Customer Reviews

My Best Friend Is Invisible (Goosebumps, No 57)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is certainly one of a kind.

Another great book by R.L.Stine, and this is one of my favorite books. Whether you like science fiction or not, you will still like this book if you're goosebumps/R.L.Stine fan.

Sammy Jacob is into ghosts and science fiction. Not exactly the smartest hobby- at least not if you ask Sammy's parents. They're research scientists and they only believe in REAL science.
But now Sammy's met someone who's totally unreal. He's hanging out in Sammy's room. And eating his cereal at breakfast. Sammy's got to find a way to get rid of his new "friend" Only problem is... Sammy's new friend is invisible! (From the back of the book)

The reason why I like this book so much has to be the ending. I mean, the storyline is great. But the ending is very twisted, funny, and for me, cool. I often wonder how R.L.Stine gets his ideas.

To people who don't like Goosebumps because its not scary. What do you expect? It's for 7 - 12 year old kids, meaning not very frightening but a mysterious ending. Goosebumps is a mystery book in a sort way, because every time you read goosebumps series, you wonder how the storyline is going to be connected to the ending. I started to read goosebumps at the age of 8, and never once did I thought goosebumps was scary. (I read almost every book of the Original Goosebumps Series). But I still love goosebumps, and R.L.Stine is the authour that made me wanting to be an authour. So the bottom line is, don't read goosebumps if you want chill on your back. If you want a chill, I'd say watch the movie "The Grudge". LOL!

Anyways, this book gets 5 star for great storyline, ok characterism, and some-what cool ending. =)

I love this book , because it is very interesting. It is a littel scary and funny.This is my first book i read, and right after i read it i wrote a book report on it in our school.

I love this book. thanks to R.L. stine ,and AMAZON.com

This book was good but it wasn't scary. There is a surprising twist at the end but I won't give it away.

Bought this for my Granddaughter. It looks in real nice shape. She loves these books.
Good service on this book. got here in a timely manner.

The ending is great,the plot is original, and the whole thing really caught me offgaurd, in a goodway of course. Its the orginal goosebumps brought back. Don't let the negative reviews get you. This is a Goosebumps book worth reading.

I love invisible man fiction and R. L. Stine's My Best Friend is Invisible, for the most part is one of the best thrillers, of adult or children's fiction. It's only that this is a kids' book that as the plot unravels stops the reader being truly terrified for the victim Sammy, as you know nothing bad will be allowed to happen in a junior fiction novel. Basic plot of this one is that Sammy Jacobs has grown up in a household where his parents don't give him much attention, unless they are telling him off for his behaviour or telling him he should be more like his better behaved brother who also takes school and real science more seriously than Sammy does. However Sammy does a fan though, an invisible boy named Brent who has turned up in his room and is obsessed with becoming Sammy's best friend. At first Sammy doesn't mind this but Brent won't reveal he exists to Sammy's best friend Roxanne, his teachers or anyone else. The only other one who knows is his tormented pet cat. Trying to impress Sammy, Brent tries helping him in the classroom and on the sporting field but just humiliates him instead. Lead by Roxanne the rest of the school starts mocking him with their own pretend invisible friends. With tension mounting between the visible and invisible roommates, Sammy is determined to get Brent out of his life.

An average ending that seems to be included as the word count limit was reached and Stine didn't know how to end the former great plot, lets down the book. Stine must have just thought if I include this out of nowhere twist, readers will forget that I haven't resolved any of the problems or unanswered questions in the plot. We also never find out how Brent became invisible in the first place, we don't even find out how he came to choose Sammy as his obsession.

This book would make a great horror movie if it got rid of the twist ending and was aimed at a bit older market allowing the plot to go in more terrifying directions and the stalker style obsession being turned down by the victim to have the consequences it should. But it's a decent read for fans of the invisible man genre. Stine has another invisible kid novel called Let's Get Invisible where a mirror turns kids invisible. It's not very good but may be something you want to check out.

However the best reads in the invisibility genre are -
(Younger children fiction)
Invisible Fran by Jim Benton
Invisible Man's Socks by Alex Shearer
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex
You are Invisible by Susan Saunders
The Invisible Day by Marthe Jocelyn
Selby's Shemozzle by Duncan Ball

(For those up to the older reading level)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H. F. Saint
Smoke by Donald E. Westlake
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Synopsis: Sammy Jacobs wishes he were invisible because his parents never seem to want to spend any time with him. Sammy's parents, who are scientists, always admire and praise Sammy's brother Simon, because Simon has a very serious personality, and is interested in science and school activities. Sammy is a science fiction freak and loves anything that has aliens in it. Therefore, when he finds his bedroom window open, his homework scattered on the floor, and finds himself tripping over "nothing", Sammy begins to feel that something strange is going on.

When his friend Roxanne Johnson comes to visit Sammy, she suggests they do their class report on the ghost of Hedge House, a house that is supposed to be haunted. Roxanne suggests going to the house and videotaping the ghost for their report. Sammy soon realizes that there is either a ghost or an invisible person by the name of "Brent Green" in his room.

At first, Sammy thinks that having an invisible friend would be cool, but later he finds out that Brent is ruining his life. When he asks Brent to appear in front of Roxanne, Brent doesn't show up, and Roxanne decides to tell everyone in school about Sammy's make believe friend, making him a laughing stock. Things go from bad to worse at home, when Brent creates a mess out of Sammy's room and eats half the food at home, placing all the blame on Sammy. Brent also ruins Sammy's chance at the track race, making all the students hate him, and an incident in the library makes the librarian think that Sammy is crazy.

Can Sammy figure out a way to get rid of Brent, especially when he starts to think that Brent could be dangerous?

Review: I did not think that this book was as good as others in the series. For one thing, there is no explanation given as to why Brent decides to choose Sammy as a best friend over everyone else. He just suddenly appears in Sammy's life and no explanation is given as to why. Secondly, the story starts to repeat itself though the book as Brent ruins Sammy's life in different situations without Sammy doing anything about it.

However, this is not to say that the book is extremely bad. I thoroughly enjoyed the part where Roxanne and Sammy go to Hedge House and Roxanne gets terrified. I felt this was a good payback for what she did to Sammy. The ending also had a complete twist that I did not see coming at all. It is because of the ending that I gave this review more stars than I had intended to.

Overall, I feel like if Stine had been able to give a detailed explanation of the history behind Brent's character, I would have enjoyed this book more. So, even though this is not one of the better Goosebumps books, if you hare a fan of the series, you can take a look at it.

Have you ever seen your food disappear without you eating it? Well this happened to Sammy in this book. This book is about how a boy named Sammy notices weird things are going on around his house. No one wants to believe him. Sammy doesn't know who or what it is until he meets it and becomes its friend. Read this book and find out what happens to Sammy and his so called NEW FRIEND.
I love this book because it made me want to read more. When it came to the end of the story I wanted to know more. It left me wondering what would happen next. I recommend it to those who like mystery books or books about monsters. When you read this book you will be surprised to see all the monsterous things that occur!

this book is pretty good but its all about science fiction...
im not saying i don't like this book i mean i really enjoyed it . so buy this book!!!!!

This book was pretty funny but for a goosebumps book it should have been scarier. as far as nine year olds go,they would probably like it alot,but if they are real goosebumps fans like i am then they will probably notice it is a bit too funny and a little less scary. i say for a seven year old this probably wouldent be scary let alone a nine year old. this wasent one of stine's best horror books!