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Give Yourself Goosebumps #25
Shop Till You Drop ... Dead!
You're sick of Reggie Mayfield's story about his dad's department store. Reggie says monsters roam the store late at night. You bet Reggie is lying--so you agree to spend the night at Mayfield's. Too bad for you that Reggie is telling the truth! From floor to floor, the huge department store is packed with scares! Can you survive the midnight hour at Mayfield's?
133 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
11 people are currently reading
760 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,680 books18.7k 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 24, 2024
Because they don't include interior illustrations, R.L. Stine's Give Yourself Goosebumps books have a lot of story content compared to other gamebooks for this age group. Many feature an extended central quest with a few alternative routes for readers who don't want to engage with the quest, and Shop Till You Drop...Dead! is an example of this. You and your friend Julie are ready for a night of thrills when Reggie Mayfield dares you to spend an hour in his father's department store after midnight. Mayfield's Bazaar is a seven-floor shopping bonanza, but Reggie claims that after twelve A.M. it becomes a haven for monsters and ghosts. If you and Julie last an hour in the building, Reggie will give each of you any one item from the store. It's a deal too good to pass up, but you and Julie are nervous as you step inside and see a note from Reggie taped to a glass case. His writing isn't entirely clear; does he want you to go to Floor One first, or Floor Seven? Your decision will determine the trajectory of the adventure to come.
On Floor Seven, your exploration is interrupted by an earthquake that rattles Mayfield's Bazaar to its foundations. Lethal chunks of plaster rain from the ceiling, and the elevator that brought you to this floor plummets to the bottom of the shaft. You'll have to find another way to evacuate, but Floor Seven is crawling with supernatural enemies. Mannequins come to life and harass you, a werewolf blocks your path to the stairs, and a night watchman—who happens to be a vampire—pursues you relentlessly. If you attempt escape from the roof, you run into a pack of living gargoyles that don't take kindly to the intrusion; if you climb down the vacant elevator shaft, you might meet Dr. Sheila Mayfield, a recluse who creates toys from a fusion of mechanical parts and the limbs of live animals. Whatever you do, you'll have all you can handle to survive Mayfield's Bazaar and rejoin Reggie outside at one A.M.
Did you think Reggie's note was telling you to go to Floor One first, not Floor Seven? If so, you enter the book's main quest, a scavenger hunt to retrieve a specific item listed by Reggie from each floor. He wasn't kidding when he said the store is awash with supernatural baddies after midnight; every floor has terrors that can kill you and Julie. You already have the Floor One item by the time you see Reggie's list, but you can take the remaining floors in any order you'd like. Will you go for the Poisonous Perfume on Floor Two? Finding that exact brand will be difficult, and you only have an hour before you need to meet Reggie outside. The Heart Attack Backpack on Floor Three is the most dangerous item on the list; beware its hypnotic pull. The Baby Booties may come in handy later if you survive the toils of Floor Four, and so will the Silver Arrow...though a cunning adversary resides on Floor Five, guarding the prize. Floor Six holds unique dangers, but a surprising source will volunteer to expedite your search for the Volcano Steam, if you solve a puzzle first. You don't want to know what will happen if you go after the Volcano Steam on your own. At any point you can head to Floor Seven for the final showdown, against the most gruesome beast in Mayfield's Bazaar. The items you've acquired on each floor will go a long way toward enabling you to emerge victorious, but even then you must be savvy if you're to exit the store alive. The past hour has been more than you bargained for when you accepted Reggie's dare.
Shop Till You Drop...Dead! is one of the most promising concepts I've encountered in interactive literature. If only its execution were half as good. The writing is awkward, story branches that loop back around don't always transition coherently, and there's a decided lack of discipline to the narrative. I love the quest structure, though, and can easily see this book being an all-time favorite if it delivered on its potential. Despite the flaws, Shop Till You Drop...Dead! is an enjoyable story to take out for a spin every now and then, a reminder of how good the Give Yourself Goosebumps series often is, at least in theory. I'd give this book one and a half stars, but it's better than that rating indicates.
On Floor Seven, your exploration is interrupted by an earthquake that rattles Mayfield's Bazaar to its foundations. Lethal chunks of plaster rain from the ceiling, and the elevator that brought you to this floor plummets to the bottom of the shaft. You'll have to find another way to evacuate, but Floor Seven is crawling with supernatural enemies. Mannequins come to life and harass you, a werewolf blocks your path to the stairs, and a night watchman—who happens to be a vampire—pursues you relentlessly. If you attempt escape from the roof, you run into a pack of living gargoyles that don't take kindly to the intrusion; if you climb down the vacant elevator shaft, you might meet Dr. Sheila Mayfield, a recluse who creates toys from a fusion of mechanical parts and the limbs of live animals. Whatever you do, you'll have all you can handle to survive Mayfield's Bazaar and rejoin Reggie outside at one A.M.
Did you think Reggie's note was telling you to go to Floor One first, not Floor Seven? If so, you enter the book's main quest, a scavenger hunt to retrieve a specific item listed by Reggie from each floor. He wasn't kidding when he said the store is awash with supernatural baddies after midnight; every floor has terrors that can kill you and Julie. You already have the Floor One item by the time you see Reggie's list, but you can take the remaining floors in any order you'd like. Will you go for the Poisonous Perfume on Floor Two? Finding that exact brand will be difficult, and you only have an hour before you need to meet Reggie outside. The Heart Attack Backpack on Floor Three is the most dangerous item on the list; beware its hypnotic pull. The Baby Booties may come in handy later if you survive the toils of Floor Four, and so will the Silver Arrow...though a cunning adversary resides on Floor Five, guarding the prize. Floor Six holds unique dangers, but a surprising source will volunteer to expedite your search for the Volcano Steam, if you solve a puzzle first. You don't want to know what will happen if you go after the Volcano Steam on your own. At any point you can head to Floor Seven for the final showdown, against the most gruesome beast in Mayfield's Bazaar. The items you've acquired on each floor will go a long way toward enabling you to emerge victorious, but even then you must be savvy if you're to exit the store alive. The past hour has been more than you bargained for when you accepted Reggie's dare.
Shop Till You Drop...Dead! is one of the most promising concepts I've encountered in interactive literature. If only its execution were half as good. The writing is awkward, story branches that loop back around don't always transition coherently, and there's a decided lack of discipline to the narrative. I love the quest structure, though, and can easily see this book being an all-time favorite if it delivered on its potential. Despite the flaws, Shop Till You Drop...Dead! is an enjoyable story to take out for a spin every now and then, a reminder of how good the Give Yourself Goosebumps series often is, at least in theory. I'd give this book one and a half stars, but it's better than that rating indicates.
November 13, 2015
This is another high quality story in the series. There's no split storylines like the previous book. This story is all about you and your friend trying to collect items in a scavenger hunt. The only problem - it's in a haunted department store! This is as close to a video game as any book I've read, and it's fun! You go to different floors (levels) to find different items to defeat the end boss. A memorable and top notch book in the GYG series. Heartily recommended.
October 9, 2013
This book is why mannequins freak me out!
April 7, 2016
Go on a real shopping spree...each floor requires u to pay a special price though!!!! LOTS OF FUN!
May 12, 2025
Craig White’s first GYG cover… yikes, is it bad. But the book itself? Pretty damn good! The scavenger hunt arc takes the immediate cake here and saved this book from being plain-slightly below average. It’s organized in a way where it gives you much freedom of choice whilst not being overwhelming, and has multiple fun and creatives monsters per floor, my favorite being the floor where you need to get a “Heart Attack Backpack.” And, after that, there’s a final boss—and whilst it could’ve been more of spectacle, it was great and added a plot twist to the whole book I didn’t see coming but highly appreciated. Reggie’s character—though small—is a neat addition and I like the reveal with him towards the end. Some endings in here absolutely ruled or were genuinely hilarious, such as the heart attack ending (small spoiler) and the… how do I say it… implied rape ending? Dark, but subtle and a truly “what the fuck” moment. And yeah, entertainment value is at an all-time high thanks to that arc and all the crazy stuff it presented. There’s also a cool sequence on the rooftop involving a rare kids horror creature appearance, and the setting of a mega-mall is very neat. Now for some negatives: the earthquake arc. I didn’t dislike this arc but everything from this one fell into average territory. It’s pretty eh, even with its moments like the court sequence and, again, roof bit. There’s a good amount of mediocre/bland endings here as well (per usual) but nothing inherently awful. But um… yeah, that’s it. Overall, 9/10. A great book with a diabolically rough cover art. I’m never gonna wear a backpack again.
March 20, 2023
One of the most enjoyable books in the 10+ books I've read in this series. I liked the "fetch one item from each floor" quest in one of the storylines, and how the items come into play in the final showdown.
Unusually for a "Give yourself Goosebumps" book, many of the endings make sense - they're not random bad endings coming out of nowhere. Examples:
I managed to avoid many of these bad endings because I could predict the outcome, which is unusual for this series. Would recommend!
Unusually for a "Give yourself Goosebumps" book, many of the endings make sense - they're not random bad endings coming out of nowhere. Examples:
I managed to avoid many of these bad endings because I could predict the outcome, which is unusual for this series. Would recommend!
September 5, 2025
Fun concept. A dead end impossible path in the 'main' quest makes the continuity of the story unplayable (just say the wrong order of the backpack and arrow in your story is a cheap 'death', to put in video game terms). Seems that I also got less interesting story because I though a 'seven' looked like a 'one' which is a shame.I guess that I could always go back and do differently if wanted but, to be honest, the backpack double dead end has me rage quiiting. So much in fact its losing another star on the rating.
Readers beware...you choose the disappointment.
Readers beware...you choose the disappointment.
December 14, 2018
Este libro, y en especial “Pesadillas” son de gran importancia para mi vida como lector, ya que con ellos descubrí la literatura en mi niñez. A diferencia de los libros que nos obligaban a leer en el colegio, estos libros me enganchaban y me hicieron descubrir el maravilloso mundo de la lectura. Como peculiaridad, destacar que en este libro el protagonista eres tu y vas seleccionando tu propia historia, pudiendo tener más de un final distinto, interesante. Un bonito recuerdo de la infancia.
May 18, 2018
2.75 stars
December 4, 2018
Loved the plots and characters. It's fun to turn pages while reading. Happy reading!
August 29, 2025
I didn’t care for the plot very much.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews