My Hairiest Adventure by R.L. Stine is Goosebumps book 26 in the original series. This book is an obvious reference to puberty and growing hair in strange places which Stine has a lot of fun with. I think the premise of my group of friends suddenly disappearing and leaving with no trace, then resembling something hairy is terrifying but the way the book is set up it doesn’t impact us the way that it should. This book was made into an episode for the Goosebumps TV show that was terrifying, but the book didn’t do the greatest job. The nightmare where hair consumes the main character and starts eating his own hair was the only scary part of the book. The story starts fast and is pretty focused on the hair growing out of control plot. This book is not filled with as many pranks as the usual Goosebumps. The plot is pretty ridiculous, but the twist even though the reader will know where it is going is still a good one.

The Plot Summary: Larry who has shagged hair is already has the unfortunate nickname of Hairy Larry. Larry is chased by a wild dog pack which has been increasing around the neighborhood, he and a friend end up scaring them off and ends up finding an old expired instant tan in the garbage that he and all of his bandmates try. Later that day he grows hair all over his hand, is is ugly black thick hair and Larry is a blonde. He freaks out and is embarrassed and shaves it all off. He brings it up at the next band meeting and they brush it off and say the nickname Hairy Larry until he drops it. One of his band members doesn’t show up and the group goes looking for him to find the find his house completely empty and no sign anyone ever lived there. The hair now starts growing all over as his friends keep disappearing, what is going on?

What I Liked: The plot idea and the twists are really great I think a lot more could have been done with it. Some of the characters are annoying but I believed their friendship. There was some funny bits about hair growing in the wrong places. I liked the writing in the nightmare, the scenes were vivid in there descriptions. I liked the relationship with the cat through out the story which makes a lot more sense with the twist.

What I Disliked: The Battle of the Bands was wasted it could have been a lot more. I think the reveal of the members was too soon and would have been way better towards the end and kept the mystery.

Recommendation: This story falls in the just okay category, it had so much potential but didn’t live up to it in my opinion. I think this would be an interesting story for someone starting puberty, just a warning for stuffs about to get weird but not as weird as this story so it’s okay. I rated My Hairiest Adventure by R. L. Stine 3 out of 5 stars. Here’s my full ranking of the 26 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) Stay Out of the Basement, 2) Ghost Beach, 3) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 4) The Haunted Mask, 5) One Day At Horrorland, 6) Night of the Living Dummy, 7) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 8) The Phantom of the Auditorium, 9) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, 10) Say Cheese and Die, 11) Let’s Get Invisible, 12) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 13) Welcome to Dead House, 14) Monster Blood II, 15) The Girl who Cried Monster, 16)Deep Trouble, 17) The Ghost Next Door, 18) My Hairiest Adventure, 19) Be Careful What You Wish For… , 20) Return of the Mummy, 21) Why I’m Afraid of Bees, 22)Attack of the Mutant, 23) Go Eat Worms!, 24) The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 25) Monster Blood, And 26) You Can’t Scare Me!