Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes by R. L Stine is Goosebumps book 34 in the original series order. This book is not that scary but does have some terrifying moments. The book does have a twist that is pretty good but after the twist it looks like Stine ran out of ideas for how to end it. The most terrifying moment is when the Gnomes want to fold the kids up into squares. After reading 34 Goosebumps books you start to see patterns Welcome to Dead House and Ghost Beach are pretty much the same story, and this book and Night of the Living Dummy 2 have the same set up. What is with Stine and painting things as a prank. This book is all about the pranks in the last Goosebumps book The Horror at Camp Jellyjam there were no pranks so Stine had to double and almost triple down on pranks. Some are funny but the majority are annoying. Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes was published on August 1 1995.
Plot Summary: Joe Burton is a jokester and loves pestering his older sister who is so gullible and always falling for his jokes. Joe’s Father and the neighbor have competing gardens and a healthy competitive nature, the problem is Joe’s dog who like to lie in the neighbors garden could damage the plants. this has been a contention as the neighbor threatens the pound. Joe’s dad has an obsession with lawn ornaments and has just gotten two ugly lawn gnomes, which no one in the family likes except the dad. Joe and the next door neighbor kid moose involve them in their pranks of the older sister. The dog almost gets busted by the neighbor, that Joe has to blow his dog whistle to get him to move but he swears he saw a lawn gnome react as well. The next day the neighbor’s fruits from the garden are smashed and Joe’s dog get’s punished, but Joe can’t figure out what happened until he finds a seed in a gnome’s mouth. Joe is pretty sure they are alive and sets up a plan that backfires and Joe gets in trouble. Can he prove they’re alive before he gets into more trouble.
What I Liked: The plot twist was unexpected involving the gnomes, but the cleverness doesn’t last long after it. The Gnome chants could be pretty terrifying especially, “fold them!” I liked how crazy the garden war got with Joe’s dad and the neighbor dad. This story is the rare one where a parent has something to do in the story, is part of the narrative. I did like the way the lawn ornament store was described.
What I Disliked: Too many pranks and it’s pranks about being injured that I didn’t care for, that’s just mean, and the others are too much. At the end the gnomes reveal the secret to their power which they could have stolen at anytime, and should have been. the Gnomes had no plan what so ever and it really hurt the ending.
Recommendations: This one is a miss for me it was way to similar to the set up of Night of the Living Dummy about an object coming to life, and pranking people with paint. This book is low on the fears and could have been so much better. Not the worst of the Goosebumps but not a very good one which is a shame because my favorite scene in the Goosebumps movie starring Jack Black is The Gnomes scene. I rated Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes 3 out of 5 stars. Here’s my full ranking of the 34 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) Ghost Beach, 4) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 5) The Haunted Mask, 6) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 7) One Day At Horrorland, 8) Night of the Living Dummy, 9) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 10) The Phantom of the Auditorium, 11) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 12) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, 13) Say Cheese and Die, 14) Let’s Get Invisible, 15) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 16) Welcome to Dead House, 17) Monster Blood II, 18) The Girl who Cried Monster, 19)Deep Trouble, 20) The Ghost Next Door, 21)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 22) My Hairiest Adventure, 23) Be Careful What You Wish For… , 24) Return of the Mummy, 25) Why I’m Afraid of Bees, 26)Attack of the Mutant, 27) Go Eat Worms!, 28) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 29)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 30) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 31) Monster Blood, 32) The Barking Ghost, 33) You Can’t Scare Me!, and 34) Monster Blood III. (less)
Book Review: Goosebumps – Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes by R. L. Stine

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