The Nightmare Room 01 – Don’t Forget Me!

R. L. Stine's Don't Forget Me is the first Nightmare Room book, a spooky story for 11 year olds about a joke that goes horribly wrong.

What happens

Danielle's family has just moved into an enormous old house. Peeling wallpaper, missing floorboards and a basement she hasn't dared go down into yet. Then she hears whispering on the basement stairs. And it's calling her little brother's name.

Peter is nine and (according to Danielle) completely annoying. Her friends all think he's adorable, which doesn't help! She even jokes that her birthday wish is to be an only child.

So when her best friend Addie dreams up a fake hypnotism act for the school talent show, Peter begs to be hypnotised too. Danielle swings a silver dollar on a chain and pretends. It's supposed to be a laugh.

Only Peter won't wake up.

When he finally does, he doesn't know where he is. Then he can't remember how to play his favourite computer game. Then he's eating his burger with the wrong hand. Is he messing about, or has Danielle really done something to him?

Reading it, you're right inside Danielle's head, and she's good company. She's sarcastic about her brother one minute and properly frightened for him the next. The early chapters are short and most of them end on a cliffhanger, so it's VERY hard to stop at bedtime.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

This is a proper scary book. There's a man in a black raincoat watching the house from behind a tree, and something truly nasty waiting in that basement. Mum and Dad are away on a trip, so Danielle is dealing with all of it on her own. She's fifteen, too, so there's a little bit of talk about crushes on two boys from school.

If your reader gets spooked at night, it might be one to read in daylight. If they love a good fright, they'll gobble it up. Who doesn't secretly want to know what's at the bottom of the stairs?

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Locker 13 is the next Nightmare Room book. It follows a boy who's convinced his new school locker number is the unluckiest thing that could happen to him.