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It's the First Day of School...Forever!

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On the first day of school, Artie falls out of his bed and hits his head. Hard. He tells his mom he’s dizzy and she says:
“You’re just worried about your first day in a new school.”

At breakfast, his little brother, Eddie, splashes syrup in his hair, and there’s no time to wash it. Artie has to go to school with syrup-hair. And then, on the way there, he gets splashed by a puddle that makes him look like he wet his pants. It’s not just the first day of school; it’s the worst day of school.

On the second day of school, Artie falls out of bed and hits his head. Hard. He tells his mom he’s dizzy and she says:
“You’re just worried about your first day in a new school.”

Huh? Today is just like the day before. Can Artie find a way to change it, before it’s the first day of school…forever?

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 5, 2011

52 people are currently reading
691 people want to read

About the author

R.L. Stine

1,679 books18.7k followers
Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

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5 stars
204 (24%)
4 stars
189 (23%)
3 stars
257 (31%)
2 stars
118 (14%)
1 star
50 (6%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
Profile Image for Justin Tate.
Author 7 books1,460 followers
February 23, 2017
Not the most satisfying journey, but a clever ending.
Profile Image for Χρύσα Βασιλείου.
Author 6 books169 followers
April 29, 2020
Τον συμπαθώ ανελέητα τον R.L. Stine, τον έχω 'υποστηρίξει' πολλές φορές απέναντι σε μεγάλες -πολύ μεγάλες όμως- προσδοκίες αναγνωστών, αλλά εντάξει, παντού υπάρχουν όρια.

Το βιβλίο αυτό δεν περνάει ούτε στα εννιάχρονα. Υπάρχουν πανέξυπνα, ευφυέστατα παιδικά βιβλία, όμορφα παιδικά βιβλία, ενδιαφέροντα, μέτρια, απλά υποφερτά... Και υπάρχουν και "κακά" βιβλία - εντός εισαγωγικών, γιατί είναι βαρύ επίθετο αυτό για να χαρακτηρίσεις ένα βιβλίο. Χαζά βιβλία, ανούσια, αδιάφορα, απλά-για-να-γεμίσουν-οι-σελίδες βιβλία.
Ε, αυτό εδώ ανήκει στην τελευταία κατηγορία.

Το μόνο θετικό ήταν ότι κατάφερα και το 'έβγαλα' σε ένα μόνο μεσημέρι (το διάβασα σε ebook) και δεν σπατάλησα πολύ χρόνο μαζί του.
Profile Image for Linda.
497 reviews1 follower
April 9, 2017
me: 2 stars
son (age 10): 3 stars
daughter (age 5): 3 stars

This was just....dull. The narration was slow, and it took Forever! (~halfway through) to get to the meat of the book where the MC wakes up on the first day of school again. And again. And again.

My son said he bumped it up to 3 stars only because he liked the twists at the end of the book.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
234 reviews49 followers
July 8, 2011
Artie Howard is having some trouble on his first day of fifth grade. It starts with him falling out of bed and gets much worse after that. Everything he does at school seems to go terribly, horribly wrong. He makes enemies of the biggest and scariest boy in school, loses the class pet, and gets creepy warnings from the principal. And just when he thinks he may have made it through the worst day of his life, he starts it all over again!

Ahhh.... R.L. Stine. Does middle-grade horror get any better than this? I think not. As a long time (my whole life, practically) fan of Mr. Stine, I am always stoked when he writes another book. This time, it is his first with Feiwel and Friends, and I certainly hope this is the start of a great publishing relationship! The story was pure, classic Stine. Short chapters, with cliffhangers at the end of every one of them. Spooky imagery and tense scenes. Artie was humorous and likeable, even when he got into all of those accidents. And the twist ending will make young readers gasp with surprise, before they laugh at the brilliance of it!
Profile Image for Deborah.
1,507 reviews24 followers
October 17, 2011
It is Artie's first day at a new middle school. He wakes up by falling out of bed, hitting his head, and the rest of the day follows suit - his younger brother gets syrup all over his hair, a big truck runs through a puddle spraying water all over Artie and he looks like he wet his pants. Then to make matters worse he ends up accidentally hurting the school's sports hero. He doesn't things could get any worse until he is transported back to bed and the morning starts all over and evolves into a worse day than he had before. Expect it's not a new day - it is the first day of school...forever!

