What worked:
This book provides short samples of R.L. Stine’s style of writing. All of the chapters have eerie angles to their stories based on different interpretations of the author’s life as a young boy. Each chapter opens with one page referencing a life experience along with a hint as to how it influences the story. One chapter mentions Stine’s brother’s lucky hat that becomes an unfortunate adventure of good luck gone bad. Another chapter draws inspiration from being lost at the Columbus Zoo and becomes an encounter with unexpected, endangered creatures. Young children will often tell adults, “You’re not the boss of me,” and that’s transformed into how it might look if that were twisted into reality.
I like to look for patterns in order to predict where various stories are headed but Stine manages to keep me guessing. The first couple of chapters seem to turn out better than expected for the main characters but that trend doesn’t continue for every story. Some characters learn the hard way that with great power comes great responsibility. Other lessons might be that people should be careful what they wish for or they should treat others with more kindness and compassion.
In general, the book doesn’t include the strange and dangerous creatures or characters found in many of Stine’s “Fear Steet” and “Goosebumps” books. Much of this book reminds me of old “Twilight Zone” television episodes (you can find them on YouTube kids) that depict strange twists in human nature. Most of the chapters are probably born from the question of “What if?” However, that’s not to say the book doesn’t involve any creepy critters at all as some of the stories are darker than others. A bit of evil is bound to work its way into the details when characters are dealing with embarrassment, anger, and revenge.
What didn’t work as well:
The short stories may have readers wanting more. Many of them end with dramatic reveals so readers are left wondering, “Now what?” In one story, a character unveils his hidden secret and terrifies his classmates and he hints that things will get worse. Readers are left to wonder how bad it might get although using our imaginations to make predictions can be enjoyable too. Sometimes.
The Final Verdict:
I was skeptical about how well Stine would be able to transfer his style to short stories but he’s amazingly successful. He’s able to generate intrigue and suspense through his strange views of the world and I highly recommend you give this book a chance.

Another great by R.L. Stine!

I was introduced to this author via a podcast, where I found him to be smart, funny, and engaging. The same can be said for his writing. All ages will happily fly through this book of scary short stories.

Unique to this series is the intro given to each short. I loved the peek into the author’s mind: How and why he created each story was as interesting to me as the individual shorts.

Highly recommended! Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and R.L. Stine for granting access to a digital ARC in exchange for my opinions.

I got this book for free, in exchange for my honest opinion via NetGalley.

I've been a fan of R.L. Stine for as long as I can remember. So when the opportunity came to read this book, I jumped at it. I have yet to read the first in this series, and you need not to read it in order to enjoy this book. All the stories were well-written and ultimately had lessons to learn from. Some of the stories I didn't care for like, but the rest were so good. I would've loved to see "The Stopwatch," as a full on book. I also enjoyed the intros to the stories, like how he came up with them.

Overall, this was a wonderful and quick read, definitely recommend for R.L. Stine fans young and old, and a good starting point if you want to introduce him to a reader for the first time

💭Thoughts:
These stories brought back so many memories for me. I devoured every Goosebumps book I could get my hands on as a kid. So when I saw R.L. Stine was coming out with ten new stories I jumped at the opportunity to read them.

They didn’t disappoint. They are full of great scares, humor, and fun. I think young readers will enjoy these short stories and find them very relatable! From the boy who can stop time to get revenge on his bullies to the boy who switches bodies with another for 24 hours. Each story has a great lesson to learn!

I look forward to the day I can share my love of R.L. Stine with my son.

Stinetinglers 2 - Another 10 new short tales from R. L. Stine. Once again Stine brings us modernized Goosebumps-ish stories in short form. And again, the writing is a little more dynamic than the more formulaic series of the past, and with the short story format, they stay on point. Some are better than others, but for the most part they contain tongue-in-cheek humor and surprise twists. Fans of Stine, or even those new to his writing, should enjoy this book.

I enjoyed reading this book, I have always loved the books by R.L.Stine, it gives a feeling of nostalgia. I read this with my son and we bonded over this book, he loves goosebumps so it was a great to share this with him. It was filled with short stories that my son and I took turns reading. Such a marvelous spooky book.

I have always been and always will be an R.L. Stine fan. I've read his adult, teen, and children's stories and I love them all, so this was near and dear to my heart.

I am a fan of the short story form and Stine writes it really well. A few stood out more than others but this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I liked all of the stories, even if some of the adult characters got on my nerves- I love how sympathetic he makes the main characters even if you find out they are evil in the end!My favorites were The Stopwatch, What's in the Claw Machine, and The Bad Birthday Party.

Anyone looking for some fun short stories, maybe to read with kids or for themselves will love this collection. Maybe not as a bedtime story though! 😂

Thank you to NetGalley, ‎Feiwel & Friends, and R.L. Stine for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read every R. L. Stine book I could get my hands on as a kid. This collection of ten new short stories is the perfect blast of nostalgia. I love that the author writes a little bit about how he was inspired for the story or something in his life he relates to the story. It makes it a little extra cool for me. Especially since I listened to the first Stinetinglers book and he reads those so when I read this one I read those in his voice. I liked these stories even better than the first collection. I thought they were fun and full of good moral lessons. I really liked Kids Rule and a Bad Birthday Party the most, but I honestly enjoyed all of the stories. They were the perfect blend of reality with just a little bit of spooky thrown in. It’s nice to know that R. L. Stine remains an author I can enjoy.

R.L. Stine is one of the top-most people responsible for my love of horror, both reading and writing it (along with Alvin Schwartz, of course). While I mostly read more adult horror these days, there's something so warm and nostalgic about cracking open a scary children's book by R.L. Stine.

Stinetinglers 2 features ten new short stories. It's a bit funny at times when I'm reminded these are new, modern Stine stories by random mentions of YouTube and Netflix, but then a few sentences later he'll write "capture on video" or "I started the Minecraft game" which sounds odd for a kid in 2023 to say. I found it charming, though - Stine is 79 years old, after all, and I'm dreading the day we'll no longer get new Stine stories so I don't want to be too hard on him. He at least does better than King when writing kids lol

Also, before each story is a little note from the author, which is usually an anecdote from his childhood that he supplies as the inspiration for the story you're about to read. This is a very Stine thing to do and I loved it, but then I'm a writer and I find it fascinating to hear from other writers about what inspired them or a particular story of theirs.

Some of my favorites of the bunch include:

Lost and Found - super fun and genuinely creepy! Two girls get lost at the zoo and encounter some creatures they wish they hadn't, which I'm deliberately not spoiling as it took even me by surprise lol I think kids will really love this one.

Mind Blowers - a creepy Freaky Friday-esque story with some cool sci-fi (reminiscent of the horror movie Possessor). A little disappointed the doc wasn't a villain, but still very enjoyable. I think the idea behind this one would make for a good full-length Goosebumps, especially with that classic ending!

The Stopwatch - Stine got a little too real here, with the voice of the protagonist coming through very strong and authentic. It almost felt more like I was reading Stephen King here, which was an odd feeling, but wow was this one good. A seriously scary standout.

A Bad Birthday Party - this was just sad until it got weird. The twist isn't out of left field but it was still so weird and so goofy. Loved the ending lol

I'm unsure if it's intentional (assuming it is) but there are some recurring settings and themes: luck, time, zoos, and, strangely, salami pizza. Overall this was a great bunch of horror shorts for kids that I'm sure they'll all love - and you will too, if you grew up a Stine fan like me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

I did enjoy this one more than the first one. All of the stories were interesting and had a good moral lesson to them. Some of the endings were goofy, but they had a goosebumps charm to them. I also like how RL Stine mentioned his inspiration for the stories at the beginning of each one. I’d recommend this for children who enjoy spooky stories or people chasing goosebumps nostalgia like me.

Stinetinglers 2 brings 10 new stories from R.L. Stine. These were everything I expected from the author of Goosebumps and did not disappoint even though I haven't read Goosebumps in a long time. These stories continue to show how actions have consequences. My favorite story was the one where kids stepped into a mirror that reversed everything- including the roles of kids and adults. Overall, this is a great thrilling read for all ages. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital advanced copy!