Say Cheese and Die — Again!

Say Cheese and Die — Again! is the forty-fourth book in the original Goosebumps book series, a sequel to Say Cheese and Die!, and the second book in the Say Cheese and Die! saga. It was first published in 1996.

The cover illustration depicts a photograph of a skeleton family having dinner.

Blurb
PICTURE-PERFECT NIGHTMARE!

Sourball. That's what Greg calls his English teacher, Mr. Saur. He's a real grouch. And now he just gave Greg a big fat "F" on his oral report. He didn't believe Greg's story. About the camera Greg found last summer. About the pictures it took. About the evil things that happened. Poor Greg. He just wanted to prove old Sourball wrong. But now that he's dug up the camera, bad things are happening. Really bad things. Just like the first time...

Plot
In the small town of Pitts Landing, Greg Banks is in his English class and is called upon by his English teacher, Mr. Saur, to give a report about what he did during the summer. Mr. Saur is a strict teacher who never laughs and is referred to as "Sour Ball" by Greg and his friends. Greg describes what happened to him last summer with the evil camera, but Mr. Saur believes the story is false and gives Greg an "F" on the assignment. Greg insists his story is true, so Mr. Saur challenges Greg to present the camera. Greg's parents won't let him visit his cousins in the summer if he flunks his report, so he's desperate to prove his story's validity.

Greg then plans to revisit the Coffman House to retrieve the camera. He discusses this over lunch with his friends, Doug, Michael and Shari, who are shocked at his decision and try to discourage him, as the camera had done so many bad things to them last summer. But when Greg's English classmates named Donny and Brian, mock him in public by pretending to take photographs with their hands and quipping "Say cheese and die!", Greg becomes all the more determined to find the camera and prove his story is true.

Later that night, Greg returns to the Coffman House, only to discover that it has been purchased by a new owner who has had the place cleared out. While Greg is searching for the camera in the debris, a boy named Jonathan catches him, taking him for a thief. He soon realizes that this is not the case. Greg learns that Jonathan is the son of the new owner of the Coffman house. Greg finally finds the camera under a raccoon's dead body/corpse, and Jonathan becomes curious as to why he is so interested in it. Greg says that he must show it to his English class, but Jonathan becomes interested in keeping the camera, arguing that it is technically his since it was originally in his new house.

While fighting for the camera, Greg accidentally snaps Jon's picture. The photograph then shows a long carpenter nail going through Jon's foot. Jon thinks that the camera is a joke and Greg asks if he can borrow it for a while. Jonathan then runs off to find his father, only to step on a carpenter nail, as predicted in the photograph, and then is rushed to the hospital after that. The next day, Greg goes to school and is caught by Shari on the way. Greg tries to hide the camera from Shari unsuccessfully. They have an argument about Greg bringing the camera to school which results in Greg accidentally snapping a picture of Shari. The picture then develops and appears to be a negative, leading the two to believe that the camera is broken. Shari then grabs the camera and takes a picture of Greg, which then develops into a picture of Greg appearing to look like an obese person.

Greg then goes to English class, excited to show Mr. Saur his camera as proof for his assignment, only to be disappointed when he discovers that Saur is out for the day, with a substitute in his place. He then decides to put the camera in his locker but is caught by Donny and Brian after exiting the classroom. They torment him with the camera but are stopped by the principal. The next morning, Greg wakes up to find himself fatter in his pajamas. His mother disagrees, saying that his pajamas are always too tight for him. Greg finds out in school that Shari has lost weight. Over the following days, Shari loses more weight while Greg gains more.

Mr. Saur arrives the following day and Greg shows him the camera which he ignores. He then makes his final decision, which is to give Greg a failing mark. Greg's parents insist that his weight gain is the result of some allergic reaction to something he ate. Shari and Greg, desperate for a solution, realize that if they make Greg's photo negative, there might be a chance of returning to their normal bodies. They rush to a photo shop where Greg's brother Terry works. They find him and plead with him to reverse their pictures. Greg offers him all of his allowance, which his brother accepts. His brother then reverses the pictures and the following day, Greg and Shari return to their normal bodies.

