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Bone Chillers #21
The Dog Ate My Homework
A season without Bone Chillers is like a year without creepy, scary fun. Now a hit Saturday morning TV series, the bestselling Bone Chillers books are more popular than ever with the nightmares-are-us crowd. They'll be screaming for more late-night thrills and the wonderfully weird books that turn reading into a bone-chilling experience.
- GenresHorror
144 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Betsy Haynes
123 books111 followersABOUT ME
Maybe it's because my feisty grandma chased tarantulas around with a broom when we lived on an oil lease property when I was a baby that made me love danger and adventure. And maybe it was my father's spending nights as a trombonist with the bands of his day and his days spent drawing sketches that sparked my artistic side. Do you suppose that because my mother stood only four feet ten inches tall that I feel like a giant at five feet? And I'm sure my FBI (Full Blooded Italian) step-father, his seven brothers and sisters and their families are responsible for my LOVE of Italian food. That's who I am. Who are you?
My First Book, Peppy The Frog That I Wrote In The 2nd Grade
I'll always be a child at heart. Whenever I close my eyes, wonderful, funny, awful, embarrassing memories of middle school/junior high come flooding back to fill the pages of my contemporary novels. My childhood friendships and rivalries with old enemies all find their way into my books. I've even spied on my own kids for story ideas.
Unlike most kids who can't wait to grow up, I've gotten younger--at least my stories have. I've stepped into the world of 7 to 10 year olds.
I and my husband, Jim, live in Texas on Lake Lewisville north of Dallas. We are owned by our greyhound, Miller. Our favorite things to do are traveling the world and boating.
Maybe it's because my feisty grandma chased tarantulas around with a broom when we lived on an oil lease property when I was a baby that made me love danger and adventure. And maybe it was my father's spending nights as a trombonist with the bands of his day and his days spent drawing sketches that sparked my artistic side. Do you suppose that because my mother stood only four feet ten inches tall that I feel like a giant at five feet? And I'm sure my FBI (Full Blooded Italian) step-father, his seven brothers and sisters and their families are responsible for my LOVE of Italian food. That's who I am. Who are you?
My First Book, Peppy The Frog That I Wrote In The 2nd Grade
I'll always be a child at heart. Whenever I close my eyes, wonderful, funny, awful, embarrassing memories of middle school/junior high come flooding back to fill the pages of my contemporary novels. My childhood friendships and rivalries with old enemies all find their way into my books. I've even spied on my own kids for story ideas.
Unlike most kids who can't wait to grow up, I've gotten younger--at least my stories have. I've stepped into the world of 7 to 10 year olds.
I and my husband, Jim, live in Texas on Lake Lewisville north of Dallas. We are owned by our greyhound, Miller. Our favorite things to do are traveling the world and boating.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 19, 2025
Be Careful What You Wish For, but the genie is a chatbot called System Greeter.
A very silly but kind of fun book.
A very silly but kind of fun book.
January 26, 2024
The Dog Ate My Homework is a book that I've been wanting to read for a while.From the back of the book ,it sounded a lot like The Blob That Ate Everyone from the original Goosebumps series and it kind of is.The story starts off with Azalea or Azie as her friends call her.She just got sent to the principals office for lying again.This is something she does a lot.She mostly lies for fun telling small white lies.This time shes in trouble for lying to her teacher saying she got a head injury or something like that.She gets grounded and is super upset so she plays on her computer and runs into this Liars club chatroom.She chats with this user or owner of the chat named System Greeter.They chat for a bit and Azie wants to create her own Liars Club.System Greeter basically gives her a trial lie to see if she can actually create a Liars Club.The lie she is told to do is just one statement and that's "the dog ate it" but when she says this she must first say a weird wacky word that's like schsik or something.She goes to class the next day and the teacher asks for her homework only for Azie to yell out the phrase.Sure enough there is a dog outside the school window tearing apart the homework.Azie quickly tells her two friends about The Liars Club and introduces them to System Greeter.He tells the two that they also have to do an intitave lie.And there lie is that the whole class gets pizza at lunch time.There are certain catches to these lies though and that's, you must tell somebody outside of the group and all lies are final.They can't be reversed.The scares in this book are more centered around having a lot of fame and doing permanent damage to someone without thinking of consequences.There are a group of bullies that try to steal the kids money when they lie about being rich and they get turned into something and I really enjoyed that scene.There are termites as advertised on the back symbiosis that show up and cause a lot of damage but I feel like that half of the book was somehow least interesting.I really enjoyed them just making up different lies and seeing different things happen.I had a lot of fun with The Dog Ate My Homework.But I dont think it was perfect.I do also want to mention that I liked that the weird wacky word actually meant something.The only complaints I had were I do wish we learned about System Greeter a little more.And the ending was actually kinda basic.But i do recommend it.Id probably give it a three out of five stars.
September 21, 2021
After getting in trouble for lying at school - again, Azie is now grounded and looking to pass the time online, when she discovers a new chat room called "The Liars' Club." She strikes up a chat with the System Greeter of the chat room and tell them she wants to join, in hopes of being able to tell a lie without getting caught.
The greeter gives her a "test lie" to try out in school the next day, assuring her that if the lie is believed, then every lie she tells thereafter will come true - but only if she uses the nonsensical "magic word" beforehand.
She brings her two best friends into the club with her, but they quickly learn all lies have consequences. Not to mention there's something seriously weird about the System Greeter.
The greeter gives her a "test lie" to try out in school the next day, assuring her that if the lie is believed, then every lie she tells thereafter will come true - but only if she uses the nonsensical "magic word" beforehand.
She brings her two best friends into the club with her, but they quickly learn all lies have consequences. Not to mention there's something seriously weird about the System Greeter.
March 31, 2021
We finish this cycle of the ripoff series I covered last year, on the eve of the 1 year anniversary of me doing that month to begin with. I got another round of more of these series coming in May and after that I'll do a cycle those before returning to some of these so...yeah.
Bone Chillers has proved to be one of the most wild of these series. Logic is usually spotty, but for the sake of what is usually a wild and fun story, and Betsy has shown herself to be good at character relationships as well. This entry stands out as it has the only one past book 10 to be credted to Betsy herself and not a ghostwriter. I say credited as it's possible it was ghostwritten and they just weren't credited. We have no way to confirm it but it is odd that she did just one in the latter half.
There only thing to hint at this is the lack of her trademark (?) character stuff I mentioned. The friendship with our protagonist Azie (yes) and her two male friends is just there, nothing too notable. There is a bit where she is concerned about what they do to these bullies, which is nice but that's as close as we get.
We do have a from of growth though so perhaps that can count. Anyway, this one is especially bonkers. Azie likes telling small lies, which gets her in trouble. One day while on her 1997 internet chatrooms, she suddenly finds out called The Lair's Club. In it is only one user, System Greeter. He tells her that it can grant her the power to make her lies come true and having never heard of stranger danger online, she listens and long story short, she, and her friends get the power to have their lies come true, with the help of magic words.
I was both really into this and not quite feeling it at the same time. It gets started a bit too quickly and doesn't ease us into things as much as some others. But also, we know the score with Azie right away so there's nothing too deep to introduce us too besides the basics. Although she never gets a physical description, oddly enough.. It's made worse by someone calling her "Blondie" which would work better if her hair color was established first.
Okay, that's nitpicking lol. There's a few dull spots between bit bouts of fun but eventually that isn't an issue, especially when we get to the third act. The villain is this System Greeter and basically he's like...I guess an Ai inside her computer that also has actual magic powers that it gives the kids. It's never explained how he came about at all. There's that logic thing again, it's just weird. I was expecting him to be a real person on a computer, just with magic powers but not, it''[s something way weirder.
But it all just weirdly works. I think in the case it's because his deal is at least logical with itself. The way he operates stays the same, problems that come about aren't out of nowhere make sense with what was established. Even his defeat is like this, even if it';s the most cliche way to defeat a machine.
It's still very silly and not logical, and usually being a silly kids horror book can only take you so far but this goes so far with it that becomes fun instead of annoying. And again, there is actual effort put into the story flow and how things operate, as silly and dumb as it all is. It will depend on the person and how much subjective enjoyment they get and that goes for me. But I also take into account if there is at least some effort put into the story or it feels like they threw random shit in there and figured it being kids for kids means they don't have to try.
(This is all why this worked for me while Nightmare Room's Liar Liar, which has a similar setup, did not.)
The lack of explanation for him is still an issue but the main bulk of the story makes it fun enough. There's some decent be careful what you wish for stuff with their lies and it has some fun with them. Then comes the third act, where it goes for bonkers and I love it. System Greeter is basically the silly version of a typical AI villain, the way his dialogue is done is funny since he likes to make those angry emoticons while going on about how powerful he is. It's great, he was delightful but was able to be a threat when he gets out of control.
There's solid danger here and a nice sobering moment is thrown in the middle of it. Ending is abrupt but at least has Azie learning her lesson. No twist here. She could have easily been unlikable but her lies aren't harmful ones, just ones on the level of the title, and she has little moments like the one I mentioned to help make her likable. And she learns the lesson naturally enough.
Overall, this was fun. Takes a bit to get going but eventually it becomes pretty enjoyable with how bonkers it is. Not as dark as some of these can get and lacks the character stuff some entries have, so it's a favorite but it has some pretty fun stuff to make up for it. If you can forgive logical problems with the villain, you can have a blast with how bonkers this gets in the end.
