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

$7.99; B&N; Amazon

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

Scholastic; 160 pagers; Amazon

I could never have a Halloween event without featuring one Goosebumps title! 

I've been reading and collecting Goosebumps books since the very first book was released back in 1992! The latest spinoff series is titled Goosebumps SlappyWorld, which features the #1 Goosebumps villain Slappy as the host of each and every tale. 

The newest entry "The Ghost of Slappy" centers around Shep Mooney, who's scared of anything supernatural related, especially ghosts! Shep thinks that his basement is haunted by a ghost named Annalee, but neither his parents nor his younger sister, Patti, believes him. 

Maybe a camping trip will make Shep forget about the ghost. His class is having a sleepover in the woods. Sounds like fun, right?

Think again!

His teacher, Mr. Hanson, has brought along a very special gift for the trip - a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy! It seems Mr. Hanson had found the dummy in an attic and thought it would be fun to bring it for the campout. Mr. Hanson is aware about the curse that was put on the dummy and tells the story to Shep and classmates. 

After the camping trip is over, Slappy decides to stalk Shep and his family, but the boy is one step ahead of the dummy. However, Shep doesn't know that Slappy has a few new tricks up his sleeve!

Scholastic; $6.99; 154 pages; Amazon

Many children's books from the 1990s have quickly fizzled and disappeared, but that isn't the case for the popular Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine. Since 1992, Mr. Stine has been scaring young readers with his Twilight Zone-like tales. The fifth book in the Goosebumps SlappyWorld spinoff series, titled "Escape From Shudder Mansion," just arrived in paperback last month.

The book centers around Riley Shiner, a twelve-year-old who is obsessed with the video game "Escape From Shudder Mansion," which he believes is based on an actual haunted house in his neighborhood. Though the house looks exactly like the one in the game, nobody believes him, not even his twin sister, Scarlet. He's seen the horrors in the game, so he wants nothing to do with the real house.

Unfortunately for Riley, he has to get over his fears of Shudder Mansion when his teacher splits his class into groups and gives them an assignment which involves the kids making an adventure documentary. Riley is paired up with his sister, along with Danitia, Carter, and Cheng. What is their assignment? There assigned to spend the night inside Shudder Mansion.

Despite objections from Riley, he follows his sister, her new weird friend Mia, and their classmates to Shudder Mansion. While their parents stay on the first floor, the kids take their GoPro cameras and explore the upper floors of the mansion. Riley is the only one who has played the video game, so he already knows what horrors are awaiting them.

Scholastic; 152 pages; $7.99; Amazon

It's a great year to be a Goosebumps fan, as there will be a new movie, titled Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween, being released to theaters in October. Until then, you can by your time by reading the new installments of the Goosebumps Slappyworld series.

Early this year, Scholastic released Goosebumps Slappyworld: Please Do Not Feed The Weirdo by R.L. Stine, which is the 4th entry in the spinoff book series. Unlike the previous spinoffs, this one is hosted by the ventriloquist dummy named Slappy, who's the most popular antagonist of the Goosebumps franchise.

"Please Don't Feed The Weirdo" centers on a Jordan Keppler, a twelve-year-old who finds himself visiting Carnival World along with his young sister, Karla, and their parents. Most kids would be excited to visit a carnival, but not Jordan, as he has a fear of scary rides. Nevertheless, Jordan accompanies his sister on the Tunnel of Fear ride, which will change their lives forever.

How exactly do their lives change?

Well, while getting stuck inside the Tunnel of Fear ride, they come across a boy named Robby, who was locked inside a cage. Ignoring the warning sign "Please Do Not Feed The Weirdo," Jordan and Karla feed the boy, which turns him into a monster, who just won't go away.