You Can't Scare Me! (Classic Goosebumps, #17; Goosebumps, #15) by R.L. Stine

 You Can't Scare Me! (Classic Goosebumps, #17; Goosebumps, #15) by R.L. Stine-160 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Eddie, Hat, Molly, and Charlene are intent on scaring Courtney. She seems so unflappable and perfect. She always has to be first and is never scared of anything. They think they have a good idea of how to scare her, but each idea goes horribly wrong. They try a rubber snake, a live tarantula, and a St. Bernard and each backfires badly. They have one last idea they think has to work. There's a local legend about Mud Monsters near the creek in the woods. They plan to use that legend to scare Courtney. Will their plan work or will this one go horribly awry like all their previous plans? I enjoyed this one and I've enjoyed reading as many Goosebumps as possible this month.

The Haunted Mask II (Goosebumps, #36) by R.L. Stine

 The Haunted Mask II (Goosebumps, #36) by R.L. Stine-124 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Steve Boswell really, really wants the scariest mask he can find this Halloween. He's had it with the first graders for whom he coaches soccer. They are absolute animals! He wants to scare them out of their wits this Halloween! He remembers that Carly Beth had a really scary mask last Halloween so he asks her where she got hers. She doesn't want to answer, but finally tells Steve after some persuasion. She warns him that there was something weird about her mask and that she couldn't get it off, however. Steve is so bent on revenge that he doesn't care and doesn't listen to Carly Beth. He ends up finding a really scary mask that looks like a creepy old man in the basement of the party store where Carly Beth got her mask that's now closed. However, when he puts the mask on the night before Halloween he realizes that he can't get it off! Carly Beth was right. He's now a creepy old man! How is he going to get the mask off? Will he even scare the first graders like he wants? I enjoyed this one. 

Beware, the Snowman (Goosebumps, #51) by R.L. Stine

Beware, the Snowman (Goosebumps, #51) by R.L. Stine-113 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Jaclyn moves with her Aunt Greta to a remote village in the Arctic Circle. Jaclyn's mom died when she was 5 and her dad left shortly after she was born, so lives with her Aunt Greta. They just moved to the village from Chicago. Upon arrival in the village, Jaclyn notices strange snowmen in every driveway. She wonders what's going on with that. Rolonda and Eli live near Jaclyn and her aunt in the village and they tell her a story about a live snowman who haunts the village. The snowman lives in an ice cave at the top of the mountain. Is there really a snowman living in an ice cave at the top of the mountain? Just what did happen to Jaclyn's dad? I really liked this one. 

 

 That's Betty! By: Gregory Bonsignore

Pages:40

I personally think Betty White is a gem. When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I knew Betty White had played a lot of roles in her life. Accomplishing quite a bit over the years,  I learned a lot reading this.  As the kid in the story says , she was a trailblazer of a woman. 

This story is informative, but also really fun to read. It follows a student giving a school project. Which he chose Betty White. Through out the book a woman has conversations with the kid about his project. She helps him along the way, telling him different things that Betty did. Such as hosting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for over ten years! She even holds the Guinness World Record of longest television career in history. 

If you want a good read that's informative but also well illustrated and written, you should give this one a try. Betty would approve.  

Return of the Mummy (Classic Goosebumps, #18; Goosebumps #23) by R.L. Stine

Return of the Mummy (Classic Goosebumps, #18; Goosebumps #23) by R.L. Stine-160 pages

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Gabe travels back to Egypt to visit his Uncle Ben who's excavating a mummy's tomb in a pyramid. He spends the summer with his cousin Sari and Uncle Ben. Ben is on the verge of discovering a new tomb of an ancient Egyptian prince related to King Tut. Sari is always so competitive and tries to scare Gabe a lot. I enjoyed reading this one, though maybe not quite as much as some others in the series. 

A Shocker on Shock Street (Goosebumps, #35, Classic Goosebumps, #23) by R.L. Stine

 A Shocker on Shock Street (Goosebumps, #35, Classic Goosebumps, #23) by R.L. Stine-117 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Erin and her friend, Marty, are huge fans of horror movies, especially the Shocker on Shock Street series. After watching the latest one in a movie theater, Erin's dad invites them to take the first tram ride through a new thrill ride on the Shocker set. Erin and Marty will be the first two kids to experience this new thrill ride. On the ride, the creatures and frights seem all too real. Marty and Erin start to get really scared. Will they escape from the ride? There's an unexpected twist at the end, like there is in other Stine Goosebumps books. I enjoyed this one. 

The Girl Who Cried Monster (Goosebumps, #8) by R.L. Stine

The Girl Who Cried Monster (Goosebumps, #8) by R.L. Stine-137 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Lucy Dark loves to scare her little brother Randy with monster stories. She tells him and others stories about monsters constantly. So, when the local librarian, Mr. Mortman, turns out to be a monster who eats flies, moths, and turtles no one believes her. She tries to get her parents, her brother, and her friends to believe that Mr. Mortman really is a monster, but to no avail. Will she make everyone believe her? What will happen if and when she does? I enjoyed this one. 

