Joe Burton's dad loves and collects lawn ornaments. Joe thinks they're just tacky, but then his father brings home a pair of ceramic lawn gnomes. Soon after, Joe's neighbor Mr. McCall, who's in a rivalry with Mr. Burton over who has the better garden, comes over to report that one of his prize melons was destroyed overnight, and soon after, Joe discovers evidence that the gnomes may be alive, and responsible for the mischief.
It was adapted into the eighth episode of the second season of the 1995 TV series, with a novelization based on the episode being released as book 18 of the Goosebumps Presents series. It was also adapted into an installment of the Goosebumps Graphix series, included in the Scary Summer collection.
It was later reissued in the Classic Goosebumps line in 2011.
The book provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Joe treats Buster to a chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, food which dogs shouldn't be taking due to sugar and chemical content.
- Big Friendly Dog: Joe's Doberman Buster, despite his breed's reputation, is big, sweet and friendly to pretty much everyone, even if he does sometimes cause trouble by digging in the neighbor's garden.
- Brick Joke: When strange occurrences of mischief go on in his neighborhood, Joe at first thinks that raccoons were to blame. He changes his mind when he sees that his neighbors' casaba melons were drawn on, something that raccoons could not do. But later in the book, he and Moose are investigating outside and see what appears to be the actual culprit: a lawn gnome. They lunge at it, but it only turns out to be a raccoon.
- Cassandra Truth: Joe's repeated attempts to convince his dad that the gnomes are alive... didn't really work.
- Chekhov's Gag: Mrs. Anderson, the owner of Lawn Lovely (the place where Mr. Burton gets his lawn ornaments), is highly deaf. This turns out to be a problem, as when Joe and the others are brought to her basement by the gnomes, they threaten to shout so loud that they'll wake Mrs. Anderson and bring her down here. The gnomes burst out laughing and reply that she's so deaf that she couldn't hear them.
- Faux Horrific: Joe and Mindy's father sees them and says that he has something terrible to tell them. He then reveals he found a... fruit fly on their tomatoes. Granted, fruit flies can do tremendous damage to tomatoes, but still.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Joe is the foolish to Mindy's responsible.
- Here We Go Again!: The book ends with yet another lawn ornament revealing it's secretly a living being.
- I Was Just Joking: Joe is sneaking out at night to check out what has been causing so much mayhem at night, and Mindy wakes up and asks him what he's doing. He jokingly claims that he's going outside to eat Mr. McCall's casaba melons. This ends up backfiring on him when the next morning comes, and the casaba melons are drawn on with marker. Mindy tells everyone that she caught Joe sneaking out last night to ruin the melons. This gets everyone to believe her and Joe to get grounded.
- Ironic Echo: At one point, Joe and Moose jokingly pretend to tickle the gnomes. While the army of gnomes are debating what to do with Joe, Mindy, and Moose now that they're in the clutches, one gnome constantly pipes up that they should tickle the humans. And after the kids escape, Joe teasingly chants it while running over to tickle Mindy as they went back home.
- Killer Gorilla: The book ends with the dad getting an 8 foot tall gorilla lawn ornament, which winks at Joe. That said, considering the book ends right there, the gorilla could be friendly for all we know.
- Large-Ham Announcer: At the beginning of the book, Joe pretends to talk like this as he and Mindy play a game of ping pong. She is quite irked by this.
- Market-Based Title: It was called Revenge of the 'Garden Gnomes in the UK.
- Meaningful Name: Mr. Burton gives the gnomes what he thinks are these — Hap, because of his smile, and Chip, because of his chipped tooth.
- Never Trust a Title: The book never explains exactly what the gnomes are getting revenge for.
- Obsessively Organized: Joe's sister Mindy has this, arranging everything. She even has her own card catalog for her book collection.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Michael "Moose" McCall. Even his parents only ever call him Moose.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: The lawn gnomes (and presumably other ornaments) in the book are actually living creatures taken from a mystical forest and forced to pose as garden decorations.
- Pajama-Clad Hero: When Mindy gets caught up in the action with the gnomes, it's at night and she is in her bathrobe, but she is forced to join Joe and Moose with the gnomes to battle them.
- Slave Race: The eponymous characters. Or at least, that's what they claim to be.
- So Much for Stealth: When actually seeing the gnomes in action at night for the first time, Joe and Moose approach silently from behind to tackle them. But then Moose trips over Buster's rope, waking the dog up in the process, causing him to start barking. This alerts the gnomes' attention and they pursue the two boys.
- Stunned Silence: When Mindy tells her parents and the McCall neighbors that Joe was the one who wrecked the casaba melons, the others stare at him in shocked silence for a few seconds.
- The Tooth Hurts: One of the gnomes has a chipped tooth, which he gets named after.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Hap, Chip, and the other 600 lawn gnomes can be paralyzed by the sound of a dog's whistle.
