Goosebumps – How I Got My Shrunken Head is Goosebumps by R. L. Stine is book 39 in the original series order. This book has some scares, quicksand, giant ants, a tiger, and people trying to shrink the main character’s head. This book has more than a few twists, some are good and others are not. The beginning is set up like other Goosebumps where the object comes alive and causes trouble, Like in Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes and Night of the Living Dummy 1 and 2, but this is just a setup and not about the shrunken head coming alive. After a setup scene in America the novel is mostly a jungle island adventure either Central America or South America (it is a made up Island name). The novel takes fish out of water turn as it did in Return of the Mummy where it takes a kid out of his element and makes him live in the jungle. There’s a good prank pulled by the adult airplane captain acting like the kid is going to have to jump out of the plane. The novel is off-putting as you feel the in the back of your mind that you can’t trust at least one person, that is bringing you to an almost remote island. The pace picks up as the danger of the jungle gets real. I like how this title could be How I Spent My Summer Vacation because that is what it is and at the end of the book is going to be a show and tell at the start of the school year. This is a good solid Goosebumps not great but good. How I Got My Shrunken Head by R.L. Stine was published on January 1, 1996, by Scholastic.

Plot Summary: Mark loves the Jungle even though he’s never been there, but his Aunt Benna works in one. His favorite video game is jungle theme ad even has a jungle yell. Carolyn who works with Aunt Benna arrives with a gift for Mark a shrunken head from the jungle. At first, Mark is freaked over the shrunken head. His younger sister is instantly jealous steals it and plays pranks with it. Mark wakes up at night with the shrunken head glowing and wakes the house. No one believes him except Carolyn says she was sent to bring Mark to Aunt Benna. After a rough landing, Mark meets the rest of the team Dr. Hawlings another scientist, and his daughter Kareen. Who tells him that Aunt Benna has been missing for some time and that seeing the glowing shrunken head is a kind of jungle magic that can be used to find Aunt Benna? Can Mark use this new power to find his aunt or could there be more to it?

What I Liked: The danger of being trapped on an island and all the things that can kill you like quicksand and tigers. I like that you’re set up to believe that the shrunken head is possessed, but it is Mark’s jungle magic the whole time. I like the digging through the pile of shrunken heads scene. Kareen has a pretty good twist with her character. I like how the jungle magic was explained, I still wanted more about the tribe that shrunk heads.

What I Disliked: We learned nothing of the tribe and their strange jungle magic. The ending was so set up for the villain/s to get a shrunken head but something else happens, which is such a missed opportunity. The whole climax could have been avoided with jungle magic earlier. The story was missing the fun and humor that most Goosebumps have.

Recommendations and Rating: This story could have been better but was just okay. The story is interesting but there is a lot that doesn’t make sense after the fact. I thought the scare was there but this story was missing the fun factor. I rated How I Got My Shrunken Head by R. L. Stine 3 out of 5 stars. Here’s my full ranking of the 39 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) The Headless Ghost, 4) Ghost Beach, 5) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 6) The Haunted Mask, 7) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 8) One Day At Horrorland, 9) Night of the Living Dummy, 10) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 11) A Shocker on Shock Street, 12)The Phantom of the Auditorium, 13) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 14) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, 15) Say Cheese and Die, 16) Let’s Get Invisible, 17) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 18) Welcome to Dead House, 19) Monster Blood II, 20) The Girl who Cried Monster, 21)Deep Trouble, 22) The Ghost Next Door, 23)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 24) My Hairiest Adventure, 25) Be Careful What You Wish For… , 26) Return of the Mummy, 27) Why I’m Afraid of Bees, 28)The Haunted Mask II, 29)How I Got My Shruken Head, 30) Attack of the Mutant, 31) Go Eat Worms!, 32) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 33)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 34) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 35) Monster Blood, 36) The Barking Ghost, 37) The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, 38) You Can’t Scare Me!, and 39) Monster Blood III.