I've never been hush about my love for Goosebumps. Yes, I'm a soon-to-be 40-year-old who still collects middle-grade books, and I'm proud of it. I still remember finding the original two books Welcome to Dead House and Stay Out of the Basement at a small Walmart in the summer of 1992. Back then, I was a few weeks shy from officially becoming a fifth-grader, and my 11th birthday was just around the corner. I don't know what attracted me to the books more, the creepy covers or the author's name - R.L. Stine. If my memory serves me correctly, I was already reading Fear Streets novels before Goosebumps, so the name R.L. Stine was already a permanent fixture in my young mind. By the time school rolled around in late August, I quickly learned I wasn't the only Goosebumps fan in my class. It seems every middle-schooler read these books to death in the '90s, and I guess kids still read the original 62 Goosebumps books, which would explain why Scholastic has continued to published new editions with new covers.

For those who don't know, R.L. Stine still writes Goosebumps books. Last week, Scholastic released the newest entry Goosebumps SlappyWorld: Fifth-Grade Zombies. I'm not for sure who did the artwork for the cover, but it's by far the creepiest Goosebumps cover of all time with three zombie fifth-graders hanging out underneath a monkey bar playground. To be more precise, the girl zombie is swinging from the monkey bars, which makes the cover even scarier.

Like the previous Goosebumps SlappyWorld installments, Slappy the ventriloquist dummy gives us readers a quick introduction and a few cruel one-liners before the actual story begins. He returns for a few jokes before the second and third acts and wraps everything up in the epilogue.

Our main protagonist is Todd Coates, a city kid from Queens, New York, whose parents sent him to live with his uncle, aunt, and cousins on a Wisconsin farm for a year while they are away on a trip. Unlike most kids who would be upset about spending a year on a farm, Todd is excited about hanging out with cousins Mila and Skipper. Shortly after arriving, strange things begin to happen around the farm, and Todd is the only one who witnesses the events. Late at night, Todd sees zombie-like children coming out of the cornfields. Maybe it's just his imagination. Right?

Final Thoughts

Hands down, Fifth-Grade Zombies is not only the best entry from the Goosebumps SlappyWorld spinoff series, but it's one of my favorite Goosebumps stories. I was psyched when I got my hands on this book, but due to my disappointment with the last book, Monster Blood Is Back, I kept my expectations low. Within a few chapters, I got hooked into the story, which borrows a little bit from Stephen King's Children of the Corn and the school bus segment from Trick 'r Treat. Now not everything is fully explained as to why certain things happened. Some readers could be bothered by this. I like it when plots aren't 100% explained because it makes the story creepier.

Overall, Goosebumps SlappyWorld: Fifth-Grade Zombies is one of the best installments in the twenty-nine-year-old franchise. Young or old, if you like fun zombie stories, then I recommend reading this one.