It's a dog-gone nightmare! Scared of his own shadow. That's what everyone says about Cooper Holmes. But when the Holmses move into a new house deep in the woods, scary things really do start happening.

#32 "Bad dog. Really BAD dog."
No one believes Cooper when he tells them that strange things are happening in his new house. No one hears the barking at night. and no one else has seen the dogs that disappear right before your eyes. Cooper is a scaredy-cat and it's all in his head... right? ( )

Goosebumps. This is the series that kept me reading through my childhood. More than any other series, Goosebumps kept me interested in reading, and R.L. Stein is a wonderful children's writer. I applaud his efforts, and can't express enough my gratitude for the series. ( )

Ghost Dogs. That's right. Ghost Dogs. It's not enough to try to make kids afraid of ghosts, or just dogs or turning into dogs as a substitute for going through puberty. Nope. They had to be Ghost Dogs. I'm still not quite over the ridiculousness of it.

Like most Goosebump books, this one features a main character afraid of everything, a brother afraid of nothing and obsessed with pranking said main character, and a confusing female character who is never adequately explained. Fear of moving, fear of new locations, new friends, new experiences and more is melded with... erm. Ghost dogs.

The book had its thrills and chills, its sweet revenge, and its ample amount of things that made no sense. The ending did make me laugh, in spite of its cheesiness. Just.. could the plot at least try to make sense? Why were there ghost dogs? Why did people transform... just.. why. ( )

## Bad Dog. Really BAD Dog.

The Barking Ghost really used to freak me out. Any ghost story with animals would always leave me unsettled. At least human ghosts would have some purpose behind their existence: A structured story to communicate. Animals wouldn't get that luxury to convey loneliness or abuse.

[N.B. This review includes images, and was formatted for my site, dendrobibliography -- located here.]

The scenario -- two black Labradors with brilliant, red eyes haunt Cooper and his friend Fergie in rural Maine -- had me thinking a lot about such loneliness as a youngster. Cooper's just moved to the middle of nowhere from the big city of Boston, and from the first night onward he'd find himself woken up by two barking dogs. He and Fergie are the only ones who hear and see the dogs. Everyone else rolls their eyes, assuring themselves he's listening to the wind again.

Soon enough, the dogs start showing up in his house, where walls are no obstacle (they're ghosts!). The dogs would be threatening one instant, and possibly friendly the next. Soon enough, Cooper and Fergie find themselves drawn into the woods by these two ghost dogs only they could see or hear.

The twist was a little too far out for me, and I felt like it spoiled the mystery a bit. (I also felt like a natural twist was building up with the fleas, but that was dropped for something stranger.) The first two-thirds were great as a classic ghost story for kids, but the last third was too much of a let-down. Cooper's relationship with his brother, Mickey, is really golden, however, and the two play a lot of clever jokes on one another.

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (1992–1997):
#31 Night of the Living Dummy II | #33 The Horror at Camp Jellyjam ( )