شبح سالن اجتماعات

Goosebumps #24

by R.L. Stine, زهره حق‌بین (مترجم)

دو دوست به نام های بروک، زیکى، در مدرسه نقش اصلى یک نمایش را به عهده داشت. زیکی نقش اش شبح بود. زیکى کاملاً در نقش خود غرق شده بود . او عاشق پوشیدن لباس مخصوصش و ترساندن هنرپیشه هاى آن نمایش بود. بروک احساس کرد که زیکى زیاد در نقش خود غرق شده است. اما بعد اتفاق واقعاً ترسناکى شروع شد

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

160 pages

First published October 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

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

#24 "He's out to stop the show... for good!"
Brooke and her best friend Zeke are the stars in their new school play. They will be playing Esmerelda and the Phantom. Little do they know there is a real Phantom hunting the auditorium and has been for the past 70 years. Everyone tells the story but it can't possibly be real can it? Great ending!

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. This was a great horror-mystery!

They say that the play The Phantom is cursed. 70 years ago a boy was cast in the lead role but he disappeared on the night of the play and was never found. Now the drama teacher, Mrs. Walker, has found an old copy of the play. Everyone is excited about performing it.

Until some weird things start happening. A mysterious phantom sometimes appears during rehearsals. Messages are scrawled in red paint. Who is doing this? Why? Could there really be a phantom?
...

This was exciting and fun to read. I pieced things together before the big reveal, but I think a child would be surprised. This book actually had some decent twists to it.

The 'new kid' Brian is really the ghost of the dead boy, taking part in the play once again. The 'phantom' who was leaving scary messages and showing up at rehearsals was a homeless guy living under the stage in the auditorium. Unfortunately, the kids run him off and call the cops on him. Poor guy.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s certain Goosebumps books that I can still vividly recall reading. This being one of them.
It probably also explains why Phantom of the Opera is one of my favourite musicals, as this story relies heavily on the famous French novel.

Brooke and Zeke’s school is putting on a performance of The Phantom for the first time in 80 years, during the previous production the boy who was due to play The Phantom disappeared.
Strange events start to occur in this latest production, could the rumours of the play being cursed really be true?

I think this one struck a cord with me as there’s a certain realism to it.
This was released as the 29th book in the series in the U.K. so I would have first read it around the same time as the TV adaptation aswell, so probably helped cement that impact.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

read for goosebumpsalong 2017

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that so many of these stories were based on classic literature and I never even knew til I grew up. This was a fun read! So spooky! Poor old phantom.

[Makrannd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this book in particular!
The horror was really something back then and all Goosebumps were an excellent fodder for my inquisitive brain

Read this back in 2003 and I remember loving ALL Goosebump books!

I would visit the nearest stores dragging adults with me to get my hands on one of these and I'd be happy for atleast 10 days and then I'd need a new one.

Goosebumps by R.L Stine made my childhood a bliss!

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 5 out of 5]

Νομίζω πως το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο της σειράς "Ανατριχίλες" είναι το αγαπημένο μου. Βέβαια, δεδομένης της αγάπης που έχω για "Το φάντασμα της Όπερας", και του ότι η ιστορία αυτή είναι σαφέστατα επηρεασμένη από το κλασσικό αριστούργημα του Leroux, αυτό δεν είναι ιδιαίτερα περίεργο. Πολύ καλή ατμόσφαιρα, σκοτεινή, μυστηριώδης κι επικίνδυνη, με μια νότα ρομαντισμού που θυμίζει άλλες εποχές, η ιστορία του Φαντάσματος σε καθηλώνει ακόμα και αφού έχεις μεγαλώσει.

[Zoey De Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, Ive read worse, it's just a retelling of Phantom of the Opera, kids version, I didnt like it, I just read this before I would want to read the original classic one, but this one is just mediocre.

[Tyler Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guessed the ending and i'm not sure if it was from remembering it as a child or if it's just because it's Goosebumps, but either way a solid Goosebumps book.

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 4 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

[Mikala · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was the saddest story ever 😭 on so many levels

Reading notes along the way...

◘ Pg. 67 quote. Um poetry much? Wow surprisingly lyrical writing 😅

◘ I have a lot of different theories but can't say I have it all figured out yet and by over half way in to a children's book....that's a pretty impressive feat from the author.

