Customer Reviews

Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes (Goosebumps #34)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is the best book I,ve ever read.
It gets you thinking whats going to happen next. I read this book in 3 days. I couldn't stop reading it. There was nothing I didn't like about it. Its about a kid named Joe, who's dad loves lawn ortimants. He buys these two gnome figures. Right after he bought them bad things started happing. Something keeps digging up Mr. McCalls garden. Joe's dog is always tied up. So it can't be the dog. At night he hears something in the bushes. He gets up, and looks out the window, And what does he find. Could it be racoons in the bushes or the GNOMES.

It's A "Scary" Book about gardening
RL Stine, for future reference, here's a cheat sheet:

Things that are scary: Monsters. Ghosts. Nuclear war.
Things that are not scary: Gardening. Gnomes. Gardening.
this was the last Goosebumps book I read as a child. Now I know why.

Look, Seriously, the Entire Book is About Gardening
Maybe I haven't stressed this enough.There's an entire chapter about the whole family cheerfully spraying plants with insecticide.
In short,The Worst Goosebumps Book.

I have read almost all of the Goosebumps Books, and this one always stands out in the crowd to me. It has a very good storyline and even though it is one of the more "unrealistic", it is one of my personal favorites.

The story is about a dad who likes lawn ornaments and buys two lawn gnomes from a store down the street. When the neighbors garden keeps getting trashed, the pet Rottweiler is blamed. When the havoc continues after the dog has been tied up, the children of the house are blamed. What will they have to do to prove that they are innocent? And who in the world could be doing the mischief? Read and find out! Hope this was helpful!

I Like This Book!
When Joe's father had two lawn gnomes, strange things started to happen. One day, Joe and Mindy heard a disturbing news to their neighbors. Then Joe's Father blamed Mindy and Joe because of what happened next door. Looks like the gnomes are getting their revenge.

Revenge Of The Lawn gnomes is a good book but it was pretty funny when Moose and Joe went out spying on the lawn ornaments and they came alive.

Nice Book! I liked the setting and all, the gnomes were really mean, meaner then in the original book! They turned Major Mc'Call "The Major" into a lawn ornament!

It was a very interesting book that had it's own pleasurable touch of humour.I liked the parts when Joe tells his dad of the so called ridiculous story and his father never believes a word of it. The things and the kind of mischief the lawn gnomes did also tickled me.

Honestly this book was more funny than scary. But it was it was still a pretty good book. Not much action happened though but I liked the scenes with the gnomes. I really liked it when the gnomes were shouting "Tickle them! Tickle them! Tickle them!" "Bounce them! Bounce them! Bounce them!" "Dribble them! Dribble them! Dribble them!" etc. I rated it four stars but it's still a good book. I'd recommend it you were looking for a slightly humorous and creepy tale.

The "Goosebumps" book that precedes "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" is "The Horror at Camp Jellyjam", which is unusual for being a quirky entry in the original series (see my review on that Amazon page). Remainders of that quirkiness somewhat linger in "Revenge", which is also not the usual type of entry for R.L. Stine - here, the antagonists are lawn gnomes. The book features a lot of gardening. And an eclectic lawn scenery of a plaster deer, pink flamingoes, exotic melons, and more.

"Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" opens with a competitive game of ping pong between sibling rivals, which is familiar when considering the nature of "Jellyjam", where two different siblings are stuck at a super-competitive sports camp. Here, Joe and Mindy Burton don't always get along, but are accustomed to another rivalry: one between their father and their militant neighbor, Bill McCall, who both grow fruits and vegetables in front of their house and compete in lawn contests. Mr. Burton has a knack for collecting strange and tacky lawn ornaments. When he brings home two plaster lawn gnomes, the kids think they're ugly...but of course, not evil.

Until the trouble begins. Mr. McCall's treasured lawn belongings, such as his casaba melons, keep getting destroyed overnight. He suspects the Burton kids and their nosy dog to be the culprits. When Joe's summer and his dog's freedom become at stake, Joe determines to find the reason behind the sudden mischief. The clues he find are disturbing. Nobody believes him, including Mindy and even his best friend Moose, which is a hallmark of "Goosebumps".

This is a weak "Goosebumps" entry because it takes a long time for any excitement to generate - especially for young readers - and even then it moves slowly at times. The last 20 pages feel rushed, and the ending is lazy - although I do find the last line (which contains the twist) to be a little cute and even funny. What I liked, however, is the fact that Stine explored new ground in trying to terrorize his young readers, and the slight quirkiness of the story gives it some appeal. In addition, the setting (which is almost entirely on neighboring lawns) is refreshing because it's not typical for a horror story. One of the creepiest, tense scenes in the book is when Joe goes to investigate in the middle of the night in the hot, sticky fog, not knowing what's exactly present.

The TV adaptation is actually favorable to the novel, which is an exception. In it, Mr. McCall lives alone (whereas he has a family in the book), and he is characterized as a strict army man - reminiscent of R. Lee Ermey - who is almost as scary as the evil lawn gnomes. The adaptation has a more favorable pace, and the gnomes' weakness is not only different this time, but more fitting, thus more effective. Also, the changed ending is very clever and chilling. I usually don't mention the TV episodes, but must recommend this one.

In summary, sparse passages about gardening are boring for a 12-year-old to read about, but Stine manages to occasionally engage by having a strong brother-sister dynamic, creating scenes of mischief, and using a pair of unlikely villains. It's a book that most "Goosebumps" fans can skip, although die-hards should check it out. And if you do, enjoy the greenery.

Joe's father loves his garden and looks forward to the annual garden show where he will show his tomatoes to win the blue ribbon. Their neighbour is equally devoted. Joe's father also loves lawn ornaments. One day he purchases 2 ugly garden gnomes.
The next day someone has destroyed most of their neighbour's melons, the ones that should've entered the garden competition. More vegetables are destroyed and Joe gets blamed. Joe decides to find out who's behind.

This was not a very good Goosebumps story. The plot was a bit too far out, and the story could've been better. The vegetables were among the most exciting part of the story.