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The Ghost Next Door (2003)

The Ghost Next Door (2003)

Book Info

Author
Series
Rating
3.89 of 5 Votes: 6
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ISBN
0439568323 (ISBN13: 9780439568326)
Language
English
Publisher
scholastic

About book The Ghost Next Door (2003)

Well, THAT was interesting. No, I'm serious, I enjoyed it.Hannah is a 12-year-old girl living with her family in a small town. It's summer and she's bored. Her two younger twin brothers, age 6, are wild and crazy and take up all her parents' time and attention. She must find ways to amuse herself in the long, hot, summer months. Ever hear the phrase, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop?" Hannah meets the boy next door, a 12-year-old named Danny with red hair and freckles. He's moved into the old Dodson house. That's strange - it's sat empty for years. And Hannah never saw any moving van or people inside the house. Danny claims he's in her grade at her school, but she doesn't know him or any of his friends.Nevertheless, she becomes friends with Danny. Unfortunately, Danny hangs out with a bad crowd. His "friends" Alan and Fred are always daring him to do things and encouraging him to steal and pull pranks. Hannah often spies on the boys and spies on Danny and his activities - ostensibly because she suspects he might be a ghost, but I think she has a tiny crush on him - and sees how the boys treat him and goad him into criminal behavior.To add onto all of this, there is a shadowy dark phantom with glowing red eyes that keeps following her around and warning her to stay away from Danny. No one can see it but her. Who is it? What does it want?...In a shocking surprise twist, we realize that (view spoiler)[ Hannah is the ghost, not Danny. She died in a house fire 5 years ago, and she and her whole family are dead. I think she's here to save Danny... he and his thug friends end up setting fire to a crotchety old man's home and she saves Danny's life by helping him escape from the burning building.I liked Hannah's slow realization that she's the one who's dead - not Danny - and the way she amps up her courage by saying, "I'm a ghost, I can do this, I can't die again, these flames can't really hurt me." It must be hard for her, but she is very brave. (hide spoiler)]

I will be copy-pasting this for every Goosebumps novel I'll be reading.On a whim, I decided to read all of the Goosebumps books. Some of them I've read before but, for the most part, I haven't. I won't be giving any stars; this doesn't mean anything about my actual opinion for the books, it only means that I don't think I can realistically, objectively rank 62 books which are not even meant for my age. I did enjoy the ones I read as a child and I am enjoying the ones I'm reading now, so that's what matters, I believe. Yes, there are some repetitive patterns and, yes, the endings are sometimes silly and, yes, R.L. Stine may not be the best of writers. Still, I feel like I have to commend him for two things in particular: first, for bringing the horror genre early on into our lives and, second, for subtly dealing with important family issues, such as moving away, a parent loosing a job, a accident happening etc. And I think the huge success of these books speaks volumes. So, I'll just be enjoying reading them in the following couple of weeks, not reviewing or evaluating them.

Do You like book The Ghost Next Door (2003)?

Hannah is all alone this summer. All of her friends went to camp and she is stuck with her parents and twin kid brothers. No one is writing to her and the summer is boring her to death. She runs into a kid she has never seen before named Danny. Danny claims he lives across the street, but she did not see him move in. Hannah doesn't recognize any of his friends though he says they go to the same school as her. Things get really weird after she meets Danny and Hannah starts to suspect there is something off with him. Is her neighbor a ghost?I read Goosebumps like a fiend when I was younger. I loved them so much and loved getting scared at night as I read them. It amazes me how they've changed as I grew older. They are great for young adults but as an adult I found the writing very simple and the plot predictable. It's strange reading a book you once loved and find it much less great. I know if I were still a young adult, I would still love this. But I am not, therefore, I don't. Still, R.L. Stine is the master of horror for young adults.
—Kristin Curtis

Have you ever thought about that your neighbour could be a ghost??Well the girl in this book does.I will tell something about the book which is called Ghost Next Door.The author is R.L.Stine.The book is about a girl which is very curious and a bit weird.She meets her new neighbour called Danny.He has just moved in to the house next to her.The house is strange, scary and little.They often play soccer together.Once Danny fell and she wanted to help him up, but when she tried her arms went through his body.She was in shock and didn't knew what to do.Then she ran away.She thought he was a ghost.She couldn't explained what happened.She was very confused.The next days she has been spying on him.After those days she discovered something really weird.What would it be???I like the book but it wasn't the best book I have read.The book was exciting and different than the books I normally would read.The story was also a bit weird, because it sometimes was hard to follow the story.I would rate the book to people who like exciting and scary books.
—Bart Koers

The Ghost Next Door is a tough book to review. It isn't especially scary. It's more of a psychological thriller. That offers some interesting plot points but ultimately it falls a bit short because creating a smart, psychological story is likely difficult if you want to target young readers. The basic story is interesting enough. A family moves into the home next door to Hannah seemingly overnight. Hannah is convinced the boy her age is a ghost. He disappears out of thin air, doesn't know any of her friends despite going to the same school, and a dark shadow is never too far away from him. But with most Goosebumps books, there's a twist. Hannah is actually the ghost. Her entire family died in a fire five years earlier. It's an okay story but it gets a bit better towards the end as it gets a bit darker. The Dark Shadow Hannah always sees is actually the partial ghost of Danny. It is trying to keep Hannah away from Danny, so that when he dies, the Dark Shadow can completely become a ghost. Ultimately, Hannah saves Danny from the Shadow and a house fire.But there are a lot of plot holes and unexplained aspects in this book that really hurt it. Who all can see Hannah? How is she able to pull Danny from the fire when earlier, his hand goes right through her? And the entire Dark Shadow thing very under-explained. In the end, The Ghost Next Door falls quite a bit short of earlier Goosebumps books and is just okay.1. Night of the Living Dummy2. Say Cheese and Die3. Welcome to Dead House4. Welcome to Camp Nightmare5. Stay Out of the Basement6. Monster Blood7. The Ghost Next Door8. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb9. Let's Get Invisible 10. The Girl Who Cried Monster
—Jay

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