While not a part of the Goosebumps series, this book reminded me of one.

Upper elementary.
5 reviews
June 2, 2015
This book sucks I know it's for younger kids and I'm not a little kid, but that's no excuse for lame writing,it was corny from the weird principle to the main protagonist having absolutely no character and the really really stupid twist where spoiler alert it's a f@##ing video game!?!?! there are 2 big things wrong with this one, who on earth would make a video game that you play as a kid going through the first day of school and two, who on earth would buy said video game and play it for hours on end as said in the last chapter so don't read this book cause I felt my brain cells committing suicide while reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Victoria.
310 reviews48 followers
November 27, 2021
In light of finishing The Hobbit, or There and Back Again and my very first round of university finals fast approaching, I figured I'd treat myself to a comforting, nostalgic read. R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series totally belongs in that category of mine, as I spent so much of my childhood invested in those books.
Unfortunately, it seems that quite a few members of my local public library had the same idea. Or maybe even the Goosebumps books still have this weird, mysterious hold on children. Anyways, I couldn't find a classic Goosebumps book to read because the library was out. So I resorted to one I found on the 8th page of search results - still written by R.L. Stine, so I figured the nostalgic appeal would still be there. Plus that cover and title is too horrifically cheesy to resist. The font. The colour scheme. The artwork. Wow.
Well here I am, 183 pages later, thoroughly disappointed. Maybe it's just because I'm an adult now, and these books are meant for children, but I really don't recall the Goosebumps series ever being THIS bad.
In It's the First Day of School...Forever!, our protagonist, Artie, must relive the first day of school over and over again. However, his day is so problematic it isn't remotely believable. All of the events occurring do not make any sense, neither by themselves nor together. I feel like the point here was to throw a bunch of awful things together to force the reader to feel overwhelmed - which worked, but not in a 'scary' way, more in a confusing way. There's just so much going on. Ghosts and zombies and creepy basement-dwelling janitors and tyrant principals and mannequins and scorpions and .... weasels?
Not to mention that the ending is a huge cop-out. Nothing is resolved - it's really just "and then I woke up!". So... basically how a fifth grader would finish their first narrative. Fitting, considering that they are the intended audience for this book.
On a final, sour note - there's quite a bit of fat-shaming thrown in here for fun, as well.
Profile Image for Christine.
409 reviews60 followers
July 28, 2021
It's Artie's first day at his new school, and it's not off to a great start; Artie has to be the most accident prone kid alive - not to mention there's weird things going on at his new school. Strange employees and 'school rules.' Worst yet, the first day never ends! Each morning Artie wakes up, it's the first day all over again, and every time he uses this opportunity to right one of his numerous wrongs, it just goes even worse!
Profile Image for Envy.
85 reviews
February 2, 2023
É sempre muito bom ler os livros do Stine. Eu adorei esse final porque me surpreendeu, eu achei que ia estar todo mundo morto, mas não era isso.

Também gosto como deixa a entender duas coisas e li tudo em poucas horas, além de ficar agoniada foi bem macabro e conseguiu não ficar repetitivo mesmo sendo repetitivo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Riley Castor.
2 reviews
July 16, 2023
This was very funny but also a thriller and it kept me interested the entire book
71 reviews
Read
January 12, 2012
It’s the First Day of School Forever
By R.L. Stine
Report by Cierra Kitt

