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Give Yourself Goosebumps #16
Secret Agent Grandma
In a story with several possible endings, readers are cast in the role of a young person who must save the world's coolest grandma from her alien kidnappers. Original.
131 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1997
39 people are currently reading
1006 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,679 books18.6k followersRobert 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.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 12, 2022
It's been forever since I've read it Give Yourself Goosebumps . I figured Secret Agent Grandma would be a good choice because mother's Day just passed and I wanted something thematic. This is the closest thing I have to A Mother's Day themed book .I've always wanted to read this book as a kid and just never got around to it for some reason.I think it's mostly because I feel like I would have outgrew this one, kind of similar to Attack Of The Beastly Babysitter, which did make me feel really old. I figured it would be too babyish . Man was I wrong. This book certainly held up to the hype of my younger self. The story starts off with you going to go pick up your grandma from the train station . You have a choice of either picking up the grandmother that called you by your nickname ,which is Cookie, or helping a grandmother in distress being attacked in a train cart by men in back like people. If you choose the grandma that's already with you, you'll get this grandma that's obsessed with wanting to know about your mother's rose bush that was planted 15 years ago by her during a meteor shower. She mistakenly calls the seeds eggs and you immediately think something is up and it is, because this grandma is not a normal grandma. If you choose the other grandma though she's either normal ,or something else , depending on the choices you make. Also this grandma is a secret agent that's being tracked down by aliens, one in particular named Martha-dirtha.In a lot of these books, there's always one storyline that I usually like better than the other .This one was somewhat of the same case. I kind of like the grandma in disguise that's taken care of eggs a lot better than the secret agent one. The secret agent one was funny but we didn't learn a lot more, and depending on which choices you make the secret agent one can either end really good or really bad .I didn't really like that. I thought that it should have tied together a little bit better. A lot of these books also make you feel tired of reading it and you're kind of ready to be done with it ,especially me trying to get all the endings and complete it, but I did not feel that way about this one. This one was absolutely fun .It reminded me a lot of a HorrorLand book that I really like called My Friends Call Me Monster. With a name like Secret Agent Grandma, you know it's going to be funny and it really was. I love the karate scene in this book I thought it was great .Secret Agent Grandma is one of the top tier Give Yourself Goosebumps books in my opinion. It did have its moments that I didn't like ,but overall it's pretty above average. I give Secret Agent Grandma a four out of five stars .
December 31, 2022
Love it. Forgot how much I enjoyed Goosebump books.
January 9, 2021
These are always fun to read! I read a few endings, mostly disappointing. I guess I didn't make any good choices.
I'm excited to see if there's a story line where I get to fight the alien grandma along with my real grandma to save the world. :-P
I'm excited to see if there's a story line where I get to fight the alien grandma along with my real grandma to save the world. :-P
February 14, 2022
Dunno if it's cuz I'm way older now but this is just an average Give Yourself Goosebumps book. Got all the endings, I was even taking down notes as I read XD HAHAHAHA. Take me back to the days as a kid where I don't compulsively want to get all the endings. This is my first Give Yourself Goosebumps after so many years, I think the last one I read was perhaps back when I was like 19 and I'm 25 now 😅. I remember loving the Tick Tock, You're Dead! Give Yourself Goosebumps. Maybe I should give that a read and see how it fare in my 'mature' 'adult' brain
June 22, 2015
A thrilling children's book. It was the first of a kind that I read, and I loved every bit of it. :)
June 3, 2009
The best way to describe the majority of this book would be "asinine."
November 8, 2025
Secret Agent Grandma (Updated)
This one popped in my head to read next because I remembered it was one of the weak ones (even though I didn’t remember anything about it). So, for this review I’ll just give some of the better (good) endings. Previously when I first read this one I tried it three times and got really bad endings and I just walked away from it. But I hope I can give this one a reprise.
“Good Ending”
As your about to head to the station. You repeat the instructions to your mother. I’ll be taking the cab to the railroad station. Then I’ll wait on the platform on the incoming. side of the station. Grandma’s train arrives at one P.M. I’ll know her by the yellow stretch pants and purple shirt she’ll be wearing. On the cab ride there even though she’ll be wearing such a over the top outfit, you wonder if you’ll recognize her face. But surely she’ll recognize you from the pictures.
At the station, you instantly hear your name being paged on the loudspeaker. Someone tells you (you) have a call. You can slightly make out it’s your mom and some words over the static. “Were… on the plane… home immediately…danger.. grandmother.” Then the line goes dead. You hand the phone back and then the station starts to rumble. Should you go home or stay and find your grandmother? I stay and try to find my grandmother (33).
Luckily, it’s just the station. It rumbles when trains come in. You scan the station for your grandma when people start to get off the train. Someone calls out to you. It’s your friends Chuck and Ginny on their way to a hockey game. A hockey game you had to turn down going to because you have to meet your grandma. They tell you have fun and you start to feel jealous. You wait somemore but don’t see grandma. Your about to leave but hear something horrible. It’s her calling to you using the old nickname you hate “Cookie!” Then something catches your eye. There’s a message in one of the train’s windows. It says EMPLEH. EMPLEH.
As you leave with grandma (listening to her chat about your mothers rose bush) you realize you know what the message means (14). It means HELP ME. Your about to tell grandma but them you see something inside the train compartment that makes you stare and get closer to the glass. Two men in tan overcoats pick up a woman whose a DEAD RINGER for your grandma, puts her over their shoulder, and takes her to the back off the train and goes through a door. The woman is terrified and locks eyes with you.
Should you jump on the train before it pulls out the station of go with the woman in front of you? You decide to leap aboard the train (110). So you take off running (with grandma 1 calling after you to stop), leap unto the train (as people stare) and look around. Should you try to find the woman or tell someone else what you saw? You decide to investigate on your own (80). You get to the door you saw them take her through but feel someone grip your shoulder. It’s the train conductor and he wants to know where your ticket is. So you stall (21).
Fortunately, you spot your friends and Ginny says your parents will pay once you get to where your going. The ticket conductor buys it. You tell your friends what you say and tell them you have to search the train. With their help, you come to the last door and Your grandmother sits on a chair surrounded by suitcases. She gazes straight ahead, unblinking. A strange orange light beams down onto her. She doesn’t respond even when Chuck jumps up and down and howls in her ear. You realize it has something to do with the light when Chuck’s arm comes in contact with it and it sends him flying across the room.
When Chuck comes to you tell him it’s a force field that knocked him out. You decide to hide behind some large trunks just in time. Someone opens the door. In horror you see that these aren’t men. Their creatures and they have no eyelids. Do you try to over power them or wait until they leave and try to get grandma? You decide to try to attack the creatures (57). You come up with a plan and start to throw the luggage at the creatures from the overhead compartment. Grandma remains still. The creatures start to come toward Ginny and you realize your out of ammunition. The conductor comes in and you think good. He can help. But his head explodes right in front of you1
You can’t tear your eyes away from the terrifying sight. Flesh-colored globs splat onto the floor. Pieces of the conductor’s face dangle around his neck. But even more revolting is the disgusting new head that rises from his conductor’s collar. A hairless, misshapen skull with lidless eyes. Yellow eyes. The size of Ping-Pong balls. Tentacles shoot out from his sleeves. One wraps around your arm. The other grabs Ginny. A third bursts from the center of his chest. Right through the conductor’s uniform. It yanks Chuck to his feet.
Do you punch him with your free hand or bite his tentacles? You bite his tentacles (47). The creatures tentacles loosen you, Ginny, and Chuck. They also hit the device and the light goes off. Grandma blinks. The other two creatures tho leap at grandma. You yell for her to watch out but she takes them down with some amazing karate moves and then ties all three of them together. You look at her like WHOA! WHO ARE YOU AGAIN? She says to help her with her suitcase and you all can leave. It flies open and you see scattered papers that say TOP SECRET CONFIDENTIAL SPECIAL GOVERNMENT FILES, She takes them from you and says thanks. Before you can ask questions, the other grandma pops into the roon and says thanks goodness she found you before its too late.
Each one is calling the other an imposter and evil. Which one is the real one? Grandma 1 who fought the aliens or Grandma 2 that just entered? You pick 1 (52). You tell her your grandma wouldn’t call you that nickname and your parents said your real grandma was unsual. She can’[t believe you don’t believe her. Grandma 1 says the original will always be believed over the copy. Then five more grandmas come through the door. You find out your grandma is a top government scientist working on a secret cloning project. A project everyone seems to want to get their hands on! That’s why she’s coming to stay with you — to hide out. You’re the luckiest kid in the world. For the next month you have five Grandmas. And they all spoil you!
“Good Endings”
As your about to head to the station. You repeat the instructions to your mother. I’ll be taking the cab to the railroad station. Then I’ll wait on the platform on the incoming. side of the station. Grandma’s train arrives at one P.M. I’ll know her by the yellow stretch pants and purple shirt she’ll be wearing. On the cab ride there even though she’ll be wearing such a over the top outfit, you wonder if you’ll recognize her face. But surely she’ll recognize you from the pictures.
At the station, you instantly hear your name being paged on the loudspeaker. Someone tells you (you) have a call. You can slightly make out it’s your mom and some words over the static. “Were… on the plane… home immediately…danger.. grandmother.” Then the line goes dead. You hand the phone back and then the station starts to rumble. Should you go home or stay and find your grandmother? I stay and try to find my grandmother (33).
Luckily, it’s just the station. It rumbles when trains come in. You scan the station for your grandma when people start to get off the train. Someone calls out to you. It’s your friends Chuck and Ginny on their way to a hockey game. A hockey game you had to turn down going to because you have to meet your grandma. They tell you have fun and you start to feel jealous. You wait somemore but don’t see grandma. Your about to leave but hear something horrible. It’s her calling to you using the old nickname you hate “Cookie!” Then something catches your eye. There’s a message in one of the train’s windows. It says EMPLEH. EMPLEH.
As you leave with grandma (listening to her chat about your mothers rose bush) you realize you know what the message means (14). It means HELP ME. Your about to tell grandma but them you see something inside the train compartment that makes you stare and get closer to the glass. Two men in tan overcoats pick up a woman whose a DEAD RINGER for your grandma, puts her over their shoulder, and takes her to the back off the train and goes through a door. The woman is terrified and locks eyes with you.
Should you jump on the train before it pulls out the station of go with the woman in front of you? You decide to leap aboard the train (110). So you take off running (with grandma 1 calling after you to stop), leap unto the train (as people stare) and look around. Should you try to find the woman or tell someone else what you saw? You decide to investigate on your own (80). You get to the door you saw them take her through but feel someone grip your shoulder. It’s the train conductor and he wants to know where your ticket is. So you stall (21).
Fortunately, you spot your friends and Ginny says your parents will pay once you get to where your going. The ticket conductor buys it. You tell your friends what you say and tell them you have to search the train. With their help, you come to the last door and Your grandmother sits on a chair surrounded by suitcases. She gazes straight ahead, unblinking. A strange orange light beams down onto her. She doesn’t respond even when Chuck jumps up and down and howls in her ear. You realize it has something to do with the light when Chuck’s arm comes in contact with it and it sends him flying across the room.
When Chuck comes to you tell him it’s a force field that knocked him out. You decide to hide behind some large trunks just in time. Someone opens the door. In horror you see that these aren’t men. Their creatures and they have no eyelids. Do you try to over power them or wait until they leave and try to get grandma? You decide to try to attack the creatures (57). You come up with a plan and start to throw the luggage at the creatures from the overhead compartment. Grandma remains still. The creatures start to come toward Ginny and you realize your out of ammunition. The conductor comes in and you think good. He can help. But his head explodes right in front of you1
You can’t tear your eyes away from the terrifying sight. Flesh-colored globs splat onto the floor. Pieces of the conductor’s face dangle around his neck. But even more revolting is the disgusting new head that rises from his conductor’s collar. A hairless, misshapen skull with lidless eyes. Yellow eyes. The size of Ping-Pong balls. Tentacles shoot out from his sleeves. One wraps around your arm. The other grabs Ginny. A third bursts from the center of his chest. Right through the conductor’s uniform. It yanks Chuck to his feet.
Do you punch him with your free hand or bite his tentacles? You decide to punch it (67) but the punch hurts you more than it. The creature says they’ve come to destroy your evil grandmother and have been tracking her through the galaxy for 30 years hoping she’d lead them to her nest of eggs. They say now that they have you maybe Mithra Dithera will be more cooperative. They say that’s your grandmother’s name. They say you’ll answer questions soon enough but right now they have to prepare.
The conductor-creature snaps open a wall panel, revealing dials, knobs, and switches. The car detaches from the train and shots in the opposite direction. The car lurches and you fall to the ground. Then your lifted up into the sky. You realize your in a space ship. They demand to know where you live and where has your grandma hidden the eggs. You tell them you have no idea what their talking about. They tell you they’ll get their answers from you. The alien then vomits up a dog he calls Fido. He has rows of razor-sharp teeth. The other creatures vomit up two dogs and they latch onto Ginny and Chuck. So, you tell the aliens where you live (99).
The creatures swallow the dogs and say they’ll take you home. They land in your mom’s petunias and dig up the garden leaving a mess until they find the purple eggs they’re looking for. They give you some seeds and apologize for the mess. You plant the seeds and the roses turn out to be beautiful but they smell like bananas and glow in the dark.
“Good Endings”
So you punch the alien and it tells you it’s been tracking your grandma and demand to know where you live. You say you don’t know anything about it and they vomit up dogs. You decide to call thier bluff and not give them your address. You tell them you are Smithra-Schmithra—heir to the Mithra-Dithra kingdom. You tell them to stay back or feel your wrath. Then you shoot sparks out of your fingers. Your friends look on in amazement. The sparks from your fingers short-circuit the orange force field around your grandmother. Grandma awakens and tells you you’ve come into your powers. Your grandma is Mithra-Dithra. Together, you take over the world. You put Ginny and Chuck in charge of their very own solar systems. And you make the yellow-eyed thugs your galactic chauffeurs
Rating: 5
Even still on a second read this one just… I wasn’t really crazy about any of these endings either. There’s a series called “Replicas” that I’m reading that’s a little interesting so I thought the human cloning ending would be at least good. Then it *could* have added to the last ending to find out a little bit more about how grandma and you are aliens. That’s always the problem with these books tho. Even when you get a “good” ending, it just kind of stops short and leaves you wanting to know so much more than your given.
This one popped in my head to read next because I remembered it was one of the weak ones (even though I didn’t remember anything about it). So, for this review I’ll just give some of the better (good) endings. Previously when I first read this one I tried it three times and got really bad endings and I just walked away from it. But I hope I can give this one a reprise.
“Good Ending”
As your about to head to the station. You repeat the instructions to your mother. I’ll be taking the cab to the railroad station. Then I’ll wait on the platform on the incoming. side of the station. Grandma’s train arrives at one P.M. I’ll know her by the yellow stretch pants and purple shirt she’ll be wearing. On the cab ride there even though she’ll be wearing such a over the top outfit, you wonder if you’ll recognize her face. But surely she’ll recognize you from the pictures.
At the station, you instantly hear your name being paged on the loudspeaker. Someone tells you (you) have a call. You can slightly make out it’s your mom and some words over the static. “Were… on the plane… home immediately…danger.. grandmother.” Then the line goes dead. You hand the phone back and then the station starts to rumble. Should you go home or stay and find your grandmother? I stay and try to find my grandmother (33).
Luckily, it’s just the station. It rumbles when trains come in. You scan the station for your grandma when people start to get off the train. Someone calls out to you. It’s your friends Chuck and Ginny on their way to a hockey game. A hockey game you had to turn down going to because you have to meet your grandma. They tell you have fun and you start to feel jealous. You wait somemore but don’t see grandma. Your about to leave but hear something horrible. It’s her calling to you using the old nickname you hate “Cookie!” Then something catches your eye. There’s a message in one of the train’s windows. It says EMPLEH. EMPLEH.
As you leave with grandma (listening to her chat about your mothers rose bush) you realize you know what the message means (14). It means HELP ME. Your about to tell grandma but them you see something inside the train compartment that makes you stare and get closer to the glass. Two men in tan overcoats pick up a woman whose a DEAD RINGER for your grandma, puts her over their shoulder, and takes her to the back off the train and goes through a door. The woman is terrified and locks eyes with you.
Should you jump on the train before it pulls out the station of go with the woman in front of you? You decide to leap aboard the train (110). So you take off running (with grandma 1 calling after you to stop), leap unto the train (as people stare) and look around. Should you try to find the woman or tell someone else what you saw? You decide to investigate on your own (80). You get to the door you saw them take her through but feel someone grip your shoulder. It’s the train conductor and he wants to know where your ticket is. So you stall (21).
Fortunately, you spot your friends and Ginny says your parents will pay once you get to where your going. The ticket conductor buys it. You tell your friends what you say and tell them you have to search the train. With their help, you come to the last door and Your grandmother sits on a chair surrounded by suitcases. She gazes straight ahead, unblinking. A strange orange light beams down onto her. She doesn’t respond even when Chuck jumps up and down and howls in her ear. You realize it has something to do with the light when Chuck’s arm comes in contact with it and it sends him flying across the room.
When Chuck comes to you tell him it’s a force field that knocked him out. You decide to hide behind some large trunks just in time. Someone opens the door. In horror you see that these aren’t men. Their creatures and they have no eyelids. Do you try to over power them or wait until they leave and try to get grandma? You decide to try to attack the creatures (57). You come up with a plan and start to throw the luggage at the creatures from the overhead compartment. Grandma remains still. The creatures start to come toward Ginny and you realize your out of ammunition. The conductor comes in and you think good. He can help. But his head explodes right in front of you1
You can’t tear your eyes away from the terrifying sight. Flesh-colored globs splat onto the floor. Pieces of the conductor’s face dangle around his neck. But even more revolting is the disgusting new head that rises from his conductor’s collar. A hairless, misshapen skull with lidless eyes. Yellow eyes. The size of Ping-Pong balls. Tentacles shoot out from his sleeves. One wraps around your arm. The other grabs Ginny. A third bursts from the center of his chest. Right through the conductor’s uniform. It yanks Chuck to his feet.
Do you punch him with your free hand or bite his tentacles? You bite his tentacles (47). The creatures tentacles loosen you, Ginny, and Chuck. They also hit the device and the light goes off. Grandma blinks. The other two creatures tho leap at grandma. You yell for her to watch out but she takes them down with some amazing karate moves and then ties all three of them together. You look at her like WHOA! WHO ARE YOU AGAIN? She says to help her with her suitcase and you all can leave. It flies open and you see scattered papers that say TOP SECRET CONFIDENTIAL SPECIAL GOVERNMENT FILES, She takes them from you and says thanks. Before you can ask questions, the other grandma pops into the roon and says thanks goodness she found you before its too late.
Each one is calling the other an imposter and evil. Which one is the real one? Grandma 1 who fought the aliens or Grandma 2 that just entered? You pick 1 (52). You tell her your grandma wouldn’t call you that nickname and your parents said your real grandma was unsual. She can’[t believe you don’t believe her. Grandma 1 says the original will always be believed over the copy. Then five more grandmas come through the door. You find out your grandma is a top government scientist working on a secret cloning project. A project everyone seems to want to get their hands on! That’s why she’s coming to stay with you — to hide out. You’re the luckiest kid in the world. For the next month you have five Grandmas. And they all spoil you!
“Good Endings”
As your about to head to the station. You repeat the instructions to your mother. I’ll be taking the cab to the railroad station. Then I’ll wait on the platform on the incoming. side of the station. Grandma’s train arrives at one P.M. I’ll know her by the yellow stretch pants and purple shirt she’ll be wearing. On the cab ride there even though she’ll be wearing such a over the top outfit, you wonder if you’ll recognize her face. But surely she’ll recognize you from the pictures.
At the station, you instantly hear your name being paged on the loudspeaker. Someone tells you (you) have a call. You can slightly make out it’s your mom and some words over the static. “Were… on the plane… home immediately…danger.. grandmother.” Then the line goes dead. You hand the phone back and then the station starts to rumble. Should you go home or stay and find your grandmother? I stay and try to find my grandmother (33).
Luckily, it’s just the station. It rumbles when trains come in. You scan the station for your grandma when people start to get off the train. Someone calls out to you. It’s your friends Chuck and Ginny on their way to a hockey game. A hockey game you had to turn down going to because you have to meet your grandma. They tell you have fun and you start to feel jealous. You wait somemore but don’t see grandma. Your about to leave but hear something horrible. It’s her calling to you using the old nickname you hate “Cookie!” Then something catches your eye. There’s a message in one of the train’s windows. It says EMPLEH. EMPLEH.
As you leave with grandma (listening to her chat about your mothers rose bush) you realize you know what the message means (14). It means HELP ME. Your about to tell grandma but them you see something inside the train compartment that makes you stare and get closer to the glass. Two men in tan overcoats pick up a woman whose a DEAD RINGER for your grandma, puts her over their shoulder, and takes her to the back off the train and goes through a door. The woman is terrified and locks eyes with you.
Should you jump on the train before it pulls out the station of go with the woman in front of you? You decide to leap aboard the train (110). So you take off running (with grandma 1 calling after you to stop), leap unto the train (as people stare) and look around. Should you try to find the woman or tell someone else what you saw? You decide to investigate on your own (80). You get to the door you saw them take her through but feel someone grip your shoulder. It’s the train conductor and he wants to know where your ticket is. So you stall (21).
Fortunately, you spot your friends and Ginny says your parents will pay once you get to where your going. The ticket conductor buys it. You tell your friends what you say and tell them you have to search the train. With their help, you come to the last door and Your grandmother sits on a chair surrounded by suitcases. She gazes straight ahead, unblinking. A strange orange light beams down onto her. She doesn’t respond even when Chuck jumps up and down and howls in her ear. You realize it has something to do with the light when Chuck’s arm comes in contact with it and it sends him flying across the room.
When Chuck comes to you tell him it’s a force field that knocked him out. You decide to hide behind some large trunks just in time. Someone opens the door. In horror you see that these aren’t men. Their creatures and they have no eyelids. Do you try to over power them or wait until they leave and try to get grandma? You decide to try to attack the creatures (57). You come up with a plan and start to throw the luggage at the creatures from the overhead compartment. Grandma remains still. The creatures start to come toward Ginny and you realize your out of ammunition. The conductor comes in and you think good. He can help. But his head explodes right in front of you1
You can’t tear your eyes away from the terrifying sight. Flesh-colored globs splat onto the floor. Pieces of the conductor’s face dangle around his neck. But even more revolting is the disgusting new head that rises from his conductor’s collar. A hairless, misshapen skull with lidless eyes. Yellow eyes. The size of Ping-Pong balls. Tentacles shoot out from his sleeves. One wraps around your arm. The other grabs Ginny. A third bursts from the center of his chest. Right through the conductor’s uniform. It yanks Chuck to his feet.
Do you punch him with your free hand or bite his tentacles? You decide to punch it (67) but the punch hurts you more than it. The creature says they’ve come to destroy your evil grandmother and have been tracking her through the galaxy for 30 years hoping she’d lead them to her nest of eggs. They say now that they have you maybe Mithra Dithera will be more cooperative. They say that’s your grandmother’s name. They say you’ll answer questions soon enough but right now they have to prepare.
The conductor-creature snaps open a wall panel, revealing dials, knobs, and switches. The car detaches from the train and shots in the opposite direction. The car lurches and you fall to the ground. Then your lifted up into the sky. You realize your in a space ship. They demand to know where you live and where has your grandma hidden the eggs. You tell them you have no idea what their talking about. They tell you they’ll get their answers from you. The alien then vomits up a dog he calls Fido. He has rows of razor-sharp teeth. The other creatures vomit up two dogs and they latch onto Ginny and Chuck. So, you tell the aliens where you live (99).
The creatures swallow the dogs and say they’ll take you home. They land in your mom’s petunias and dig up the garden leaving a mess until they find the purple eggs they’re looking for. They give you some seeds and apologize for the mess. You plant the seeds and the roses turn out to be beautiful but they smell like bananas and glow in the dark.
“Good Endings”
So you punch the alien and it tells you it’s been tracking your grandma and demand to know where you live. You say you don’t know anything about it and they vomit up dogs. You decide to call thier bluff and not give them your address. You tell them you are Smithra-Schmithra—heir to the Mithra-Dithra kingdom. You tell them to stay back or feel your wrath. Then you shoot sparks out of your fingers. Your friends look on in amazement. The sparks from your fingers short-circuit the orange force field around your grandmother. Grandma awakens and tells you you’ve come into your powers. Your grandma is Mithra-Dithra. Together, you take over the world. You put Ginny and Chuck in charge of their very own solar systems. And you make the yellow-eyed thugs your galactic chauffeurs
Rating: 5
Even still on a second read this one just… I wasn’t really crazy about any of these endings either. There’s a series called “Replicas” that I’m reading that’s a little interesting so I thought the human cloning ending would be at least good. Then it *could* have added to the last ending to find out a little bit more about how grandma and you are aliens. That’s always the problem with these books tho. Even when you get a “good” ending, it just kind of stops short and leaves you wanting to know so much more than your given.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2024
It was only a matter of time until Goosebumps went the choose your own adventure route, right? Why not combine the books kids ostensibly love with the books kids actually love? That’s sure to have an amazing outcome.
I say kids ostensibly love Choose Your Own Adventure books because it’s been my experience that these books are extremely unfair and obtuse. You’ll make a decision like whether or not to grab a jacket before you leave the house, it’ll be the first decision you make in the book, and it’ll result in you being totally unable to get a good ending. And it’s a totally arbitrary decision! The books don’t give you clues, like telling you that you died because your jacket got caught on something and the Ant People shot you down like a dog. At least if that happened, you’d know to leave your jacket behind. No, it just sends you down a path of causailty or whatever that means you’re doomed to a slow march to the grave. It’s like one big lesson in the butterfly effect, but without Ashton Kutcher. Maybe it’s a Butterfly Effect sequel, straight-to-video.
That’s the big improvement I would make to those books: At least give me a clue as to where things went wrong. That way, I could have a chance of getting to the end without just checking every possible path.
The plot of Secret Agent Grandma is a little difficult to nail down because it varies wildly depending on the choices you make, but basically it seems that most of the common endings have something to do with your grandma being an alien, possibly laying a bunch of alien eggs somewhere. I guess alien grandmas don’t go through menopause. Or maybe it’s not really your grandma, and your grandma’s corpse is somewhere?
I picked a story path that has been labeled “Side Story C” in which my grandma is on the train, where she’s supposed to be, tells me she’s a secret agent, gives me a disk that has a bunch of video games on it or something, and because I can’t resist video games, I get busted by men in black.
Not an entirely innacurate projection of how things would go.
Now, let’s try a game: Of 23 possible endings, how many do you think are good endings?
Four. Fucking four. That’s worse than a one in five chance of making it to a good ending. C’mon, guys, can’t get get like a 50/50 or something?
You can blow it on the FIRST decision you make. How is that anywhere near fair?
There are so many dead end paths it’s unreal.
On one hand, I always thought writing Choose Your Own Adventure books would be kind of easy because the narrative and writing really don’t have to be all that tight. On the other hand, it would be a pain in the ass because I’d be writing a dead end path and thinking like, “Why am I doing this? What’s the point, existentially, of writing a dead end path in a book like this that’s just going to make people unhappy?”
By the by, if you want a good version of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, I recommend 2120 by George Wylesol. It’s kind of like a CYOA, but it’s a graphic novel, and you play as an IT guy sent to a nondescript strip mall office to fix a technical problem. It quickly devolves into light horror, that sort of liminal space, backrooms stuff, but what I really like about it is that you don’t run into a bunch of bad paths that kill you. You’re actually encouraged to explore, which should be the point of this stuff, and you have to do things like find clues which then lead you into new areas or let you unlock doors or what have you. It’s super fun, and it’s like the much better version of the whole Choose Your Own Adventure thing.
The cover artist for this series said this cover is one of his least favorite, and he blames the title for being not super compelling. Which, you’ve gotta be kidding me. That shit is hilarious. It’s what convinced me to read this particular book. The dude has no sense of humor. Boo.
I say kids ostensibly love Choose Your Own Adventure books because it’s been my experience that these books are extremely unfair and obtuse. You’ll make a decision like whether or not to grab a jacket before you leave the house, it’ll be the first decision you make in the book, and it’ll result in you being totally unable to get a good ending. And it’s a totally arbitrary decision! The books don’t give you clues, like telling you that you died because your jacket got caught on something and the Ant People shot you down like a dog. At least if that happened, you’d know to leave your jacket behind. No, it just sends you down a path of causailty or whatever that means you’re doomed to a slow march to the grave. It’s like one big lesson in the butterfly effect, but without Ashton Kutcher. Maybe it’s a Butterfly Effect sequel, straight-to-video.
That’s the big improvement I would make to those books: At least give me a clue as to where things went wrong. That way, I could have a chance of getting to the end without just checking every possible path.
The plot of Secret Agent Grandma is a little difficult to nail down because it varies wildly depending on the choices you make, but basically it seems that most of the common endings have something to do with your grandma being an alien, possibly laying a bunch of alien eggs somewhere. I guess alien grandmas don’t go through menopause. Or maybe it’s not really your grandma, and your grandma’s corpse is somewhere?
I picked a story path that has been labeled “Side Story C” in which my grandma is on the train, where she’s supposed to be, tells me she’s a secret agent, gives me a disk that has a bunch of video games on it or something, and because I can’t resist video games, I get busted by men in black.
Not an entirely innacurate projection of how things would go.
