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Goosebumps 2000 #11
Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls
DEAD BUT NOT BURIED...
The fog shimmered up over the dark grass, over the bent scraggly trees. Covering the hill, covering the old graveyard.
Spencer Levy heard the horrifying moan. Though the windowpane he heard a long, low wail floating from the hill.
Human and animal at the same time.
So cold. So sad. So near...
The fog shimmered up over the dark grass, over the bent scraggly trees. Covering the hill, covering the old graveyard.
Spencer Levy heard the horrifying moan. Though the windowpane he heard a long, low wail floating from the hill.
Human and animal at the same time.
So cold. So sad. So near...
144 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1998
70 people are currently reading
1466 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 152 reviews
January 31, 2025
Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls is the 31st-book in the Classic Goosebumps reprint series. I read this one in a couple hours after receiving it for Christmas.
I am happy to report it's definitely one of the fun ones. It's not perfect, but as Goosebumps go, it's pretty darn good. A great way to pass a relaxing afternoon.
In this story we meet Spencer and he's a little awkward, not necessarily one of the popular boys. He gets picked on a bit, made worse when he is forced to read an essay he had written aloud to the class and his teacher has nothing but praise for him.
How dare she!? But when the teacher notices the kids turning on Spencer, she doubles down. Spencer's story involved the local graveyard and the teacher comes up with the idea to take a field trip there the very next day.
In absolute Goosebumps logic, that's exactly what they do, pre-planning and permission slips be damned!!
Her idea is for the kids to do some grave rubbings and she'll ultimately turn it into a local history lesson, if nothing else.
As the kids are exploring the graveyard, Spencer accidentally knocks over an eerie-looking tombstone. After that, all heck hits the fan for poor Spencer.
This story involves graveyard ghouls inhabiting bodies and wrecking havoc on the town. Spencer does have one good friend, Audra, and she's fairly involved in the action as well.
I fully expected this to be one of the stories where Stine strings you along, all to discover at the end that it was a dream, or prank. I'm not saying that that didn't happen, but I did give it 4-stars, so...
There were a couple details that progressed the plot that I wasn't necessarily crazy about; mostly involving animals. Overall though, that didn't affect my enjoyment too much.
I did think that the ending was super fun. It left a sinister little smirk on my face. OMG, Stine, you tricky bugger.
I would recommend this one to Goosebumps fans. It definitely has that classic formula that made me nostalgic for the horror stories of younger years. I'll never stop reading these books. It's just part of who I am. Well done by Stine!
I am happy to report it's definitely one of the fun ones. It's not perfect, but as Goosebumps go, it's pretty darn good. A great way to pass a relaxing afternoon.
In this story we meet Spencer and he's a little awkward, not necessarily one of the popular boys. He gets picked on a bit, made worse when he is forced to read an essay he had written aloud to the class and his teacher has nothing but praise for him.
How dare she!? But when the teacher notices the kids turning on Spencer, she doubles down. Spencer's story involved the local graveyard and the teacher comes up with the idea to take a field trip there the very next day.
In absolute Goosebumps logic, that's exactly what they do, pre-planning and permission slips be damned!!
Her idea is for the kids to do some grave rubbings and she'll ultimately turn it into a local history lesson, if nothing else.
As the kids are exploring the graveyard, Spencer accidentally knocks over an eerie-looking tombstone. After that, all heck hits the fan for poor Spencer.
This story involves graveyard ghouls inhabiting bodies and wrecking havoc on the town. Spencer does have one good friend, Audra, and she's fairly involved in the action as well.
I fully expected this to be one of the stories where Stine strings you along, all to discover at the end that it was a dream, or prank. I'm not saying that that didn't happen, but I did give it 4-stars, so...
There were a couple details that progressed the plot that I wasn't necessarily crazy about; mostly involving animals. Overall though, that didn't affect my enjoyment too much.
I did think that the ending was super fun. It left a sinister little smirk on my face. OMG, Stine, you tricky bugger.
I would recommend this one to Goosebumps fans. It definitely has that classic formula that made me nostalgic for the horror stories of younger years. I'll never stop reading these books. It's just part of who I am. Well done by Stine!
September 14, 2020
RILETTURA, DA ADULTO, DEI PICCOLI BRIVIDI N.9
Diffidate di insegnanti scellerati che vi portano al cimitero a leggere gli epitaffi...potreste ritrovarvi con il corpo rubato dallo spirito di un malvagio quindicenne piromane!
Storiella ben congegnata questa, con continui scambi di corpi (il protagonista si incarnerà in topi, gatti e persino in suo fratello, la sua migliore amica prediligerà un labrador), tensione crescente (non dev'essere rilassante vedere il proprio corpo armeggiare impazzito un'ascia contro mamma e papà) e una felice chiusura, con il classico, ironico, bad ending pasticcione tipico di Stine.
Simpatico.
Diffidate di insegnanti scellerati che vi portano al cimitero a leggere gli epitaffi...potreste ritrovarvi con il corpo rubato dallo spirito di un malvagio quindicenne piromane!
Storiella ben congegnata questa, con continui scambi di corpi (il protagonista si incarnerà in topi, gatti e persino in suo fratello, la sua migliore amica prediligerà un labrador), tensione crescente (non dev'essere rilassante vedere il proprio corpo armeggiare impazzito un'ascia contro mamma e papà) e una felice chiusura, con il classico, ironico, bad ending pasticcione tipico di Stine.
Simpatico.
March 31, 2019
Um, what happened to the cat? And the dog? And the rat?
July 26, 2021
so you’re telling me the power of dance kills ghouls? dope
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2022
I read all 25 Goosebumps Series 2000 books for a 2-hour YouTube video, where I reviewed and ranked them all, which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/VsNwNpeqgLo
November 1, 2024
Chouette lecture, je me suis amusée !
J'ai aimé la façon de traiter les peurs et les doutes enfantins comme la mort, la vie après la mort, la peur de grandir, de se transformer, comment devenir et rester soi-même. C'est fait intelligemment et j'ai vraiment aimé ce livre!
J'ai aimé la façon de traiter les peurs et les doutes enfantins comme la mort, la vie après la mort, la peur de grandir, de se transformer, comment devenir et rester soi-même. C'est fait intelligemment et j'ai vraiment aimé ce livre!
October 19, 2024
this was really goofy but a fun time! also possession.
February 7, 2024
Is it really 5 stars? Probably not but I read it while listening to my girlhood nostalgia sleepover playlist so *chef's kiss* for bringing me back to childhood
August 5, 2019
One of my inspirations for writing. As a kid, I never thought writing could be simple. With every word I wrote and every sentence, I tried to add detail after detail. After reading Goosebumps and other similar books, I realized that the story telling is more important than anything. Attack Of The Graveyard Ghouls was a fun and well told story. Following the main character as he transformed from rodent to different people was an adventure for the reader. I loved how silly, yet fun, the ending was. Another story well done.
September 20, 2020
“Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls,” was certainly more of a creepy read for R. L. Stine, and it suits really well as a pre-Halloween read, but I did feel as I were left with some unanswered questions and that it read a bit similar to “Why I’m Afraid of Bees”. This book involved a graveyard, ghouls, haunts, and possession, all happening at night, when the sun goes down and the fog and old legends come out. I rate “Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls,” 3.5 stars.
August 15, 2019
One of the scarier volumes of Goosebumps. It has ghouls that come to life in the graveyard at night... Some vivid descriptions of the gory undead... And ghouls taking possession of people's body to do maniacal things... Whew! There's a lot of creepy things going on. This one's not for readers of faint heart.
July 24, 2023
This is the first Goosebumps Series 2000 book I grabbed for my Goosebumps July and it was honestly just the luck of the draw, although I am a big fan of this cover art.
From the cover though, I was definitely thinking zombies, and it’s more like actually ghosts. The description is definitely pretty gruesome though, which is always nice to see when Stine pushes that middle grade envelope a bit. This one starts out cool with the main character reading his school paper which is about the lore of the town’s cemetery. This opens the story up for the ghouls to be real, and for him to get infected, when his teacher likes his story so much she makes them take a trip to the cemetery for class.
Fun and definitely silly with some dancing elements involved. Personally a 3/5*.
From the cover though, I was definitely thinking zombies, and it’s more like actually ghosts. The description is definitely pretty gruesome though, which is always nice to see when Stine pushes that middle grade envelope a bit. This one starts out cool with the main character reading his school paper which is about the lore of the town’s cemetery. This opens the story up for the ghouls to be real, and for him to get infected, when his teacher likes his story so much she makes them take a trip to the cemetery for class.
Fun and definitely silly with some dancing elements involved. Personally a 3/5*.
November 9, 2022
LMAO the ending cracked me up. Spencer's character was funny, intriguing and overall fun. I liked the ghouls and the taking over the body scenario. It was a good read overall.
November 6, 2016
Scambio di corpi.
Ottima prova di Stine, questa volta alle prese con cimiteri, spettri dalla dubbia morale, animali contenitori e tanto, tantissimo, desiderio di infondere paura nel povero lettore.
Indovinato il finale sia nella risoluzione, che nel classico plot twist.
Ottima prova di Stine, questa volta alle prese con cimiteri, spettri dalla dubbia morale, animali contenitori e tanto, tantissimo, desiderio di infondere paura nel povero lettore.
Indovinato il finale sia nella risoluzione, che nel classico plot twist.
August 1, 2016
I thought this was an amazing goosebumps book about ghosts and the living. R.L. Stine has really hit the jackpot of great ideas!
June 9, 2017
I loved the part when Audra turned into Spencer and Spencer turned into Audra in the end of the book!!!
December 28, 2020
My first Goosebumps.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2018
What a rancid turd. Sometimes you should never revisit your childhood.
I remember my parents buying me this book when I was around 8-9 at a World Book Day event at school. I remember wanting it, not because it was Goosebumps (I didn't really know or care about the franchise), but because it had grotesque zombies on the front cover. When I was that age I was obsessed with zombies: the first two Resident Evil games where out at the time, and Romeo's Living Dead trilogy was the shit! So of course I wanted this.
I barely remember anything about it other than that. The only other memory I have is I quite often drew the front cover art in school and at home. Like I said, I loved zombies.
So reading this now. It's sad to say it's utter tripe. Now, I know it's a kids book. But that doesn't mean it gets a pass from being bad. There are plenty of children's book that I read now and will gladly do so again. The Hobbit and Coraline by Neil Gaiman comes instantly to mind. The problem with this book is there is nothing interesting, nothing other than cliches and childish tropes.
The story is basic beyond belief. And that's fine. But it's not engaging at all. The main character is a boring. The plot is filled with pointless end chapter cliffhangers that either get retconed, or glossed over just for the sake of shock. And I get it, it's a kids book blah-blah, but do you really want your kids to learn such tedium? If Tolkien and Gaiman can educate kids with clever plotting and intriguing worlds, then why can't R.L Stine? It's almost as if he doesn't care. Maybe he doesn't. Or at least not by the time he wrote this one. I've never read another Goosebumps story. Not as a child, or not now so maybe I'm wrong to judge his career based on one work, but this is a trite, patronising affair. If I ever have kids they will be guided away from these works. Or I hope so. Children's books don't have to be formulaic, and full of holes and it-was-all-a-dream styled mentality. Children deserve better.
The one thing reading this again has brought me is another memory. I remember the plot vaguely from when I was a child. But what I do remember was disappointment back then, but for completely different reasons that I've stated here. I've said that I chose this book because of the zombies crawling on the front cover. Well, this book isn't really about zombies at all. It's more a ghost story about spirits taking over peoples bodies. decaying, walking corpses are briefly mentioned. When I read this as a child I remember being rather annoyed that cover was a lie. I wanted a book about zombies eating flesh and terrorizing cities. Not this mundane farce.
So, although for different reasons, it turns out a book I bought based on my childhood that I thought I loved, it turns out I hated it then too. Man, I wish I would have remembered that before I bought and read it again! Oh well.
1/5
I remember my parents buying me this book when I was around 8-9 at a World Book Day event at school. I remember wanting it, not because it was Goosebumps (I didn't really know or care about the franchise), but because it had grotesque zombies on the front cover. When I was that age I was obsessed with zombies: the first two Resident Evil games where out at the time, and Romeo's Living Dead trilogy was the shit! So of course I wanted this.
I barely remember anything about it other than that. The only other memory I have is I quite often drew the front cover art in school and at home. Like I said, I loved zombies.
So reading this now. It's sad to say it's utter tripe. Now, I know it's a kids book. But that doesn't mean it gets a pass from being bad. There are plenty of children's book that I read now and will gladly do so again. The Hobbit and Coraline by Neil Gaiman comes instantly to mind. The problem with this book is there is nothing interesting, nothing other than cliches and childish tropes.
The story is basic beyond belief. And that's fine. But it's not engaging at all. The main character is a boring. The plot is filled with pointless end chapter cliffhangers that either get retconed, or glossed over just for the sake of shock. And I get it, it's a kids book blah-blah, but do you really want your kids to learn such tedium? If Tolkien and Gaiman can educate kids with clever plotting and intriguing worlds, then why can't R.L Stine? It's almost as if he doesn't care. Maybe he doesn't. Or at least not by the time he wrote this one. I've never read another Goosebumps story. Not as a child, or not now so maybe I'm wrong to judge his career based on one work, but this is a trite, patronising affair. If I ever have kids they will be guided away from these works. Or I hope so. Children's books don't have to be formulaic, and full of holes and it-was-all-a-dream styled mentality. Children deserve better.
The one thing reading this again has brought me is another memory. I remember the plot vaguely from when I was a child. But what I do remember was disappointment back then, but for completely different reasons that I've stated here. I've said that I chose this book because of the zombies crawling on the front cover. Well, this book isn't really about zombies at all. It's more a ghost story about spirits taking over peoples bodies. decaying, walking corpses are briefly mentioned. When I read this as a child I remember being rather annoyed that cover was a lie. I wanted a book about zombies eating flesh and terrorizing cities. Not this mundane farce.
So, although for different reasons, it turns out a book I bought based on my childhood that I thought I loved, it turns out I hated it then too. Man, I wish I would have remembered that before I bought and read it again! Oh well.
1/5
April 20, 2025
Was not expecting this type of story based off a cover like this and a title. A little misleading but hey, the story idea wasn’t to bad. A kid getting taken over by long dead angry ghosts essentially. I liked the kind of body transformation stuff into different animals as it was kind of a like a take on a shrink story but with more added to it. The rest of the book dragged a little but it’s was still fun and included stuff so i didn’t get bored. Our main character is pretty clever and hard working so it was good not to just see him give up and I was rooting for him. The real let down of this book was the last 10 pages. It is literally the most silly way to end the book and the reason for our character defeating the ghouls just makes no sense as apparently dancing kill them because it’s a sign of life😂. There could have been many better ways of ending this book. The last twist is ok but they never explain what happens to our characters after as technically they did just destroy their entire neighbourhood. 3/5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2022
2.5 Stars.
February 8, 2023
Amazing book with twists and turns surprise and shocks round every corner it even scared me at times!!
May 17, 2025
Super nostalgisch 🤭
September 20, 2025
8.75/10
Amazing plot and atmosphere. The ending is sort of corny and anti climatic but still a good book.
Amazing plot and atmosphere. The ending is sort of corny and anti climatic but still a good book.
September 30, 2025
4.5 first half is really good after that idk
April 7, 2021
Loved it but hate it ended on a cliffhanger... ugghhh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2019
the ending was very silly but it was a fun read like all other RL Stine books
oh and they didn’t even cover the aftermath of spencer’s body destroying the town
i would like a full length book about the trial of spencer and audra where they end up sentenced to 20 years in a mental asylum
oh and they didn’t even cover the aftermath of spencer’s body destroying the town
i would like a full length book about the trial of spencer and audra where they end up sentenced to 20 years in a mental asylum
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2025
Even using my Goosebumps rating scale, I couldn't go above 2 stars. It was not for me. This Goosebumps did not speak to me.
I should probably get back to reading adult books now...
.....
Or maybe another Goosebumps..
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I should probably get back to reading adult books now...
.....
Or maybe another Goosebumps..
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
May 31, 2020
This book is fun and I will never understand why some people will rate it 2. It was great and after reading this book I wanted to read more goosebumps books. The only thing that was annoying was they never told us what happened to the cat. I give this book a 9.3
August 21, 2021
(Reread)
A really fun goosebumps books. That has a great Halloween atmosphere. A fun main character. A really cool concept with body hopping. Very eerie themes and a fun suspenseful climax that's a lot darker than most goosebumps climax. And a fun ending. But the main characters friend is boring and has no personality. I dont care much with his family. Since families in goosebumps books don't really matter unless there main characters like in welcome to dead house. Or the siblings are main characters. But the main friend that has more page time should have a personality.
Also when he enters into bodies. How come they never mention him seeing him even once. Just to be consistent. But other than that this was a really fun goosebumps book that I enjoyed rereading.
A really fun goosebumps books. That has a great Halloween atmosphere. A fun main character. A really cool concept with body hopping. Very eerie themes and a fun suspenseful climax that's a lot darker than most goosebumps climax. And a fun ending. But the main characters friend is boring and has no personality. I dont care much with his family. Since families in goosebumps books don't really matter unless there main characters like in welcome to dead house. Or the siblings are main characters. But the main friend that has more page time should have a personality.
Also when he enters into bodies. How come they never mention him seeing him even once. Just to be consistent. But other than that this was a really fun goosebumps book that I enjoyed rereading.
September 5, 2015
Finally finished the last Goosebump I own. This one was cute, as most of them are, but irritating with some of the exclamation marks and silliness. What worked was I liked the main character well enough, the transformation into different animals and the humor of that. I do wonder did all the bodies die when he left the host though, like with the cat? There's a typical Stine humor twist at the end. I'd think the kids may end up going to prison now, so not sure how they explained everything, but I'm looking too hard into it...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews