Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns

infobox Book | | name = Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns
orig title =
translator =


author = R. L. Stine
cover_artist = Tim Jacobus
country = United States
language = English
series = Goosebumps
classification = Fiction
genre = Horror fiction, Children's literature
publisher = Scholastic
release_date = October 1996
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 133
isbn = 0-590-56885-X
preceded_by = Legend of the Lost Legend
followed_by = Vampire Breath

Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns is the 48th book in R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series.

ynopsis

Drew Brockman absolutely loves Halloween. Unfortunately, her last two Halloweens have been ruined by Tabby and Lee, two annoying kids who think they can get away with anything. Two years ago, Drew, along with her friends Walker, and twins Shane and Shana, were involved in a mean prank where Tabby and Lee staged a fake break-in at Lee's Halloween party. The year after, Drew planned a really scary Halloween party, only to learn that Tabby and Lee were spending Halloween at Lee's cousin's. What's worse, the fake slime that Shana had used for the party burned a hole through Drew's couch.

This year, Drew and her friends are planning the ultimate prank to scare Tabby and Lee straight. On Halloween, Shane and Shana tell Drew and Walker to invite Tabby and Lee to go trick-or-treating with them, and the two will meet the other four later on for the prank.

When Halloween comes, Drew's mom is reluctant to let Drew go out due to the disappearance of four overweight adults at a nearby town. But luckily, Drew's dad says that it's okay for her to go out as long as she is in a group.

As Drew, Walker, Tabby, and Lee head out, they run into two people dressed in black and wearing creepy jack o'lanterns on their heads. Tabby and Lee are convinced that the two are Shane and Shana, but Drew is not so sure. The two pumpkin headed people drag the kids into a seemingly idyll neighborhood for the purpose of getting lots of candy. But when it starts to get late, Drew and the others learn that the two will not let them stop, and want them to trick-or-treat forever. Tabby and Lee are still not scared, so they try to take the jack o'lanterns off the two, only when they do, the learn that there is no head beneath them and that the jack o'lanterns are still talking!

As the hours drag on, the two jack o'lanterns force the kids to eat the candy they already have to make room in their bags, and Drew and the others see this as their chance to escape. They try to get the attention of the people in the neighborhood, but it turns out that they are pumpkin headed monsters as well. So, the two jack o'lanterns decide to turn Drew and the others into pumpkin heads as well, and they take off their heads and put them on Tabby and Lee, who run off screaming into the woods.

At this point, it is revealed that the two jack o'lanterns were Shane and Shana, and that the entire ordeal was merely the prank that the four had created to scare Tabby and Lee. As it turns out, Shane and Shana are actually aliens with the ability to shapeshift, and the other people in the neighborhood were fellow aliens. As Shane and Shana prepare to head home, Drew offers them some of her candy, until the two tell her that their people only eat plump adults, meaning that they were responsible for the disappearances. Drew asks them if it is only a joke, but the book ends before they answer.

Television Episode

The book had been adapted into an episode for the "Goosebumps" television show, with some differences to the plot. They are:
*Drew and Lee switch ethnicities. In the book, Drew is Caucasian and Lee is African-American. In the episode, Drew is African-American and Lee is Caucasian.
*Shane and Shana had originally moved away before the episode began, but they return to visit Drew for Halloween.
*Walker does not know Shane or Shana as he does in the book, and he is surprised when Shane and Shana are revealed as aliens.
*Drew and Walker are unaware that the two jack o'lanterns are really Shane and Shana until the episode ends.
*Tabby is called "Tabitha" instead.
*In the book, Tabby and Lee dressed up as a space princess and bee respectively, while in the episode they dress up as space warriors.
*Only one Halloween party was held in the episode, held by Drew instead of Lee and was only mentioned.
*Todd and Joe, the two teenagers whom Tabby and Lee asked to perform the fake break-in, do not appear. Instead, Tabby and Lee are mentioned having performed the break-in at the party.
*Instead of Todd and Joe dressing like monsters and attacking Drew and Walker on Halloween night, Tabby and Lee dress like wolves and attack Drew and Walker the night before.
*Instead of Drew imagining a daydream about the elderly couple that keeps trick-or-treaters, Drew has a nightmare about the elderly couple the night before Halloween.
*Only Shane and Shana appear as jack o'lanterns. The other residents of the neighborhood do not turn into jack o'lanterns until after the four leave.
*The jack o'lantern heads do not have flames in the eyes and mouth throughout most of the special, but they are able to shoot fire from their mouths.
*Shane and Shana's true alien faces are revealed as small, Muppet-esque green heads with big eyes and antennae.

Tagline

Put one head in front of the other...

See also

List of Goosebumps books