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Choose Your Own Nightmare #15
How I Became a Freak
A street carnival has opened in your neighborhood! Go check it out! Ride some rides. Stuff your face with cotton candy. Play the ring toss.
But don't go in the fun house. And definitely don't walk down the Hall of Mirrors.
Why, you ask? WHY? Well, in this fun house, things are what they seem. And the fun never stops.
But don't go in the fun house. And definitely don't walk down the Hall of Mirrors.
Why, you ask? WHY? Well, in this fun house, things are what they seem. And the fun never stops.
96 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 8, 2026
How I Became a Freak is Richard Brightfield's third and final Choose Your Own Nightmare, and he took the story in some crazy directions. You and your friend Susan rush out after supper when you learn a carnival has set up on Elm Street. You enjoy the rides and classic carny foods, but when you spot the hall of mirrors, you insist on exploring inside even though the carnival clowns are closing up for the night. As you hurry back out to leave before closing time, you catch your grotesque reflection in a mirror before exiting the hall of mirrors. You're too tired to pay much attention to anything as you stumble home into bed after curfew. Next morning when your mom wakes you for school, she runs away shrieking. In the mirror you see your face is horribly deformed just like last night in the hall of mirrors. Should you conceal your face and search for answers, or hide away from a world sure to be repulsed by your new look?
A proactive approach may be your best chance. Putting on a ski mask, you tell your parents what happened last night, and they agree the clowns at the carnival are to blame. Go file a police report, and the officers lock you in a cell to prevent public terror at your face. Wait patiently and the police escort you to the abandoned carnival site; if you destroy the mirror that transformed you, will it change the way you look? Earlier, if you escaped police custody and sneaked over to Susan's house, you're prepared for her to be aghast at your face, but what if you've been cured and don't know it? If instead of contacting the police in the first place, you and your dad go to the carnival site alone, you meet three men from the Institute for the Unexplained. Go with them in their black van, and you meet others who were turned into freaks. Choose to undergo the "quick fix" and you find a more drastic solution than you'd like; the alternative is an extended stay at a ranch managed by clowns. If you rejected the men from the Institute for the Unexplained when you first met, they pursue you in a high-speed car chase. The tactics you employ to elude them have a huge impact on your future.
Was your initial instinct upon discovering your new freak face to hide in bed? Your mom and dad summon a Dr. Quank, who suggests an experimental therapy called the ozone box. Crawl inside it, and your horrors may only be beginning. Refuse to cooperate and Dr. Quank orders you brought to his facility; with luck, his treatments return you to normal, but if you run away you might find the carnival site. When a clown offers you a job in the freak show, should you accept your new lot in life? Struggle too hard against it, and you wind up in a place more awful than the freak show. If you avoided ever encountering Dr. Quank, you might slip out your bedroom window on the morning your mom first sees you, and meet a boy whose face is as distorted as yours. Can you two stumble onto a cure? You'll do anything to restore the life you had before that carnival.
I have to put How I Became a Freak in the running for worst Choose Your Own Nightmare. The story behind your hideous transformation isn't fleshed out consistently at all, and the characters behave in ridiculous ways, especially your parents. Rather than a suspenseful gamebook about your being victimized by supernatural evil yet mustering the courage to chase down the truth, you spend these pages riding unfocused narrative waves that toss you to and fro with little reward for perseverance. I'd possibly rate How I Became a Freak one and a half stars, but by no means is it a decent book. I wish Richard Brightfield had committed to getting the most out of the premise.
A proactive approach may be your best chance. Putting on a ski mask, you tell your parents what happened last night, and they agree the clowns at the carnival are to blame. Go file a police report, and the officers lock you in a cell to prevent public terror at your face. Wait patiently and the police escort you to the abandoned carnival site; if you destroy the mirror that transformed you, will it change the way you look? Earlier, if you escaped police custody and sneaked over to Susan's house, you're prepared for her to be aghast at your face, but what if you've been cured and don't know it? If instead of contacting the police in the first place, you and your dad go to the carnival site alone, you meet three men from the Institute for the Unexplained. Go with them in their black van, and you meet others who were turned into freaks. Choose to undergo the "quick fix" and you find a more drastic solution than you'd like; the alternative is an extended stay at a ranch managed by clowns. If you rejected the men from the Institute for the Unexplained when you first met, they pursue you in a high-speed car chase. The tactics you employ to elude them have a huge impact on your future.
Was your initial instinct upon discovering your new freak face to hide in bed? Your mom and dad summon a Dr. Quank, who suggests an experimental therapy called the ozone box. Crawl inside it, and your horrors may only be beginning. Refuse to cooperate and Dr. Quank orders you brought to his facility; with luck, his treatments return you to normal, but if you run away you might find the carnival site. When a clown offers you a job in the freak show, should you accept your new lot in life? Struggle too hard against it, and you wind up in a place more awful than the freak show. If you avoided ever encountering Dr. Quank, you might slip out your bedroom window on the morning your mom first sees you, and meet a boy whose face is as distorted as yours. Can you two stumble onto a cure? You'll do anything to restore the life you had before that carnival.
I have to put How I Became a Freak in the running for worst Choose Your Own Nightmare. The story behind your hideous transformation isn't fleshed out consistently at all, and the characters behave in ridiculous ways, especially your parents. Rather than a suspenseful gamebook about your being victimized by supernatural evil yet mustering the courage to chase down the truth, you spend these pages riding unfocused narrative waves that toss you to and fro with little reward for perseverance. I'd possibly rate How I Became a Freak one and a half stars, but by no means is it a decent book. I wish Richard Brightfield had committed to getting the most out of the premise.
January 28, 2020
Recuerdos de mi infancia están de regreso al encontrarme de nuevo con libros de esta colección.
Sí, son el tipo de libros que tienen historias distintas dependiendo de tus decisiones, tiene una premisa, pero al llegar a x capítulo te dan a elegir y de ahí te manda a páginas distintas.
Muy divertido de leer, porque más cosas pueden pasar que en una lectura convencional, algo de verdad creativo que al menos a mi, me gustó.
Sí, son el tipo de libros que tienen historias distintas dependiendo de tus decisiones, tiene una premisa, pero al llegar a x capítulo te dan a elegir y de ahí te manda a páginas distintas.
Muy divertido de leer, porque más cosas pueden pasar que en una lectura convencional, algo de verdad creativo que al menos a mi, me gustó.
November 21, 2017
This book was really fun to read, even though some of the endings were really odd, seemed rushed and a little bit forced.
But I really liked the good ending.
But I really liked the good ending.
August 4, 2025
un rayuela kids
December 5, 2013
First off, this book goes to some weird places. It starts off with you at a Hall of Mirrors. You look into the mirror for too long and are changed into a freak and you spend the rest of the story trying figure out how to change yourself back. Along the way you come into contact with clowns, creepy government agents, cowboys, Indians, cops, and mad scientists. This is a really wacky read, and it gets a little over-the-top cheesy at times, but for the most part it works. Brightfield has a solid writing style that sometimes dips into being dull, but in this book, he is on his game. The prose isn't exceptional for a gamebook, but it does its job. There are a few endings that left me scratching my head, but a few that were satisfying. The book is pretty average for the series except that its scope seems a little larger than some of the other books. Recommended.
January 26, 2010
This book contains some good action sequences, as well as scenes that allow you the choice of attempting escape, which leads to interesting story paths.
How I Became a Freak is an unusual book, and I couldn't always figure out why things were happening. The police aren't very smart in the narrative, though they try to help if they can get past your off-putting appearance. I was none too pleased when they put "You" in jail for no reason other than being freakishly ugly!
All told, I give one and a half stars to How I Became a Freak.
How I Became a Freak is an unusual book, and I couldn't always figure out why things were happening. The police aren't very smart in the narrative, though they try to help if they can get past your off-putting appearance. I was none too pleased when they put "You" in jail for no reason other than being freakishly ugly!
All told, I give one and a half stars to How I Became a Freak.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews