Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Fall Reads: Goosebumps SlappyWorld: Revenge of the Invisible Boy by R.L. Stine


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Barnes & Noble; Amazon
Hop into a time machine and travel back to the early 1990s, a time when I was in elementary school and was reading a R.L. Stine's Goosebumps book monthly. Yeah, believe it or not, between 1992 and 1997, R.L. Sine cranked out 62 Goosebumps installments and sold around 4 million copies monthly. After the 1998-2000 spinoff Goosebumps 2000 series ended, fans would have to wait until 2009 until the next series, Goosebumps Horrorland, was published. Every since then, R.L. Stine has been releasing a few new Goosebumps titles, with latest being Goosebumps Slappyworld: Revenge of the Invisible Boy ($3.99; Scholastic; 151 pages).

Like the previous 8 entries in the SlappyWorld spinoff series, this book is hosted by everyone's favorite Goosebumps villain - Slappy, the ventriloquist dummy. Sometimes, Slappy includes himself into the story but not this time. Instead, the story focuses on Frankie Miller, a twelve-year-old at Han Solo Middle School in Barberton, Ohio. Along with his friends Melody Richmond and Edurado Martinez, he's part of a Magic Club with his nemesis, Ari Goodwyn, who likes to play tricks on everyone.

The Magic Club gang are more than excited when they learn the legendary magician, Mystical Marvin, is going to preforming at the Town Center, and thanks to Frankie's dad being on the city council, they have tickets to the big event!

Shortly after the event, the gang goes backstage to meet Mystical Marvin, who shows them a secret formula he uses to disappear. To get back at Ari for all of his tricks, Frankie puts a few drops of the formula into his lemonade. However, Ari is smarter than he looks and switches Frankie's drink his own. Let just say the formula and lemonade don't mix well together and Frankie turns into the invisible boy!

Final Thoughts

Let me start out by saying, "No, Revenge of the Invisible Boy" isn't a sequel to either the '90s Goosebumps books, "Lets Get Invisible" or "My Best Friend Is Invisible". This is a brand-new story with a new protagonist, Frankie Miller. The plot has more of a science fiction vibe to it than it does horror, along with a little bit of humor tossed into the mix. If a person could become invisible, you would think he or she would become a bit crazy with the power and eventually turn into a villain. However, this is a kid's story, so all Frankie does while being invisible is play jokes on his classmates.

I hate to nitpick but the cover art has really nothing to do with the plot as Frankie's clothes also turns invisible. I'm guessing the artist made the cover based solely on the book's title.

Overall, despite a little nitpicking, Goosebumps SlappyWorld: Revenge of the Invisible Boy is an entertaining, fast-paced read. While older Goosebumps fans might be disappointed with this tale, I'm sure young readers will love it!











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