Welcome to Dead House (People Who Made a Difference, #1) (Goosebumps S., #1) (Goosebumps, #1)

by R L Stine

Amanda and Josh move with their parents into an old haunted house located in the strange town of Dark Falls where people are unlike any they have known before.

• ISBN10: 083681973X
• ISBN13: 9780836819731
• Publish Date: 1 January 1997 (first published 1 January 1992)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Gareth Stevens Publishing
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Language: English

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

As a 9-year-old I loved the Goosebumps series and now, as a 29-year-old several times over I decided to reread this favored series of old. Welcome to Dead House made me feel my actual age.

What I Liked

• I recalled R.L. Stine having a tendency to play with my mind; working myself up to know what was behind the door at the end of chapter three only to find it was a cat.  I did not find that to be so in this first  book in the series and appreciated the absence as it made the story flow better.


• Amanda and Josh were fun characters and a great sibling team.  I liked how they played off each other.


• R.L. Stine is actually very clever with his words and never used a noun, adjective verb if it wasn't needed


• There is a scene near the end that reminded me of Micheal Jackson's Thriller video and I kept waiting for the undead to skip out and dance.

What I Didn't Like

• This is what made me feel my age.  There is a scene where Amanda and Josh visit a neighboring graveyard.  Several Date of Deaths were mentioned ranging from 1960 to 2004.  Seeing as how this book was originally published in 1992 and having first read it that year as well, my retro-90s self had an issue with the update.

 

Thoughts on Audio

I thought Tara Sands did a fine job and is particularly engaging for younger readers.  However, to go back to my earlier Thriller reference, I would have loved to hear Vincent Price narrate  this.

Final Thoughts

As an adult this is not a series I would actively set out to read if this had not been a part of my childhood. Having said that, I can see why I liked it in elementary school.

"For no mere mortal can resist the evil of The Dead House!"

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

Unrealistic plot. Kinda weird. Didn't really enjoy it. But it's middle grade and I'm hardly the target audience.

[inlibrisveritas]

Ah sweet nostalgia! I’ll be honest Goosebumps books have never ‘wowed’ me but there is something comforting about holding a beat up copy with the original covers and smiling because you know it’s going to be incredibly cheesy.

Welcome to Dead House is the first in the series and sets the pace for the rest, though this one has a much better ending that most others. Amanda and Josh move to a new house but something isn’t right about it or the town. As a kids book it does have some super heavy foreshadowing, which can be frustrating for those of us who know ‘creep’ when we see it. But overall it’s a really fun read, though that ending made me lose a bit of respect for the family. Why didn’t you warn the other people?!