Welcome to Dead House (Classic Goosebumps #13)
Written by R.L. Stine
Narrated by Tara Sands
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
R.L. Stine
R.L. Stine has more than 350 million English language books in print, plus international editions in 32 languages, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written other series, including Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Minnie. Visit him online at rlstine.com.
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Reviews for Welcome to Dead House (Classic Goosebumps #13)
525 ratings39 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I didn’t discover Goosebumps when I was a kid for some reason... too bad, cause I would’ve enjoyed it! So much fun to listen to :)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really loved that one! The reader is just perfect.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Guess what time it is, guys? Time for a walk down memory lane. It’s October so naturally I’ve been immersing myself in all things scary and one night I was reminiscing about where my love of horror began and I started thinking about revisiting Goosebumps. Well, it happened. First off, do you realize the first Goosebumps came out in 1992?I love the idea of re-reading my childhood favorites, but what happens if its horrible? Your entire childhood becomes a lie, that’s what. But I had to take a chance, even though I took a chance on Stine last Ominous October and it didn’t exactly pay off so instead of reading his newer stuff I decided to go back to the very beginning. And you know what? It wasn’t bad at all.“It’s really dead around here, huh?”He chuckled. “Yeah. I guess you could say that.”Welcome to Dead House is the very first in the original Goosebumps series (I don’t care what Amazon says trying to list this as #13 and Night of the Living Dummy as #1). It has all the makings of what scared me the most as a child and what still manages to freak me out still to this day: ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Josh and Amanda have just moved to a new town after their father received an old house from the will of a great-Uncle he never even knew existed. It’s a dark, creepy, and cold house but it’s huge and is a fantastic opportunity for their family. The kids aren’t sold. Amanda is constantly seeing things but keeps convincing herself that her mind is playing tricks on her. Her curtains move as if caught in a breeze even with the window closed and she hears footsteps in the hallway at night. But all of that is just her imagination running wild, right?I can’t recall how long it took me to read these when I was a kid, but I ended up finishing this in a single night. It’s more of a novella for the mature reader, but it was certainly fun. While it didn’t exactly give me goosebumps because I’ve certainly read far scarier at this point in my life, it still managed to put a smile on my face taking that walk down memory lane and seeing once again what I loved so much about these when I was a kid.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5awesome story I love it
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This, the first installment of the popular 90s children's series "Goosebumps", is possibly one of the stronger entries in the collection. Somehow Stine manages to straddle the border between age-appropriate horror and some truly chilling scenes and ideas. Though the series as a whole often manages to fall too easily on cliche and fake-out suspense, I can see how this story might have inspired a sense of confidence in the writer's ability to successfully pen a long running anthology.Welcome to Dead House follows the story of Amanda and Josh, a sister and brother pair who are forced to move to a new house in a strange new town when their family receives word that they've inherited property from a great-uncle that they didn't even realize they'd had. A large chunk of the beginning of this book actually deals a lot with the siblings' frustration and sadness about moving and it would have been very easy to put the book down at this point, but it's really toward the middle that the suspense and intrigue picks up.While Amanda and Josh try to make the best of their unusual new living situation, things just don't seem to go very well from the beginning. They hate the house -- it's old and creepy and much bigger than they're used to, so it's not surprising when Amanda starts to think she sees people in the hallway or in the windows. The kids in town are a little weird and Amanda isn't quite so sure that she trusts them, either. To make things worse, their dog keeps running away and it's during a late night search for him in the graveyard that the siblings really start to discover that there's something very weird about their new town.One of the things I found most intriguing about this story is the monsters. They are presented as a strange mix of zombie, vampire, and ghost and the only thing I can think to classify them as is a blood-drinking ghoul. Though these monsters don't really entirely fit the bill of the traditional demon of Arabian folklore, I think it might serve as the closest comparison, which I think was actually a very interesting decision for Stine to make. All in all, for the Goosebumps series on its own, I would rank this as top-notch, which I've chosen to reflect in my rating. For juvenile horror it is still quite strong, but for juvenile fiction as a whole it is middle-grade. I would recommend it for middle-to-older-aged elementary school children and anyone with an interest in what the whole Goosebumps craze was about in the 90s or adults that are simply interested in how horror and supernatural creatures are presented to juvenile readers.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My daughter is five, and this was her introduction into spooky books. We read it every night before bed for story time for a week. The whole family loved it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brooooo this is one of the best books ever in my entire life
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5wont play
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5i always interesting about horor genre
and i think this books awesome
make me read until finish to get klimaks - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5#1 "It will just kill you."The old house that Amanda and Josh just moved into with their parents is not haunted... Or is it? Things get crazy in this ghostly tale of the ominous haunted house.As the first book in the series of the Goosebumps franchise, while not my favorite, I'd have to say it's still one of the great ones.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great book. Hard to put down until I was finished
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I liked how the characters had feelings and how they described the haunted House
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is super scary,and I like spooky things. I love it
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At 48 years old, I read my first R.L. Stine book. This Goosebumps story brought back some wonderful memories from my childhood of the spooky stories I scoured for in my school library.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was a fun story, obviously it had a juvenile feel to it. But I still enjoyed it. I never read these books as a kid but I can see why they were so popular. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to listen to a fun spooky story as we head into the Halloween season.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good book for childrens n for the beginners you ppl will love it surely
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The second half of this was a lot better than the first half, I tend to get frustrated with the whole "my parents don't believe me!" sections of these books... The second half was really good and spooky though. My only other issue is that she mentions how fat her dad is way too much... it's just not funny
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Unrealistic plot. Kinda weird. Didn't really enjoy it. But it's middle grade and I'm hardly the target audience.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This just doesn’t have the same feel to it as it did when I was a kid. I remember reading this series everywhere and being so excited to finish it in a day. I do plan on continuing the series because I don’t think I read all the original books.
