Spring Reads: Goosebumps SlappyWorld: It's Alive! It's Alive!

In the late summer of 1992, I recall browsing through the book section at a extremely small Walmart. It was there that I stumbled upon the first Goosebumps book (Welcome to Dead House) by R.L. Stine and I was instantly hooked. Fast forward to 2019, where I'm a lot older, but still a diehard Goosebumps fan!!

If you weren't already aware, the Goosebumps franchise is still going today with the latest spinoff "SlappyWorld," which features the #1 Goosebumps villain Slappy as the host of each installment. The 7th title in the series It's Alive! It's Alive! was released to bookstores in February by Scholastic.

The book centers around Livvy Jones, a young girl who's excited about participating in the Springdale Robots Meet, which is a Robotic competition. She has teamed up with her best friend, Gates Warwas, and between the two of them, they have created a life size robot, Francine, that has been programmed with the greatest abilities imaginable - cracking eggs and cooking an omelette!

Sounds exiting, right?

It's at least exciting for Livvy and Gates; well, until their robot goes berserk and attempts to do harm to the other robots on their team. Thanks goodness Livvy's parents are computer programmers and experts in artificial intelligence, as they can help reprogram the robot.

However, Francine continues to malfunction. Does the robot have a mind of its own?

Final Thoughts

Originally, I read It's Alive! It's Alive! in early March, but thanks to several life challenges, I never got around to writing the review. To refresh my memory, I reread the book this morning.

The plot involves artificial intelligence, and ironically it's the same theme featured in the movie Replicas which I just watched yesterday! Most Goosebumps books have a horror plot, but the plot in this tale is more science fiction. The two main characters are your typical middle graders; similar in vain to the ones found in all the other Goosebumps stories. There are a few interesting twists towards the end, which I kinda saw coming a mile away.

Overall, Goosebumps SlappyWorld: It's Alive! It's Alive! has a nifty concept and a cool cover art, but it's lacking any real "goosebumps" thrills! It's not a total loss, it has a fun little story that will easily appeal to kids, especially those who love robots!