Against Shari's advice, Greg brings the camera to school and again insists to Mr. Saur to give him a passing mark for his assignment, offering to demonstrate the camera's powers. Mr. Saur takes the camera and insists on taking a picture of Greg with his entire class. He then snaps photo. He asks Greg what is going to happen and Greg says they'll see.

Differences

 * The tagline was changed to "Smile for the camera..."

Differences

 * In the French Canadian release, this is the forty-fifth book in the original series.
 * In France, this is the thirty-first book in the original series.
 * Greg Banks is called "Alex Banks."
 * Doug Arthur is called "Arthur Normann" and is nicknamed "Ouiseau," the French word for "Bird."
 * Shari Walker is called "Sara Walker."

Merchandise

 * Most of the 90s merch for Say Cheese and Die - Again! removed the word "Die", with the title being written as "Say Cheese And... Again!". This was mostly the case for apparel.

Television adaptation
Say Cheese and Die — Again! was adapted into an episode of the Goosebumps TV series. It is the eighteenth episode of season three, and the sixth-second episode overall.

Tear-outs
The original printings of the book included bookmark and trading card tear-outs.

Trivia

 * Say Cheese and Die — Again! has the longest time difference between installments of any sequel in the original series at 3 years & 7 months, as well as by forty books.
 * Unlike the previous book, Say Cheese and Die!, which was told in the third person narrative, Say Cheese and Die — Again! is told from Greg's point of view.
 * It is never revealed what happened to the two bullies, Joey Ferris and Mickey Ward, who found the camera and used it at the end of the previous book.
 * Both this book and the original Say Cheese and Die! end on the same twist ending of characters waiting to see the photo the camera created.
 * This is the last book in the Say Cheese and Die saga to be set in Pitts Landing.
 * The place where Terry works at after he loses his old job is called Kramer's Photo Mart which is possible a reference to the Kramer family from Night of the Living Dummy II.
 * Greg claims the events of the first book happened last summer, even though it actually took place in the fall.
 * One of the skeleton kids on the cover is wearing a shirt with a design closely resembling the logo for The Grateful Dead.
 * The 2018 eBook removes any mention of Greg referring to Donny and Brian as "Sumo-1 and Sumo-2".
 * Brian is descried as a big kid instead of a big "gorilla of a kid"
 * "He never kids around" is changed to "He never jokes around".
 * References to a chalk board are removed
 * Two uses of "crazy" are removed.
 * The initial description of Greg's photo of him fat is toned down, removing various specific details and comparisons to a balloon. Things like this are changed throughout the book, and fatter is replaced with "bigger" in various places, and mentions of diets, chins, flab, etc. are removed.
 * Greg's mom suggesting she give him skim milk is changed to her suggesting he get bigger pajamas.
 * Shari saying she is losing weight is changed to her saying she is shrinking. "Skinny" is changed to "narrow" in one place.
 * A line about how the girl's in school have crushes on the principal is removed.
 * This is the final book to use "Coming Soon/Also Available From R.L. Stine" on the advertisement for the next book on the back cover.
 * This book references Jell-O and the Honda Civic.
 * The 2018 eBook removes the Jell-o mention, as it is used as a way to describe Greg's weight.
 * In the original cover concept art, the skeleton family do not have eyeballs. Also, similar to the first cover, the pencil sketches and color mockup feature a young girl skeleton. Possibly a case of Tim Jacobus mistaking Terry Banks as female.
 * Coincidentally, with the addition of a young female skeleton, the scene on the cover resembles the events of Amanda Benson's nightmare in Welcome to Dead House.

References in other Goosebumps media

 * The camera appears in Goosebumps: The Game. There is also an in-game achievement named "Say Cheese--Again!", which can be earned by taking pictures of all the monsters with the haunted camera.