Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-30810278-20190303081341/@comment-28171460-20190304175011


 * >I can't seem to enjoy the Give Yourself Goosebumps books. [...] I know GbA loves them

I think the proper way to enjoy them is with a friend or two. Rarely do they tell much of a cohesive story, but the stories are so zany and weird they keep you interested.

Maybe I just like them because they're the books least familiar to me. Or maybe it's because they serve as a springboard for humor.


 * >I read either GbA or Goddy saying that they didn't like ODaH and I was kinda stunned because it was one of my favourite books in the series.


 * >That has to be the reason for the sequels, right?

Sadly, no. Allow me to steele a quote from a critic we all know:


 * >I can say with no exaggeration that the sixteenth Goosebumps book ruined the series. There were bad novels before it, and there would be good ones after it, but nothing prior to One Day At HorrorLand exhibits what would steadily become a trademark of the series: complete and utter contempt for the audience. This is a book that is convinced that children are stupid and will accept anything presented to them. And based on the popularity of this title, perhaps Scholastic was right to loosen the reins on what Stine should and could get away with in the books, from a sales standpoint. [...] If I had to harbor a guess, I would say that it became popular due to it being the first book to actively deliver on what the series always seemed to promise: monsters. Particularly following the (for this series) brilliant You Can't Scare Me!, which cheated the reader, it's easy to understand the sense of release achieved by reading a book with nothing but kooky monsters doing icky things for no good reason.