SOLVED. YA/ Middle Grade book about Family Stranded at a Weird Museum/ Fun House. Read in 1990s. [s]

[Kristen]

I read this book sometime in the 90s. It was a children’s/YA chapter book. A family is on a road trip when their vehicle breaks down. They end up at a museum or fun house of some kind with trap doors and other weird features. It was silly, not scary.

I read a lot of “weird” books growing up - The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks, Wayside School is Falling Down, My Teacher is an Alien, Chicken Trek, etc. I’m guessing it was by the same or a similar author.

[Capn]

Did you already look through those author's books? They are:

Nancy McArthur
https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...
(The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks)

Louis Sachar
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
(Wayside School Is Falling Down)

Bruce Coville
https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...
(My Teacher Is an Alien)

Stephen Manes
https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...
(Chicken Trek)

Just a quick look at Stephen Manes brings up the Hooples:
Hooples on the Highway
The Hooples' Horrible Holiday
The Hooples' Haunted House


Is this your family?

[Tab]

Do you remember anything about the cover?
Part of a series?

[Emma]

Was it One Day at Horrorland by R.L. Stine? This book has a lot of silly elements mixed with spooky.

[Kris]

Amazon's short "Look Inside" preview of One Day at Horrorland by R.L. Stine - Emma's suggestion:

https://www.amazon.com/One-Day-Horror... There are different cover images.

"Werewolf Village. The Doom Slide. The Coffin Cruise. These are just a few of the terrifying attractions that await Luke and Lizzy Morris at HorrorLand. Step right up and join the Morris family as they ride each ride--and scream each scream--for the very first time. Because it might also be their last. Now with bonus features!"

[Kristen]

I appreciate all of the suggestions, but nothing has fit yet. I think the issue is that I can't remember if it was a museum or a fun house. I do remember it was a family on a road trip, but nothing about the cover or title.

[bookel]

Just tell me when we're dead! by Eth Clifford https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16035...



Scared Silly by Eth Clifford is at a museum.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL32565...

Your mention of silly made me think either Gordon Korman or Eth Clifford, then reminded me of Just Tell Me ...

[Rainbowheart]

When in the '90s did you read it?

Could it have been as late as '99?

[Kristen]

Hi, @Rainbowheart. It was definitely early 90s, and for an elementary/middle school audience.

[Rainbowheart]

Does anything on the Middle Grade Road Trip Books list look familiar?

[Nachelle]

Maybe "Help, I'm a Prisoner in the Library" by Eth Clifford to add to bookel's suggestion

[bookel]

11- love that book. Free to borrow: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15860...

[Kris]

Some Goodreads reviewers describe Scared Silly by Eth Clifford - bookel's suggestion:

- "What starts out as a road trip to their grandmother's house to get a doll house turns into a mystery. Stopping to visit a shoe museum Mary Rose, Jo-Beth, and their father find themselves involved in the case of the missing antique [Chinese emperor's] shoes. A quirky, wacky tale with surprises at every twist and turn."
- "Mary Rose, Jo-Beth and their father are involved in a mystery when they stop at a magician's house full of secret passageways and weird inventions."
- On Amazon: "We loved the mysterious house with all kinds of trap doors and crazy inventions." and "the museum is housed in a building that has bunches of secret rooms and built-in tricks".

[Kristen]

@Kris - THAT’S IT!!! Scared Silly by Eth Clifford is exactly the book! The reviews were exactly what I remembered, and then I saw the cover and it confirmed it! Thank you!!!

[Kris]

Great! Glad you found your book, Kristen. Thanks for the update.

Scared Silly (book 4) of the Jo-Beth and Mary Rose Mysteries series by Eth Clifford - bookel's find.