As an adult I noticed a lot of things I missed as a kid. The parents clearly aren’t good decision makers because who moves to a town on a whim without checking out the school? Why not sell the house for some cash? You still have to pay taxes and utilities. Also, who leaves a 12 year old and a 11 year old home alone? No sitter? Finally, Josh was an idiot.
Can’t wait to read book #2! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5idk why but i never read these books as a kid even though i remember finding their covers enticing at the book fair. i eventually ended up reading two of the choose your own adventure ones and watched some of the tv series, but it was nice to finally actually sit down and start reading them.
i get that this isn't shockingly good or anything? it's just nice to finally get around to these, and to be fairly satisfied thus far. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5#1 "It will just kill you."
The old house that Amanda and Josh just moved into with their parents is not haunted... Or is it? Things get crazy in this ghostly tale of the ominous haunted house.
As the first book in the series of the Goosebumps franchise, while not my favorite, I'd have to say it's still one of the great ones. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I never thought that at age 30 I’d be writing a review for an adult reread of a Goosebumps book, but here I am.
What surprised me the most about Welcome to Dead House this go round was that this story is actually pretty scary, for a kid as well as an adult. Sure, it is written in a simple English a child could understand, but the creep factor is there and it resonates. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"Such a dark world we had entered."
Josh and Amanda's family inherits a house from their father's great uncle Charles. The house is located in Dark Falls, a small town four hours away. Josh and Amanda don't want to leave the only home they've ever known and don't want to be four hours away from their friends. When they arrive at their new house, they notice it seems cold, dark and creepy. Their little dog Petey doesn't seem to like anybody in town and for good reason. The kids start to see people in their house, but they're not sure if they're real or if it's just their overactive imaginations.
It's a quick read that you can finish in an hour or two, but I found it entertaining. The sentence structure was repetitive at times making it a little too formulaic even for a children's story. It has likable characters, but the story is predictable. It's not too scary for a child if that's a concern. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I already read this book and almost all the collection of Goosebumps many years ago. I am glad I found them again and start to read them . These are nice easy readings for teenagers that are interested in horror. The books are well written the story is simple and effective. Is a nice easy reading that does not required a lot of time to be read if you are an adult and you can still enjoy the stories.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I probably shouldn't be reviewing a YA book as an adult, but here goes. I liked the idea of the plot, although I did pick what was going on pretty early on. I think the story would have worked better as a full length book as the characters were fairly nondescript and needed developing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Amanda's new house is spooky. Curtains seem to move, even when there's no wind, whispers come from empty rooms, and Amanda is sure she's seen people in her house who vanish when she tries to look for them. The house in Dark Falls was left to her father in his great-uncle Charles's will. Although, he doesn't remember having an Uncle Charles...
It's not just the house, though--the whole town is spooky. The streets always seem empty, and when the sun comes out, the kids all run home. Still, a free house is a free house. Amanda's brother, Josh, seems set against the house, and their dog, Petey, doesn't like it much, either.
One night, while Amanda and Jason are looking for Petey in a cemetery, they discover an amphitheatre nearby, and learn a terrible secret about the town of Dark Falls.
Welcome to Dead House is the first book in the _Goosebumps_ series by R. L. Stine. Back in the nineties, these books took the world of children's literature by storm, selling four million copies a month. According to the American Library Association, Goosebumps books were the fifteenth most frequently challenged books during the nineties, a list headed by the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. The series spawned a television adaptation, several games, and numerous other spin-offs.
(Spoilers removed. The full review, including spoilers, is available here.)
Welcome to Dead House is a fairly strong start for the Goosebumps series, so it's worth reading for children interested in horror stories, or grown-up fans of the series looking for some nostalgia. There's a Kindle edition of this one available, as number 13 in the Classic Goosebumps series, so you can pick it up (along with, it seems, the rest of the Classic Goosebumps series) as an ebook, if you like. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And thus began my long affair with the goosebumps series and anything else horror.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Now that I'm writing this review months later than having read it, I can proclaim that Welcome to Dead House has survived the test of time(not all of it though, just a fragment). I liked the first installment of Goosebumps. The story had to be strong to allow for such a prolific sequelitis. The ending is very well written, particularly when one of the zombie girls looks at us sadly before dying. Better than expected.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The first book in his hugely-successful "Goosebumps" series, R. L. Stine writes about a boy and girl and their horrifying adventures after they are uprooted from their home and taken to a new town. Combining the perfect amount of suspense and creepiness, "Welcome to Dead House," despite being a fast-paced, easy read, is probably best-suited to more mature readers and upper elementary school students. The chapters are short and the book flows nicely, so it is a nice transition to chapter books for readers who may not be familiar with longer books.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is about two kids Amanda and Josh and how they moved to this old, house. They dislike the house and everything around it. They grass and trees were dead and there was know life except crows. The was worse on the inside, the noises and the cob webs. The kids want to move out. The only nice thing so far was the sells men. He was nice and very helpful. They soon got a little used to things until they start seeing kid everywere in the house. Dead kids. The scary thing was they looked like there group of kids they met. They thought it was inposible until they saw all there friends names on tomb stones in the cemetary, and even worse they need there blood. The head of it all was the nice sells man. He tricked the family, and now wanted there blood. Then they found out the ghosts can only live when there is no sun. So the kids tricked to ghosts and burned them all. All on there way out of the house, they saw a car pull up, a family stepped out and looked at the house. As they drove of, Amanda thought she the evil sells man, but she knew it was impasible, or was it.
I liked this book because all the events leding up the end. The trick at the end was also pretty good. I realy got me thinking if the sells man was realy alive.