The Barking Ghost

Goosebumps #32

by R.L. Stine

Cooper, a nervous newcomer to the town, and his friend Margaret are targeted by two evil dogs who cast a spell to switch bodies with the children as a way of wreaking further havoc.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

131 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

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.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

And to my horror, I realized that this time the barking wasn't outside my window.

This time is was coming from inside my house!

Sigh. This is one of the stupidest Goosebumps books I have ever read. Cooper Holmes and his jerk older brother Mickey have moved to a new house in the Maine woods.

And then I learned that our new house was deep in the woods, somewhere in Maine. Miles from the nearest town.

The only two scary books I'd ever read took place in Maine. In the woods.

Woot, shout-out from Stine to Stephen King! I love when he does this.

Anyway, Cooper is a scaredy-cat. In this book, he is frightened by the following things:
Branches.
A leaf.
A garden hose.
A sprinkler.
A bunny rabbit.
A bird.

It's pathetic. I found myself really struggling to respect this character, who is just so weak and scared all the time. Then, his older brother Mickey seems to be on a campaign to scare Cooper. Mickey hides under his bed and grabs Cooper, staggers through woods covered in fake blood, records screams and turns the tape on in Cooper's room at night... etc. etc. Things that would actually scare normal people.

But my question is: why does Mickey even bother? Cooper is scaring himself constantly. I mean, he's freaking out at every rustle of the trees and creak of the roof. Why the hell would you waste time and energy trying to scare this kid? It seemed not only mean-spirited, but dumb and a complete waste of time.

Cooper meets a little girl his age in the woods, a redhead named Fergie. "Like the Duchess," she says.

For a girl, Fergie ran pretty fast. Actually, most girls I know are fast runners.

Whoever said they were slower runners than boys in the first place? It isn't true. Lots of girls in my class last year could beat any guy in a race.

Love this little bit of feminism, Stine.

Anyway, Fergie is pretty much off her rocker, as far as I can tell. For one thing, she has a habit of screaming out "Dogs!" and then claiming she has no idea that she even said that. Also, she plays a really mean trick on Cooper when he first moves in. I don't know, she's just very wacky and unpredictable, but Cooper seems to like her. *shrug*

Then we have the horror plot, which is one of the most moronic things I have ever heard of. There are two ghost black Labrador retrievers who haunt the woods near Cooper's house. They have glowing red eyes. Okay, that's cool. I'm with you so far. But then it turns out that they are people (not stated whether kids or adults) who had an evil spell cast on them 100 years ago to roam the woods as ghost dogs. What. They lead the kids to a shack they call "The Changing Room" and force them inside. What. There the kids undergo a body switch in which they are now ghost dogs and the people who were under the spell have taken over the children's bodies, to live out their lives as "Cooper" and "Fergie." What the fuck is this shit?! I have no idea what's going on here. I won't tell you how it finally ends, but it is stupider than anything you could come up with if you tried. The children's pathetic, incredibly stupid ideas about how to get their parents attention/bodies back are cringe-worthy. Really dumb children. The characters are supposed to be 12, and I know 8-year-olds smarter than them.

Tl;dr - Crazy and stupid. Horrible plot and almost no character development. One of the worst Goosebumps books.

ETA: The parents are dumb as rocks, also. o.O

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

#32 "Bad dog. Really BAD dog."
No one believes Cooper when he tells them that strange things are happening in his new house. No one hears the barking at night. and no one else has seen the dogs that disappear right before your eyes. Cooper is a scaredy-cat and it's all in his head... right?

[Ethan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garbage.

CAWPILE rating:

Characters: 2.0
Atmosphere / Setting: 2.0
Writing Style: 1.0
Plot: 1.0
Intrigue: 1.5
Logic / Relationships: 1.0
Enjoyment: 1.5

= 10 total
÷ 7 categories = 1.42 out of 10
= 1 star

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent a month re-reading all 62 original Goosebumps books to see if they still hold up today, you can check out my 3.5 hour vlog here: https://youtu.be/2C73xc1FS5o

You can also check out my entire ranking of the original Goosebumps books from worst to best here: https://youtu.be/lBfaxCOwAnA

[Austin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

For every diamond in the goosebumps series, R.L. Stine gives us a coal.
The last one in the series being the diamond, and this one the coal.
1 / 5 stars

Maybe I would have given it a 1.5 / 5 - if the creatures they changed into at the end had been bees instead of chipmunks.

Update:
Just watched an interview with R.L. Stine and he was asked what his least favorite goosebumps book was. He admitted that he didn't think this one was very good. It makes me feel better to know even the man himself acknowledges that this book is garbage.

[Shadyside Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book sets the record for most pranks between characters… talk about repetitive! Anyways, after about 3/4 of the way through, we finally got a decent little story with a fun ending.

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't say I was the biggest fan of this one. The story seemed like it was on repeat most of the time. Brother A is pranked by Brother B. Parents get mad at Brother A. Brother A plans prank on Brother B that fails. Brother A then hears dogs barking. Repeat over and over until the twist at the end. The twist was fun, but definitely not enough to make this one seem less repetitive. And I do love a house/cabin in the woods scenario which this book also has. 2.5 stars. BUT THIS COVER IS SO RAD!!!

[David Santos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to be honest, I started to read this book around chapter 24. Why you ask? It didn't interest me. I didn't judge the book by its cover or its title, I judged it by its description. "No one believes Cooper, no one heard the barks or saw the two dogs...." My how exciting! I knew the plot would take awhile to develop and I really wasn't in the mood to read another book of a kid who's family doesn't believe a word he says. I've read 31 Goosebumps books already I can kinda figure out how its going to go. Plus the title and plot didn't sound interesting at all.

I started reading around chapter 24 and it was ok. Fergie was fun as all female kid characters are. As the book was starting to get interesting, it cut short it felt rushed. There was so much they could have done with the two new dogs, but it was short. The ending was terrible, again it felt rushed as if the final two chapters were missing or something. It's like turning in a half done essay for school because you ran out of time. It seems like RL ran out of time when writing the final chapter and just turned it in to the publisher.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. It’s amazing 20/30 years later I actually remembered how it was going to end just a chapter or two in. My memory is not great so it must have made an impression the first go around.

I think my daughter was left wanting an epilogue though. Which is totally fair. The ending does feel kind of abrupt. But otherwise this is another fun campy entry in the Goosebumps series.

[Mike Prewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really weird one but still a fun one. I know it's short, but this one felt rushed. The ending was downright silly I mean both kids turned into chipmunks WTAF? 😂😂 Overall this is a meh book.

[Zoey De Leon · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a misfire.

Disappointing because I've expected a “Cujo” like type of action and story but ends up like Why I'm Afraid of Bees and Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls but a terrible lifeless version.

It's not even a good book nor any saving factors.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s certain Goosebumps books that heavily rely on the twist ending, it takes until the final third of the book for this one to get interesting.

It does have the usual trope of the main protagonist moving to a new house and discovering something strange.
Cooper constantly hears strange noises in the new family home, even the dogs barking at night scares him.

This is a pretty unforgettable entry in the series, I quite like the ending though.
I felt that it would have worked better as a short story.

[Weathervane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly atmospheric book, until it completely derails around page ninety. Honestly, it's like Stine was writing a slow-building ghost story, realized he only had thirty pages to wrap it up, and came up with the "Changing Room." What.

Also, at one point in the story, the main character looks into a stream and sees that his reflection looks like a dog face. So is he a dog? Nope. This was never explained.

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τρομακτικό και αγωνιώδες, παρότι κάπως προβλέψιμο ως προς την εξέλιξή του που ναι, πρέπει να ομολογήσω πως αργεί λίγο να ξεκίνησει να γίνεται δυναμική, αλλά όταν το κάνει δεν μπορείς να σταματήσεις να διαβάζεις και να σκέφτεσαι, τι γίνεται όταν από θηρευτής γίνεσαι θήραμα και το αντίστροφο; Άλλωστε, ας μην ξεχνάμε πως η σειρά απευθύνεται σε παιδιά και για αυτά, το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο αποτελεί αναμφίβολα ένα από τα καλύτερα και πιο ενδιαφέροντα της σειράς.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Barking Ghost had so much potential to be great. I remember enjoying this much more as a kid. As an adult, it was all over the place.

[J.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cooper gets scared easily. So when his family moves to a new house that's supposedly haunted, he is less than thrilled.

The real trouble doesn't start until he starts seeing 2 black dogs around and even inside his new house.

I don't remember reading this one as a kid and it ended up falling a bit flat action wise. While I liked the idea of the story, a bit more action and a few more creepy moments would have gone a long way.
Also the ending felt a bit rushed as if t was thrown together just to wrap up the story.

One thing I did love was the setting.

[Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hätte ich nicht erwartet es wär besser als ich dachte der Anfang war gruselig doch dann würde es spannend und das offene Ende war sehr interessant weil ich mir im Kopf ausdenken konnte wie es ausgeht😉

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

idk man, it was ok but had so much potential to be great & the ended was not the best

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my fav goosebumps. Kinda silly and fantasy based more than suspense or scary. Might be good for a kid who wants to edge into the scary stuff.

[Jahzara Bandele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book but the ending was so unsatisfying come on, I can't be the only person who is thinking this. CHIPMUNKS SERIOUSLY. Now that was a real plot twist

[Daniel Sepúlveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puntaje: 3.6 Estrellas

En Septiembre inicia la época Spooky del año y que mejor forma de entrar en calor que leyendo los libros de Escalofríos de RL. Stine. Tengo planeado leer varios de estos libros durante octubre, así que pueden esperar varias reseñas en el futuro cercano.

Decidí iniciar con “El fantasma aullador” porque fue el primer libro que compré de esta saga, la cual recuerdo que siempre quise leer cuando era un niño. Recuerdo con nostalgia la serie de Fox Kids que adaptaba varias de estas historias, así que cuando encontré estos libros en una librería de usados, no pude evitar comprarlos.

Si bien había leído este libro hace unos cinco o seis años, había olvidado casi todo lo que sucedía en esta historia, por lo que esta relectura fue un re-descubrimiento de la historia de Cooper y su familia en su nuevo hogar.

Esta reseña será corta, pues el libro tiene apenas 117 páginas y se lee en una sentada, por lo que cualquier detalle adicional podría resultar en un spoiler. Sólo tengo un par de cosas por decir.
Primero, me encanta que la historia sea narrada por un niño. Pues hace que los pequeños lectores y lectoras se sientan identificados con los protagonistas. Imagina tener 7 u 8 años y sientes como los pelos de los brazos se empiezan a erizar al escuchar ladridos de perros a lo lejos, mientras lees que Cooper puede ver perros fantasmas en su nueva casa. Esto me parece simplemente majestuoso.

Además, Stine logra captar la esencia familiar de los Estados Unidos, presentando detalles similares a los que podemos ver en novelas de King, pero adaptados para un público más joven: Hermanos que se hacen bromas todo el tiempo y que incluso pueden llegar a insultarse, padres que no reprimen este tipo de comportamientos y que podría darles igual lo que suceda. Este es un contexto perfecto para que niños como Cooper decidan aventurarse para solucionar el problema que sus padres quieren ignorar.

Amé el final de la historia, me encanta cuando las historias de terror son realistas y no terminan con un “Y fueron felices por siempre”. No he leído los demás libros de Escalofríos, tengo una buena tanda de ellos en mi librero, así que espero devorarlos en Octubre.

Como verán, disfrute mucho esta lectura. Sin duda es una historia que leeré a mis hijos en las noches. No me cabe la más mínima duda de que este es un libro perfecto para enganchar a los más pequeños a la literatura.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Barking Ghost by R.L. Stine is Goosebumps 32 in the original series order. This book has a few jump scares and one really good one done by a prank. The ghost dogs are pretty scary. The cover is one of the best, and helps me picture just how scary the dogs are. I liked the description about it's reared yellow fangs. The twist is kind of bonkers, and bonkers bad where there was no hint or lead up to it just crazy. The final twist is really bad and kind of ruined the this book, I could feel Stine just not know how to end this one and just put ideas in a hat. That final twist comes out of now where as well. The pacing for goosebumps is usually pretty good but it took me a while to get into this one.

The Plot: Cooper just moved to Maine in a remote house in the woods. He here's howls at night that he swears are in his house, and he seems to be the only person that hears the sounds. His older brother won't let it go and keeps pranking him. He meets a girl in the woods that his family don't regonize the name and she keeps drifting off and talking about dogs. Copper and his new friend spot to dogs and he loses his new friend. That night he hears the howls and swears it is coming from the kitchen, and to his surprise it is The dogs look like their going to attack when Coppers older brother comes to the kitchen he doesn't see the dogs but Cooper does as they run right through the door to leave. Cooper isn't terrorize by normal dogs but ghost dogs.

What I Liked: The prank Coopers older brother plays on him is one of the best and pretty frightening and really smart. I liked the way the dogs were described. I liked the way the friend got set up where you doubt if she is real or not. I liked a couple of jump scares with the dogs and other objects.

