Ghost Beach

Goosebumps #22

by R.L. Stine

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?

Jerry can't wait to explore the dark, spooky old cave he found down by the beach. Then the other kids tell him a story. A story about a ghost who lives deep inside the cave.
A ghost who is three hundred years old.
A ghost who comes out when the moon is full.
A ghost who is haunting the beach.
Just another stupid ghost story. Right?

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

138 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

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

[Justin Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspicious long lost relatives, late night strolls through a graveyard, terrifying caves and possibly the highest ghosts-per-capita of any Goosebumps title. Ghost Beach features unforgettable cover art and the story within—though not canon—is noteworthy for its high stakes, eerie imagery, and the inclusion of actual deaths.

In my reviews of The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena and The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, I identified literary themes pushing the plot forward. Themes which made the adventure more personal, with a hint of life lesson thrown in. Ghost Beach, however, has nothing to say outside of the action at hand. Other than a few random hobbies—grave rubbing, for example—the children protagonists possess no distinct personality to dissect or flaw for the ghosts to exploit.

Lacking themes doesn't take away from the thrilling pace, but it does leave a kind of "so what" reaction, even after enjoying every moment of the ride. I vaguely remember having a similar opinion after reading this as an eight year old.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

El primer libro de toda la colección de escalofríos que leí.
Por ello le guardo mucho cariño, aunque todavía no he podido ver el capítulo que la serie de televisión hizo de esta historia.
El concepto me llamó mucho la atención a mi yo de 12 años, porque la portada era muy misteriosa, con eso del fantasma, según yo.
La verdad es que ahora, luego de haber leído una cantidad considerable de estos tomos y de otras obras del autor, no me parece de sus mejores historias, pero bueno, los gustos cambian con los años, y si ahora tuviera la oportunidad de leerlo de nuevo (debido a que lo perdí poco después de leerlo) lo haría sin pensar.

[Nadin Doughem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recall my mom reading me this story when I was a kid. So that meant I already knew the story ending beforehand. I have read the exact same copy that that mom read for me that turned up to be a vintage now with all its pages transformed into yellowish colour and cracked cover which adds to the story horror!

Anyhow, as the story is aimed to teens and kiddos it would be quite an adrenaline stimulatant, which, however, wasn't the case for me.

I enjoyed reading it on the beach and trying to picture their fears along with my scenary.

First book to finish on my vacation 😃, EXCITED AND THRILLED 😍🙌
WOOOOHOOOO 😄😆

[La loca de los libros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si es por la mayor le pone las 5⭐ pero pensándolo mejor cuatro están muy bien 😄
Lo hemos pasado genial en esta primera aventura. Retrocediendo en el tiempo y recordando las sensaciones que viví cuando lo leí por primera vez cuando tendría unos diez años.
Me he asombrado porque me acordaba de gran parte de la trama y los giros que van apareciendo.

Dos hermanos, Jerry y Terry, están pasando unos días en casa de unos primos. Cerca hay una playa y una cueva que guarda un oscuro secreto...
Secretos del pasado que pronto saldrán a la luz.

Una lectura muy recomendable para adentrar a los peques en el género.
Poco a poco iremos leyendo toda la colección 👏👏👏

¿Cuál me recomiendan para seguir? 🤓

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

#22 "No swimming. No surfing. No haunting."
Terri and Jerry are visiting their cousins for the summer. They live in a small beach town where there's not really a lot to do. But when some friends get together with Terri and Jerry and start telling them a ghost story involving a cave Jerry has to explore. Besides, ghosts are real...

[Mahdi Lotfi · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب «غار ارواح» نوشته‌ «آر.ال. استاین» و ترجمه‌ «ناصر زاهدی» است. این اثر جزو مجموعه‌ی «ترس‌ولرز» محسوب می‌شود. استاین نوشتن مجموعه‌ی ترس‌ولرز را در سال 1992 با کتاب «خانه‌ی مرگ» آغاز کرد. این مجموعه حدودا شامل 100 عنوان کتاب است که تاکنون بیش از 220 میلیون نسخه از آن‌ها در آمریکا به فروش رسیده و به 32 زبان زنده دنیا ترجمه‌ شده‌اند. در پشت جلد کتاب می‌خوانید: «با داستان‌های مجموعه‌ی "ترس‌ولرز" واقعا مو به تن آدم سیخ می‌شود. دختر و پسرهای معمولی، ولی شجاع و کنجکاو با داستان تجربه‌های بسیار ترسناکی را از سر می‌گذرانند... تعطیلات تابستان برای جری و تس تبدیل به ماجرایی وحشتناک می‌شود. چون آن‌ها با تمام اعلام‌خطرها می‌خواهند سر از اسرار غار ارواح درآورند اما درعوض به یک موضوع بسیار هولناک پی می‌برند...»

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Ghost Beach, Jerry and Terri go to a secluded community in the woods to spend the summer at their cousins' cabin. Their cousins who have white hair and are decades older than them? I thought that was really weird. Does that happen in real life? Anyway. Jerry discovers a cave down by the beach just outside the forest, and the cave is haunted! And they meet some creepy local kids, and find a creepy graveyard in the forest. But how is it all connected? What mystery might be lying beneath the surface? Can the rhyming protagonists discover the nature of the evil ghost that lives in the cave and escape his wrath?

This one was pretty mediocre. On the plus side, I liked the ghost aspect of the story, and there were some genuinely scary moments in this book, even for an adult. The setting was also interesting; there's a mysterious cave on a rocky beach, in a secluded area, with graveyards and one or two cabins nestled in a creepy forest. I really liked all of that. I also liked the initial mystery of the ghost, trying to figure out who or what the ghost was, and the mystery behind the cemetery tombstones all having the same family name. Those things were genuinely interesting and kept me invested early on in the book, before everything fell apart so completely in the second half.

As for things I didn't like. I mean, Terri and Jerry are the protagonists' names. Seriously? And Jerry is a protagonist name Stine already used at least once in a previous Goosebumps book earlier in the series, Piano Lessons Can Be Murder. It seems ridiculous to me that of all the names out there he reused a protagonist name in two separate books that aren't even ten books apart in the series (Piano Lessons Can Be Murder is book number 13 and Ghost Beach is book number 22). That just seems really lazy to me, and further illustrates how all of Stine's protagonists are really just cookie-cutter copies of each other; they all seem to look and act the same, and now they even have the same names.

And this is now at least the second time where I've seen Stine use these lazy "rhyming protagonist" names in a Goosebumps book. In The Beast from the East two of the three protagonists were named Nat and Pat. And now Terri and Jerry. I mean c'mon Stine. Just try for once, with one of these books. Just try. It's really not that hard to make up character names.

And then there was the bizarre reveal by Stine of the true identity of the ghost, with one piece of basically damning evidence, and then Stine seemingly realizing he had several dozen more pages to write, so he went to great lengths to convince the reader that the identity of the ghost was still up in the air, except the doubt he was trying to sow didn't convince me for a second? And so when he doubled back at the end and was like "Actually it's what I said the first time! That's who the ghost is! Surprise!" it wasn't a plot twist at all? It was just cringe-worthy and a bit embarrassing, frankly.

It's also the most predictable book I've read in recent years, and has an absolutely horrific, unbelievably lazy ending that reads as if Stine just wanted the book to be over and so just barfed out a zero-star ending in less than a single page, and that was the end of the book.

This one has its moments, some of which genuinely scared me (which is more than I can say for 90% of these books so far), but overall I still didn't enjoy reading it. It completely fell apart, especially at the very end, as many Goosebumps books sadly do, and there just isn't enough to like when weighed against all the things wrong with it. It's an okay entry, but for me it was a disappointment.

CAWPILE rating:

Characters: 6.0
Atmosphere / Setting: 6.5
Writing Style: 4.5
Plot: 3.0
Intrigue: 5.8
Logic / Relationships: 4.0
Enjoyment: 5.0

= 34.8 total
÷ 7 categories = 4.97 out of 10
= 3 stars

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this might actually be a new to me Goosebumps that I somehow skipped over as a child because I haven’t the faintest recollection of it. Either way, I’m glad I got my hands on it because I think it might actually be my favourite one I’ve read yet. It’s just spooky and creepy and actually surprised the heck out of me. I don’t know what that says about how easy I am to surprise but who cares because I loved it! That ending really got to me too, after the first reveal I didn’t see a second one coming and I finished the book with my jaw hanging on my chest in shock. Yes I’m 30 years old and Goosebumps still elicits this reaction from me… What can I say, I’m young at heart I guess.

[Grim Rainbow (Leslye) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually quite enjoyed this one. Once again the epitome of what I expect from a Goosebumps story: wacky, spooky, and twisty. My only complaints have to do with the dragged out suspense at the end and repetition of scenes to pad out the story, it got old fast and I wanted to skim through the repeated scenes. I also raised my eyebrow at sending your kids to some weird distant cousins they've never met before for vacation, but that's just me constantly questioning the decisions of these kid's parents in these books haha!

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - 3.5 stars

Ghost Beach is the 22nd book in the Goosebumps series. It is a little fun, a tad creepy, with a little mystery and action. Loved it.

I am re-reading this series for nostalgic reasons.

The Goosebumps series was a staple in our house. My kids absolutely loved them, and to say I read these books with them once is an understatement. We read them many times as each of my three kids became old enough to read them. They still have them and are getting to read them with their kids.

[Carmine R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il fuoco nella caverna

"A volte Terri può essere davvero tonta. Se ci fosse qualcuno dentro la caverna, e sentisse urlare da fuori "uooooooo", secondo voi risponderebbe?"

A volte è bello ripercorrere le tappe fondamentali della propria infanzia.
Certo, le storie di Piccoli brividi avevano lo scopo di intrattenere con spensieratezza e semplicità, limitando al massimo la componente prettamente horror.
Questo approccio narrativo, eternamente in bilico fra lo spaventare e il divertire, spesso anche in maniera vistosamente scrausa, funzionò da bambino e ha sortito effetto anche stamattina.
La storia regge bene e il colpo di scena finale - anticipabilissimo con un attimo di malizia - risulta inquietante il giusto.
Bravo Stine...e grazie!

[Rahaf Potrosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

شاطئ الأشباح

روايات الرعب .. مكان لم افكر بحجز مقعد لي فيه أبداً
التجول في طرقاتها ، الضياع في متاهتها
القرع على ابوابها الموصدة لترضي فضولي بمعرفة ما يوجد خلفها
أفعال لم افكر يوماً بارتكابها
و السبب .. خوفي الشديد
رواية لم تكن بالبسيطة ولكنها ليست بالكبير المعقدة
تسير بشكل تلقائي و سريع و هو ما أفضله حقاً
لم تنقصها عناصر الرعب و لكنه كان من نوع الرعب الممكن تقبله و اعتباره حقاً خيال واقعي لا يمت للحقيقة بصلة قرابة و قد شعرت معها بالضياع بين ما هو حقيقي حقاً و بين ما هو خيال او بمعنى أصح
أشباح
و لذلك اخترت لقرائتها اكتر الأماكن ضجيجاً بالعالم .. المواصلات صباحاً أثناء ذهابي إلى عملي

[RM(Alwaysdaddygirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars:
-Like the story. Like the ending.
-Love cover.

🐼🦋💀🇺🇸

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

YES! This is the reason I loved this series when I was younger and am still enjoying them now. ALL the good twists and fun scares! 5 stars for Ghost Beach

[Benji's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, spooky mystery that keeps you guessing!

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Sudden ending aside this was such a fun installment. I love a good ghost story and this one was solid with a lot of twists and turns along the way. I liked the characters, the plot, and how everything unfolded. It also genuinely had some decent spooky moments. Definitely one of the better books in this series that I’ve read lately.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't believe in ghosts, but I really enjoy ghost stories.

Jerry (12) and his sister Terri (11) are spending the summer in New England with their ancient cousins, Brad and Agatha. They meet three other children in the woods - Sam, Louisa and Nat. They tell the kids not to go into that cave on the hill! It is haunted. A 350-year-old ghost lives there.

Sometimes Jerry sees lights in the cave at night. He wants to explore it and find out what's really going on...
...

I love these types of stories. Unfortunately I figured out the "truth" in chapter 3. Yeah, it was that easy. But perhaps a child, new to the horror genre, would be surprised.

Sam, Louisa, and Nat are the real ghosts! And they want Jerry and Terri to be ghosts, too! The old man in the cave is an occult researcher trying to rid the beach of the ghosts. He dies while trapping the ghosts in the cave, sacrificing himself in order to rid the world of their ghostly presence. When the kids go home to tell Brad and Agatha, the dog follows them and they find out Brad and Agatha are ghosts, as well!

I liked the whole "dogs can sense ghosts" storyline. I love that trope. And I like ghost stories - especially ones involving children. So fun!

P.S. The two plants mentioned in the book (butter-and-eggs and Indian pipe) are interesting and fun to look up or search for if the child seems curious.

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αγαπώ τις ιστορίες με φαντάσματα και ως εκ τούτου, το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο, κερδίζει επιπλέον πόντους επειδή καταπιάνεται με αυτά, την ύπαρξή τους και την τρομακτική τους παρουσία στον κόσμο των ανθρώπων. Βέβαια, για έναν ενήλικο, η λύση του μυστηρίου βρίσκεται πολύ εύκολα μπροστά στα μάτια μου, όμως σε εκείνα τα παιδικά που δεν έχουν την απαραίτητη εμπειρία, οι εξελίξεις και οι ανατροπές της ιστορίας μπορούν να οδηγήσουν στην κορύφωση του σασπένς και σε μια έκπληξη που δεν την περίμεναν με τίποτα.

[Tyler Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy. Ending predictable. Still a solid Goosebumps story that I enjoyed.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The is is probably one of the better RL Stine books. It’s about two siblings, Jerry and Terry who go to live with their aunt and uncle and learn more about their family history then they bargained for.

I have no idea if I am actually subconsciously remembering some of them or I am just familiar enough with his work to see the endings coming, but I enjoy them regardless.

The last line was gold, a 10/10.

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 3 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

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Ghost Beach
What I thought about this book as a kid:I don't have a ton of nostalgia for Ghost beach.I remember flipping through go eat worms from what I belive and seeing the advertisment for this book and thinking at the time it sounded scary.Keep in mind I was a very scared kid and i was just getting brave enough for Goosebumps.I also remember reading it on the school bus and not liking it that much,mostly because i felt like the twist was a little predictable and i felt like ive seen it in another book.I do remember loving the cover though,eventhough we don't see this hooded Grim Reaper like ghost.As far as the actual story goes,I remember thinking this had some elements Welcome To Dead House.I often compared the two thinking DeadHouse was way better.I also have two very fun nostalgic stories.I remember going to wal mart when the set of reprints hit the shelves in 2003 and this was one I got.I also remember the Ghost cover being the cardboard cutout for the books.I also remember going to a flea market with some friends and buying a reprint with Stine's signature.

Plot:The story begins with out protagonist Jerry and Terry Sadler.They are in a cemetery.Terry is doing grave rubbings,while Terri has a very vivid imagination of these zombies coming out of the grave attacking them.He realizes this is a dream he had a few nights ago.They end up running into three other kids named Sam Nat and louisa sadler.The kids are kinda weirded out because they have the same last name as them,but one of the new kids informs them that it's a very common name around there.One day while wildflower picking,Terri is searching for this weird flower and she thinks she finds it ,only no its a bone.She pulls it further and it looks like a dead dog.The youngest new Sadler says Ghosts don't like dogs, because they can tell when a Ghost is around and this ghost did this to this dog.One of the siblings mentions a ghost in a cave near the beach but Sam gets angry and they run off.Jerry is very fascinated though and wants more answers.He begins to hear whistles and see lights in the cave.He also hears dog howls.So one day he and Terry sneak off to the cave to discover something.Im not going to say much more ,because this is another book that's easy to spoil.

What I thought about this book as an adult:I was thinking about this book alot at work and what I was going to rate it,even before finishing it.I was in between a three and four star,but wasn't sure.The climax however won me over.I actually thought this was a little creepy and really got excited when the dog popped up.I did think this book was a little slower and if you really think about certain things.You may find a plot hole,but this had a Stine thing where stine kind of makes up some rules.I liked Ghost Beach alot.I give Ghost Beach a four out of five stars.

[Veronica Ika · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Mysterious Discovery
Jerry is thrilled to have found a dark, spooky cave down by the beach and is eager to explore its depths. The cave's eerie atmosphere only heightens his excitement.

A Ghostly Tale
Local kids share a chilling story about a 300-year-old ghost that haunts the cave, emerging when the moon is full. Despite the warnings and the ghostly legend, Jerry is skeptical and intrigued by the mystery.

Intriguing Dangers
As Jerry begins to find strange little skeletons near the cave, his curiosity intensifies. Ignoring the dangers and the warnings from others, he feels compelled to uncover the secrets of the haunted cave, leading him on a potentially perilous adventure.

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be my favorite goosebumps book so far! A mystery right up to the end! Creepy and unsettling, and I loved it.

Big fan of ghost stories!

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today Jack is reviewing a book in the Goosebumps series called Ghost Beach. He seemed to really enjoy this book, and actually read it twice. That has to be high praise when you’re 6 and have next to zero attention span.

(Should I tell you that Jack is pooping while we conduct this interview? Sure, why not. It’s the only way he’ll sit still for a minute so I can ask him some questions. And I think the visual helps.)

me: So what did you think of this book?

Jack: It was pretty good, and it was cool, that’s all.

me: What was your favorite part?

Jack: Ohhhh when they were in the cemetery and hands were popping up.

me: Didn’t that scare you?

Jack: No, because it wasn’t real. They just made it up.

me: Would you read it again?

Jack: Maybe…

me: What about other kids reading it, would you recommend it?

Jack: It’s pretty scary, so they would have to be at least 6 years and older to read it.

me: Was it hard for you to read, like lots of big words?

Jack: Not really.

me: What do you do if you come across a word that you don’t know.

Jack: Uhhh, just sound it out.

me: But what if you don’t know what it means?

Jack: Mom, I just ask YOU!

me: Oh, true… So should we get more Goosebumps books?

Jack: That’s probably the only one.

me: Why do you think that?

Jack: It doesn’t have a number or anything.

me: I think there are like hundreds of Goosebumps books.

Jack: No. How do you know?

me: I’ve seen them before. They’ve been around for years.

Jack: Well bring one over here and prove it.

[Hami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goosebumps ghost beach #22 by R.L. Stine is about a brother and sister that visit their relatives and they get some friends that tell them the legend.This book reminds me of the time in California when we went to the beach and there was a old hermit that lived there, similar to the old man is this story. There were legends that also said he was crazy. Little did we know that there was a great white shark by the beach. The old hermit ended up saving us all from the shark.I think that the book was very good with all the lies especially when their relatives were ghosts and the graves already prepared for them and the dog that senses ghost overall this is a very good book that deserves a 3 star from me.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerry and Terri are spending their summer vacation at their elderly distant cousins on the beachfront.
Jerry can't wait to explore the mysterious cave down by the beach, but the local kids say that it’s haunted.
Will Jerry and Terri discover the secrets of the cave?

A really creep entry in the series, spooky ghost stories are always fun!
One of my favourites!

[Man I Love Goosebumps · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that I’ve always wanted to read. The episode from the 90s always scared the crap out of me and I was very excited to read this book, and I wasn’t disappointed at all! This book has great characters and an amazing plot. It’s a mystery book and I think it works perfectly with the story of the book. Nothing was boring and this was the fastest I’ve ever read a goosebumps book. 10/10

[Ashley Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well hello there nostalgia.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a Goosebumps book is all about! Great cliffhangers and a wicked twist ending. Although predictable and really having more to do with a cave rather than a beach, it was still good fun.