◘ I'm really enjoying reading this one and really trying to picture everything that is occurring in detail. And pretend like its an old 90s episode of the show! 🙌 90s fashions and all!!!

◘ Pg. 71 quote.

◘ The whole thing about the homeless guy is heartbreaking. And then poor kid Brian...why did this story come out so sad 😭

[Theo Paraskeva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the ones I remembered most vividly from my youth, partly because while it does have the usual Goosebumps brand fake-outs and gotchas it didn’t have a real spooky or dangerous feel; it’s more like a mundane mystery. Still has that supernatural twist though, and it’s kind of a tragic one tbh. Anyway, I think it holds up pretty well. 3.5⭐️

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

For Zeke and Brooke, horror movie fanatics, the announcement that the school play is going have scary elements is absolutely brilliant news made even better by the fact that they were both cast as the lead roles. Plus, the script is accompanied by a creepy story about how the first attempted showing of the play resulted in a mysterious disappearance and ghosts! Unsurprisingly, this new attempt at producing the play is plagued with strange occurrences that are blamed on Zeke the prankster. However, it quickly becomes apparent to the kids that perhaps there is more truth to the story about a real phantom than anyone wants to admit. In an attempt to clear his name, Zeke, Brooke, and their new friend Brian journey beneath the stage to see if there really is a ghost at work, but find out that all the pranks and destruction were really caused by a homeless man trying to prevent people from finding out that he lives in the basement of the school. Once they alert the proper authorities, the pranks stop, and the show goes on! That is until the night of the big performance when Zeke disappears, and Brian takes over the role of the Phantom, a role he wanted to play seventy years previous, before he died on opening night!

This is another Goosebumps novel where the twist wasn’t very well foreshadowed. Knowing the formula, it was pretty obvious that Brian was going to be some sort of ghost, but the story did little to build him up as a character, or drop hints that he was a ghost at all! In fact, throughout the book, the only truly ghostly moments happened at the very end. Relatedly, I was rather discomforted by the strange treatment of the homeless man in the school’s basement. His role in the story was a villain, and there was little sympathy or realism associated with his sad history. Goosebumps novels are generally not great sources of morals, but the treatment of this character bothered me quite a bit. He was also an exceptionally unnecessary character given the presence of Brian, as well as the seemingly antagonistic Tina who didn’t end up playing much of a role at all despite all hints that she was trying to undermine Brooke’s performance. While there was certainly some suspense, most of the plot was pretty mundane, and the ending wasn’t particularly satisfying.

[Leslye (Grim) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I actually quite enjoyed this one, but it's because phantom of the opera is a favorite story of mine, so any retelling or inspired story is going to have a soft spot in my heart. Stine actually brought in multiple suspects to keep you guessing during the whole mystery, at least mildly. It was still easy for me to figure out, but perhaps a bit harder for someone in the middle grade range to figure out. A way for kids to use their context clues to solve a mystery.

My only complaint with this one is the tried and true repetition that Stine seems to like to do. Kids doing the same thing over and over again until something finally changes. It gets a little frustrating, and that's why this lost a half star.

[Paige Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m doing a full series reread and this one was just as good as I remembered it to be. I’ve always loved a good ghost story and when I was a kid I remember the ending really creeping me out.

Phantom of The Auditorium follows Zeke and Brooke as they have just been cast as the two lead rolls of the school play. Zeke and Brooke have been best friends for many years and do everything together. Zeke is constantly trying to scare his classmates but he can’t ever fool Brooke. Whenever their teacher is coerced into telling the legend of the phantom the class is shook and Zeke and Brooke start to believe that there is really an actual ghost after many pranks have happened but Zeke isn’t the culprit any of the times. This ghost or phantom is getting these kids into some huge trouble with the school and their parents.

I thought the twist was done very well and wasn’t all that predictable like some of the other books in the series. A kid would have had some trouble guessing that anyways in my personal opinion.

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

the door fiasco was just stupid;
i guess fright can do that

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 on this one! Full review to come.

[Lotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Projekti jatkuu. Muistan joskus lapsena meinanneeni myöhästyä koulusta, koska en halunnut lopettaa tätä kesken. Edelleen aikuiselle lopun twisti on aika karmiva.

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as expected.

[Crimson_Silence · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goosebumps and Halloween cozy starts today.

This one was pretty cool. I had always wanted to read this one. Glad I did.

[Atharva Shah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another disaster from the Goosebumps series. The books should have been much more horror. This is very plain and seems like a mystery book. Not much of a mystery which gets uncovered at the last line of the book with no history and reasonable reasons. I don't like the characters much, just that of Zeebe. Even the dialogues and descriptions are boring. Half of the book is covered with false frightening cliffhangers that aren't very much scary. Most of the time our "detectives" go IP and down the trapdoor for their secret exploring. The teacher is a nuisance too and I don't know about how he handles these kids. The story is unstable and you can easily forget it in a day or two. Things keep happening with different characters at different places, which mixes up and confuses the reader making him want to stop reading. The only thing I like is the witty humour and the cheap thrills that the "detectives" have. As far as I'm concerned, I would never recommend this to anyone. Not even a 5 year old kid. But the style of writing is exceptional. The details and how Stine describes the architecture and the emotions of he characters. I will settle for a two star out of five.
Plot

Brooke Rodgers and Zeke Matthewsare in the school play called The Phantom. Later on, Brooke hears a story from a girl in the play that does the scenery. The girl tells Brooke a story about how a boy who was supposed to be the phantom in 1923 disappeared. Everyone including his parents got worried. The police looked everywhere and never found his body. If they try to do the play again his ghost appears on the stage.

Brooke and Zeke are aspiring thespians, having appeared in the previous school year's production ofGuys and Dolls. When Brooke and Zeke go to look at the cast list for the new, scary show that they tried out for, Brooke discovers a note pinned to the board telling her that she has been suspended. Upon whirling around, Zeke laughs and reveals he set up the joke.

The play, called The Phantom, is a heavily edited version of The Phantom of the Opera. Zeke receives the lead role as the Phantom and Brooke is cast as Esmerelda. A seventh-grader named Tina (who does not much like Brooke), discovers she is Brooke's understudy and also is in charge of scenery. At the script reading the next week, Tina reveals that the play is cursed. Tina starts to tell about how there is an actual phantom in the school. But she is interrupted by Ms. Walker, the director, who tells her that the story is, "Very scary... very upsetting." However, she gives in and reveals the old legend to the class. The legend reveals that seventy-two years ago, a student found a copy of the play called The Phantomin the basement. The boy showed the play to a teacher who decided the school would perform it. On opening night, however, the boy disappeared, and was never found again. After that night, all copies of the script were destroyed (except one, which was kept locked in a safe). The play was never performed again.

Ms. Walker tells the class that they will be ignoring the rumor that the ghost of the boy-the 'Phantom' will not let them perform the play. She then disappears out of nowhere. As students worry and scramble, Ms. Walker reveals that she had used a trap door below the stage. She has the children help her up and then excitedly tells them that they will be using said trap for theatrical effect during their play, but to not use it before it is fixed, due to safety reasons.

Brooke gives us a brief synopsis of The Phantom. A man named Carlo owns a theater. Beneath the theater lives a phantom with a scarred and hideous face. Esmerelda-in the original book, Christine-the daughter of Carlo, falls in love with the Phantom, but her handsome boyfriend Eric finds out...and kills the Phantom. Esmerelda runs away and the Phantom haunts the theater forever.

After everyone leaves rehearsals, Zeke and Brooke stick around to try out the trap door in secret. They go down the trap door, but instead of stopping at a certain height, they keep going...and eventually they are beneath the school, in a vast, dark corridor. Suddenly, the platform begins to move up again and the two jump onto it as it goes back up. The platform stops a little short of the stage, so the two have to hoist themselves up. Once on the stage, they run into Emile, the "night janitor", an old man with a big purple scar on his face. He chides them on using the trap door and tells them to leave. Later it is found out that the school does NOT have a night janitor.

The next day at school, there is a new boy sitting in Brooke’s chair named Brian, claiming to have just moved from Indiana. He compliments Brooke on starring in the play and tells of his past theatrical, albeit small roles; she finds him attractive. Brooke runs out to her locker after talking to Brian and inside her locker there is a note written in red crayon, written:

"STAY AWAY FROM MY HOME SWEET HOME."

Brooke thinks Zeke is behind the letter. Despite her belief, he vehemently denies it.

After school, Brian asks Ms. Walker if there are any parts left in the play. She tells him that unfortunately, there are not; however, he can work with Tina on the stage crew. Suddenly, the lights go out, and there is a terrifying scream in the auditorium. A masked man comes swooping down from the catwalk and disappears down the trap door. This time, Brooke is absolutely certain it is Zeke. Afterward, Tina tries to blame the incident on Brooke, since, "Zeke is YOURfriend, after all."

Ms. Walker lets rehearsals out early and Brooke goes out to the parking lot, where she sees Zeke in his mother's car. Apparently, he had a doctor's appointment. Brooke then asks him if he simply performed his antics and THEN went to the appointment... Zeke simply laughs.

The next day at play rehearsal, Brooke forgets her lines at the purposeful fault of the malicious Tina. But then, the Phantom appears again from the platform and begins violently shaking Brooke before disappearing again. This time, it could not have been Zeke, for he was watching from the front row. Later, Zeke and Brooke decide to go to the school's main office and ask if perhaps Emile, the "night janitor" had turned in a book Zeke had left in the auditorium. While shutting the computer and preparing to leave, the secretary informs him that the school does not have a night janitor.

Brooke and Zeke later talk the new guy, Brian, into helping them catch the Phantom in the school. Planning to break into the school, they find no entrance. Then, Brian finds a ground-level entrance; the home-economics room. With the faint aroma of cranberry muffins, the three sneak from the cooking room into the school. Trekking the very dark halls, they eventually come upon the dark, damp auditorium. With a good look at the stage, however, and in dim light, they see the backdrop slowly lowering itself. Aviolently-written message in splattered red paint reads the same as Brooke's mysterious note:

"STAY AWAY FROM MY HOME SWEET HOME."

At the most inconceivably inappropriate time, Ms. Walker coincidentally enters the auditorium and catches the three of them staring at the now badly-vandalized backdrop. She firstly accuses them of of the crime, but several genuine explanations later, and Ms. Walker almost believes them. As proof, she sees a trail of red paint leading from the backdrop into the hallways. Relieved, the group starts to follow the trail before discovering that the trail leads to Zeke's locker. Now furious, Ms. Walker demands Zeke to open the locker. Flustered, he quickly undoes the lock and as Brooke and her teacher peer in, they see a can of red paint. Now, no matter how much protesting Zeke does, he cannot explain himself out of such a purely incriminating situation. He's not only grounded, facing charges, and in deep trouble with his parents...he is also ejected from the play.

Robert Hernandez, Zeke's understudy, takes his place. Brooke thinks he is much too serious a person and is just not the same as Zeke, whom she can joke around with. At rehearsal, Ms. Walker finds her script's pages glued together. In a fit of pent-up rage, she chucks her script and declares that the play is canceled. After calming down from her irrational behavior, however, she retracts her former statement and allows the play to continue production,

Afterward, Brian and Brooke go to visit Zeke at his house (since his parents are at the movies), where he is still grounded. Outraged, Zeke vows to try one last time to catch the Phantom. The trio goes back to the school at night again, and find their way down the trapdoor, this time into a tunnel. Brooke has another one of her long sneezing fits, which scares and alarms them all in fear of the Phantom hearing. Even worse, the trapdoor starts rising by itself back to the top again....and this time, they can't catch it on time. They are stuck in the basement. So, they decide to explore the tunnel. Finding a slightly smaller-than-average door, they decide to open it. To their strange surprise, they find a small, but fully-furnished room. There is even a fresh bowl of corn flakes on a table. Zeke figures that since the flakes aren't soggy yet, the Phantom must be nearby. They enter, but discover that they are then locked out. After slamming and pushing on the door with all their strength, Brooke eventually figures out that the door must be pulled, not pushed,

The door then opens with ease and, standing in front of them in fury, is Emile. As it turns out, he's simply a homeless man whose father actually worked for the school many years ago. He knew about the underground room, and after losing his actual home, decided to make a clandestine move-in. After finding out that people started fooling around with the trapdoor and getting nearer and nearer to discovering him, he started painting the warnings. However, he does not understand why Brooke keeps referring to the Phantom. As she tells him about the play seventy-two years ago, he smiles bitterly and admits that he is only fifty years of age. The three are astonished as it dawns upon them that it is impossible for him to be the Phantom. But then, Emile starts moving towards them and telling them that he warned them. Obviously scared, they dash away from him and find that oddly enough, he is not chasing them. They find the trapdoor at the bottom, and as they ride the top, they discover Zeke's father waiting for them. Asking how he found them, he says that upon coming home, Zeke was not there. Even though still grounded, he figured that Zeke would be back at school fooling around with the trapdoor again. As he says Zeke is still grounded, though, the three begin to rapidly explain the situation. Calling an officer in to go down and investigate, he finds the room still furnished...but no books, cornflakes, or sign of Emile.

Zeke gets his part back, as it is now obvious that he was not the culprit. As Brooke prepares her makeup for closing night, she sees Zeke in full costume, and looking impressive. She wishes him good luck, but in a quite un-Zeke-like manner, he simply gives her a very formal bow. The play goes very well...but halfway through Act I, when the Phantom makes his dramatic appearance, Brooke figures out that the Phantom isn't Zeke. It is the real Phantom.

In the final scene of the play, after the Phantom dramatically rises in dry-ice mist and from the trap door, Esmeralda (really Brooke) asks the Phantom a question. Instead of answering with the correct lines, the Phantom gives a short speech about how he died on opening night and had been haunting the stage, excitedly awaiting for his chance to play the role. The audience goes wild, as the scene turns out to be very good. While the audience fervently applauds and cheers, Brooke snatches the mask and tries to look at the Phantom's face. Strongly refusing, he covers his face.To his advantage, a spotlight is shone directly at Brooke and she is temporarily blinded. Not able to see either since he is covering his face, the Phantom slowly walks backward...straight into the open trapdoor. Falling into deep darkness, Brooke runs and peers into the opening, able to see nothing. The audience by now is going insane, since they all think it is part of their rendition of the show. After the curtain closes, Zeke shows up in regular clothes, confused and inquiring as to what had just taken place. As it turns out, he had been knocked out cold by the Phantom, so he could play the part instead of Zeke.

Brooke stops off at her locker with Zeke. As she opens it, another strange thing falls out, but not a note. It is an antiquated yearbook of their school, from the 1920s...exactly seventy-two years before. They flip through it, and encounter the theatrical production page titled "'The Phantom' to be performed in the spring". Instantly interested, they look at the lead role cast picture for the Phantom. The boy who had found the script in the basement, the boy who won the star role...was Brian.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I initially revisited this book from my childhood, I still really enjoyed it. However since that time, I can’t get this book out of my head. I’m almost positive it’s one of my all-time favorites even though I wouldn’t say it’s one of the greatest books. This book really resonates with me off the bat for how grounded in realism it really is. It reminds me of books like Let’s Get Invisible!, Don’t Scream!, and Are You Terrified Yet?. This is one for the younger Goosebumps readers since it’s more of a mystery/suspense than an overt monster or ghost tale Goosebumps is famous for. I’d even go on to say that this book represents what Goosebumps was truly about more so than any other book in the series. Which I think initially with what I want to say about is that I feel this book is almost a perfect introductory book to readers just coming on to the series. It does have its problems unfortunately, which I’ll get into soon.

The story centers around a girl and her best friend who are auditioning for an ill-fated play that has been kept under wraps for over 6 decades at their school. The play was banned after a mysterious disappearance of the actor who was supposed to play The Phantom. The drama teacher asked for permission to make the infamous play and put it into production (which of course succeeds). The main two kids have a soft spot for horror and only auditioned for the play because of its creepy nature and backstory. However, like most Goosebumps books, things are even scarier underneath the surface.

A weird string of occurrences take place throughout the story that the main protagonist can’t pinpoint for herself. There’s multiple suspects from a caddy rival, to a weird janitor, to a new kid, to a potential Phantom, to even her own best friend. The twists and turns thrive in its mysterious setup. There a level of tension you can cut with a knife and each and every chapter makes you want to see what or who is behind the grand scheme of it all.

This book executes the double twist (some may even argue it was a triple twist). Where there is an initial twist towards the end. And then another at the very end. Which delivers an answer to the whole story via the final sentence. It may have been predictable, but it was fitting. Some may say it was anti-climactic. Which is fair. I think it works, but the predictability is more upsetting than who is behind the story.
And the predictability on both twists is the major problem(s) weighing the book down for me. For a book with many suspects, it sure does pick the most obvious ones of who it could be. I will say though, one character in particular is definitely a surprise that you see coming, but don’t see why they are doing things to the main two characters and the production of the play.

Minus the twists at the end, this story was one rollercoaster ride I am dying to revisit again and again. It very well might be the “weakest” favorite book of mine. But don’t take that as I am saying this book is weak at all. It’s a great fun time to be had. I loved every single character in this book. Even though the “villains” are rather weak, they’re still very good in the story. I dig the setup of a potential underground death trap underneath the auditorium. I dig the fact that the kids are willing to put themselves in harms way to uncover the truth. I even dig the subtle red herrings and plethora of suspects this book offers. It makes discovering the identity more questionable as the story goes along )until around 5 or 6 chapters left to read). I’d recommend this book for anyone looking for a different feeling Goosebumps book. Don’t let the title influence an opinion of “this is a ripoff of Phantom of the Opera”. Seriously, try it. You won’t be disappointed.

[Elena Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

-I read this book in participation of the goosebumps-a-thon Richard Denny is hosting, this is the first book on the list and I am so happy I chose to do this-


I loved this book so freaking much, RL Stein is a freaking genius and I love him so much. As I read the last sentence of the book I screamed out loud “I knew it”. I am going to continue to read the goosebumps books and make it my lifegoal to collect them all. I would recommend this book for anybody it was just fantastic & well done great writing style, great characters, amazing plot. I will say that midway through the ending I did have a feeling who the phantom really was but of course I wasn’t certain and reading that last sentence just proved me right and I loved the feeling, I can’t wait to watch the tv adaptation tonight.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm directing the musical adaptation of this book in the Spring so I wanted a refresh on the story. This is maybe my third read of it; not only is it enjoyable on it's own but it is a stand out in the Goosebumps line with very little of Stine's infamous fake outs.

Of course it takes heavy inspiration from Phantom of the Opera but it's actually a cute story about a school putting on "The Phantom" and mysterious pranks occuring and the cast of course thinks there's a ghost of a boy who died haunting their production. Lots of "who dunnit" moments throughout it was a fun ride with a neat ending twist.

[keely p · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with Brent (for his HW)
I'm proud of myself for correctly predicting the phantom at the beginning of the story. I knew something was fishy with Brian when he arrived at the school keen to audition for the play even though auditions where closed. My suspicion was confirmed when Zeke's dog was barking at Brian with distress.
Also I'm pretty sure every school has a a 'Tina.'

[Oni · Rating 3 out of 5]

The vanishing boy

[Cactus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of my school days. We had a stage with a trap door that led down to a creepy area where it was rumoured a maniac lived! Solid 3 stars for this Goosebumps book.

[Gabriela]

A book where the haters are REALLY praying for your (literal) down fall

[Jolee · Rating 3 out of 5]

the scariest part was how many times they described the teacher as skinny

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is again so easy to remove the supernatural element from this book because, as with the previous one, nothing ~scary happens until the end when it's revealed that Brian, who has been telegraphed to be a ghost since he showed up, is a ghost.

The entire book is just Brooke and Zeke running around and experiencing weird coincidences. From the moment the play is announced to be cursed, things start happening, but again I say it's all just (well-timed) coincidence. Every goofy thing that happened, I immediately attributed to Zeke (except in the rare case he didn't do it) and... Yeah, I mean, nothing supernatural actually happens.

What is this book without the ~phantom though? The protagonists fall down a trap door, which for some reason leads miles under the school, and discover that someone is living down there. This person begins unnecessarily stalking the two and leaving "STAY AWAY FROM MY HOME SWEET HOME!" notes for them, sabotaging the play, and breaking into their lockers. Which, of course in my opinion, is way worse than a ~phantom~ of a play because here's this grown ass man harassing two preteens.

And I swear the further I get into this series, the stupider the protagonists become. I understand there's a need to play along, but one of the beginning chapters clearly states that there's a trapdoor on stage, then the teacher, after explaining that the play is cursed, "disappears" from the stage while walking away... I'm just saying, unless you're a very young child (who's never read anything else) reading these books, you're not going to be fooled by the chapter break fake outs.