What do you think?
Rate this book
30 Tales to Give You Goosebumps
A collection of tales featuring such terrors as an evil baby sister, a remote control that can control more than just the television set, and a boarding school that is turning kids into robots.
391 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2004
25 people are currently reading
730 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,590 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...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 3, 2016
The book," 30 Tales to Give You Goosebumps", is an exciting and frightening book that has some of the stories from the Goosebump series. These tales are frightening enough to give YOU goosebumps. I recommend this book to anyone that likes scary and spooky stories.
October 8, 2023
Good but not great. Mostly stories with a twist that you don't expect. If you are looking to be frightened, these are not very scary.
March 28, 2019
The House Of No Return-4/10 The Goosebumps episode was better
Teacher's Pet-2/10
Strained Peas-4/10 I liked the ending to the Goosebumps episode better
Strangers In The Woods-1/10
Good Friends-6/10 That was a sad one
How I Won My Bat-Skipped
Mr. Teddy-8/10 I did not see that ending coming
Click-2/10 The Goosebumps episode was better
Broken Dolls-1/10
A Vampire In The Neighborhood-10/10 Sweet twist!
The Werewolf's First Night-2/10
P.S. Don't Write Back-1/10 So many questions
Something Fishy-5/10
You Gotta Believe Me-2/10
Suckers!-1/10 This did not feel like an R.L. Stine
Dr. Horror's House Of Video-2/10
The Cat's Tale-4/10
Shell Shocker-4/10 The girl deserved it
Poison Ivy-1/10
The Spirit Of Harvest Moon-4/10
The Chalk Closet-2/10
Home Sweet Home-1/10
Don't Wake Mummy-1/10
I'm Telling-4/10
The Haunted House Game-8/10 Wow that was sad
Change For Strange-2/10
The Perfect School=6/10
For The Birds-2/10
Aliens In The Garden-10/10 Sweet ending!
The Thumbprint Of Doom-1/10 What a lame ending
Teacher's Pet-2/10
Strained Peas-4/10 I liked the ending to the Goosebumps episode better
Strangers In The Woods-1/10
Good Friends-6/10 That was a sad one
How I Won My Bat-Skipped
Mr. Teddy-8/10 I did not see that ending coming
Click-2/10 The Goosebumps episode was better
Broken Dolls-1/10
A Vampire In The Neighborhood-10/10 Sweet twist!
The Werewolf's First Night-2/10
P.S. Don't Write Back-1/10 So many questions
Something Fishy-5/10
You Gotta Believe Me-2/10
Suckers!-1/10 This did not feel like an R.L. Stine
Dr. Horror's House Of Video-2/10
The Cat's Tale-4/10
Shell Shocker-4/10 The girl deserved it
Poison Ivy-1/10
The Spirit Of Harvest Moon-4/10
The Chalk Closet-2/10
Home Sweet Home-1/10
Don't Wake Mummy-1/10
I'm Telling-4/10
The Haunted House Game-8/10 Wow that was sad
Change For Strange-2/10
The Perfect School=6/10
For The Birds-2/10
Aliens In The Garden-10/10 Sweet ending!
The Thumbprint Of Doom-1/10 What a lame ending
January 7, 2011
30 tales to give you goose bumps
Get ready to get scared if you read this book. It has 30 short stories made to frighten you. My favorite was called gummies. It is about a giant oily blob that will eat you alive!!! It would much rather eat gummy worms though. Will 3 friends be able to avoid bullies and out smart this creature. You'll never know until you read the book.
I bought this book from borders and love it. It is 391 pages. It was a good read for me. If you like scary stories and are a big reader, this book is for you. This author has writin a full book out of each of these storys.
Find out if Jeff can make his parents believe theres a mummy in the basement, If the summer camp Matt is going to is being taken over by passesed poison ivy, and if Eric will escape from his own fish tank now that he is a fish. If you want to know these things all you need to do is read the book.
Get ready to get scared if you read this book. It has 30 short stories made to frighten you. My favorite was called gummies. It is about a giant oily blob that will eat you alive!!! It would much rather eat gummy worms though. Will 3 friends be able to avoid bullies and out smart this creature. You'll never know until you read the book.