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL: The Diary of Bess Brennan by BARRY DENENBERG (Pgs 134)

 MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL: The Diary of Bess Brennan by BARRY DENENBERG (Pgs 134)

Blinded after a terrible accident, Bess must learn to overcome her disability with the help of new friends and skills at the Perkins School for the Blind, in the wake of America's Great Depression.

After Bess Brennan is blinded in a sledding accident, she must face a frightening, much-altered world. Confronted with a new set of obstacles, Bess manages to overcome her disability with the help of her new friends at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she also learns how to read braille. Her twin sister, Elin, assists her with recording daily events in her diary and contributes entries of her own. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Bess's story will inspire all readers to be strong in the face of hardship.

Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps, #2) by R.L. Stine

 Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps, #2) by R.L. Stine-122 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

In this one, Casey and Margaret's dad, Dr. Brewer is a botanist. He got fired from his job at Cal Tech for taking an experiment too far. Now he works on his experiments in the basement of their home. The kids go down to the basement to see one day and Dr. Brewer warns them to stay out and not come back down to the basement. A few days later their mother leaves to take care of her sister in Arizona for a while. Their father starts acting really strange. Margaret and Casey aren't really sure what to do. Is this really their father, acting really strange? Who is this person? I enjoyed reading this one. 

How I Got My Shrunken Head (Goosebumps, #39) by R.L. Stine

How I Got My Shrunken Head (Goosebumps, #39) by R.L. Stine-119 pages

'⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Mark is gifted a shrunken head by a strange visitor who says she works with his Aunt Benna. The visitor's name is Carolyn and she says Aunt Benna wants to see Mark. She is on the jungle island Baladora researching. The shrunken head glows that night when Mark says his magic word that he thinks he invented as a little kid while playing jungle video games. He's always loved the jungle and he doesn't quite know why. Carolyn says he has Jungle Magic, so maybe that's why. Upon arrival on Baladora, Mark's Aunt Benna isn't there to greet him. Carolyn and her colleague, Dr. Hawlings and Kareen, Dr. Hawlings' daughter, all say she's gone missing and they need to find her. Mark finds Aunt Benna's journal that says the others on the island want to kill her and she had to hide the Jungle Magic so they couldn't get it. Does Mark really have Jungle Magic and just what is it, anyway? Will he find Aunt Benna and will she and Mark escape Baladora? This was a fun read. 

The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (Goosebumps, #56) by R.L. Stine

The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (Goosebumps, #56) by R.L. Stine-114 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Sarah and her brother Aaron go to Camp Cold Lake, a water sports summer camp. Sarah is kind of a whiny brat. She runs afoul of her cabin mates (Briana, Jan, and Meg) and they play tricks on her. She decides to play a trick back on them. So it goes back and forth a little. Sarah decides to go underwater in the lake and act like she's drowning to get everyone's sympathy and maybe get a fresh start. However, she sees a ghost named Della while she's unconscious who wants her to be her buddy so she can escape the camp. Sarah doesn't want to be Della's buddy, though. Della haunts her and makes her terrified of the lake so that she will try to escape through the woods. What's in the woods that Della is so intent on driving Sarah there? Will Sarah escape the camp? There's an unexpected twist at the end. This is a pretty good one. 

Windy Night With Wild Horses (Magic Tree House, #39) by Mary Pope Osborne

Windy Night With Wild Horses (Magic Tree House, #39) by Mary Pope Osborne-112 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jack and Annie are taken in the Magic Tree House to Mongolia to be Eco-Volunteers. The time is 1992 when the first takhi are being reintroduced at an animal reserve. Jack and Annie stay with Tuya and her family in a yurt in a nearby nomad camp. The takhi are wild horses that were previously wiped out in the wild. They're the only truly wild horses left in the world. They can't be tamed or ridden. Will all the takhi survive the first night? Wolves wait nearby to prey on any who roam from their corral. I liked this one as I've liked all Magic Tree House books I've read so far.

Time of the Turtle King (Magic Tree House, #38) by Mary Pope Osborne

Time of the Turtle King (Magic Tree House, #38) by Mary Pope Osborne-112 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Annie spots an albatross flying around their house one September morning and wakes Jack up. They decide to explore and find out if the albatross is leading them to the Magic Tree House for another adventure. It is! Where will the Magic Tree House whisk them off to next? It turns out to be the Galapagos Islands, home of giant tortoises. A volcano recently erupted and a small population of rare giant tortoises is in danger. Will Jack and Annie be able to save the last giant tortoise in time? I enjoyed reading this one.