Artie hits his head on the floor when he falls out of the bed. It’s his first day of his new school. He goes to eat breakfast and his brother pulls a prank on him and spill syrup in his hair. After breakfast Artie and his brother go to school and on the way there more bad things happen. As they are walking to school Eddie walked in the street, so Artie had to pull him back but it was too late. A truck went into a puddle and splashed them. Artie gets soaked in his crotch area and Eddie said,” It looks you peed”. (Pg 13) Eddie gets a kick out of how wet Artie gets.
When Artie gets to school he meets the principal and then he finds out that a gang is going to beat him up. Artie’s day just keeps getting worse with weird things happening to him. The rest of the day wasn’t a regular day because everything that happens at school was exactly what happens in his dream. It seems like déjà vu to me! To make it even worse, every day after that is always the same day but the stuff that happens get crazier like when he instead of a baseball hitting Brick it literally goes right through his head.
The main characters are Artie Howard and Brick. Artie is at a new school. He is the kid one who gets picked on and gets in trouble because of his silly and clumsy mistakes. Brick is the bully of the school. He’s the one who picks on Artie everyday and antagonizes him. Brick also has a crew who helps Brick beat up kids. There’s also Artie’s brother Eddie. He causes some of Artie’s problems like in the morning when he said,” more syrup” (pg 10) then squeezed the syrup in his hair.
The main conflict is for Artie to try to fit in with the other people in his new school. Every time he tries to fit in he always messes up. He also has to figure out how the things in his dream keep happening in real life. He has to find a way to get out of his real life déjà vu.
This book was very interesting and funny. I liked it because it was weird how everything that Artie dreamed about actually happened to him. It is funny because I have experienced déjà vu myself so many times. The only difference is that the things did not happen in my dreams like it did with Artie. At first I did not know what is was called but when I explained it to my mom, she told me it is call déjà vu. I also like it because it is like I had to be a detective; I had to figure how every time Artie woke up it was still his first day of school. I also had figure out how all the things that he dreamed came true.
Profile Image for Heavensent1.
253 reviews24 followers
November 15, 2011
It's the First Day of School Forever! is a juvenile fiction book by R.L. Stine.

It's Artie Howard's first day of school, summer vacation is over and its time to hit the books, or the floor, as Artie does on his first morning, banging his head and seeing stars.

The day doesn't get any better, Artie's younger brother, Eddy has squirted syrup all over him and splashes muddy water all over Artie as they walk to school. Not only that, but Wowser, Artie's dog, has followed him to school and has jumped all over his new principal, Mr. Jenks, ripping his suit.

Then there is the school's hero, Brick, who always seems to be at the end of Artie's mishaps, from getting hit in the head with a baseball, to knocking Brick down the stairs and breaking his leg, the turmoil and antics do not stop.

Each thing that occurs, from the bodies buried in the basement of his school to the threats from his principal, Artie just wishes the day would end and he could start a new day. Artie realizes that being the new kid sure has its disadvantages as he becomes lost in the maze of his new school and dumps his lunch all over the students, Artie cannot wait for the day to end. When he amazingly makes it through his first day, Artie wakes up to begin his first day of school all over again!!

Determined not to make the same mistakes as the day before, the outcome of the second day is worse and each day thereafter doesn't get any better. How does Artie stop this time loop where he feels like he's in the movie "Groundhog Day"? Is he doomed to repeat the first day for the rest of his life?

As usual, I enjoyed R.L. Stine's newest creation. I loved the comedic aspects that R.L. writes with, the hidden meanings to the words is a lark. I loved the story continuing as it did and getting worse and worse with each take. I enjoyed not knowing what was going on, which ensured you continued to read until you do and even then, your not sure. One of the great techniques that this book was written in.

I thought Artie was a very likeable character, as were everyone involved, even though we only see Brick at the hands of Artie's disasters, he gives an air of mystery to the book that only adds to its appeal.

