And to my horror, I realized that this time the barking wasn't outside my window.This time is was coming from inside my house!Sigh. This is one of the stupidest Goosebumps books I have ever read. Cooper Holmes and his jerk older brother Mickey have moved to a new house in the Maine woods.And then I learned that our new house was deep in the woods, somewhere in Maine. Miles from the nearest town.The only two scary books I'd ever read took place in Maine. In the woods.Woot, shout-out from Stine to Stephen King! I love when he does this.Anyway, Cooper is a scaredy-cat. In this book, he is frightened by the following things: Branches.A leaf.A garden hose.A sprinkler.A bunny rabbit.A bird.It's pathetic. I found myself really struggling to respect this character, who is just so weak and scared all the time. Then, his older brother Mickey seems to be on a campaign to scare Cooper. Mickey hides under his bed and grabs Cooper, staggers through woods covered in fake blood, records screams and turns the tape on in Cooper's room at night... etc. etc. Things that would actually scare normal people.But my question is: why does Mickey even bother? Cooper is scaring himself constantly. I mean, he's freaking out at every rustle of the trees and creak of the roof. Why the hell would you waste time and energy trying to scare this kid? It seemed not only mean-spirited, but dumb and a complete waste of time.Cooper meets a little girl his age in the woods, a redhead named Fergie. "Like the Duchess," she says.For a girl, Fergie ran pretty fast. Actually, most girls I know are fast runners.Whoever said they were slower runners than boys in the first place? It isn't true. Lots of girls in my class last year could beat any guy in a race.Love this little bit of feminism, Stine.Anyway, Fergie is pretty much off her rocker, as far as I can tell. For one thing, she has a habit of screaming out "Dogs!" and then claiming she has no idea that she even said that. Also, she plays a really mean trick on Cooper when he first moves in. I don't know, she's just very wacky and unpredictable, but Cooper seems to like her. *shrug*Then we have the horror plot, which is one of the most moronic things I have ever heard of. There are two ghost black Labrador retrievers who haunt the woods near Cooper's house. They have glowing red eyes. Okay, that's cool. I'm with you so far. But then it turns out that (view spoiler)[they are people (not stated whether kids or adults) who had an evil spell cast on them 100 years ago to roam the woods as ghost dogs. What. They lead the kids to a shack they call "The Changing Room" and force them inside. What. There the kids undergo a body switch in which they are now ghost dogs and the people who were under the spell have taken over the children's bodies, to live out their lives as "Cooper" and "Fergie." (hide spoiler)]
As a dog lover, it is difficult to make a dog story scary to me. "The Werewofl of Fever Swamp" is the first dog book and it was really good. But that was more for the nostalgia factor than pure scares (though it had its moments). Sadly, "The Barking Ghost" does not succeed.It all starts with the cover. It's very simplistic, just a snarling dog that looks more like he's giving the Elvis lip. As for the story, Cooper moves to the woods in Maine. From the first night, he hears howling dogs. Occasionally, Cooper ventures into the woods and gets chased by two big dogs. As the story progresses, the dogs eventually start coming into the house. They then drag Cooper and his friend Fergie to a shack. Here, the dogs switch bodies with the kids.Personally, this would be pretty cool to me. Being an immortal dog wouldn't be the worst thing ever. I guess Cooper doesn't feel that way and he tries to switch back. He is successful in brining the body switchers back to the shack. However, two squirrels were unknowingly in the shack, messing up the transformation.It seems like animal stories are the worst of the bunch. While Werewolf of Fever Swamp is quite good, Go Eat Worms, Why I'm Afraid of Bees, My Hairiest Adventure, and the Barking Ghost are all in the low range of stories. 1. One Day at Horrorland2. Night of the Living Dummy3. Say Cheese and Die4. Welcome to Dead House5. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp6. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight7. It Came from Beneath the Sink8. Ghost Beach9. Deep Trouble10. The Haunted Mask11. The Cuckoo Clock of Doom12. Welcome to Camp Nightmare13. A Night in Terror Tower14. Attack of the Mutant15. Return of the Mummy16. Stay Out of the Basement17. Monster Blood III18. Monster Blood19. The Ghost Next Door20. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb21. Phantom of the Auditorium22. Let's Get Invisible23. My Hairiest Adventure24. The Girl Who Cried Monster25. You Can't Scare Me26. Night of the Living Dummy II27. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder28. Be Careful What You Wish For29. The Barking Ghost30. Why I'm Afraid of Bees 31. Monster Blood II32. Go Eat Worms
What do You think about The Barking Ghost (1995)?
An easily scared boy named Cooper Holmes and his family move into a new house near a forest haunted by ghost dogs. Cooper and his new friend Fergie plot to capture the ghost dogs, but are lured to a hollow shack called "The Changing Room," where an evil spirit switches Cooper's and Fergie's bodies with those of the ghost dogs. Cooper and Fergie track down the ghosts that stole their human bodies and lead them back to the shack so they can switch back. They make many attempts to prove their paren
—Iris Gamino
The Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine, including this book, is a great series to have for grades 3-5. This particular story tells the story of a boy named Cooper, who after moving into a new house, hears barking in the house. He realizes it's two dogs in his back yard, and the crazy, ghostly dogs drag him and his friend out to the dog house, and they wake up realizing they've switched places with the dogs! All of R.L. Stine's books are very suspenseful, and keep you wondering what's going to happen next. I feel this is important for young readers, so they want to continue reading. The illustrations on the front covers of these books are always interesting and give you a visual going into the book to make things a little scarier for the reader. Overall, a great series by R.L. Stine.
—Kelsey Winters
The book that I read today was about two brothers named Mickey and Cooper. Their parents and them have just moved to Maine. Cooper has been hearing strange noises from his window at night and it sounds like barking dogs. In the morning, he tells his mom and dad, but they don't seem to believe him. Then, cooper's neighbor's daughter, Margaret, confronts cooper and tells him about the haunted dogs. Suddenly, 2 huge black Labradors come out of the bushes and starts to chase Margaret and cooper. But then, the black Labradors vanished. So, cooper asked his mom if Margaret can have a sleep over, and she agreed. Cooper and Margaret was going to find the black Labradors again. So, at night, they both went outside to search for the dogs. They both found out that the dogs wanted to show them something. So, they both followed the dogs that lead them to an old abandoned shack. When they got inside the shed, there was no floor! They both fell down and finally reached the bottom. Then, the Labradors switched bodies with the two friends and acted like them. Now, cooper and Margaret could pass through doors and other objects. So then one day, cooper and Margaret dragged the two fakes to the shed again so they can swap bodies. But unfortunately, cooper and Margaret turned into chipmunks because chipmunks could sneak in and out of the shed. The end
—Isabel Orama