I bought this book from borders and love it. It is 391 pages. It was a good read for me. If you like scary stories and are a big reader, this book is for you. This author has writin a full book out of each of these storys.
Find out if Jeff can make his parents believe theres a mummy in the basement, If the summer camp Matt is going to is being taken over by passesed poison ivy, and if Eric will escape from his own fish tank now that he is a fish. If you want to know these things all you need to do is read the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
September 8, 2009This book will give you goosebump. This book is collection of different short stories of horror. My favorite story in this book is the story call Dr. Horror house of videos. It is about a kid named Ben Adams bored at a vacation and loving horror movie. He is bored with all the movies he have and end up going to the shop. He buy a movie which he never seen before and love it cause it was so real. It turns out it is real and that he end up lunch for real monsters.
January 10, 2012
This book is awesome on how this has so many stories that are the best 30 stories i have ever read. My favorite story is the haunted house game but the scariest story to me is the first story the house with no return.
November 3, 2016
This book is amazing. This book is really old now, but still has amazing stories that each have a twist at the end. Some stories include monsters, some are just creepy and weird. I recommend this book if you like creepy stories
May 13, 2016
I really enjoyed reading these 30 stories. They were very well written and kept me entertained.
September 10, 2016
I read this book many years ago and I remember really liking the stories I'm probably going to read it again soon
June 23, 2019
Some were all right, some were good. About 3 of them were really good. Nice easy read for summer.
April 22, 2023
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B
Reading Experience: 📘📘📘📘(4/5)
I am relieved to see some unhappy endings and dark twists, which I’ve missed in nearly all the Goosebumps books I’ve read these past few years (not that I’ve read many, maybe 8) and remember being the best element of the series.
This collection operates pretty acutely on the (il)logic of childhood wonder and fear, giving the stories a surreal, nightmarish quality that is both nostalgic and unsettling—meanwhile, they’re children’s stories, so when something messed up happens, I genuinely get shocked.
I know it’s a bit extra to rank all 30 of these, but here we go:
“Good Friends” (A-) Bruh. The story is fine and then that twist happens…it’s sad, layered, and really surprised me.
“The House of No Return” (A-) A fitting tone-setter of an opening story.
"P.S. Don't Write Back" (A-) Could have used more clarification in the end, but otherwise a stellar premise and ultimately eerie.
“Click” (A-) What a deeply messed up ending for a kids story, though I was distracted by the lazy magic rules and the fact that there’s an Adam Sandler movie with the same title and premise.
"A Vampire in the Neighborhood" (B+) Yikes.
“Teacher’s Pet” (B+) Comically disturbing.
"The Haunted House Game" (B+) Sad.
"The Chalk Closet" (B+) Expected more of a twist, but very nightmarish.
“How I Won My Bat” (B+) Thought I’d hate it because it’s a sports story, happily surprised.
"Shell Shocker" (B) MC’s annoyingly dumb, but that ending is brutal, whoa.
“Strangers in the Woods” (B) Cozy setting but confusing ending.
“Strained Peas” (B) I guessed the twists before they happened but I’m looking back on it fondly.
"Dr. Horror's House of Video" (B) Predictable, but I got a kick out of the it.
"You Gotta Believe Me!" (B) Clever but rambling.
"The Thumbprint of Doom" (B) Nice to end on a lighthearted note. Was afraid this would get messy regarding cultural sensitivity or mental illness representation, but it steers clear of anything overtly problematic.
"The Perfect School" (B) Predictable. Sort of Stepford Wives-y. A conversation-starter.
"Don't Wake Mummy" (B) I don’t like mummy stories, but this one’s fine.
"The Werewolf's First Night" (B) Good, but very similar to the story that preceded it (even though in the original publications they’re in separate volumes).
"For the Birds" (B-) Predictable, and the premise didn’t interest me. Ending is nice and dark, though.
"The Spirit of the Harvest Moon" (B-) A standard twist, but good setting.