What I Disliked: There's is not one but two really random twist that really ruin this story, the end twist is so lame. The ghost dogs power to go through walls was never explained, or any of it involving the ghost dogs. The pace was kind of slow.

Recommendations: there's so many good Goosebumps tales in this series this one is a dud, and one of the worst of the 32 that I have read. You can sadly skip this goosebumps in my opinion. There's good description and a really good prank scare and some atmospheric scares but a horrible ending that runs all of that. I rated The Barking Ghost by R. L. Stine 2 out 5 stars. Here's my full ranking of the 32 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) Ghost Beach, 4) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 5) The Haunted Mask, 6) One Day At Horrorland, 7) Night of the Living Dummy, 8) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 9) The Phantom of the Auditorium, 10) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 11) The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, 12) Say Cheese and Die, 13) Let's Get Invisible, 14) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 15) Welcome to Dead House, 16) Monster Blood II, 17) The Girl who Cried Monster, 18)Deep Trouble, 19) The Ghost Next Door, 20)Night of the Living Dummy 2 21) My Hairiest Adventure, 22) Be Careful What You Wish For... , 23) Return of the Mummy, 24) Why I'm Afraid of Bees, 25)Attack of the Mutant, 26) Go Eat Worms!, 27) The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 28) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 29) Monster Blood, 30) The Barking Ghost, 31) You Can't Scare Me!, and 32) Monster Blood III.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

C

When Cooper's family moves from Boston to a sleepy Maine town, Cooper expects a life of boredom. Cooper's new home is on the edge of a wooded area. Each night, he hears dogs barking. The thing is, he seems to be the only person who hears them.

After seeing a dog late one night, Cooper decides to investigate. When he meets a neighbor, Fergie, while wandering in the woods, Cooper realizes Fergie can see the dogs too. Why are Cooper and Fergie the only people who can see or hear them? More importantly, why are the dogs trying to get their attention?

The characters in The Barking Ghost spend a lot of time meandering aimlessly in the woods. Coincidentally, R.L. Stine also spent a lot of his time writing The Barking Ghost meandering aimlessly. There's a subplot in which Fergie goes into a trance she doesn't remember that is completely abandoned, and the story's twist is one of the series' worst.

While reading, my daughter commented on how many books in the Goosebumps series have been about dogs. She has a point. Stine has gone to this well multiple times. My son enjoyed the book, but he LOVES to listen to me read anything.

Even with its faults, The Barking Ghost is still a Goosebumps book, and if you like Goosebumps, you'll like this.

[Kei Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Barking Ghost is an excellent example of a solid idea given a truly lackluster execution. A house in the woods and a pair of spectral dogs have so much promise; unfortunately Stine glosses over plot holes as if the reader won't notice them if he doesn't acknowledge them.

The biggest one: If Cooper -- trapped in a ghost dog's body -- can't get his parents to believe he isn't an ordinary dog, why doesn't he walk through walls like he does when they're not around? He torments Mickey this way, so there's no reason he shouldn't be able to.

The end is also extremely rushed, and instead of seemingly like a last minute twist like some other Goosebumps books, it reads as if Stine ran out of ideas and ended it where he did so he'd have something to hand over to his publishers.

I can't fault Stine too much for a weak entry here and there; with Goosebumps books coming out one or more a month back in the day, of course there's going to be a few stinkers. But if you're only looking for the best of the series, you can safely skip this one.

[Helen Cazadora De Libros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Te lleva a esos mundos donde los niñ@s son protagonistas pero donde tú sientes que lo que ocurre te podría pasar a ti independientemente de tu edad.
.
Sus historias sólo pretenden hacerte pasar un buen rato....mejor dicho, un mal rato, y con esta yo, en especial lo hice....porque es bastante inquietante.
.
En ella el protagonista, un chaval recién llegado a un pueblecito perdido por ahí, empieza a notar que unos perros salvajes le persiguen día y noche y todo indica que no son lo que parecen. .
Se pasa un poco de angustia y de claustrofobia. Muy entretenido.

[♤Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una historia divertida y rápida de leer; con un final un tanto abierto e inesperado ya que no se soluciona y se complica el problema de los personajes.

Un libro perfecto para deshacerte de un bloqueo lector.

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit weak, but at least not too dull

[TheCultureVulture]

This one was honestly pretty lame but the "twist" ending at least got some laughs out of us.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great fun goosebumps. Had the creepy camp feeling. New house in the remote bush always starts a good adventure.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turning into chipmunks sounds so much worse than dogs.