[Book Review] Goosebumps: Say Cheese and Die by R.L. Stine

Greg thinks there is something wrong with the old camera he found. The photos keep turning out . . . different.

When Greg takes a picture of his father's brand-new car, it's wrecked in the photo. And then his dad crashes the car.

It's like the camera can tell the future--or worse. Maybe it makes the future!

3 STARS

It's officially time for me to start reading as many spooky books as I can and I couldn't think of a better book series to read in between my longer reads. 

Like most 90's kids, I read this series when I was younger. They were obviously scarier to me back then than they are now but I'd be lying if I didn't admit how much fun I still have while reading these books. They're full of cheesy nostalgia but it's the kind of cheesy I don't mind in small increments, and this book was only like 130 pages. 

Say Cheese and Die was less scary and was more mysterious. And although that was a little annoying I didn't mind it too much, but I was definitely expecting a bit more spook. I am prepared to come to the conclusion that these are way less scary than they were when I was a kid but I am hoping that I wasn't a complete wimp and I can at least see where little me was coming from. However, this one was mostly a weird mystery around a morbid psychic camera. One thing I noticed in this book, something I wouldn't be surprised that is evident in other Goosebumps as well, is that each chapter ends on a cliffhanger. And most of the time the cliffhangers are weird cop outs. Like one chapter will end with a dark figure attacking the kids and the next chapter opens up revealing that it was only a dog. Small things like that. I am not sure how young Heather felt about this but present Heather thought it got old real quick and ended up being a bit annoying. 

These books are short so there isn't a lot of character development. But each character definitely has their own distinct individual personality. Which I appreciated and liked because it was easy to tell them apart. Especially when it's a group of kids and it's easy to get them mixed up if they aren't distinct. I read an okay amount of middle grade books a year (but I'd love to read more) and I feel like I know what I like and what is a "good middle grade book" for me. I found Say Cheese and Die to be a lot of fun but nothing too exciting. I know (hope?) there are better Goosebumps books out there so I am excited to keep reading them. I am just hoping I don't come to the realization that these are better as a nostalgic memory.

Overall, if you want a fun kind of spooky mystery for you (a teenager or adult, I assume) there are probably better Goosebumps to read, but I think if a kid is looking for a good Goosebumps books to start off with this is a great choice. It's not too spooky so it's a good introduction to the writing style and the way the stories are set up.

Have you read any Goosebumps books? How long has it been since you've read one? Is there one in particular I should read? I'd love to know. 

Thanks for reading!