"I'm Telling!" (B-) Dumb ending.
"Something Fishy" (B-) Aw, poor kid.
“Broken Dolls” (B-) Refreshing in its happy ending, otherwise didn’t strike me.
"Home Sweet Home" (B-) Nothing special.
"The Cat's Tale" (C+) Lackluster.
“Mr. Teddy” (C+) Lackluster, and I am biased against the tropes in this one.
"Aliens in the Garden" (C) Steals one of the Twilight Zone’s iconic twists, which is sort of hard to excuse, and the story leading up the twist didn’t interest me.
"Poison Ivy" (C) Boring filler.
"Change for the Strange" (C) A silly story about animal transformations with a lighthearted ending—not for me.
"Suckers!" (C) Like “Poison Ivy,” this is not my subgenre of choice, so it bored me.
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B
Reading Experience: 📘📘📘📘(4/5)
I am relieved to see some unhappy endings and dark twists, which I’ve missed in nearly all the Goosebumps books I’ve read these past few years (not that I’ve read many, maybe 8) and remember being the best element of the series.
This collection operates pretty acutely on the (il)logic of childhood wonder and fear, giving the stories a surreal, nightmarish quality that is both nostalgic and unsettling—meanwhile, they’re children’s stories, so when something messed up happens, I genuinely get shocked.
I know it’s a bit extra to rank all 30 of these, but here we go:
“Good Friends” (A-) Bruh. The story is fine and then that twist happens…it’s sad, layered, and really surprised me.
“The House of No Return” (A-) A fitting tone-setter of an opening story.
"P.S. Don't Write Back" (A-) Could have used more clarification in the end, but otherwise a stellar premise and ultimately eerie.
“Click” (A-) What a deeply messed up ending for a kids story, though I was distracted by the lazy magic rules and the fact that there’s an Adam Sandler movie with the same title and premise.
"A Vampire in the Neighborhood" (B+) Yikes.
“Teacher’s Pet” (B+) Comically disturbing.
"The Haunted House Game" (B+) Sad.
"The Chalk Closet" (B+) Expected more of a twist, but very nightmarish.
“How I Won My Bat” (B+) Thought I’d hate it because it’s a sports story, happily surprised.
"Shell Shocker" (B) MC’s annoyingly dumb, but that ending is brutal, whoa.
“Strangers in the Woods” (B) Cozy setting but confusing ending.
“Strained Peas” (B) I guessed the twists before they happened but I’m looking back on it fondly.
"Dr. Horror's House of Video" (B) Predictable, but I got a kick out of the it.
"You Gotta Believe Me!" (B) Clever but rambling.
"The Thumbprint of Doom" (B) Nice to end on a lighthearted note. Was afraid this would get messy regarding cultural sensitivity or mental illness representation, but it steers clear of anything overtly problematic.
"The Perfect School" (B) Predictable. Sort of Stepford Wives-y. A conversation-starter.
"Don't Wake Mummy" (B) I don’t like mummy stories, but this one’s fine.
"The Werewolf's First Night" (B) Good, but very similar to the story that preceded it (even though in the original publications they’re in separate volumes).
"For the Birds" (B-) Predictable, and the premise didn’t interest me. Ending is nice and dark, though.
"The Spirit of the Harvest Moon" (B-) A standard twist, but good setting.
"I'm Telling!" (B-) Dumb ending.
"Something Fishy" (B-) Aw, poor kid.
“Broken Dolls” (B-) Refreshing in its happy ending, otherwise didn’t strike me.
"Home Sweet Home" (B-) Nothing special.
"The Cat's Tale" (C+) Lackluster.
“Mr. Teddy” (C+) Lackluster, and I am biased against the tropes in this one.
"Aliens in the Garden" (C) Steals one of the Twilight Zone’s iconic twists, which is sort of hard to excuse, and the story leading up the twist didn’t interest me.
"Poison Ivy" (C) Boring filler.
"Change for the Strange" (C) A silly story about animal transformations with a lighthearted ending—not for me.
