Age: 7+

#56 "Last one in is a rotten... ghost!"
Sarah hates Camp Cold Lake. Nobody likes her and she just doesn't fit in. But when she pretends to drown in the nasty lake to make people feel sorry for her things don't go exactly the way she expected. She has no idea that there's someone lurking in the shadows. Who can this mysterious stranger be? ( )

Goosebumps. This is the series that kept me reading through my childhood. More than any other series, Goosebumps kept me interested in reading, and R.L. Stein is a wonderful children's writer. I applaud his efforts, and can't express enough my gratitude for the series. ( )

Yet another Goosebumps book about summer camp. Will it be like [b: Welcome to Camp Nightmare|125538|Welcome to Camp Nightmare (Goosebumps, #9)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390767495s/125538.jpg|2687577]? Will it be a rehash of [b: The Horror at Camp Jellyjam?] or will it be more like [b: Ghost Camp|411446|Ghost Camp (Goosebumps, #45)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328867786s/411446.jpg|400708]? How about none of the above? [a: R.L. Stine|13730|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1194380070p2/13730.jpg] managed in [b: The Curse of Camp Cold Lake|125541|The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (Goosebumps, #56)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328866841s/125541.jpg|120906] to write something that married [b: Ghost Camp|411446|Ghost Camp (Goosebumps, #45)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328867786s/411446.jpg|400708] to [b: The Horror at Camp Jellyjam|125591|The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (Goosebumps, #33)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328867788s/125591.jpg|120956] and birthed something a bit more original, while still holding the prosaic allure of the before mentioned two titles.

Sarah doesn't care for Camp Cold Lake. She doesn't really like swimming, nor nature, and would rather have spent her summer relaxing or playing with friends. Instead, she's stuck with her brother at a camp where she doesn't really get along with anyone. At first, the meanness of the other campers seems a bit justified. She exposes a girl's asthma when she wants to keep it secret, is a terror about bunking situations, and generally having a bad attitude towards life. When she starts trying to make amends, however, the meanness only doubles down. Finally, she resorts to a last ditch strategy to fake drowning to make the other campers feel bad for her. Only, while faking, she goes a bit too far and meets a ghost that wants to be her camp buddy... forever.

This book was interesting to me because it highlighted the very real issue of cliques and not belonging. The isolation that Sarah felt, while initially deserved, was continued long after it should have been and resulted in her resorting to equally terrible extremes to deal with it. The feelings she felt were ones a lot of people could resort to, and I felt that there was a lesson to be learned from this even though it was wrapped up in layers of typical Goosebumps silliness. ( )

## Last one in is a rotten...ghost!

The Curse at Camp Cold Lake is among the creepiest, scariest, most successful and focused Goosebumps stories. It epitomizes the series in a way few entries do -- the cover's perfectly creepy, the title is chilling, and the story sticks to clever scares to get younger readers turning pages. Like so few other entries, it also tackles some significant social issues kids might be facing, too, which is really admirable.

[N.B. This review includes images, and was formatted for my site, dendrobibliography -- located here.]

Sarah and her brother, Aaron, are dropped off for a week of summer camp at Camp Cold Lake. Sarah's a shy, gawky youth who suffers crippling social anxieties that get her into trouble. She makes a few verbal blunders and makes quick enemies of her bunkmates, ensuring every moment of her 'vacation' will be miserable, defined by a cycle of bullying behavior by all her bunkmates -- and, of course, her enabling counselors. It can be pretty brutal, but I could easily identify with many of the social blunders.

## They'll feel so guilty. They'll never forgive themselves for the way they treated me.
## After my close call, they'll see how mean they were. And they'll want to be best friends with me.
## We'll all be best friends.

It's a slowburn, this story, and the first half builds up to a defining moment of Sarah getting even the only way she feels she can: She pretends to drown. Only -- and this is one of the best scenes of any Goosebumps novel -- she sort of...does. Briefly. And in that brief moment, she's in a deserted Camp Cold Lake in the midst of an oppressive winter storm. She meets Della, a past Camp Cold Lake camper who died years before, and who's desperate to find a friend. As desperate as Sarah is to make friends, too, she doesn't want to die. She's resuscitated by the counselor on duty, but Della has no plans of letting her new friend get away....

It's excellent for the series -- almost unbelievably so at times. Like just about every Goosebumps novel, however, it ends on a silly twist. It's not as nonsensical as other entries, but it does, I feel, betray some significant characterization and plot points, and detract quite a bit from the creepy buildup. Regardless, this is still one of the best entries for new readers or nostalgic adults who want to see if the series can do its name justice.

## Did things get better when I arrived at the lake for canoeing? Three guesses.
[...Kind of a binary question, isn't it?]

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (1992–1997):
#55 The Blob That Ate Everyone | # 57 My Best Friend is Invisible ( )