Customer Reviews

The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Goosebumps Series)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ISBN 0590483528 - I made the mistake of reading reviews before I read the book - and half of them seem to refer to things that didn't happen! Michael's little sister doesn't threaten his life, the bird doesn't attack Michael and the shopkeeper doesn't tell a scary story about the clock.

Michael is 12, big brother to seven-year-old Tara, a top contender for "Worst Little Sister in the World". He gets blamed for everything she does, and that's no accident! Tara sets him up, over and over, even ruining his birthday and embarrassing him in front of his friends. When their father brings home an antique cuckoo clock that Tara can hardly keep her hands off, Michael sees a chance to get even. Twisting the head of the cuckoo to face backwards, Michael is sure Tara will be blamed. That doesn't happen, because when he wakes up, it's his 12th birthday - again! - and they don't even own the clock yet. Michael needs to turn time around again before it's too late (or early...) for him!

Stine's horror story for kids is too funny to be horror this time, but it's worth reading anyway. You'll appreciate your own siblings a little more - unless they're worse than Tara, which is hard to imagine.

- AnnaLovesBooks

It's been quite a few years since I've read this book, but my younger brother was searching for something to read from my collection, and I recommended this one to him. For me, the majority of the Goosebumps books were never scary - it was just a matter of if they had likeable characters and a good story.

Fortunately, "Cuckoo Clock of Doom" has both. Michael feels like a more fleshed out character than R.L. Stine's other protagonists: he has a crush on a girl, but his chances with her and with everything else in life are constantly ruined by his evil sister Tara. Tara isn't just a brat, she's written as pure evil, with no redeeming qualities, which only makes the reader sympathize with Michael even more.

The idea of "changing the past" has been used countless times, but it always works because everyone wishes they could do it. Michael tells us his mishaps in the beginning, so it becomes quite involving to see him try and evade the eventual outcomes later on. As the story progresses, it is not so much a matter of changing the past as it becomes a race against time to keep Michael from disappearing forever. The final few chapters, with the obligatory plot twist on the last page, are truly suspenseful and show R.L. Stine at his best.

Overall, this is a highly recommended book for grade-schoolers, and one parents should consider picking up if they see it. The Goosebumps fad has died out now so this one might be hard to find, but this is the kind of quick, light, reading that develops a child's imagination.

Michael Webster often wonders what he did to deserve such a horrible little sister as Tara. Constantly blamed for things that are her fault, she even manages to wreck Michael’s birthday present and ruins his party. Michael wishes that Tara had never been born and he wants revenge.

The opportunity comes when Mr Webster brings home the antique Cuckoo Clock he has dreamed of buying for years and Michael sees the perfect chance to get Tara into trouble. But Michael’s plan goes terribly wrong when he turns the cuckoo head around. Now time is going backwards and Michael is getting younger every day. Will he be able to reverse the clock’s effects before time runs out completely?

This is one of my favourite books in the goosebumps series. “The Cuckoo Clock of Doom” mixes suspense and humour and will keep you reading all the way through. This book also makes me really appreciate being an only child. I recommend this to all kids aged from eight to twelve.

~Jenna~

Michael Webster is always getting in trouble.And he knows it's because of his bratty sister. Tara the terible.But now something else is about to make michael's life worse. I liked this book. But it started to get boring
annie walls

In This Story, Michael's dad bought an antique cuckoo clock. When Michael turns the cuckoo back, he is stuck on a time warp.

R.L. Stine has written great books and this book is almost as good as my favorite, "Ghost Beach".

Michael's dad buys a cuckoo clock that he has wanted for 15 years. His sister, "Tara the Terrible", is always getting Michael into trouble. At 12:00 a.m., Michael tries to get his sister in trouble by turning the cuckoo bird's head around. Soon weird things begin to happen! He gets younger and younger until he is 1 year old. If you want to find out what happens read this book.

I love R.L.Stine, and I THANK him for writing this book. I've been to a "back in time" book ever since Steven Spilburg movie "Back to the future" came out. I would watch that movie 10000 times. I know every line of the movie now.
I have read the book almost three times now, and about to read it again. I give it five - no.... 10 STARS!!!!!!!!
GO, R.L. STINE! WRITE PART TWO! YOU ROCK!
*TWO THUMBS UP!*

This was an exciting book written by R.L. Stine who is the author of many scary stories for children. This is a book that goes places you would ever expect and ends in a even weirder way.

The main character is Michael Webster. He is a klutzy boy that can't ever seem to do anything correctly. He has a bratty sister named Tara. Tara loves getting Michael in trouble. She does things to make him look like the bad guy and then their parents get mad at Michael for doing something he should not have. Michael doesn't think it could get any worse.

Mr. Webster has this strange obsession for an antique cuckoo clock at a nearby store. He has been looking at this clock for many years. One day Mr. Webster comes home from work with the clock. He has finally purchased it. He is very careful to not let anyone touch it. However, poor Michael thinks he can out smart his sister. Late at night he goes and turns around the head of the cuckoo clock. He knows that his sister has been caught playing with the clock and his father would only be able to suspect her. When he wakes up in the morning it is still the same day as it was before. He goes to school and everything happens all over again. He has his birthday again and all the bad things that happened that day happen all over again because he makes the same mistakes all over again. He keeps his same memory but everyone else is just as they were on the day he has gone back to. He finally figures out why time is going backwards. It is almost too late and every morning he wakes up younger and younger. Soon he finds he is just a toddler in preschool. Then he is baby in a crib. Luckily his father visits the antique store very frequently. He barely manages to get the cuckoo bird's head turned back around the correct way. The next morning he wakes up back in the morning after he changed the clock. Everything is the same except one minor thing. His sister Tara the Terrible does not exist. His parents never had another child in this new time.

A letter to Michael:

Dear Michael, Your life would not have ever been so bad if you would have been more understanding and given your sister some time. If you had played with your sister and if you always were her friend she would not have been so terrible. You also would have been better off if you would listen to your parents. That is what got you in trouble in the first place with the cuckoo clock of doom.

I alays wished that R.L Stine would make a book including going back in time. So now there is one. This is the latest Goosebumps book I read. I borrowed it from my cousin. It is about a preson whos name is Michele. She hates her little sister named Tara so SHE wants to get TARA in trouble. To get her in trouble she is going to screw up her dads clock. It is very special to him.When she is done she is going to blame it on Tara.

But accidently it has got really messed up. Michele go's back in time! Finally she gets to the stage where she is one year old. At the last minute she fixes the clock and gets back to her regular age. But with no Tara.

This book is a thrilling adventure about a boy and his little sister threatens her brother. On his birthday she ruins it by telling jokes about her brother to his friends. One day his father buys a antique clock and warns his son not to touch it, but without his father noticing he turned the cuckoo bird the opposite it used to be facing.
I thought it was kind of a sad story because you would not want a little sister who threatens your life and plays tricks on you. Also I thought the book was pretty scary when the clerk tells a story about the cuckoo clock. The cuckoo clock was really old and it was also cursed and weird things happened to the people who messed with it.