"Suckers!" (C) Like “Poison Ivy,” this is not my subgenre of choice, so it bored me.
February 4, 2020
My two favorites out of all thirty stories is “The Haunted House Game” and “The Perfect School”. I thought that these two stories really stood out and had unpredictable endings. In fact, most of the stories had unpredictable endings. It’s a well written book. However, not scary at all. I’ve probably gotten goosebumps once if any. I would definitely say that these short stories are only really scary for small kids, ages 4-10. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this book. It always had me flipping the pages. The fact that they are all short stories makes it even more amazing. For small chapter of 7-10 pages, the author still put in details that could make someone imagine they were really there. Some stories weren’t as appealing as others, but the book overall was a great and easy read!
October 31, 2025
These shorter goosebumps stories were in my opinion better than the regular series. It has all the same elements of the series that work and make it familiar but they just seem to cut out all of the fat and all of the nonsense. All you need is the creepy premise, brief introduction inciting incident and the ending. The stories also suffer from terrible twist endings and goofy slapstick plots but when a plot doesn't work it's over in ten pages and you can start a new one, and there's plenty of decent stories in here as well. Perfect for an October young reader book.
June 20, 2020
I remember reading this for the first time in 5th grade and being totally spooked out! I'm 18 now and not really that easily scared anymore. While these stories aren't as scary now they do still have a wonderful nostalgia feel to them as well as being quite well written with fun twists at the end that never get old even if this is the 10th time you've reread it.
November 1, 2022
Amusing enough for my commute to and from work. The scariest parts were all the parents who do not listen to, trust, or want to take care of their kids and needing to bike to the library to search for information/answers to a question in a book... My favorite stories were A Cat's Tale & Home Sweet Home.
Read
October 28, 2021This book has become a yearly event with my kids. With 30 short stories, we can read one story a night for all of October leading up to Halloween. Each night brings a different plot twist and we get to discuss and rate the story afterwards. Highly recommended for family reading.
July 19, 2018
It's about horror and imagination!
June 3, 2021
Enjoyable read. I love Stine's use of imagery and plot twists.
This is a prime example of what a kid's book should be: short, descriptive, creative and intriguing.
Great overall!
4.5/5
This is a prime example of what a kid's book should be: short, descriptive, creative and intriguing.
Great overall!
4.5/5
August 11, 2021
Goosebumps is what got me into reading and my gateway to the horror genre. I will say that there are some really good stories and some duds in here. Overall, I read it over and over again.
March 20, 2017
3.5
I know these stories are meant for children and I believe they would be great for them. I enjoyed the majority of them. I definitely enjoyed some more then others but still good.
I know these stories are meant for children and I believe they would be great for them. I enjoyed the majority of them. I definitely enjoyed some more then others but still good.
March 25, 2019
Thrills and Chills abound in this great collection. Reader beware, you're in for a (good natured) scare! Admittedly this is technically YA material so the twist endings are easy to spot, but like so many others R.L. Stine holds a special, spooky place in my heart because of Goosebumps. I remember sequestering myself in the darkest corner of our library, trying to read as many as I could before we had to leave. Just a great trip down memory lane. Well worth your time...if you dare!
December 3, 2015
Saya membaca ini dalam versi bahasa Indonesia yang dipecah menjadi tiga bagian. Tipikal karya RL. Stine yan diterjemahkan. Menarik dan menyeramkan bagi anak kecil dan memberikan banyak pengetahuan tentang latar kehidupan anak-anak di Amerika Utara. Still nice :)
October 5, 2016
This book is full of chilling stories that will blow you out the window! As it covers so many chilling stories that I was really surprised at. This book was really good as it started my love for reading.from ghosts to mummy's, this book was great and I hope you wil enjoy it to! :)
Want to read
June 22, 20101st edition compilation
July 13, 2011
These stories were honestly really pathtic -_-" Not at all what I expected.
August 3, 2011
I really did expect it to be more scarier. But it was ok.
Currently reading
July 25, 2012So Far Its Really Good.
September 7, 2013
like it
October 7, 2013
This is a good book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews