Customer Reviews

Welcome To Dead House (Goosebumps)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

R.L. Stine and his "Goosebumps" series were just starting to become popular with my classmates during the 1993-94 school year (sixth grade for me). Everybody was reading them and talking about how cool they were. That is, everyone except me. I remember thinking, "That stuff is so stupid. I can't believe anybody would read that kind of junk. I never will."

Oh, how naive I was at such a young age.

Curiosity killed this cat, and in the eight years since then, I still find the time to read these books. All 62 of them.

"Welcome to Dead House" is the one that started it all, and it is a classic, in this reviewer's opinion. This book is definitely darker in tone than some of his later books, and I really enjoyed it. This series was aimed at my age level (I was 12 at the time), and R.L. Stine hit the mark perfectly. He knew just what buttons to push to keep his readers reading.

The thing that really enthralled me about this first book was how everything about Dark Falls (the town featured in the book) was so creepy. Amanda and Josh would take walks, and there would never be anyone around. No one mowing the lawn; no one walking the dog; not even a car would pass by. That is definitely something that would seem odd (and not to mention creepy) if there were real places like that.

I loved all the references in this book to seeing kids in the house when they weren't really there, to seeing the gravestones and realizing that everyone is really dead, to the climax where Amanda and Josh are called on to save the day. R.L. Stine does a wonderful job of holding the suspense and moving the story along in his first outing.

I'll always remember "Welcome to Dead House" as being a great story that was really creepy and fun to read. And I'll always remember how wrong I was about the entire series as a whole - "I can't believe anybody would read that kind of junk."

Millions and millions of people around the world would tend to disagree.

This is the first book in an extremely popular series for kids called "Goosebumps." All of the stories are the scary stories that children seem to love. There are many adults who have commented on how they dislike this series. They say that the stories are usually not that great, there is little to be learned from them, and that there are so many better books to read by children in this age group. I take a slightly different stance. Any book or series of books that can get children into the habit of reading (period!) in today's world of TV and video games are great! More power to them. I find too many students today, even here at the University, who simply don't read. In this first volume, a family with two children move to a small town in which the inhabitants appear to be zombies!

Amazon lists the age range for this series at 4-8, but I cannot imagine a 4-6 year old who would really be able to enjoy this on their own...or would really want this read to them, this stories are more involved and require a slightly higher level of sophistication on the part of the reader. I'm thinking the best age range for this book (and probably the series) is 8-14, with the 10-12 age range being ideal.

This is our first encounter with the Goosebumps series (my daughter is 8) and I'll probably hold off for another year (ish) before I hand these over to read. I understand that Welcome to Dead House is one of the better (and more creepy) books in the series, and while I think it's a fine kick off for a series of horror stories aimed at 3rd-6th graders, this is a little much for my child this year. She's reading her way through the Mostly Ghostly series, which is slightly simpler in presentation while still maintaining the same horror flavor that Stein seems to be famous for.

This particular volume, we meet Amanda and Josh (and their parents of course) who have just inherited a big old house in Dark Falls (love the town name), from an Uncle they didn't know they had. Dark Falls is a town that where no one ever seems to be out and about in the day and where there always seems to be lingering shadows. Right from the start Amanda notices things that seem off about the house and the town, but no one else seems to notice. Slowly over the summer, they make friends with the local kids...or so they believe. As the summer draws near Amanda and Josh learn something quite gruesome about the other residents of Dark Falls and just how they came to live in the dead house!

This is quite creepy and does contain a few genuine thrills and chills, I found myself wanting to keep turning pages, hooked on finding out what happened next (and I'm 35). It's not as well written as some other horror I've read, but Steins style is certainly not the worst either. I think Welcome to Dead house is a promising start to this series and I'm looking forward to reading through it! Next year, when the Girl's reading level increases, we'll definitely be adding this series to her list!

I first started reading Goosebumps back when I was in 2nd grade, about 1993-1994. I am now 20 years old and have not read any of them in about 7 years. I, therefore, am not really able to comment on the style of the writing or the quality of scares for someone above the recommended reading level of these books - which I would place as ages 6-15.
What I can comment on is the effect these books had on my friends and me back in elementary school. Many of my friends would never bother to pick up a book, but if there was a new Goosebumps book, they would read it happily. It was a similar trend to that of Harry Potter in more recent years. So, while I can't really say much about content, I do respect the ability of a book and of a series to inspire children to read. I think it is an important contribution to society, because children who enjoy reading often become adults who enjoy reading. Most often, they will branch out from the series that started them reading and eventually get into the works that carry deeper meanings and inspire new thoughts - such as Dickens, Hemingway, Chopin, and Ellison. Goosebumps is just an intermediary step along the road to a full appreciation of literature.

Imagine that you are new in town and you find out that every one in town is a ghost and your parents don't believe you.
That is what's happening to Amanda, age 13, and Josh, age 1, who are scared and don't know what to do.
They find out that everyone in their new town are actually dead by noticing eerie things. They discover their friends' names on tombstones and towns people appear and disapear in a blink of an eye.
The book is not very scary, it's more of a kid's Halloween book and the genre is mystery. Also I think this book is good for kids age 8 and up.
My opinion is that the book is both interesting and sad. Now I know why the series by R.L. Stine is called Goosebumps because it gave me goosebumbs while I was reading the book.
-Britny Rivera, 11

Every one that moves in the House Died. Josh and Amanda
when into a dead house. They had find out what the mystery
of Cemetery Drive was. There imagination runs away from them.
Josh was always complianing and was very spoited. I can relate to Josh and Amanda in the story. One thing that we can relate
to me is because I was moving from one place to another place
by different houses. I felt the same thing as both of the characters in the book because it is scarry to go from one place to another.
When the ghost appeared to Amanda's face in her dream it must of fringhted her to death. I would not change a thing. I would recomend this book to anthor person. If people like scary, funny, and mysteries books would like this book.

It was one the most well-written books which ever was written for children. Although I'm a writer I can not write as well as R.L.Stine .... I mean I'M very pleased that he had written those stories. As I was reading I wanted to be child again and can just say that this is one of the most scary books that he had ever written...but...I think.

I thought that Welcome to Dead House was a very scary book. The book is about two kids, Amanda and Josh, who move to the town of Dark Falls. In the town, there are living-dead kids, who try to kill Amanda and Josh. They do not succeed. I recommend this book for all kids over eight. The reason that I do not recommend it for younger kids is that it might scare them too much. If you like this book, you'll like the whole Goosebump series. - JULIAN

Things come and go in cycles and everything that was old is new again. Such is the case with the popular Goosebumps series of books. Before there was Harry Potter, there was Goosebumps. The series began with WELCOME TO DEAD HOUSE, which was first published in 1992 and within a couple of years the books were seen everywhere in elementary and middle schools. All total over 60 books were written in the series, not counting the several spin-off series and a television show. By the mid-1990s R.L. Stine had more books being published than any other author and was ranked as the most read author by students in elementary and middle schools. In general, the Goosebumps books are scary stories with children protagonists. Most of the chapters in each book end with a "cliffhanger". The next chapter reveals the cliffhanger to be something mundane and ordinary. That is until the later chapters when the supernatural and spooky stuff starts to happen and the cliffhangers aren't explained away as easily.

WELCOME TO DEAD HOUSE is the first in the Goosebumps series. It is a bit darker and more horrifying than most of the other books in the series and reads more like a water-downed version of R.L. Stine's Fear Street books. The book tells the story of Amanda and Josh, a brother and sister. The family inherits a house in Dark Falls and decide to make a new beginning in the new town. However, no one knows much about Dark Falls except that it's a very dark place and in the middle of nowhere. Amanda and Josh's parents are excited about the move, but the children aren't. When they visit the new home, Josh is sure he sees someone inside in an upstairs window. Then once the move is completed, strange things start to happen. Voices are heard and things in the house move around. No one walks the streets and no cars drive by. Dark Falls is a quiet place, but it's also a dead town, in more ways than one.

I enjoyed reading WELCOME TO DEAD HOUSE. I read several of the Goosebumps books years ago when my youngest brother was in grade school. WELCOME TO THE DEAD HOUSE does a good job of using setting to affect the mood and tone of the story. I did find the book missing some of the humor found in most of the other Goosebumps books I have read. The twist at the end is also more frightening. In fact, the story would make for a decent PG or PG-13 scary movie.

Recommended for children in the 4th grade or older.

Have you ever wanted to live in a creepy place where everyone's dead? Well the book I've just finished reading was "Welcome to the Dead House." It's about two kids and their parents who move to Dark Falls. There, they start to see that creepy things are happening.They find out that all of their freinds are really dead, but ghosts. And their freinds need fresh blood to live. So, they capture the kids parents. What happens next? Well you'll have to read the book to find out. I really liked this book because it was filled with moiments of suspense. Another reason why I liked this book was because whenever I stopped reading it, I always wondered what would happen next. This book would be great for you if you love thrills and chills.