Now, let’s try a game: Of 23 possible endings, how many do you think are good endings?
Four. Fucking four. That’s worse than a one in five chance of making it to a good ending. C’mon, guys, can’t get get like a 50/50 or something?
You can blow it on the FIRST decision you make. How is that anywhere near fair?
There are so many dead end paths it’s unreal.
On one hand, I always thought writing Choose Your Own Adventure books would be kind of easy because the narrative and writing really don’t have to be all that tight. On the other hand, it would be a pain in the ass because I’d be writing a dead end path and thinking like, “Why am I doing this? What’s the point, existentially, of writing a dead end path in a book like this that’s just going to make people unhappy?”
By the by, if you want a good version of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, I recommend 2120 by George Wylesol. It’s kind of like a CYOA, but it’s a graphic novel, and you play as an IT guy sent to a nondescript strip mall office to fix a technical problem. It quickly devolves into light horror, that sort of liminal space, backrooms stuff, but what I really like about it is that you don’t run into a bunch of bad paths that kill you. You’re actually encouraged to explore, which should be the point of this stuff, and you have to do things like find clues which then lead you into new areas or let you unlock doors or what have you. It’s super fun, and it’s like the much better version of the whole Choose Your Own Adventure thing.
The cover artist for this series said this cover is one of his least favorite, and he blames the title for being not super compelling. Which, you’ve gotta be kidding me. That shit is hilarious. It’s what convinced me to read this particular book. The dude has no sense of humor. Boo.
June 22, 2024
The title may be ridiculous, and whilst the book is as well, it’s actually pretty solid. The house storyline was really interesting and had the better endings and twists, plus the better friend characters. I liked a certain aspect of the book involving…other life forms…and Secret Agent Grandma herself is a quirky character that can drastically change depending on the paths you go down. She can be pure evil, or she can be like Jesus in terms of goodness. The train storyline was just fine, though I like the unique setting (you don’t see a train story in goosebumps ever!). There’s also a lot of above average endings in terms of quality. However, the book has a horrible start up; the first choice can lead you to an awful ending, potentially one of the cringiest to read in all of Give Yourself Goosebumps thus far. Kind of a bitter ending… and not to mention the bathroom ending I ended the book on. Some endings really reek here. Also, the plot is a little too stupid in the train storyline and I wasn’t very interested in it. To rate the book, I’d give it a 7.5/10. Decent enough to be one of my personal recommendations if you’re looking for a wild, fun read.
July 11, 2024
➕
Di percobaan kedua, aku cuman bisa memilih sekitar 3 kali sebelum tamat. Ending yang kudapatkan enggak buruk-buruk amat, sih. Si protagonis bisa saja mendapatkan good atau bad ending kalau ceritanya dilanjutkan. Sama seperti yang lainnya, ending lainnya mungkin bakal aku cari setelah physical TBR-ku enggak menumpuk.
➖
Di percobaan pertama, aku sengaja memilih pilihan "pengecut". Berbeda dari biasanya yang pada akhirnya sama saja dengan pilihan satunya karena "dipaksa", yang ini ternyata langsung tamat. Cukup syok dan suka dengan perbedaan ini, tapi deskripsinya terasa kurang jelas karena out of nowhere dan bahkan di kalimat terakhir (buku versi yang kubaca), rasanya ada kata-kata yang terpotong.
Di percobaan kedua, aku cuman bisa memilih sekitar 3 kali sebelum tamat. Ending yang kudapatkan enggak buruk-buruk amat, sih. Si protagonis bisa saja mendapatkan good atau bad ending kalau ceritanya dilanjutkan. Sama seperti yang lainnya, ending lainnya mungkin bakal aku cari setelah physical TBR-ku enggak menumpuk.
➖
Di percobaan pertama, aku sengaja memilih pilihan "pengecut". Berbeda dari biasanya yang pada akhirnya sama saja dengan pilihan satunya karena "dipaksa", yang ini ternyata langsung tamat. Cukup syok dan suka dengan perbedaan ini, tapi deskripsinya terasa kurang jelas karena out of nowhere dan bahkan di kalimat terakhir (buku versi yang kubaca), rasanya ada kata-kata yang terpotong.
July 25, 2023
It's annoying when choose your own adventure- I mean, Give Yourself Goosebumps - books don't have enough goosebumps. to give yourself. But one ending is incredibly funny that I just can't rate it less than 3 stars.
March 25, 2021
This one took me four tries to get through because I honestly couldn't picture myself in this type of scenario clearly.
There were times where I knew I either wouldn't pick a side or where I would pick both sides of the argument.
But I made it out alive and thats all that matters!
There were times where I knew I either wouldn't pick a side or where I would pick both sides of the argument.
But I made it out alive and thats all that matters!
September 16, 2025
Eh, Idk about this one. It just seemed to be lacking in areas and so unbelievable.
You know that saying that people have a doppelganger everywhere? Grandma does in this story. Who is who? I did get a good chuckle out of my choices regardless.
You know that saying that people have a doppelganger everywhere? Grandma does in this story. Who is who? I did get a good chuckle out of my choices regardless.
February 4, 2020
I ended on page 92 and didn't even get a chance to find out which grandma was the real grandma!
Until next time, at least next time I'll make different decisions.
Until next time, at least next time I'll make different decisions.
Read
November 5, 2020it's a goosebumps
June 8, 2021
If your wondering if the chose your own adventure format makes a Goosebumps book any better, the answer is no
November 11, 2021
This is really really stupid but really really entertaining.
November 17, 2021
i regret picking this up for a second time 😭
Read
July 9, 2023The only book that legit scared me
December 19, 2023
This was one of the gorier Goosebumps I've read... lol
November 5, 2024
This one cracked my kids up. Great story.
July 24, 2025
All paths were wild, I really enjoyed this book
December 16, 2025
A real page-turner 😏
July 9, 2021
Borrowed from library.
FS: “Nothing is going to happen to me,” you shout down to your mother.”
LS: “Your finger tightens on the trigger of your water gun.”
Close your ending in the book.
FS: “Nothing is going to happen to me,” you shout down to your mother.”
LS: “Your finger tightens on the trigger of your water gun.”
Close your ending in the book.
July 25, 2020
This is one of the few Goosebumps books I legitimately recall reading. Goosebumps was ALL THE RAGE when I was in grade school (which definitely dates me) but I was never that deep into it. I think I wasn't that big into the gross-out horror thing, on top of which the "cool kids" in my after-school program kept forcing the teacher to let us watch Goosebumps instead of Wishbone because they thought Wishbone was lame, so it really didn't give me an amazing impression of Goosebumps. Ironically I also watched a decent amount of the TV show but I pretty much remember none of it, except I think an episode that kept getting rerun where the kid takes photos where people are missing and then they GO MISSING (gasp!).
Anyway, I forget why I tried this, but it was kind of...eh. I liked the choose of your own adventure system, and did have some fun redoing the story to see what other ways it could go. But I think my biggest problem was that the endings weren't that interesting, and the writing seems to generally just be kind of generic and targeted at the lowest common denominator of kids. Like, my main memory of this book was the bit where you see EMPLEH written on the bus window, and even elementary school me figured it out almost immediately.
I don't think this is a bad book, or even that it's necessarily bad for kids. I also liked my share of fun but basic stories. I just think it's not very imaginative, and it wouldn't pass my test for great children's books (that being, they should be enjoyable for readers of all ages). It's probably fine as a fun read for kids who like the Goosebumps style of kiddy gross-out horror, but don't expect too much out of it.
Anyway, I forget why I tried this, but it was kind of...eh. I liked the choose of your own adventure system, and did have some fun redoing the story to see what other ways it could go. But I think my biggest problem was that the endings weren't that interesting, and the writing seems to generally just be kind of generic and targeted at the lowest common denominator of kids. Like, my main memory of this book was the bit where you see EMPLEH written on the bus window, and even elementary school me figured it out almost immediately.
I don't think this is a bad book, or even that it's necessarily bad for kids. I also liked my share of fun but basic stories. I just think it's not very imaginative, and it wouldn't pass my test for great children's books (that being, they should be enjoyable for readers of all ages). It's probably fine as a fun read for kids who like the Goosebumps style of kiddy gross-out horror, but don't expect too much out of it.
August 12, 2016
This was one of those special kinds of Goosebumps books in which you got to certain points in the story, and R.L. Stine gave you a choice for what you, as the character, would do. Of course, I can't recollect the story of this so well, as it was many years since I last read it, and tried to get to the end without my character meeting his death.
But I remember finding the concept pretty mind-blowing at the time. It was basically like an imaginary role-playing video game. My brother and I used to entertain each other by making up stories in a similar vein, and providing certain options for how the story could continue. Pretty awesome stuff, really, as it got kids more excited about reading in a way I think, back then, was highly original.
But I remember finding the concept pretty mind-blowing at the time. It was basically like an imaginary role-playing video game. My brother and I used to entertain each other by making up stories in a similar vein, and providing certain options for how the story could continue. Pretty awesome stuff, really, as it got kids more excited about reading in a way I think, back then, was highly original.
February 14, 2016
So, one of the challenges I am in this year has me reading a horror book. Yeah, I don't do horror books. I'm a wuss of the first order. So I thought why not try one for teens? Yeah, even teens have more stamina than me. So I thought what about a kid's book of horror? - and what better than Goosebumps? I picked this one because - well - I'm a grandmother... It was fun! I think I read every iteration of the choices.
February 22, 2016
I am going to write a review about the book Secret Agent Grandma. this book was about this grandma that she was in a scary costume but i didn't get it because it kept telling me at the bottom of the page that to go to another page to see what happen and i do and it gets confusing because it douse not give you or tell you whats going on then at the end of most of the pages it will say "THE END"i would recommend nobody this book because its really confusing and you wont enjoy it
January 10, 2016
A fun read. But if you are anything like me, you will get confused easily because I liked to retrace my path every time the story ended. I literally went down every path in the book.
December 5, 2010
That was a lot of fun! I died practically the moment I opened the book!
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