Ghostwritten or not, it has its charms. Well, with a cycle done, I'll be trying to fit in a couple misc Goosebumps-ish series, not quite ripoffs but similar enough that I've been wanting to maybe look into them. That Are you afraid of the dark book was a testing ground for this, so hopefully through April I can work in some I want to do, I hope. See ya then.
(Oh and this has one of the grossest moments I've seen in these, won't say it but I both loved and hated it at the same time. Also this just ends up the silly version of Spooksville's Phone Fear, lol)
Bone Chillers has proved to be one of the most wild of these series. Logic is usually spotty, but for the sake of what is usually a wild and fun story, and Betsy has shown herself to be good at character relationships as well. This entry stands out as it has the only one past book 10 to be credted to Betsy herself and not a ghostwriter. I say credited as it's possible it was ghostwritten and they just weren't credited. We have no way to confirm it but it is odd that she did just one in the latter half.
There only thing to hint at this is the lack of her trademark (?) character stuff I mentioned. The friendship with our protagonist Azie (yes) and her two male friends is just there, nothing too notable. There is a bit where she is concerned about what they do to these bullies, which is nice but that's as close as we get.
We do have a from of growth though so perhaps that can count. Anyway, this one is especially bonkers. Azie likes telling small lies, which gets her in trouble. One day while on her 1997 internet chatrooms, she suddenly finds out called The Lair's Club. In it is only one user, System Greeter. He tells her that it can grant her the power to make her lies come true and having never heard of stranger danger online, she listens and long story short, she, and her friends get the power to have their lies come true, with the help of magic words.
I was both really into this and not quite feeling it at the same time. It gets started a bit too quickly and doesn't ease us into things as much as some others. But also, we know the score with Azie right away so there's nothing too deep to introduce us too besides the basics. Although she never gets a physical description, oddly enough.. It's made worse by someone calling her "Blondie" which would work better if her hair color was established first.
Okay, that's nitpicking lol. There's a few dull spots between bit bouts of fun but eventually that isn't an issue, especially when we get to the third act. The villain is this System Greeter and basically he's like...I guess an Ai inside her computer that also has actual magic powers that it gives the kids. It's never explained how he came about at all. There's that logic thing again, it's just weird. I was expecting him to be a real person on a computer, just with magic powers but not, it''[s something way weirder.
But it all just weirdly works. I think in the case it's because his deal is at least logical with itself. The way he operates stays the same, problems that come about aren't out of nowhere make sense with what was established. Even his defeat is like this, even if it';s the most cliche way to defeat a machine.
It's still very silly and not logical, and usually being a silly kids horror book can only take you so far but this goes so far with it that becomes fun instead of annoying. And again, there is actual effort put into the story flow and how things operate, as silly and dumb as it all is. It will depend on the person and how much subjective enjoyment they get and that goes for me. But I also take into account if there is at least some effort put into the story or it feels like they threw random shit in there and figured it being kids for kids means they don't have to try.
(This is all why this worked for me while Nightmare Room's Liar Liar, which has a similar setup, did not.)
The lack of explanation for him is still an issue but the main bulk of the story makes it fun enough. There's some decent be careful what you wish for stuff with their lies and it has some fun with them. Then comes the third act, where it goes for bonkers and I love it. System Greeter is basically the silly version of a typical AI villain, the way his dialogue is done is funny since he likes to make those angry emoticons while going on about how powerful he is. It's great, he was delightful but was able to be a threat when he gets out of control.
There's solid danger here and a nice sobering moment is thrown in the middle of it. Ending is abrupt but at least has Azie learning her lesson. No twist here. She could have easily been unlikable but her lies aren't harmful ones, just ones on the level of the title, and she has little moments like the one I mentioned to help make her likable. And she learns the lesson naturally enough.
Overall, this was fun. Takes a bit to get going but eventually it becomes pretty enjoyable with how bonkers it is. Not as dark as some of these can get and lacks the character stuff some entries have, so it's a favorite but it has some pretty fun stuff to make up for it. If you can forgive logical problems with the villain, you can have a blast with how bonkers this gets in the end.
Ghostwritten or not, it has its charms. Well, with a cycle done, I'll be trying to fit in a couple misc Goosebumps-ish series, not quite ripoffs but similar enough that I've been wanting to maybe look into them. That Are you afraid of the dark book was a testing ground for this, so hopefully through April I can work in some I want to do, I hope. See ya then.
(Oh and this has one of the grossest moments I've seen in these, won't say it but I both loved and hated it at the same time. Also this just ends up the silly version of Spooksville's Phone Fear, lol)
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