Goosebumps 7 – Night of the Living Dummy

R. L. Stine's Night of the Living Dummy is a creepy Goosebumps story for 8 year olds about twin sisters and a dummy with a very nasty grin.

What happens

Kris and Lindy are twelve and almost identical (Lindy has the long ponytail, Kris has short hair). They share a bedroom, clothes and nearly everything else. They compete over everything, even bubble gum.

One afternoon Lindy spots something sticking out of a skip beside the new house going up next door. It's a ventriloquist's dummy in a grey suit. She names him Slappy, and soon she's being paid to do shows at birthday parties.

So of course Kris wants one too. Their dad finds another dummy in a pawnshop, with red hair and white trainers, and Kris calls him Mr. Wood.

That's when things start to go wrong. One morning a dummy is propped in the doorway wearing Kris's best party clothes. A dummy snarls horrible things in a voice neither twin will own up to. And one night the girls walk in to find the two dummies in a heap on the floor, as if they've had a fight.

So who's doing it? Lindy? Kris? Or something else? You keep changing your mind, which is half the fun.

The story swaps between the sisters, so you see both sides. Lindy loves the attention. Kris is jealous and a bit cross with herself about it. If your reader has a brother or sister who seems good at everything, they'll recognise that feeling straight away!

A dummy with a painted grin, sitting in a chair at night, is a classic scare for a reason. Kris wakes at three in the morning to find Slappy staring at her in the moonlight. A child who's spooked by dolls or puppets might find that image sticks.

There's nothing gory, though. It's prickly-neck creepy rather than horrible, and the jokes and sisterly sniping keep it moving fast.

What to read next

If they're after another girl who's usually the one playing the tricks, The Girl Who Cried Monster is a good next step. Lucy loves scaring her little brother with made-up monsters, so nobody listens when she sees something truly horrible at the library.