An eleven-year-old fan told me about the series. She says they''re
the
only
books she likes. The bookshop had a whole shelf of them, of two
different kinds. First there are the straight Goosebumps® stories,
with 56 titles listed in the back of the book, this present one being
No. 57. There could be more by now. The bookshop also had several "Give
Yourself Goosebumps" titles, with "20 different scary endings in each
book!" -- in the style of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books which I
have never been able to read. A closer look revealed that nearly all
the books in the shelf were of this second type, so the choice of
Goosebumps No. 57 was made by default. All those I looked at were
narrated in the first person, a technique with well-known limitations.
The story is about a character called Sammy whose parents are
research
scientists and whose brother Simon is a
goody-goody type who never
gets into trouble. Sammy finds himself in one pickle after another because
of
Brent, an
invisible boy who has come to live in Sammy''s room. Sammy''s
friend,
Roxanne, insists on investigating a supposedly haunted house for their
school science project and you can imagine the kinds of things that
follow.
I enjoyed the story. It didn''t scare me, not the least little
shiver,
but it was entertaining, and I read it through at a sitting. There were
a few funny parts, but the "twist" ending seemed to me silly
and unconnected to the body of the story (other readers think it''s the
whole point).
The title is a puzzle. The invisible boy is not Sammy''s
best friend
or any kind of a friend. He gets Sammy into trouble at every turn.
Sammy
can''t get rid of him, and nobody believes that he exists. Roxanne isn''t
much of a friend either. Do kids care about such things?
More reviews about the Goosebumps® No. 57: My Best Friend Is Invisible