Stay Out of the Basement

From Goodreads:    Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, really. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they...meet...some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies. In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy-and seedy. 

Is it just part of their father's "harmless" experiment? Or has the basement turned into another little shop of horrors?

My Thoughts:

-    I was so happy when Gnome said she would read another Goosebumps book with me.

-    After the first couple of chapters, Gnome said she didn't want to read this, it was too scary. I encouraged her to continue, and she is glad she stuck with it. She enjoyed it in the end, and it wasn't too scary after all.

-    Gnome and I both enjoyed this one. It was a fun mystery. Gnome was able to predict a few things. It was fun to see her put pieces together and guess what was going to happen.

-    I love that these books are helping Gnome face her fears. Reading is amazing!

Previous Goosebumps Book:

Welcome to Dead House

From Goodreads:    Amanda and Josh Benson move into a new house in Dark Falls, where the residents are all zombies who have died while living in the same house and are preparing to make the Benson family one of them, as they need blood to survive.












My Thoughts:

-    With the Goosebumps movie coming out, I wanted to read one of the books. I started with #1. These used to be SO popular when I was in middle school. I think I read a couple, but I don't remember anything. 

-    This was a bit young for me. I might have enjoyed it when I was 10, but it was hard to love as an adult.

-    The story is really boring. Nothing happens until the very very end.

-    Why doesn't anyone ever listen or pay attention to the dog!?!?!? They are always the first to know when something is up, and time after time people just ignore the dog!

-    I hate what happens to Petey. 

-    Where is the scary/creepy factor? I don't even think a younger reader would be scared while reading this.

-    Again, this was too juvenile for me, but I really don't get why these became popular. I hope the rest of the books are more interesting. I won't be reading them, but I hope they are good. 


My Second Thoughts:

-    Gnome and I read this together. I'm trying to help her get over her fear of everything Halloween/spooky. 

-    When I read it with Gnome, I gained a new appreciation for the book. It was more fun to read with Gnome and get her reactions and perspective. 

-    While I didn't think the book was spooky, she did. The little elements would get her tensed up for something scary, but it didn't get too scary.

-    Gnome didn't want to read this at first, and she even had a bad dream about the book, but in the end, she really liked it. She even asked to read another one.