series (Night of the Living Dummy) and two other sequels, "Return to Horrorland" and "Return to Ghost Camp".

There were two parody books by R.U. Slime called Gooflumps: Eat Cheese and Barf! and Stay Out of the Bathroom.

Front covers and most other Goosebumps related art was done by the artist Tim Jacobus.

Inspirations and references

A lot of Stine's plots are, by his own admission, based on classic sci-fi/horror movies, TV shows, and stories. For instance, one of the most popular books in the series, Night of the Living Dummy, was inspired by Stine's reading of the original Italian version of Pinocchio, while taking its title from the film Night of the Living Dead. The book It Came From Beneath The Sink! took its title from the fifties sci-fi film It Came From Beneath The Sea, though plotwise there is little resemblance between the two. The two-part Series 2000 book Invasion of the Body Squeezers is an obvious parody of the classic science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Many books also resemble episodes of the original Twilight Zone television series, including Say Cheese And Die, Welcome To Camp Nightmare, Be Careful What You Wish For, and The Haunted Mask and its sequel, to name a few. Many books feature a twist in the end, such as the original Night of the Living Dummy, where the protagonists had spent the book fighting a murderous dummy, only to be confronted with a second creature at the end, or the first book in the series, Welcome to the Dead House, in which a sadistic real estate agent thought dead turned up on the last page, seen in the distance by the main characters. A Give Yourself Goosebumps book, Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum, is based on the movie House of Wax.

Popular books/characters

Stine named the original Night of the Living Dummy as his favorite Goosebumps book. The Night of the Living Dummy series, which features the walking, talking, evil ventriloquist dummy Slappy (who surprisingly played only a small part in the original novel, with the equally villainous Mr. Wood being the main antagonist), are some of the series' most popular books, and Slappy has gained a reputation as Goosebumps' most popular and well-known antagonist. Later books attempted to explore his background and how he came to be created, and the final book in the series, Slappy's Nightmare, was told from Slappy's (third-person) point of view. The Monster Blood series is also very popular among fans, albeit not to the extent of the above.

Conventions

The books in the Goosebumps series often include a plot structure with normal kids getting involved in scary situations and twists at the end of each story, after the conflict has either been or appears to have been resolved.

List of Goosebumps books

A few titles are now out-of-print, but many have been reprinted by Scholastic recently.

Goosebumps

1. Welcome To Dead House
2. Stay Out Of The Basement
3. Monster Blood
4. Say Cheese And Die!
5. The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb
6. Let's Get Invisible!
7. Night Of The Living Dummy
8. The Girl Who Cried Monster
9. Welcome To Camp Nightmare
10. The Ghost Next Door
11. The Haunted Mask
12. Be Careful What You Wish For...
13. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder
14. The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp
15. You Can't Scare Me!
16. One Day At Horrorland
17. Why I'm Afraid Of Bees
18. Monster Blood II
19. Deep Trouble
20. The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight
21. Go Eat Worms!
22. Ghost Beach
23. Return Of The Mummy
24. Phantom Of The Auditorium
25. Attack Of The Mutant
26. My Hairiest Adventure
27. A Night In Terror Tower
28. The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom
29. Monster Blood III
30. It Came From Beneath The Sink!
31. Night Of The Living Dummy II
32. The Barking Ghost
33. The Horror At Camp Jellyjam
34. Revenge Of The Lawn Gnomes
35. A Shocker On Shock Street
36. The Haunted Mask II
37. The Headless Ghost
38. The Abominable Snowman Of Pasadena
39. How I Got My Shrunken Head
40. Night Of The Living Dummy III
41. Bad Hare Day
42. Egg Monsters From Mars
43. The Beast From The East
44. Say Cheese And Die - Again!
45. Ghost Camp
46. How To Kill A Monster
47. Legend Of The Lost Legend
48. Attack Of The Jack O'Lanterns
49. Vampire Breath
50. Calling All Creeps!
51. Beware, The Snowman
52. How I Learned To Fly
53. Chicken Chicken
54. Don't Go To Sleep!
55. The Blob That Ate Everyone
56. The Curse Of Camp Cold Lake
57. My Best Friend Is Invisible
58. Deep Trouble II
59. The Haunted School
60. Werewolf Skin
61. I Live in Your Basement!
62. Monster Blood IV

Goosebumps Series 2000

1. Cry Of The Cat
2. Bride Of The Living Dummy
3. Creature Teacher
6. I Am Your Evil Twin
7. Revenge R Us
8. Fright Camp
9. Are You Terrified Yet?
10. Headless Halloween
11. Attack Of The Graveyard Ghouls
12. Brain Juice
13. Return To Horrorland
14. Jekyll And Heidi
15. Scream School
16. The Mummy Walks
17. The Werewolf In The Living Room
18. The Horror Of The Black Ring
19. Return to Ghost Camp
20. Be Afraid - Be Very Afraid!
21. The Haunted Car
22. Full Moon Fever
23. Slappy's Nightmare
24. Earth Geeks Must Go!
25. The Ghost In The Mirror

Tales To Give You Goosebumps

These six short-story collections each hold ten stories, some of which would be adapted into episodes of the television series Goosebumps.

Tales To Give You Goosebumps series

1. Tales To Give You Goosebumps

• The House Of No Return
• Teacher's Pet
• Strained Peas
• Strangers In The Woods
• Good Friends
• How I Won My Bat
• Mr. Teddy
• Click
• Broken Dolls
• A Vampire In The Neighborhood

• The Werewolf's First Night
• P.S. Don't Write Back
• Something Fishy
• You Got to Believe Me!
• Suckers!
• Dr. Horrors House Of Video
• The Cats Tale
• Shell Shocker
• Poison Ivy
• The Spirit Of The Harvest Moon

• The Chalk Closet
• Home Sweet Home
• Don't Wake Mummy
• I'm Telling!
• The Haunted House Game
• Change For The Strange
• The Perfect School
• For The Birds
• Aliens In The Garden
• The Thumbprint Of Doom

• Pumpkin Juice
• Attack Of The Tattoo
• The Wish
• An Old Story
• The Scarecrow
• Awesome Ants
• Please Don't Feed The Bears
• The Goblin's Glare
• Bats About Bats
• The Space Suit Snatcher

• The Haunted Guitar
• Tune In Tomorrow
• Live Bait (short story)
• Something Strange About Marci
• The Ghost Sitter
• Fun with Spelling
• Matt's Lunch Box
• Stuck in 1957
• Mirror, Mirror On the Wall
• What's Cooking?

• Don't Sit On The Gronk
• Nutcracker Nightmare
• The Ice Vampire
• A Holly Jolly Holiday
• Why I Hate Jack Frost
• Marshmallow Surprise
• Monster On The Ice
• The Double Dip Horror
• Santa's Helpers

Goosebumps Graphix

Goosebumps in Other Languages

Footnotes