You Can't Scare Me!: Goosebumps Classics, Book 17

You Can't Scare Me!: Goosebumps Classics, Book 17 by R.L. Stine

A girl is not scared of anything. She holds bees and other animals that cause other people to scream. Other kids try to find something that would scare her. Everything they try ends up backfiring. Finally after hearing that she believes in monster, they hatch a plan to have some older kids act as "mud monsters" to scare the girl. At night they all gather to watch the girl as they see some mud monsters approach. Then the older kids show up. When everyone realizes they are real mud monsters instead of the actors they all scream in horror. The book is fairly grounded in reality until the very end when it takes the supernatural twist.

 

Zombie Halloween (Goosebumps Most Wanted: Special Edition #1)

Zombie Halloween (Goosebumps Most Wanted: Special Edition #1) by R. L. Stine

It is near halloween and people are afraid of Zombies. The family comes to live in a new house next to the cemetery. Grandpa seems to be especially fearful of zombies. They form a zombie defense club and even save grandpa from zombies. The neighbors move in with coffins and act weird. Are they zombies? At a big zombie party, they discover they are not. They are vampires instead.

The book is not very scary or very good, though I did like the ending. It has the feel of something hacked together quickly following the formula.

Escape from Shudder Mansion

Escape from Shudder Mansion: Goosebumps Slappyworld Series, Book 5 by R. L. Stine

A boy really likes an "escape from shudder mansion" video game. He then finds himself doing a school project in the mansion. There they run into a number of scenarios that were present in the video game. He remembers what needs to be done and helps the kids make it through as he also freaks out. It is an easy read with some light scares.

The Ghost of Slappy: Goosebumps Slappyworld, Book 6

The Ghost of Slappy: Goosebumps Slappyworld, Book 6 by R. L. Stine

A boy's house is haunted by a ghost, but nobody else will believe him. He goes on a school trip. The teacher leading the trip puts a dummy in the driver's seat to scare the kids. Then the dummy starts driving the bus. The teacher later tells the story of the dummy and how he comes to life. After the trip, the dummy disappears - and ends up in the boy's bag. He tries to find a way to get rid of it, but ends up getting in trouble instead. Eventually he learns that the first ghost has a good deed to perform. This has a nice balance of humor and horror.