If you enjoy the R.L. Stine books, then this one will not disappoint, its written with the PG-13 edge that R.L. is famous for and you will find pleasure upon the pages. I would give this book a four out of five stars.
Profile Image for Megan.
182 reviews1 follower
August 2, 2011
I can't say I was too impressed with this one. So many things go wrong for Artie that the story didn't feel believable at all, and the addition of horror elements didn't really fit into what I was expecting from the book. I thought it would be more of a Groundhog Day for kids...although I'm not quite sure why...the people on the cover with glowing eyes should have been a bit of a giveaway. The writing also felt fairly repetitive. I know that's kind of the point of the story, but even the wording seemed to be very samey. I ended up skimming a lot of the book and didn't feel that I lost a whole lot of the plot. I also wasn't a fan of the conclusion and big reveal at the end. It felt fairly rushed and seemed to be a modern day version of the whole And-he-woke-up-and-discovered-it-was-all-a-dream! ending. Night of the Living Dummy it ain't!
35 reviews3 followers
December 30, 2014
I thought that this book was very well written. I was a little disappointed in the ending. It ended with a kid named Chris guiding the guy Artie. It turned out to be a video game. I gave this book a 4 star rating because the ending was very cheap. I would recommend it to people who like fantasy books and non-surprising endings. Also R.L. Stine did a very good job going along with the book but killed it with the ending.
Profile Image for Brian Barnett.
Author 93 books43 followers
June 16, 2014
Even with a dangerous premise, R. L. Stine pulls it off. In what could've been a boring, repetitive narrative; small, surprising variations will keep the readers on their toes. The dark story was sprinkled with enough chuckles to keep the mood light and in typical Stine tradition, the ending has a fun, humorous twist.
4 reviews
March 19, 2015
This was a big part of my childhood (3/4th grade), and I haven't read this in a while, but I feel that this is still a great book. This was a masterpiece, and I feel that everyone should read it at least once in their lifetime. It is intended for younger audiences, so there may be some corny parts. Other than that, it's a great book, and I'm glad to have read it.
16 reviews
December 26, 2012
Yikes! Creepy! It sounds like a normal day as a new student in a new town. But something's not right, the day repeats forever but he ends up going through a terrible day. I think this book is the sort of book that should be warned. Do not red this at night, personal experience.
Profile Image for Kayla.
73 reviews
October 13, 2018
2.75
Over and over the same and the main character didn't even really try to change the day he was just confused the entire time which made it boring. The only thing that made me give it 2.75 and not 2 stars is that there was a cool twist at the end.
4 reviews1 follower
October 3, 2013
I thought this book was awseome it reminded me of a movie about this guy who his life repeated a part of it over and over again.
14 reviews
Read
December 17, 2012
This was a good read. It makes you think, just what if something like this would ever happen to me.
4 reviews1 follower
October 3, 2013
this book was totally awsome and i think you should read it
Profile Image for Daniel Botina Duarte.
65 reviews3 followers
September 14, 2020
Dios, el libro supongo que empieza bien, pero ya la segunda vez que se repite no hay nada interesante que el autor nos pueda narrar más que lo mismo exceptuando cada final de día que le da un bonus a la historia.
Casi al final cuando hay escenas un poco más sangrientas y el asunto se pone interesante. Primero resulta que todo fue un sueño y que Artie estaba en el dentista. Luego, luego resulta que todo lo que paso con Artie, era simplemente un videojuego que otro niño llamado: Chris, estaba jugando en compañía de su padre. Ese final me dejo como que wtf, ¿pero que ha pasao? Le puse tres estrellas porque se me hizo una lectura para pasar el rato pero perfectamente se pudo desarrollar con que se repitiera dos veces el día. Bueno al fin y al cabo es un libro de niños. De este autor habia leído previamente dos libros de Escalofríos, y me encantaron, si esperas aquí encontrar lo que hay en Escalofríos, déjame decirte que pierdes tú tiempo. En este libro aparte de que fue muy largo el autor no me sorprendio para nada, me quedo con Escalofríos que son más cortos y más interesantes. Este libro los recomiendo pero para niños que apenas estan iniciando en la lectura.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews

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