How to Kill a Monster (Goosebumps #46) by R.L. Stine

How to Kill a Monster (Goosebumps #46) by R.L. Stine-112 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
 

Gretchen and her stepbrother Clark are dropped off to stay with their grandma and grandpa, who are very strange. Their parents have to go to Atlanta on a work trip. Gretchen and Clark start to hear strange growling and roaring noises and decide to check it out. They're told not to go into a room at the end of a hall on the third floor, but that's where the noises are coming from. What's behind the locked door? Is it a menacing swamp monster or something less sinister? Why did their grandparents take off and leave them alone in their scary old house? I enjoyed this one.

It Came from Beneath the Sink (Goosebumps #30) by R.L. Stine

It Came from Beneath the Sink (Goosebumps #30) by R.L. Stine-112 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kat and Daniel are moving to a new house with their mom and dad. They find something that looks like a dirty old sponge beneath the sink. It turns out to be an evil mythical creature that looks a lot like a sponge. It plays mean, nasty tricks and brings very bad luck with it. Will Kat and Daniel figure out how to get rid of it before it's too late? I continue to enjoy reading Goosebumps for the June challenge. 

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (Goosebumps #33) by R.L. Stine

 The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (Goosebumps #33) by R.L. Stine-128 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wendy and her younger brother Elliot are on a long road trip with their parents. They get bored and ask to ride in the camping trailer hooked on to the back of the car. A few minutes later, the trailer gets detached and Wendy and Elliot are separated from their parents. They stumble upon Buddy, a counselor at Camp Jellyjam, which is a massive sports camp. All the kids are obsessed with winning at sports and collecting 6 King coins so that they can walk in the Winners Walk. However, kids are disappearing after they participate in the Winners Walk, including one of Wendy's roommates, Dierdre. What is happening to the kids? Something is off with the counselors, too. What is going on at Camp Jellyjam? I enjoyed reading this one and I continue to enjoy reading these for the monthly challenge.

The Ogress and the Orphans, Kelly Barnhill

The Ogress and the Orphans, Kelly Barnhill | 392 pages

"All roads in town then led to the Library, which had wide windows, tall shelves, and deep cushions on the sofas, and which welcomed everyone... Even the shushes were lovely."

The once-lovely town of Stone-in-the-Glen has fallen on hard times. After relentless fires, floods, and other calamities, they've lost their library, their school, their park, their prosperity. Even their neighborliness is lost. Only the wise and clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress who lives quietly at the edge of town see clearly how dire things are.

This book is so full of sorrow and hope, greed and generosity... it's so REAL. I so very much enjoyed this read that I'm planning to read it aloud to my kids.

The Blob That Ate Everyone (Classic Goosebumps #) by R.L. Stine

The Blob That Ate Everyone (Classic Goosebumps #) by R.L. Stine-114 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Zackie is scared a lot. One of his supposed best friends, Adam, plays tricks on him to try to scare him often. Even though he is easily scared, Zackie likes to write scary stories. He finds an old typewriter in a ruined antique store walking home with his other best friend, Alex, one night. As he tries to grab it off the shelf, he's mildly electrocuted. Later, he types scary stories on the typewriter and the things he types begin to happen in real life. Is the typewriter possessed with magical powers (or is Zackie because of the electric shock)? This one had an interesting twist at the end. I enjoyed reading this one like I have the rest.

The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Goosebumps #28) by R.L. Stine

 The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Goosebumps #28) by R.L. Stine-114 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

In this installment, Michael and his younger sister Tara fight all the time. Michael is always blamed for hurting Tara when it's usually Tara instigating the fight. Michael has bad memories because of Tara and doesn't want to relive them. One day their dad brings home a cuckoo clock that has a year dial on it along with the time. Michael is fascinated (and a little scared of the cuckoo bird) by the clock and so is Tara. He decides to play a trick on his sister and turn the cuckoo bird backwards. The next day, he realizes that time is now moving backward and he's reliving those very memories he didn't want to. Time starts going back years at a day and Michael is worried he won't be able to put the cuckoo bird back facing front before it's too late. Will Michael set things right before it's too late? I enjoyed reading this one. 

Ghost Camp (Goosebumps #45) by R.L. Stine

 Ghost Camp (Goosebumps #45) by R.L. Stine-118 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

I enjoy reading Goosebumps for the juvenile books challenge. In this one, Harry and Alex take a bus to Camp Spirit Lake. As soon as they are dropped off strange things begin to happen. All the campers are acting strange and the camp director is strange, too. They're always trying to scare Harry and Alex in bizarre ways like sticking a fork in their neck and not bleeding or being injured at all. Harry and Alex begin to suspect that all the campers are ghosts and that one of the ghost stories told around campfire on their first night is very real. Are the campers ghosts? If so, what will happen to Harry and Alex? Will they escape unscathed? Overall, I enjoyed this one.