Young Adult Revisited

Goosebumps #54: Don’t go to Sleep! (R.L. Stine)

2012-01-26T02:57:00.001-05:00

All Matt really wants is a little freedom from his family. His older siblings Pam and Greg make fun of him all the time, ignore him when they’re supposed to take care of him, and get him into trouble. He also wants a bigger bedroom because his bedroom is too small for all of his stuff, but his mom claims they need the guest room for his grandparents’ once a year visits.

The final straw comes when his brother throws the family dog (who he hates) on his chest and his brother sticks him with making dinner. After everyone goes to sleep, Matt sneaks into the guest room and falls asleep. He wakes the next day with enormous feet and finds that he became a teenager. When he runs downstairs, he discovers that Pam and Greg are now younger than him and he has to attend high school.

The classes are harder, no one likes him, and guys in black keep following him around. He tries explaining what happened to his teachers, but they think he read too much science fiction. He runs into a younger girl named Lacie, but she is the only nice person he sees all day.

The next day Matt wakes up to no siblings and parents he never saw before, plus a pet cat. He is back in a younger body, but his dad drops him off at a new junior high. He runs into Lacie, who doesn’t recognize him from before, but she still helps him escape the men in black.

Every time Matt falls asleep, he wakes up in a completely different body. One day he becomes a chubby boy, the next day he’s a young boy, etc. He even wakes up in the body of a circus performer-lion tamer with six brothers and sisters. After waking up in an old man’s body, he forces himself to fall asleep and wakes up as a monster. He runs through town and Lacie helps him escape, only to lead him to the men in black. They let him sleep and he wakes up the next day as a human.

Lacie and the guys explain that they are the reality police. The guest room of his house was a hole in reality and when he fell asleep there, he slipped into another reality. There is no way of bringing him back, so they plan on putting him to sleep permanently. He keeps jumping into bodies of real people and they can’t have him disrupting the lives of others.

Matt manages to escape and runs home, but no one recognizes him. He decides that if he goes to sleep in his own bed, then it will fix everything. Since he can’t get inside, he falls asleep and wakes up as a squirrel. He runs inside, but his sister catches him and sticks him in a cage. He escapes, runs into his room and falls asleep.

Matt wakes up in his regular body the next day and gleefully kisses Pam, Greg and his mom. His mom announces that she has a little surprise for him. Since he’s getting older and needs more room, she cleared out the guest room for him…

13 Tales of Horror: “House of Horrors” by J.B. Stamper (Point Horror)

2012-01-25T02:55:00.006-05:00

Mark works in a wax museum/attraction called the House of Horrors, even though he is secretly afraid of the figures. His crush Lisa spots him after the last group goes through and tells him that they are throwing an after hours party. Mark sticks around and runs into his co-worker Elliott. Elliott warns him that the boss is coming, so he hides in the museum.

Mark hears everyone leave for the night and sees the lights go out. Still thinking that the party is coming up, he hides out. It takes him far too long to realize that he is on the only left there. He runs through the museum, freaking out because he keeps thinking that he hears someone. Suddenly, a shadow falls over him. He trips, falls on a couch and screams in horror.

The next day, Lisa arrives at work, laughing to herself over how stupid Mark is for thinking they were throwing a party. She pauses, seeing one of the figures in a new position, standing over the couch. When she gets closer, she realizes that the figure on the couch looks just like Mark, but when she touches its face, it feels cool.

Sweet Valley Twins #58: Elizabeth and the Orphans

2012-01-24T02:54:00.004-05:00

Mrs. Arnett divides the class up for a special project on families. Each student has to do a report on their partner’s family. Jessica gets paired with Lila and Elizabeth gets paired with Melissa McCormick, a girl rarely ever mentioned before. Melissa tells her that her project should be easy since it’s just her, her older brother Andy and her mom.

When she gets home that night, she finds her mom laying on the couch and coughing. Her mom has heart problems and been in and out of the hospital for years. We also learn that their parents separated years ago, but apparently never got divorced. They haven’t heard from their dad even once since he skipped out and Andy hates him.

The principal calls Melissa into his office and tells her that her mom had a heart attack. He rushes her to the hospital, where they meet Andy and his principal. They get to see their mom in her room, but she acts really down and defeated. She makes them promise that they will always look out for each other. A few minutes after leaving her room, the doctors call a special code, rush inside and do everything they can, but their mom still dies.

Social service shows up on their doorstep the next day because a nurse contacted them. Their neighbor, Mrs. Franco, offers to take them in until they can reach their dad. Andy lies, telling her that he is in Europe, but he should be back any day. Their neighbors are leaving on a trip for Europe and the wife decides that she should call social services before leaving.

Andy pays one of his old basketball buddies $50 to call and pretend that he is their dad. Sam calls Mrs. Franco, promises that he’s on his way into town and she leaves happily. Andy claims that between their mom’s bank account and the cash around the house, they have more than enough to last for a few months. Money runs out pretty fast and he quits the basketball team so he can get a part-time job.

Melissa wants to work too, but he won’t let her. She stays at home, cleaning the house and cooking dinner for him, which she burns. Andy starts skipping school and the principal schedules a phone meeting with his “dad”. Sam comes over, answers the phone and leaves, saying Andy owes him a future favor.

The pressure of lying to everyone keeps grating on Melissa and she finally breaks down to Elizabeth because Sweet Valley has no other helpers. Elizabeth helps by cleaning the house, cooking dinner and talking to her. They clean Mrs. McCormick’s bedroom and find a stash of letters under the bed. Melissa learns that her dad kept writing and sending money, but she always sent the money back.

Melissa tries talking to Andy, but he doesn’t care. He claims that their dad made up the stories on paper because he never showed up or gave them money in person. Melissa goes back to acting like a doormat, until she sees three guys in black sneaking around the neighbor’s house. She calls the police and when they get there, she discovers that one of the guys was Andy.

Melissa calls Elizabeth, who asks her dad for help. Ned posts his bond and gets him out of jail, but both kids get foster care. Elizabeth mopes over what to do for days and finally sends a letter to their dad at his last known address. Melissa and Andy meet at their house with their social workers to pick up some stuff. Mr. McCormick shows up at the last possible minute, rescuing the kids from foster care.

Jessica and Steven spend the whole book fighting over completely stupid crap. She thinks he spends too much time on the phone with his new girlfriend. She makes a phone schedule and he won’t follow it, but it is unfair. They fight over food, the couch and who gets to throw a pool party. When they find out what happened to Melissa and Andy, they make up and throw one huge party for all their friends.

Sweet Valley High #41: Outcast

2012-01-23T02:52:00.005-05:00

Molly Hecht is an outcast and they should run her out of Sweet Valley. Everyone blames her for Regina Morrow’s death because she had the party where she died. They are more than filling to forget that (a) Justin took her to the party and (b) she only went because Bruce cheated with Amy. Hell, Bruce and Amy even go to the funeral together. Of course, they look like crap, but Liz makes them feel better by telling them that Regina forgave them.

No one trusts or likes Molly anymore and generally makes her feel like crap about herself. No one talks to her and they all ignore her at school. Justin shoots her down, so she tries talking to Liz. Liz basically tells her that she loved Regina and wants nothing to do with her. Then she makes the mistake of going to the cemetery and running into Nicholas, who makes her feel even worse.

When she gets home, her parents lecture her constantly. She suggests moving to San Francisco with her dad and he tells her that her punishment is going to school every day and taking what everyone dishes out because she deserves it. Nice parenting, right? She sneaks out of the house and runs into Buzz. He is a wanted man, but he makes her feel better.

Buzz realizes that Molly holds the key to his escape. He sucks up to her, making her feel like she is a great person. He plies her with beer and pot before telling her that he cares about her and thinks she is his soulmate. Then he reveals that he is leaving town and asks her to go with him. Molly offers to clean out her savings account and go with him.

Jessica decides that she should do something for Regina. She decides on a scholarship fund for needy girls and gets the PBA involved. Just as she freaks out about money and handling the actual fund, Ned offers to take over the project and handle the money and finances. Basically, Jess just gets to take the credit without doing any of the dirty work.

Nicholas shows up on their doorstep the next morning and she tells him about the fund. They share a moment and Jess starts crushing on him again, but then Liz shows up and he forgets about her. He drives Liz to school and tells her what happened with Molly. He wants Liz to apologize for him because he feels bad. Liz realizes how hard things are for Molly.

Liz talks to Justin, who refuses to listen to her because he hates Molly and blames her. She follows Molly to the bank and sees her taking out a few thousand dollars. Molly refuses to talk to Liz and runs away. So, Liz goes to Justin that night and tells him what she saw. They somehow track Molly down and follow her to her meeting spot. Justin recognizes Buzz, drops Liz off to call the cops and follows their car.

Somehow he manages to force their car off the side of the road. He apologizes to Molly and begs her not to leave. The cops arrive and arrest Buzz. I’m not sure exactly what they arrest him for. By the time they got to the party, he was long gone. Anyway, Molly safely goes home with Liz and Jeffery, who shows up at the scene.

Molly comes to school the next day and thanks Liz. For what exactly? Being a huge bitch to her? Or changing her mind at the last second? She announces that she is serious about school not, has stopped drinking and drugs and wants to be a better person. Mr. Collins even offers to put her up for the scholarship next year and Liz thinks the Morrow family would really like that.

There is also a scene where Liz writes the story about the fund for the paper. Mr. Collins arrives and lectures her, Olivia, Penny and Jessica about not blaming people. Jessica still wants to blame Molly, but eventually realizes that things cannot be easy for her either.

Sweet Valley Twins #114: The Boyfriend Mess

2012-01-22T02:51:00.006-05:00

I never read the book before this, but this one sums it up perfectly. Sweet Valley Middle School hosted a TV dating show, kind of like “The Dating Game.” I find it gross that anyone would watch 6^th graders dating, but whatevs. Elizabeth freaked out and couldn’t go on stage, so Jessica took her place and accidentally picked Todd. Patrick was supposed to pick his girlfriend Sophia, but accidentally chose Maria. Amy winds up with Aaron Dallas and Janet gets a dorky guy named Donald.

All of the couples get to spend the day at a new amusement park and if they make it back on the bus together, the school gets a free dance. Jess is excited because Lila keeps bragging about going to the park and she hasn’t gone yet. Since they load the kids on the bus right after the show, she gets stuck with Todd.

Liz and Sophia stay behind and overhear some workers talking about exposing cheaters. Since they both cheated, they rush off and sneak into the park. Jessica hates Todd, but has to be nice to him because he dates her sister and he thinks that she is Liz. She would rather cozy up to the host of the show, a teenager named Byron. When Liz gets to the park, she rushes off with Todd, leaving Jessica with Byron.

Maria and Patrick meet Marshall, who says he is Byron’s cousin, but in a sneaky way. They like each other, so Patrick lets them go off together. Sophia warns him about the cheaters, so he attaches himself to Maria and will not leave her side. Everyone ends up fighting over something.

Sophia hears Patrick pledging his love to Maria and flips out. Maria runs off in tears because she likes Marshall. Liz and Todd have a fight because he thought she wasn’t paying attention to him earlier. Oddly enough, Amy and Aaron and Dennis and Janet wind up as friends. Byron confronts Jessica, letting her know that he knows she isn’t her twin. Liz and Sophia hop on the bus and head home.

Maria is late getting back to the van. Byron tells them that if she doesn’t get back in ten minutes, the dance is off. Amy runs back into the park, tracks her down and makes her get on the van. Everyone goes back to the school and meets for the dance. Byron says that they all win because the deal was that the left with who they went with and since Jessica went and left with Todd, it counts.

Then, Byron announces that he is launching a new show that looks at the ups and downs of dating. He shows a bunch of video footage of kids fighting during the day at the park. Instead of being pissed off, they all think that it is hysterical. Elizabeth apologizes to Todd, Sophia apologizes to Patrick and they all dance.

Maria sneaks outside and finds Marshall. She apologizes for acting stupid and tells him that she likes him. They end up talking about movies instead of dancing. Byron sweeps Jessica off her feet and they share a bunch of dances, which makes her the center of the dance.

*I am confused because I read the last book in the SVT series and Jessica is pissed because Lila goes after Aaron, her sort-of boyfriend. In this book, she mentions that they kissed and he is kind of her boyfriend. Yet she doesn’t care that he goes out with Amy and throws herself at Byron.

*Apparently it is perfectly acceptable in Sweet Valley for 12-year-old girls to hop on a bus and take an hour-long trip alone because both Liz and Sophia do it, twice.

*The whole dance thing is ridiculous. If any of the kids screw up, they cancel the dance. BUT, they spent all day decorating and invited the whole school. Can you imagine the bad publicity if they cancelled it at the last minute?

*Again, I have to ask, why would anyone want to watching sixth graders dating? They plan two different shows around the idea and it skeeves me out.

Goosebumps HorrorLand #7: My Friends Call Me Monster

2012-01-21T02:49:00.006-05:00

The HorrorLand books have three different sections in each book, which is a little odd. The second section is part of a story that takes place at HorrorLand, but in a sneaky move by R.L. Stine, the story continues from book to book. So if you want the whole story, you have to buy every book. I only have a few, but we’ll see what happens.

The first story in the book has absolutely nothing to do with HorrorLand; it’s just a shorter version of a Goosebumps book. Michael and his friends hate their teacher Mrs. Hardesty because she would rather have them learn about monsters than do any real schoolwork. He takes a dog whistle to school and somehow when he blows it, the shade rolls up. Hardesty gets pissed off and hauls him in after school. When she hears his friends Daisy and DeWayne laughing in the hallway, she drags them in too.

As punishment she makes them do a community service project that Saturday near her house. Their principal Mr. Wong asks her to rethink her decision, but she is done. She makes them dig through a huge trash pile, looking for recyclable materials. Wong shows up with candy bars and paper towels, but still refuses to do anything.

To get back at her, the kids sneak into her house and hide a black cat in her basement, since she is superstitious. She comes home early and since they can’t for some reason get out, they hide in the attic. She comes upstairs and Michael sees her sit on top of a giant egg. The kids freak out and run away. Michael wants to go back and catch her in the act, but his friends refuse to go back.

This time, Michael sees the egg actually hatch and a green scaled monster come out. Hardesty takes the monster into the basement and he sees a whole room full of monsters. She talks to them, revealing a plan to take over the world with the monsters and reveals that she is actually an alien monster working for a commander.

Michael wants to go back again and his friends still refuse. He sneaks up to her window and sees her in her monster form making eggs. After eating the eggs, she turns back into a human. Hardesty hears him outside, drags him in and makes him eat some of the eggs, which turns him into a monster. She sticks him in the basement with all the other monsters.

Luckily, his friends show up. He blows his whistle, Daisy recognizes him and they help him escape. He eats a few bites of eggs, which turns him halfway back into a human. They run to Wong’s house because he lives right down the street, but find him sitting on an even bigger egg. Hardesty runs in and reveals that the principal is her commander.

Michael breaks the egg and Wong falls inside. Hardesty jumps in to save him and they both melt in the egg yolk. The other monsters jump inside and melt too. Michael eats some egg yolk and completely transforms into a human. DeWayne says he took pictures with his cell phone, but he cut off everyone’s head, so they have no proof of what happened.

Michael goes home and has dinner with his parents. His mom brings out a carrot cake and they all dig into it. After a few bites, his mom casually mentions that Mrs. Hardesty brought over the cake the day before, made with her “special” eggs.

And now we get to HorrorLand.

Several kids get invited to a special event at HorrorLand and two disappear right away. One of the “horrors”, the guys dressed in scary costumes, warns the kids that everything is real and they must escape as soon as possible.

Michael from the last story appears in this one, trapped in the Bat Barn with all the other kids. Apparently, him and his parents turned into monsters, but he gave them some of the special egg yolk and they all transformed into humans. A bunch of bats attack, but the kids get away when Michael blows his dog whistle.

They fill him in on how the other kids disappear. He learns that they went through a mirror into another park called Panic Park and how now they cannot find any mirrors in the amusement park. Michael goes off on his own, looking for a mirror. He tries the hotel and the stores, but no one has anything shiny. He sneaks into an employee area and finds a huge underground cavern, but he gets caught by a park police officer who sends him away.

Michael meets up with the other kids and they look for something with a mirrored surface. He also tries getting online, but the park has no internet and cell phones do not work. They sneak into the employee area and he uses a park computer to access the internet. They find a blog about girls that escaped from the park, but get caught again.

The police chase them into an area with cages. Every cage has a weird gorilla creature inside. One of the gorillas grabs a kid, but the police save him. As everyone breaks up and goes different ways, one of the horrors takes Michael aside. He gives him a shiny coin object and tells him he can use it to escape. Michael looks inside and is transported to another park. He looks and around and realizes that he is in Panic Park, but his all of his friends are long gone.

Oh, and we get a two-page map that shows what part of the park looks like.

The Baby-Sitters Club #100: Kristy’s Worst Idea

2012-01-20T02:44:00.005-05:00

Kristy just got back from a week-long vacation in Hawaii and cannot wait for their first BSC meeting, but no one else feels the same way. In the last book, Abby took over as president and wasted most of the club treasury on a Mexican festival. The girls keep talking about how much fun they had, which makes Kristy feel like they don’t need her.

Jessi gets into a ballet class for top students, but it meets on Friday afternoons. Everyone considers letting her skip those meetings, but Kristy decides it is all or nothing: either she stay in the BSC or quit for ballet. Abby thinks they should move their Friday meetings to Thursday and takes a vote. Everyone agrees except Kristy, so they send out new fliers with the new time listed.

Things start going downhill from there. Mary Anne and Claudia set for the Barrett/DeWitt house and have an argument. Mary Anne wants to play relaxing board games and calms the kids down. Then Claudia gets them all riled up with art projects. They start fighting and eventually cannot even be in the same room together.

Mallory gets into a creative writing class that meets on Wednesday nights. Abby wants to move the meetings to Tuesday and Kristy wants Mallory to quit the club. Everyone gets into a fight over when to host meetings and Kristy decides they should disband the BSC. Claudia feels relieved and everyone else is kind of happy too. They take a vote and only Mal and Jessi want to keep the club going.

Kristy thinks that everyone needs a few days to calm down and that by Monday, they will all beg her to form the club again. No one really does and they all seem happy about it. Claudia and Stacey go shopping all the time, Mary Anne spends all of her free time with Logan, and Abby has time for sports. Kristy already feels like crap because while sitting for Jackie, he fell out of a tree and sprained his ankle. Now she feels completely out of sorts.

Even though Claudia records a message on her machine, parents keep calling her at all hours of the day. It drives her nuts, but she still wants time for herself. She and Stacey run into Mrs. Newton at the mall. Jamie acts pissy towards them and finally admits that he think they don’t like him anymore. None of the kids understand and blame themselves for the club breaking up.

Abby points out that none of the parents call her for sitting jobs because they don’t know her. Kristy suggests reforming the club, but Abby blows her off. Kristy mopes around for awhile, feels crappy, and gets annoyed with her friends for not caring. She has a run-in with Emily over sitting jobs because Emily sat for Jamie. Emily tells her that the BSC had a monopoly on sitting jobs and since they broke up, she could finally get some work. Even Cokie gets a sitting job!

Mallory tries to get the club together, but when they all go out for pizza, Claudia and Mary Anne skip because they don’t want to see each other. Claudia calls in a panic because Jackie hurt himself. The whole club rushes to the hospital to cheer him up and he says that he misses them all. They agree to one more meeting at Claudia’s house.

Kristy suggests starting the club again and only half agree. Stacey is worried that the club will take over their lives and Claudia doesn’t want to deal with all the phone calls. They decide to do a one month trial and if they are happy, they can keep the club going for the rest of the school year.

*As soon as Kristy announces the breakup of the club, Claudia records a new message, telling clients to call the sitters one at a time. That seems kind of fast!

*Kristy says that she never wanted the BSC to have a monopoly, which is complete bull shit. When that other club started, they went out of their way to bring them down. She also acts like it never crossed her mind that other kids might want to sit, but that’s pretty unbelievable.

*Yeah, so this marks the beginning of 8^th grade yet again. The book makes it clear that Abby is still new in town, but everyone goes shopping for school supplies and stuff. BTW, this book takes place over several months. Yup, the BSC broke up for months!

*Kristy is constantly bored and never once mentions the Krushers. Couldn’t she schedule some extra practices or something?

*Claudia wears a bracelet made from shoelaces, a ruffled shirt, two different Converse shoes, men’s suit pants, and a bungee cord as a belt. Why doesn’t anyone ever show her a mirror?

*It’s kind of realistic that the club breaks up because everyone has different interests. Yet, Stacey is the only one that ever had problems with the BSC and real life. Suddenly, everyone wants more time to do other stuff.

*I did like that the club members pointed out how the BSC takes over their lives and doesn’t give them time for anything else.

*Kristy wants to do a fall festival, but she really only wants to do it because Abby ran a festival without her. The story goes on for multiple chapters with no one wanting to do it, until she finally gives up.

Sweet Valley High #29: Bitter Rivals

2012-01-19T02:42:00.003-05:00

*I swear that I read and recapped this one before! I must have done it last year before my computer got infected and I lost my review file. Anyway, I bought this at a book sale last October, so it’s definitely been a long time coming!

Amy Sutton, slut extraordinaire, is moving back to Sweet Valley and for some reason, Liz Wakefield is super excited. Naturally we get a short recap of their friendship and how Amy moved away after sixth grade. Was this covered in any of the books? I know she isn’t in The Unicorn Club, but I wonder if she appeared in any of the other books or had a goodbye book.

Liz and Enid made plans to spend a weekend with Enid’s aunt Nancy at her ski cabin in Tahoe. They put off the trip until Amy gets into town and Enid even suggests she join them. Liz runs around, telling everyone about Amy coming back. She can’t wait to show her the Oracle, take her on a tour of town and introduce her to Enid.

Liz makes plans to meet Enid at the beach, but Amy calls because they got to town early. She runs over to her house and invites her to spend the night, conveniently forgetting about her best friend. Amy and Jessica get along great because Amy loves boys, gossip and makeup. Liz brushes it all off because she remembers their friendship.

Liz takes Amy out to breakfast and invites Enid along. Amy goes overboard with a fancy outfit and tons of makeup. She makes the other girls feel bad for ordering pancakes and sticks to coffee and grapefruit. Enid keeps waiting for Liz to pickup on how superficial the other girl is, but Liz is just proud of her new friend.

Amy makes a big splash at school. Liz invites her to join the newspaper, but she tries out for cheerleading. In case you were wondering, Helen Bradley moved away, so I assume her brother left too. Remember that Tim dated Annie Sutton? I always kind of wondered what happened to those characters! She also makes new friends and ignores Liz. She stands her up for lunch multiple times and flakes on other plans.

Lila decides to throw a huge party for her cousin Christopher because she wants everyone to meet him. Liz and Enid decide to go to Tahoe on the same weekend as the party. Amy agrees, but then changes her mind because she doesn’t want to miss the party. Enid agrees, but isn’t happy about ruining their plans. She makes it clear that this is the last time she will change the arrangements because they are acting shitty towards her aunt.

Amy tells Liz that she and Christopher are in love. Forget the fact that they haven’t met yet, Lila showed her tons of pictures. She assumes that as soon as they meet, he will fall head over heels too. Liz and Enid go shopping for ski equipment and buy matching gloves. When Liz tells her that they need to give Amy a ride to the party, Enid backs out and has her mom drive her.

Amy suggests that she and Liz go to a movie together, but shows up two hours late and full of excuses. When Liz calls her on her bull shit, she bursts into tears and cries over losing their friendship. She also confesses that she doesn’t like Enid and thinks Enid is trying to steal her best friend. Liz feels bad and thinks she neglected her. Isn’t Liz supposed to be the smart one?

Cut to Lila’s costume party. Liz dresses as a skier and sees Enid wearing a matching outfit, while Amy dresses as a ballerina. Lila introduces her cousin Christopher to the party and he makes an instant beeline for Enid. It turns out that he worked as a counselor at some East Coast camp she went to. Since when did her family have money for fancy camps?

Amy sees them and hates it. She makes a play for Chris and he shoots her down. She keeps asking him to dance with her, get her punch, take her on a tour of the grounds, and does whatever it takes to get him away from Enid. Every time, he goes back to Enid and makes it clear that he wants her. Amy goes off on Enid, telling her that she cannot steal anything from her, not Liz and not Chris.

Enid tells Liz that Chris is driving her home. Then Amy pops up and says he is giving her a ride home. Liz asks what happened and Amy says she lied about not having a ride. Just as Liz tries changing her mind, Enid walks up and goes off on her for going along with Amy’s lie. She stomps off and Liz is left alone.

Liz goes to Enid’s house and apologizes. Enid accepts her apology because Chris stopped by her house that morning, apologized and asked her out to dinner. They pick a weekend for the ski trip and Enid decides that it is okay if Amy comes along. Liz talks things through with Alice, who calls Amy “manipulative”. Um, has she met her daughter? She also thinks that Enid probably saw something in Amy that Liz could not see.

Liz talks to Amy the next day at school and she seems really cold. She gives up and tells Liz that it isn’t her fault she picks bad friends like Enid. Liz brings up the ski trip and Amy makes it clear that she wants to go with just Liz and does not like Enid. Amy asks if she is mad at her and Liz says no. She walks away, feeling sad that they aren’t friends anymore, but glad she has other people in her life.

The B-plot is all about Jessica being a manipulative, jealous bitch or in other words, a regular Tuesday. After talking to this guy Jay a few times, she decides that he is her soul mate. He and Denise Hadley started dating months ago and seem happy. Jessica and Cara start an advice column in the newspaper. She writes two fake letters, making it seem like they aren’t happy because Denise is a whopping year older than him.

They start having problems and Jessica makes her move. Jay takes her on a date and takes him up to Miller’s Point. When he confesses that he is still in love with Denise, she tells him that Denise has been cheating on him for a long time and everyone else knew. They kiss and he takes her to Lila’s party, but when he sees Denise with another guy, he storms off.

Denise and Jay both write letters to the paper. Jessica forgets to write the column for that week. Liz finds the letters and prints them in the paper. When they see what the other one said, they get back together and Jess looks like a huge tool.

The Babysitters Club Mystery #5: Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic

2012-01-18T02:41:00.004-05:00

Stoneybrook is in the midst of Heritage Days, which seems like an excuse to give all the younger kids extra assignments for school. Mary Anne sits for Charlotte, who is doing a report on her family history. She finds bunch of photographs and an old locket belonging to her distant relative. Mary Anne starts thinking about her own life and wondering about her past.

When she gets home, she sneaks upstairs and digs through boxes in the attic. She finds some old photos, showing her sitting on a porch with an older couple. She keeps having dreams about a kitten and an older couple and she realizes that the couple are the ones from her dreams. After sneaking around some more, she finds a stack of letters. The letters detail how her dad sent her to live with her grandparents in Iowa when she was a baby.

Instead of talking to her dad or talking to anyone, Mary Anne mopes around by herself a lot. She convinces herself that her dad sent her away because he didn’t love her. She goes to the cemetery, can’t find her mom’s grave, but sees Mimi’s and cries. She goes back home and goes back through the letters again. This time she learns that when she was 18 months old, her dad asked for her back. Now she worries that her grandparents still have partial custody and will eventually want her back.

It doesn’t help when she overhears her grandmother call her dad. She claims that giving up Mary Anne was a mistake and she wants to see her again. Her grandfather died a few weeks before and his biggest regret is not seeing her again. Mary Anne flips out and finally tells Dawn the whole story. Dawn says that she won’t let anyone take her.

The Heritage Days festival needs volunteers to run booths and help raise money for the historical society. Kristy thinks the BSC should get involved and they decide to make cardboard cutouts of historical figures in Stoneybrook and take pictures of people posing with them. Claudia draws the figures and everyone else paints them.

Logan knocks over paint on his shoes, so he has to take them off. Then he spills paint on his shirt and takes that off. Mallory cranks up the music and accidentally drops eggs on the floor. In the middle of it all, a fancily dressed woman rings the doorbell. Mary Anne makes a bunch of excuses for her friends and Logan walks out half-dressed and with paint in his hair. She bursts into tears, thinking the woman is from social services. She tells Logan the whole story and he tells the other BSC members. They convince her that she has to talk to her dad.

Mary Anne escorts Charlotte to a big picnic for Heritage Days and gets depressed, seeing all the kids with their moms. She has the long talk with her dad, telling him about the letters. He confesses that he couldn’t take of her and that he saw her mom every time he looked at her. Her grandparents made the decision not to see her anymore because it was too hard. Oh and the woman that stopped by the house was a census taker.

The BSC does a great job at Heritage Days and have a lot of fun. The book ends with Mary Anne visiting her grandma and having a great time. She even goes on a bad date with the grandson of one of her friends. Richard tells Verna that she can see Mary Anne anytime she wants and MA asks her to come to Connecticut for a visit.

*If Heritage Days is such a huge thing, then why don’t any of the older kids have assignments? This book makes it out like all the SES students get assignments, but no other schools.

*Jessi shoots down Mallory’s booth idea of recreating historical recipes because it sounds too hard. I think researching and baking sounds a lot better than drawing, cutting and painting cardboard cutouts.

*The BSC does a cutout of Sophie, the girl from Stacey’s house. Yeah she was important to them, but would anyone else really know who she was?

*Dawn tells Mary Anne that their booth made more money than anyone else, which I find hard to believe. Would you really pay just to take a picture with a cardboard figure a 13 year old made?

*Claudia wears a white bodysuit, lace shirt, black miniskirt, red high tops, lace leggings and paper mache jewelry painted black and white. Oh and the skirt had white polka dots, which sounds very 80s.

*The description Mary Anne gives of her visit is a lot different from the one she gives later. I don’t think she would lie in letters to everyone.

*Dawn and Stacey buy matching jumpsuits. Dawn’s is teal and Stacey’s is pink and they wear them to school…on the same day…on purpose.

*I swear that in an earlier book, Mary Anne mentions visiting her mom’s grave, but here she has no clue where it is. Plus she accidentally stumbles on Mimi’s grave. Given how close they were, wouldn’t she have been at the funeral? Or at least visited it before?

Goosebumps #36: The Haunted Mask II

2012-01-17T02:40:00.004-05:00

Steve went as a hobo for the last five Halloweens straight and he wants a change. I don’t blame him, but then again, I don’t remember my last five costumes! He remembers that his friend Carly Beth had an awesome costume last year and wants to know where she bought it. He and his friend Chuck used to tease her a lot, but stopped after she scared the crap out of him.

Steve sneaks up on her and grabs her head, but it comes off in his hands. Just as he is about to scream in horror, she pops her head up from her sweater. Carly Beth tells him that her mom loves artistic stuff and started making plaster casts of her face, which she used to scare him. She won’t tell him where she got her old mask, but when he steals the cast, she confesses that it came from the party store.

Since Steve is a moron, he ignores her warnings. He and Chuck sneak over to the party store and when they see that it closed down, they find a way inside. They find a bunch of masks in a cardboard box in the basement, but Chuck hears a noise and runs away. A figure in a dark cape warns Steve and tells him that the masks are special and not for sale. Steve must be a teenager because that just makes him want it more. He manages to escape and runs home with the mask.

He notices that the mask feels warm, which makes him want to try it on. Instead, he hides it in his sock drawer and goes to school. When he comes back, the mask is missing! Of course he realizes that he just left it in a different place. As soon as he puts the mask on, his face feels warm and he just feels uncomfortable. He tries getting the mask off, but he cannot find where the mask ends and his face begins.

Most of us would run screaming to our parents, but Steve just lays down. His mom asks to come in, but he pretends that he is sick and she goes away. He wakes up and the mask is gone, but realizes that he is still asleep. When he finally does wake up, the mask is still firmly in place. Not only that, but now he has an old man voice.

His parents see him and think he picked a really cool costume. The mask makes him look like an old man with liver spots, spiders coming out of his hair, and one tooth. He heads off, hoping to track down Carly Beth. He stops by to pick on a group of first graders on his way. He and Chuck got in trouble for letting a squirrel loose in the school and his punishment was acting as a coach for the first grade soccer team.

These kids are horrible! They bring a concrete ball to the field and paint it like a soccer ball, then convince Steve to kick it. Somehow, he manages to not break his leg in the process. Steve sneaks up on the kids, but they think his is just an old guy that needs help. Instead of running away in fear, they offer to walk him home LOL.

Steve finally tracks down Carly Beth. She tells him that his mask is not a mask, but an actually face. The owner of the shop was a mad scientist that created masks from real humans. He made a few mistakes and created ugly faces that no one wanted. She explains that the plaster mask “cured” her because it was a symbol of love. Steve needs his own symbol of love to cure himself.

Carly Beth takes him home and he looks for a package of cookies. His mom went out of the way to get the cookies for him and he thinks it is his symbol, but the dog ate the cookies. Since the dog keeps jumping all over him, Carly thinks that might be a symbol. When that fails, they sneak back into the shop.

They don’t find anything except a box of masks. Carly finds a box of clothing and notices that an old suit looks like his mask. When she shows him, his mask lifts off and floats toward the suit. As soon as the mask sits on the top, the clothing takes human form and runs away. They realize that the suit represented the body of the mask. Laughing, they head home when a monster jumps out of the bushes. Suddenly, Chuck’s voice comes out. He explains that he grabbed a mask before running away from the store. He announces that he needs help getting the mask off and they both exchange a look.

Sweet Valley High #96: The Arrest

2012-01-16T02:37:00.003-05:00

Part of why I didn’t like the “miniseries” books and part of why I stopped reading the books was because not much happens. There are 700 storylines going on in this book, but nothing really happens.

#1: Nicholas Morrow is suddenly best friends with Olivia. When he has bad luck on the dating scene, she submits his name for the TV show Hunks. They immediately hire him and send him a time to show up, despite never talking to him or getting his permission. He has three dates. The first date takes him to a biker bar, has a butterfly tattoo on her face and wears all black. The other date turns out to have a boyfriend.

The last date, Ann is perfect for him. When he shows up in shabby clothes, she changes to match him. When he forgets his wallet, she pays for the date. Then, when the other girls bad mouth him during the filming of the show, she steps up and defends him. They kiss and live happily ever after, or whatever.

#2: Bruce is mooning over Pamela after finding out she’s a huge slut and Pamela is moping over him. It turns out that she dated a guy for awhile and he pressured her to “go all the way.” When she refused, he dumped her and told everyone she was a slut. She kept going out with other guys and they kept spreading lies. It kind of reminds me of Annie! Pamela and Bruce get together so she can explain. The other guy shows up, calls her a whore and Bruce threatens to punch him, before storming out the door.

#3: Lila finally gets the chance to meet her long lost mother Grace. She spends half the book worrying about what happens. Amy worries too because she thinks Lila is pinning all her future hopes on her mom. Grace finally shows up and they go out to dinner, but her boyfriend Pierre ruins it by talking about himself. They try having breakfast, but Pierre shows up again.

#4: Steven needs to find a roommate asap because for some stupid reason, he got a two-bedroom apartment and couldn’t afford it. He keeps getting distracted and forgetting to look for a roommate. He finally checks the SVU newspaper and sees an ad by this guy named Billie. He calls and leaves a message, just telling the guy that he can move in, if he wants. Billie shows up and she’s actually a good looking woman.

#5: Liz can’t remember what happened the night of the accident. Her attorney doesn’t believe her and Ned ends up firing him, to take the job himself. She remembers seeing lights coming towards her that night. She also mopes over Todd, but won’t pick up the phone and call him because she thinks he should call her.

#6: Margo kills her charge Georgie and steals a bunch of jewelry from his mom. She takes off across the country, heading for California. She starts dreaming about a perfect split-level house and her “real” family. She sees a newspaper article about Liz and realizes that Liz is her identical twin. She decides that she should go to Sweet Valley.

#7 (and last): Jessica finally proves that she has a real mental disorder. She thinks about Sam constantly and how she spiked their drinks, but takes no responsibility for what happened. She keeps blaming Liz and thinking that she needs to pay her back. She starts spending a lot of time with Todd and when he starts to pull away, she throws herself at him even harder. Jessica figures that Liz “stole” her man, so payback is completely fair.

Bury Me Deep (Christopher Pike)

2012-01-15T02:36:00.004-05:00

Jean hops on a plane to Hawaii, planning to meet her friends Michelle and Mandy. Originally, she planned on leaving when they did, but had to stay an extra day to makeup a test she missed. She meets Mike, a good-looking guy from a small town that won a free trip to Hawaii. They talk for awhile and he talks about a mysterious place in Hawaii. She thinks it’s odd that he knows the place, given that he has never been there before.

She doesn’t have a chance to talk to him about it though because he goes into convulsions. The flight attendants work on him, but he dies. Jean cries in her seat and eventually falls asleep. She talks to one flight attendant before climbing off the plane and they both mention how nice Mike was.

Mandy picks her up from the airport and tells her all about the things they already did. Jean is pissed because she cannot afford to do everything and has to use coupons. They do whatever they want, including renting a more expensive car and doing a bunch of stuff without her. They also met scuba instructors Johnny and Dave. Michelle hooked up with Dave and Mandy claims Johnny for herself.

Mandy asks her not to flirt with him when they get introduced. Jean asks him a few random questions and Mandy accuses her of going after her man. She also meets Dave, who seems more concerned with hooking up than anything else. Both men act weird when she points out that she might not want to go scuba diving.

The girls take a scuba lesson and both Jean and Michelle are naturals. Mandy keeps messing up, including shooting to the top of the water in a panic, which would kill her in the real ocean. Dave demands that Mandy stay after for another lesson. Michelle tells Jean that the week should be interesting because Johnny has eyes for Jean, but Mandy is still throwing herself at him. The boys teach them about air embolisms and when she asks if they ever saw someone die from one, Johnny hesitates and Dave jumps in with a firm, “no.”

The boys take the girls on a private dive and once again, Mandy keeps screwing up. Jean asks a lot of questions and learns that they had another partner. They all go out for dinner and Johnny lets it slip that their partner died. Michelle asks about treasure hunting and Dave tells them the story of the Moonflower, a ship that crashed the year before. Their partner tried looking for the treasure, but never found it.

Mandy goes home, leaving Jean with Johnny. They take a walk on the beach and he tells her that Michelle took scuba lessons when she came the year before, even though she told Jean she never took a lesson. He gets a call that his mom hurt herself and he tells Jean that she is an alcoholic. Jean meets her and notices that she looks perfectly fine, no scratches. Johnny downplays the event and suggests she come out on the boat with them the next day. She turns him down because Mandy can’t go.

Jean also has two dreams about Mike. In one, she sees him in the bathtub bleeding. When she wakes up, she finds the bathtub full of red liquid, but realizes that it is Michelle’s ketchup bottle from lunch. She has another dream where she sees Mike blowing up a balloon until it explodes. She wakes up as Dave grabs her and pulls her back. She started sleepwalking and almost walked off the balcony of their hotel room.

Dave lets all three girls go out on the boat, but complains about them taking up space. Jean convinces Johnny to take the waverunners and go to a remote spot because it reminds her of her dreams. Mandy tags along, has a problem and Johnny calms her. Jean ventures into an underwater cave and sees a skull, but Johnny drags her out.

Both guys tell her that she was seeing things due to oxygen deprivation. Dave dives into the cave and comes back, saying he didn’t find anything. She gets Johnny alone and tells him her suspicions. She tells him about her dreams and how she felt compelled to dive in that exact spot. Jean calls Patricia, the flight attendant and talks to her about Mike. Patricia tells her that Mike died a month before on a dive and that she slept through most of the flight.

Jean drags Johnny to the newspaper office and finds the article about Mike’s death. The police found him off a small island and ruled his death an accident caused by his lungs exploding. They thought he came up too fast, but it was odd because no boat was nearby and they had no idea how he got there. Jean rushes to the cemetery because apparently he was apparently never shipped home. She finds his grave and asks him for help, right before a tree crashes down and knocks her out.

She dreams of standing with Mike and he shows her what happened. He dived with someone else, found a skeleton and the other diver killed him by unplugging his air. When she wakes up, she rushes back to the hotel and sees the police standing around. Someone fell from a high balcony. Jean talks to one of the cops and tells him that she thinks it was one of her friends.

He will not let her see the body, but eventually does and she sees Mandy. He listens to her, but when she starts talking about bad dreams and he sees her head wound, he doubts her story. She rushes off and asks Johnny to meet her back near the underwater cave.

Jean steals a jet ski, goes down and finds the skull. She comes up, swims to shore and finds Johnny. She warns him about Dave and rushes off. She comes across both Dave and Michelle knocked out and with nasty head wounds. Johnny takes her to safety, but she notices his red wetsuit and remembers that the man who killed Mike wore a red suit. Johnny realizes that she knows the truth and holds her captive on the boat.

Johnny tells her that his old partner Ringo found the big safe from the shipwreck. They went down to get it and he knew Ringo was going to steal it, so he killed him and left him in the cave. The safe sank, so he convinced Mike to go out with him for a moonlit dive. When Mike found Ringo, Johnny killed him. They fight and Jean manages to jump overboard. He tries to kill her, but she gets to his air tank first and he dies.

Jean swims back to shore and finds Dave. She tells him what happened and they help Michelle. She has a dream about Mike thanking her for solving his death. When she wakes up, she is sitting beside his grave. A voice calls to her and she sees Michelle and Dave coming towards her. Jean stops, sees necklace she gave to Mandy on Mike’s tombstone and silently thanks him before walking towards her friends.

Goosebumps #6: Let’s Get Invisible (R.L. Stine)

2012-01-14T02:35:00.003-05:00

It’s Max’s birthday and because of an unexpected storm, he and his guests are stuck inside. His little brother Lefty (named for being left handed) keeps annoying the shit out of everyone, but they manage to have fun. Max and his friends Erin and April head upstairs to check out the attic. His dog Whitey finds a hidden door and when they go inside, they find a huge mirror.

The mirror has a weird light on top and when Max pulls it, he disappears. The pull the switch to turn the light off and he turns back up. At first he thinks they’re all just messing with him, but he sneaks up that night and the same thing happens again. Lefty gets obsessed with the mirror and keeps making himself disappear to play pranks around the house.

Max decides to play a prank on his friend Zach, so he invites the group over and they show him the mirror. Zach turns it into a game, making everyone try to stay invisible for longer periods of time. Max notices that when he goes under, he gets a weird and kind of dizzy feeling. He also notices that someone seems to keep calling his name.

April is originally kind of scared of the mirror, but she warms up to it. Erin thinks it’s the coolest thing ever and keeps pushing herself to stay under longer. At the 12 minute mark, he shouts for his friends and they can’t hear him. The girls want him to use the mirror and enter it in the science fair, but he kind of wants to just pretend he never found it.

Everyone comes back over again and Whitey is somehow transported into the mirror. He makes it out, but acts a little funny. Then Max notices that Lefty, Erin and Zach all have different hair. He’s ready to stop messing around with the mirror, but Erin pulls the switch and sends him inside. He comes face to face with his own reflection.

It turns out that our “cold” side or reflection, lives inside the mirror and wants out. Zach and Erin were both replaced by their reflections and now Max’s reflection wants to replace him. Max runs off and starts shouting for help. His mom walks in the attic and starts rambling about the mirror. His voice grows smaller and no one can hear him screaming.

Suddenly April pulls the switch and turns the light on. Max comes out, but Erin and Zach attack him. They try throwing him back in the mirror so his other self can come out. Lefty suddenly pops up and wants to play catch. He throws a ball, Max misses and it crashes into the window. The real Erin and Zach take back their bodies.

Everyone cleans up the attic, closes the door and decide to never again look at the mirror or even go in the room. Max feels happy about the decision and heads outside to play catch with Lefty. They play for a few minutes and then it hits Max: Lefty is now right handed; he’s the exact opposite of what he was like going in…

*Eh, I kind of dig the new Lefty a lot better than the old one. The old one was pretty freaking annoying.

*When Zach is invisible, he goes to the neighbor’s house and makes his tomatoes dance around the yard. The guy’s wife thinks he has heat stroke and makes him go inside. It kind of cracked me up.

*Supposedly Max’s parents got the house from his grand-parents and never really bothered to go in the attic. Sorry, but if it was my house, I would have gone through that attic looking for eBay stuff LOL.

Sweet Valley High Super Stars: Enid’s Story

2012-01-13T02:33:00.003-05:00

Enid cannot wait until her dad gets in town for Christmas. Todd goes out of town, so she has to take care of Elizabeth. This mainly consists of taking her to the Dairi Burger and then getting pissed at her. Suddenly, no one can stop talking about Jeffery French. Jessica decides that she might want to flirt with him, but he basically ignores her. He gets stuck under the mistletoe with Liz and they kiss.

Enid spends a few days crushing on Jeffery. They talk at the restaurant and agree to go to the big skating party together. She doesn’t tell Liz and actually convinces her that she should skip the party. Liz shows up and sees her with Jeffery, but Enid swears that nothing happened. She hangs out with him all day and realizes that she likes him. They have a joke about an old ice skater, so she buys him a postcard of the skater and writes a fake autograph on the back. She pairs it with a pint of ice cream as his Christmas gift.

He calls her the next day and invites her over. She brings him the gift and he loves it, but he also wants to talk to her about something important. Liz brought him over a batch of fresh, homemade cookies that she made just for him. Jeffery wonders if she likes him again and if they have a shot. Enid feels like shit and realizes that he doesn’t really like her.

Enid ran into a guy from her old crowd named Brian at the skating party. Jessica hit on him, but he only had eyes for Enid. He calls her up and asks her out, swearing that he gave up drugs and alcohol. He takes her out for Thai food and they have fun. He even has beer at dinner, but handles it without any problems. He takes her to a party and she feels uncomfortable because she recognizes people from her old crowd. Brian disappears and she finds him drunk and wrapped around a bong, so she runs home in tears.

Enid is also pissed because her mom hates her dad. Adele mentions that he had a drinking problem, but Enid doesn’t believe it. When he calls, her mom doesn’t take any messages. Enid leaves early, hoping to surprise her dad. She finds him at the bar, already drunk on gin. He makes a rude comment about how she used to love her alcohol and she runs off again.

George and Robin throw a Christmas party and she somehow finds it appropriate to go to it, despite it being thrown by her ex and the girl he cheated with. Enid goes with Jeffery, but he acts distracted the whole night and runs off after Liz. Brian flirts with Jess, but ditches her for Enid. He suggests they go for a drive and she agrees because at least he is interested in her.

Todd called Liz before the party and she realized that she really loved him. She talks to Jeffery and lets him know that while she likes him as a friend, her heart belongs to Todd. Jeffery tells her that he already knew that deep down inside and he is interested in someone else. They both rush off looking for Enid.

Brian convinces Enid to partake in some alcohol from a flask and marijuana. Enid remembers the smell of pot and goes overboard. Jessica meets a random college friend of Steven’s at the party and they head up to Miller’s Point. She gets ticked because the car next door is making too much noise. When she yanks open the door, she sees Enid tumble out drunk and high.

Jessica grabs her date and has him take her back to the party. Enid’s dad stops by her house and Liz calls and tells her mom about Brian. Adele warns her that he isn’t a nice guy and tells her ex, who runs off looking for her. The crowd turns on Jess when she tells them what she saw. Apparently, she should have grabbed Enid and drug her out, even though she is (a) old enough to take care of herself and (b) was doing something she already did before.

Brian puts the moves on Enid and she pushes him off. He calls her a tease and drives off in a rage. He drives by a few bars, loses control of the car, and drives off the road. Her dad drives by, stops, drags Enid from the car, and goes back for Brian.

Enid wakes up in the hospital and learns that the car exploded right after her dad pulled Brian out. He suffered burns over a lot of his body, but he will be okay. Liz, Jessica, Lila, and Jeffery come to the hospital to see her. Her dad tells her that he wants to stop drinking and start being a better person and a better dad.

When she gets out, she learns that Brian changed his ways. He plans on going back to college and attending meetings, so he can get help with his addictions. Jeffery stops by and takes her to Lila’s big New Year’s Eve party. He gets her alone and starts apologizing, but she stops him. She makes him promise that things will get better and they kiss. Of course it doesn’t matter because their relationship is never mentioned again. BTW, I believe this is the third time I read about her and Hugh breaking up, which happens right before the book starts.

Give Yourself Goosebumps #3: Trapped in Bat Wing Hall

2012-01-12T02:32:00.003-05:00

Basically in this book, you meet a guy who seems kind of nice and doesn’t mind that you’re a new kid in town. He decides to take you under his wing and make you part of his group. They sit around telling horror stories at a place named Bat Wing Hall and trying to scare each other.

Once you arrive though, they don’t want you there. They want to play some scary games and new members aren’t allowed to play. You beg for a chance and they decide to give you a shot. You end up going into a secluded crypt at the local cemetery and read a warning about bat bones. When you wake up that night, you’re roughly the size of a bat and need to get back to normal.

*I reached the end with one of my first choices. I then did a few other times through the book and never did reach a happy ending. I don’t think there’s even the slightest bit of a happy ending here.

*The biggest annoyance is that there is way too much flipping going on! Every page is a section on its own, so you read one page and have to flip to another, read that and flip again. I went from page 1, to page 129, to page 77, then back to 18 and so on. Very annoying.

*Sadly I have a few more books like this, but I have no clue how to recap them. Any ideas?

Thirteen: “A Little Taste of Death” (Patricia Windsor-Point Thriller)

2012-01-11T02:44:00.002-05:00

Louey spends the summer with her grandmother, barely doing anything or going anywhere. Her most exciting moments come from reading the newspaper and checking out the classified ads. She hopes that she might run into a lost dog or cat one day and reunite it with its owner. One morning she sees an ad for a support group that makes her remember her childhood.

She remembers running into a man on a train with her mother. He offered her a lollipop and pressed her. When she took it, her mom grabbed it and hid it away. Louey found it later and while her mom visited with relatives, she snuck outside and ate the sucker.

Still, she goes to the support group and everyone shares a similar story. She also meets Bobby Lee, the super hunky guy leading the meeting. Everyone discusses the feelings and weird sensations that keep plaguing them. Louey doesn’t share any of the same feelings, but she keeps listening.

Over the next few days, she sees a bunch of stories in the paper about teens from the meeting that died. She also has bad dreams featuring Bobby Lee, making her kill animals and do weird stuff. She wakes up one morning with a cut on her hand in the same spot she cut herself in the dream. Her grandma reveals that some vagrant snuck in and did something disgusting on the floor, which is all the description we get.

The doorbell rings and Louey gets up, knowing that it is for her. When she sees Bobby Lee there, she realizes that he is the guy from the train. He tells her that it is time to go, she shakes her head. She recalls what happened on the train and that she snuck the sucker away. She took one good lick, her mom caught her and she got a bad beating. She explains to him that it isn’t her time because she only had a “little taste of death.”

The Babysitters Club #34: Mary Anne and Too Many Boys

2012-01-11T02:32:00.000-05:00

The Pikes are going back to Sea City and hire Mary Anne and Stacey again to help out. They think it will be a fun and relaxing two weeks. The Pikes decide that they need a new rule. Instead of giving both girls the night off, they each get a different night off. On their first beach day, they run into Alex and Toby. Conveniently, the two got jobs helping two families for a month.

Mary Anne gets ready for a date with Alex, but runs into Stacey getting dressed for her own date with Toby. Stacey plays it off like she should get first dibs on a night off work. Mary Anne agrees to wait until the next night, but sees Stacey getting ready to sneak off again. Mary Anne goes off on her and Stacey tries to let her have two nights off the next week. She refuses and rushes off for her own date.

Things go weird with Alex. He doesn’t seem like the same guy she dated last year, he isn’t funny, and he just acts different. They can barely find anything to talk about, but she still agrees to see him again. Mary Anne spends most of the book worrying about what Logan would say if he knew. She finally tells Alex about her boyfriend and he admits that he has a girlfriend. They get a big laugh out of it, but decide to stay friends.

Vanessa gets a crush on the 12-year-old guy working at the ice cream shop. She leaves him notes from a secret admirer. When she sees him again, he wants to meet Mallory because he thought she was his admirer. Vanessa mopes around for a few days, but finally leaves him one last note saying goodbye. Mary Anne talks things through with her and makes her feel better.

She avoids Stacey for a few days, but they finally make up before leaving Sea City. Stacey admits that Toby broke up with her because he didn’t want to feel tied down to her, so she cries to Mallory and Mary Anne. They head home and Mary Anne finds a poem tucked into her bag. Vanessa wrote a poem thanking her for her help.

Kristy sits for the Rodwosky boys in this book. She takes them to the city pool and constantly lets Jackie go off on his own, but then gets ticked when he messes up. He drops a huge cookie in the pool, steps on a huge bee, and takes so long at the snack shop that a huge line forms. Kristy whines about it and decides that she never wants to take three kids to the pool again.

Dawn goes back to visit her dad. Carol randomly shows up with her friend’s two kids and her dad got them tickets to a show. He decides that Dawn will sit for the kids without even asking her about it AND, one of the kids has colic. Jeff does such a good job helping that she splits the cash with him and wonders if he might sit in the future.

Jessi sits for Charlotte, Becca, and Squirt. Becca notices that Frodo (the Pikes’ hamster) is inside Misty’s cage and it happens a few times. Jessi thinks that Becca did it, but sees Squirt near the cages. He watched a TV show on same things and moved the hamsters together because they were the same. Yes, because he is what, 1? I’m sure he can not only say, “same”, but unlock cages.

*The whole point of the Pikes not giving them the same night off is because they want the freedom to go out every night. That isn’t me blowing smoke, that is exactly what the book says! Why can’t the Pikes stay home with their kids one night out of the week?

*They stop for ice cream on the way there and Claire wanders off. The best part is that Mary Anne notices it, but not her freaking parents. The Pikes just go about eating their ice cream.

*This book mentions all these little things that you think are a part of the book, but never appear again. It’s always stupid things, like someone mentioning going for ice cream or introducing the kids Alex watches.

*I missed all the references to stuff they go in town. They walk by the mini golf course and Burger Garden, but never actually go.

*Check out that cover! Notice how Mary Anne is wearing a bikini and yet in the book, she never goes to the beach without a kaftan.

*Mallory is a regular sitter, but this is technically her vacation, so she should have free time. According to her parents, she will help watch the kids when one of the girls has the night off. Yet she never does any real sitting in this book.

Goosebumps #25: Attack of the Mutant

2011-12-31T16:49:00.000-05:00

Skipper is your ordinary pre-teen boy, except that he is obsessed with a comic book series called The Masked Mutant. He reads every new issue as soon as it comes out. One day he takes the bus to the orthodontist and meets a girl named Libby. He picks on her for reading what he considers lame comics, but they get along.

He gets the next issue and sees the villain’s hideout, which looks like a huge pink fire hydrant. Later, he sees the same building in his town. Libby has no idea that the building appears in the comic and tells him that the building has been there since before she moved to town last year. When he goes back, the building is gone and she tells him that they tore it down.

The next issue shows the villain throwing an invisibility cloak over the building. He sneaks inside with Libby and sees a weird flash go over him. He loses Libby inside, but finds a bunch of back and future issues, plus drawings. He realizes that the building is home to the printing company, finds Libby and runs away.

The next time he sneaks inside, he finds issues that show him as a character. He runs home, grabs the new issue and sees him listed as the main villain of the story. He runs back to the building and sneaks inside again. He finds the Masked Avenger, the hero of the book. Skipper unties the hero and helps him escape.

They go after the Masked Mutant and the Avenger runs off in fear. The villain fights with Skipper and reveals that when he felt the weird flash, he was actually scanned into the comic book. Libby rushes in with a toy gun and says that it is a ray gun. She tells him that it’s a comic, so everything is real. She shoots the gun and he dies.

Libby turns the gun on Skipper and transforms into the Mutant. Turns out that the other guy was one of his workers and he posed as Libby the whole time. Skipper tells him that he is actually a superhero named Elastic Boy and attacks. He confesses that his weakness is sulfuric acid and the Mutant transforms because he has the power to transform into anything. The Mutant dies though because for some reason he can’t transform from a liquid state.

Skipper happily runs home and plays Frisbee with his little sister. They head inside, where he starts cutting pieces of chocolate cake. The knife slips and cuts his arm, but instead of blood, he bleeds ink. With a startled look, he decides that he better look at the new issue and see what happens next.

The Unicorn Club #20: In Love with Mandy

2011-12-30T16:49:00.000-05:00

Lila Fowler wants to buy even more clothes because she hasn’t yet bought out every store in Sweet Valley. She stops by her dad’s office and sees the super cute Mitchell Parsons. They flirt and she likes him, but then their dads come out fighting. Her dad reveals that he is in the process of buying out the other man’s company and he isn’t happy about it.

Mandy Miller is just excited because she landed a job at the Sweet Valley Country Club, working in the kitchen and as a waitress. She has to work on the night of a huge Halloween ball. Lila comes to the club wearing a purple dress and a fancy unicorn mask. She dances with a few regular guys and then spots Mitchell across the room.

Mitchell suggests they sneak off to the golf course and she agrees, but can’t leave the room completely. She asks Mandy “unicorn to unicorn” to put on her costume and act like her. She sneaks off to the golf course and spends over an hour with Mitchell. She tells him that she needs to get back before her dad realizes she went with him. Mitchell says that he was trying to get past the fact that he hates her dad for “stealing” his dad’s company. They have a huge fight and he storms off.

Mandy, wearing Lila’s dress and mask, hides from Mr. Fowler and accidentally runs into a cute guy dressed as a prince. They spend the whole night talking and laughing, until Lila comes back. She runs into the guy a second time, dressed in her work outfit and is sad when he doesn’t realize that she was the same girl he talked to all night.

Lila is shocked to learn that the guy is Brandon Jones, a cute and rich guy. She’s even more shocked that he likes her, based on their earlier conversation. The next day, he shows up at her house in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce and asks for her help on a fundraising project to raise money for people that can’t afford medical bills. Mandy calls later, wanting to know about the guy and Lila lies to her. She says that he sought her out because he needed Lila’s help on the project.

Brandon brings a bunch of guys from Lovett Academy onto the project, including Mitchell and Lila invites the Unicorn Club. Typical Lila, she assigns all the fun jobs to her and Brandon and expect everyone else to do the hard stuff. Mandy manages to work on the project and keep her job too. Brandon keeps seeing Mandy and thinking she looks familiar, but she keeps blowing him off.

Lila and Brandon do television interviews and magazine interviews, posing as the perfect couple. When he needs her to do actual work, she has no idea how to do anything. She contacts Mandy, asking her to do the press release and create the invitations. When no one can agree on a fundraising idea, Mandy comes up with the Dreams Come True ball, but lets Lila take credit for it. Then she writes a press release about a unicorn and a prince meeting at a ball and gives her credit again.

Lila keeps telling Mandy that Brandon is really concerned with putting on airs and making a good impression, so she can’t tell him about her job. When she learns that Brandon had cancer like Mandy, she hides that from both of them. Then she makes Mandy look bad by claiming that she isn’t pulling her weight with the decorations when the rest of the club walks off and won’t lift a finger.

Mandy and Brandon run into each other and finish making all the decorations. Mitchell shows up and suggests going for ice cream, but Brandon wants to wait for Lila. Mandy makes an excuse to leave and when Brandon suggests going out the next day, she tells him she has a hair appointment and doesn’t know her future schedule. He snubs her and she runs off, but turns around and goes back, telling him about her job. He doesn’t say anything, so she runs off in tears, thinking that he is super snobby.

Jessica tells Mandy that Mitchell clearly likes her, but she doesn’t see it. They go shopping and she picks out a dress for the ball. Actually, it’s a black shift with an artist palette embroidered on the pocket. She plans on wearing it with a handmade velvet beret and black pants. Unfortunately, she learns that she has to work that night. Mitchell asks her to the ball and she turns him down.

Brandon asks Lila is she thinks he’s a snob and thinks about Mandy constantly. Mitchell realized that Mandy was doing all the work and thought she was cool, but he still likes Lila. Lila likes him too, but thinks her dad hates his dad. He stops by her house and she explodes on her dad, telling him not to say a word. After Mitchell leaves, her dad tells her that he and Mr. Parsons were college roommates and fight all the time, but it doesn’t mean anything. He is buying his company, but he has dozens more and he doesn’t care if she likes Mitchell.

Lila makes up excuses for Mandy not coming to the ball, but Mitchell tells Brandon bluntly that Mandy had to work. Lila feels so bad that she breaks down and tells Brandon all about Mandy, including how she had cancer and how she did all the work. Brandon rushes to the country club and apologizes in person. He helps her finish up all the work early so she can leave early.

They rush to the ball and Brandon makes a speech in front of everyone. He and Mandy spend the whole night dancing together and laughing about how they met. Lila apologizes to Mitchell, he forgives her and they spend the whole night together.

Goosebumps #23: Return of the Mummy (R.L. Stine)

2011-12-29T16:47:00.000-05:00

Gabe has recovered from the events in the last book, at least enough that he heads off to Egypt with his uncle Ben and cousin Sari. He makes an ass of himself in the airport when they get there late, by hugging a man in a burka, thinking that it’s his uncle. Uncle Ben presents him with a scarab in amber as a present and Sari freaks him out, pretending that the bug is attacking his leg.

Uncle Ben is working in a pyramid that he thinks belonged to one of King Tut’s cousins. Sari claims that she is worried about him because he pinned all his hopes on the pyramid. If he doesn’t find anything inside, then she worries that he might lose it. Also on the scene is Nala, a reporter that Ben’s partner Omar let visit. She points out that she and Gabe have the same amber necklace, though hers lacks any bug. She mainly shows up to flirt with Ben for most of the book.

After a few days, the group finally breaks through to the inner room. Gabe accidentally falls down a shaft, where he is attacked by spiders. When they pull him up, he pulls out the mummy hand from his back pocket and claims that it still has some magic powers. Nala expresses some interest in the hand, but just seems glad that he didn’t hurt himself.

Uncle Ben breaks a seal on one room and finds an empty room behind the door. He finds a second door and another seal, but Omar runs out. He starts shouting about how the mummy wants to “rest in peace” because that is what the seal said. Ben pushes forward anyway and Omar runs off. They break through the second door and find a room full of jewels and gold, plus a mummy tomb with a mummy inside.

At dinner, Nala asks Ben for the six magic words that will bring the mummy back to life. He jokes about it, but finally reveals the words. Gabe teases Sari by repeating the words, but stops before repeating it the five times needed for the mummy to come to life. She taunts him and he says the words again, but nothing happens.

They go outside and talk to Ben. He reveals that Omar is acting funny and he doesn’t necessarily trust him. Omar also calls the police and makes them stand guard over the tomb, just in case any workers try stealing artifacts. Later that night they see Omar grabbing Ben and dragging him off. When he pushes Ben into the pyramid, they follow.

Gabe and Sari venture into the tomb and find the mummy wandering around the room. They open the mummy box and find Uncle Ben inside. Just as he starts waking up, Nala bursts into the room. She reveals that she is the long lost sister of the mummy and stole the mummy hand from Gabe, using it to waken her brother.

The mummy comes over as she calls him, but suddenly grabs her around the neck. Gabe fights with her and accidentally knocks her necklace off her neck. The amber shatters into pieces and she freaks out. She announces that she hid her body in the form of a scarab for all those years and hid inside the necklace. The amber kept her alive, but without it, she can’t survive in a human form. The mummy demands again that he rest in peace.

Nala turns back into a scarab and scurries from the room. Uncle Ben pops up, revealing that he heard everything. He also tells them that he and Omar suspected Nala. He never revealed the number of words in the phrase needed to bring the mummy back to life, but she knew anyway. He called the newspaper she claimed to work for and they didn’t know her. Omar shows up with the police and they tell him that she disappeared. Gabe goes to bed, feeling better than ever, but just as he climbs into bed, he feels something bite him…

Sweet Valley High #10: Wrong Kind of Girl

2011-12-28T16:48:00.000-05:00

Annie Whitman desperately wants to be a member of the cheerleading squad because apparently she isn’t slutty enough on her own. Jessica is flabbergasted that Easy Annie thinks she has what it takes to be a cheerleader. Liz decides to help Annie study for her math class, so she can get her grades up, but doesn’t bother telling her sister.

Liz goes over to her house one night and Annie confesses all about her past life. Her mom was only 16 when she had her, married her dad and then later divorced him before becoming a fairly famous model. They live in a little apartment with Mona’s boyfriend Johnny. Johnny naturally hits on Liz the first time he meets her, showing himself as the creepy guy. Mona also talks to Liz, worrying that her little girl doesn’t have any friends, but she actually seems more concerned with her boyfriend and her next drink.

Jess decides that Cara is the perfect girl for the squad. Apparently she and Lila were kicked off the squad after pulling a prank on an opposing squad. She also wants Sandra on the squad and since her best friend is also on the squad, she thinks it’s a lock. Then Annie auditions.

Annie does such a great job that everyone votes for her, except Jessica. The manager Ricky points out that she didn’t put down her name and she coldly tells him she never will. They cut down over 75 girls to 25 and Annie makes it down to the last ten or so girls. During the last audition, Annie does a great job, but Sandy falls on her butt.

Jessica already convinced Helen Bradley to vote for Sandy and Cara, but after that, she changes her vote. Jess is also pissed because Annie beat her in a dance contest with Bruce and went on a date with Helen’s brother Tim, who she wanted. She tells the other girls that she will never be on a squad with Easy Annie and if they pick her, she quits.

The next day, Ricky passes out the letters to each girl. Annie breaks down when she hears the news. She does a bunch of flips and other crap on the field, claiming that she was the best. She keeps pushing him until he finally tells her that everyone voted for her, but Jessica told them off. He reveals her nickname, which she never knew and she runs home in tears.

Ricky talks to Liz, who tells him that Annie never knew the way people talked about her. He goes over to her apartment and keeps calling her, but she won’t answer the phone. Liz answers the phone that night and he tells her that Annie tried to kill herself. She forces Jess to go to the hospital with her, but the doctors have no word.

Mona shows up, makes a big scene and breaks down. The doctor announces that Annie has no reason to live. She should wake up, but she just won’t move. Jessica freaks out because it’s all her fault and Liz has to calm her down. Jessica goes back to the doctor, tells him what happened and asks to talk to Annie. They go back in and she tells her there was a mix up with the letters. Ricky joins in, telling her that she was picked for the squad.

Of course Annie wakes up and suddenly feels fine. She tells them that she no longer needs the cheerleading squad, but Jessica tells her that she really meant it and is now a member of the squad. Mona comes in and reveals that she kicked Johnny out, so everyone can now live happily ever after.

*What the fuck is up with the Lila and Cara thing? They were suspended from the squad, so the squad just waited until the suspension was up and then held full tryouts? Why wouldn’t they replace them right away or if they had their spots back, why not just have one available spot?

*Oh and in the later books when Jess starts her own squad, Lila claims that she was never a cheerleader and never had any interest in cheerleading, forgetting high school and the Boosters.

*I find it hard to believe that a teenage girl would NOT know what people were saying behind her back. Plus Annie goes out with a different guy every night and has two dates in one night, but doesn’t realize what guys are saying about her. She even skips studying for dates and talks about how having an “active social life” is more important than school. Does anyone buy that she isn’t sleeping with these guys?

*On the other hand…most of the guys she dates are guys that Jessica dated too. And, why is Jessica not labeled a slut or easy?

*Annie overdoses on pills, lapses into a coma and is ready for cheerleading practice two days later. Even during the 1980s, the doctor would make her go to therapy or stay under observation.

The Baby-Sitters Club #73: Mary Anne and Miss Priss

2011-12-27T16:45:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Prezzioso calls the BSC because she needs a regular sitter every afternoon. Mary Anne is the only one free enough for the job, but even she can only take three nights a week. Every time she goes to the house, the mom disappears with baby Andrea for a few hours.

Mary Anne notices right off the bat that Jenny is even more prissy than usual. She wears matching dresses, socks, tights, shoes and hair ribbons. She freaks out when she spills apple juice on her clothes and flips when Mary Anne takes her outside and she gets mud on her feet.

The triplets are ticked off because they don’t think they need a sitter anymore. They decide to start their own kickball team because they get to be in charge. Jenny wants to join the team, but all the other kids shoot her down because she never wants to get dirty and is too prissy.

Mrs. Prezzioso tells Mary Anne that she’s been taking Andrea on auditions for photo shoots and commercials. Jenny changed because she wants some attention from her mom. Jenny decides that she wants to audition too and Mary Anne goes with them when she has her headshots taken and when she auditions for a few commercials. Jenny doesn’t book anything, but Andrea does, which makes things even worse.

Jenny does a complete 180 and changes into a pig. She spills stuff all over her clothes, plays in a muddy sandbox and makes a bunch of mud pies. She spills food on the counters, plays with clay in the middle of the living room and knocks over a vase. She also revels in playing outside in the dirt and mud.

Jenny finally books a job and actually does a really good job. On the way home, she spots the kids playing kickball and makes her mom stop the car. The triplets let her play, provided she doesn’t whine about dirt or mud. Jenny runs home, changes and runs back to the game.

Mrs. Prezzioso asks Mary Anne for help because Jenny didn’t land a big commercial and Andrea did. They make a big deal of it, sitting her down for the news. Jenny gets all excited and announces that she would rather play kickball. She changes into jeans and a baseball cap before running off for the game.

The other storyline is about Mallory because she is still just an honorary member. She isn’t sick anymore, but the Pikes only let her sit for her own family and won’t let her rejoin the club. She complains to everyone and they tell her to talk to her parents. She sits them down and shows them a chart detailing how much time she spends sitting, which is more than she did before getting sick. They formally let her rejoin the club at the end of the book.

*There is a mention of Claudia not having an afternoon free because of the newspaper. Of course that was only a few books ago and I don’t think it really gets mentioned again.

*Dawn calls Mary Anne and MA limits the call to 15 minutes because her dad has a 15 minute limit for long distance calls. That only makes sense if she called Dawn. Shouldn’t Dawn’s dad have some kind of limit, seeing as how he pays the phone bill?

*I love how the triplets think Mallory has more freedom and yet when she was ten, she still had a babysitter. I think early on after she turned 11, she still had a sitter too.

*The Pike thing is kind of funny because they explain that they never knew Mallory was sitting so much. And yet every time there is a mention of the Pikes, Mallory is sitting.

*The Prezziosos must have a shit load of money! They hire someone to watch Jenny at least two hours every day and have enough money to drive all over Connecticut booking jobs.

*Speaking of booking…Mary Anne gets all confused because she doesn’t know what “booking a job” means. Really Mary Anne? I’m pretty sure my 10 year old niece knows what it means.

*Are there really that many jobs for babies and kids in Connecticut? At one point Andrea is up for a nationwide commercial, but there’s no mention of them ever leaving the state.

Sweet Valley Twins #2: Teacher’s Pet

2011-12-26T16:44:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth is the star pupil in Madame Andre’s ballet class. Jessica is a far better dancer, but their teacher hates her because she thinks she doesn’t take it seriously. Both girls want the lead role in the production of Coppelia, but Jess is sure Liz will get it and so is everyone else in class. Jess even resorts to dancing next to Amy, who is the worst dancer in class.

Liz decides that if Amy was a better dancer, than Jess would get more attention. Since she dances next to her, the teacher puts all of her focus on Amy. They make plans to tutor her on dancing, but Jess blows it off to hang out with the Unicorns. The club keeps saying she’s sure to win the lead role. At the next class, Madame Andre notices that Amy is better and praises Liz for working with her.

Jess finally snaps and goes off on Liz, calling her a teacher’s pet. The two girls stop talking and act like total brats around each other. The day of the auditions dawn and Liz goes shopping with their mom. The time of the auditions is pushed up and Jess heads off. She has a change of heart, goes back and leaves Liz a note, telling her about the new time.

Everyone dances and does a good job, but no one is as good as Jess. She tells the teacher that Liz purposefully didn’t show up for the audition. Liz miraculously shows up, thanks Jess for her note and dances perfectly. Amy later tells her what Jess said and they stop talking again. Liz gets the lead role and Jess is put in the corps.

Jessica acts like a real spoiled brat and keeps calling Liz a teacher’s pet. Alice hears and gives her a stern talking to, telling her that at least they kept it in the family. She tells the Unicorns what happened and they spread a story around school about Liz only getting the role because she is the teacher’s pet. Liz decides that Jessica is just jealous.

Then Jessica gives Liz some pointers and she realizes that her twin might be a better dancer. The dance revolves around a life-size doll and when it goes missing, she thinks Jess might have done it. Amy offers to stand in for the doll and not dance in the show. Liz watches Jess dance in the corps and realizes that she’s a much better dancer and deserved the lead role.

The day of the performance, Liz fakes a sprained ankle and asks Jess to take over the lead role. Amy gives Liz the doll costume and faces her own fears to dance. Jess does a fantastic job and Madame Andre is all over “Liz” for doing such a great job. Alice and Ned point out that it’s Jess and she feels stupid. She apologizes for not realizing that Jessica really was serious about dancing.

*I actually feel for Jessica at the beginning, but then she turns into a total brat again and I can’t stand her.

*Steven dresses up like a robot in preparation for Halloween, but it kind of just sounds like he wraps himself in aluminum foil.

*Alice tells Jessica that teachers never play favorites and that it’s basically all in her head. That sounds like someone who was always a teacher’s pet to me.

*The book ends with someone disappearing into the Mercandy house. I totally have this book and I completely remember it from when I was a kid!

Goosebumps #51: Beware, the Snowman

2011-12-25T16:41:00.000-05:00

Jaclyn and her aunt Greta are moving to a remote snow village, for reasons her aunt can’t explain. As soon as they arrive, she notices that everyone has snowmen with red scarves on their front lawn. She’s also fascinated with a huge icy mountain just outside town that everyone warns her about seeing up close. She makes the mistake of trying to get up the mountain and is kind of attacked by a wolf. His owner Conrad warns her not to try it again.

Later she meets Rolonda and her little brother Eli. They explain that the snowmen are part of tradition, warn her about the top of the mountain and generally act a little weird. Rolonda then gets her alone in a church and tells her the true story of what happened in the town. Originally two sorcerers lived there and practiced magic. They accidentally created a snowman monster and trapped in at the top of the mountain. Eli pops out of nowhere and tells her that he saw it himself and wanted her to know because he knew she wouldn’t believe the story.

Jaclyn can’t keep her mind off the top of the mountain. It’s also driving her crazy because she keeps hearing this poem in her head that her mom read her about a snowman. She can only remember the first verse and scours the house for the poetry book, to find the rest of the poem. She finally decides to visit the mountain herself and gets her friends to help.

They distract Conrad, while she climbs the mountain. She comes face to face with the evil snowman, who has a surprising secret: he’s her real dad. He explains that he and her mom were sorcerers and one day, she accidentally turned him into a snowman. When she couldn’t fix him, she took Jaclyn and disappeared. He asks her to recite the poem, which will free him.

Aunt Greta suddenly appears and begs her not to say the poem. She’s carrying a spell book and says it was her mom’s book. The snowman was a creature her parents accidentally created, but not her father. They fight over the book, but Jaclyn tears it from her hands. Greta then reveals the snowman poem, crumbles it in a ball and tosses it over the mountain. It floats back into her hands, so Greta rips it up.

Luckily Jaclyn remembers the poem in the nick of time and recites it. The snowman turns into a huge monster and attacks. Conrad appears from out of nowhere and recites a spell that brings life into all of the smaller snowmen. It turns out that Conrad is actually her dad. He stayed in town to keep an eye on the snowman and keep it from attacking. Her parents created it on accident and he always thought about her, but didn’t recognize her when she came back.

The small snowmen attack and the big snowman gets trapped in an ice cave. Conrad and Jaclyn hug, before he explains that he created the snowmen as a defense for the town. As they hug, a little snowman tugs his arm and she freaks out, thinking he might attack. Nope, the poor little guy just wants to go back to town because it’s way too cold up on the mountain!

Goosebumps #1: Welcome to Dead House

2011-12-24T16:43:00.000-05:00

Amanda and her little brother Josh are moving into a new house in the town of Dark Falls. Mr. Dawes, the real estate agent explains that their dad had a long lost uncle that died and left them the house. Both think it looks like a haunted house and Amanda is sure that she sees a boy looking down at her from upstairs.

Things are pretty weird from the moment they move into the house. Their dog Petey hates Mr. Dawes and keeps growling at him. Amanda thinks she sees people in the house, usually kids. Someone keeps rearranging the clothes in her room or leaving clothes sitting out and her dad thinks she’s just imaging things until she gets used to the move.

The two meet a neighborhood guy named Ray, who says he used to live in their house, but moved. He introduces them to some other kids, including Karen and George. The kids pretty much play baseball and chill for most of the book. Then Petey disappears one night and they can’t find him anywhere. Josh sneaks outside and Amanda follows after him.

They run into Ray, who starts acting weird. He leads them into the local cemetery and shows them a huge amphitheater where the town holds meetings. They find Petey, who won’t come near them and smells awful. Then they find a headstone, with Ray’s name on it. Ray reveals that he’s dead and all the other kids step out of the woods.

They explain that they all lived in their house, until they died. They keep inviting a new family every year, to get new blood and it just so happens to be their year. Josh accidentally shines his flashlight on Ray and he dissolves into pieces. Of course he also explains that they take the dog first and Petey is dead.

The kids chase them out of the cemetery and Mr. Dawes comes out to rescue them. He explains that since he recently moved to town, they came after him too. He saved their parents and now he wants to take them to find them. He takes them through the cemetery and they find his tombstone. Josh tries to shine his flashlight, but it stops working. He hits him with it and he crumbles. They track down their parents, but the whole town is surrounding them and sun is starting to come up. Amanda figures out that the dead people die when they get hit with light.

One tree is blocking the area from sun, so they work together to knock it over. The sunlight comes through and everyone dissolves, but not before Karen thanks Amanda for saving her. They save their parents and luckily they never sold their old house, so they can move home. Just as they get ready to leave, they see a car pull up and kids climb out. They’re talking about moving into the house. Amanda turns back and thinks she sees Mr. Dawes on the porch, but believes that it can’t be and walks away.

*Nice of her to not even try to help the other family get out of Dark Falls. She pretty much just walks away and doesn’t say a word.

*Dark Falls was, according to the book, a regular town that had a factory. Something happened at the factory and yellow gas poured out. Somehow that turned everyone into weird ghost things.

*Josh went into the cemetery multiple times throughout the book and never once saw anything weird, yet suddenly they walk in and find dozens of tombstones with names they recognize.

*I love that their parents never once questioned inheriting the house. Her mom says she doesn’t remember him mentioning his uncle and he admits that he didn’t know he had one, but they don’t find it even slightly weird.