Young Adult Revisited

Tim loves magic and dreams of being a professional magician like his idol Amaz-O. Until then though, he just puts on shows for his friends. His sister, Ginny who is a total brat, keeps interrupting and making him look stupid. During one show, she starts trying to attack him with karate moves as the other kids laugh. Since this is an R.L. Stine book, his parents do nothing. He and his best friend Foz head to the local magic shop. Mr. Malik, the owner, rushes out of nowhere with a sword sticking through his chest. After begging them to help, he laughs and shows them it was just a trick. He makes rude comments about how they never spend any money while showing them a bunch of $200-500+ tricks for sale. Right before they leave, he gives them two tickets to the Amaz-O show at the Midnight Mansion. Ginny naturally assumes that she will go with him since Foz can't because of his aunt's birthday. They fight over the ticket until their parents tell them that since it...

Hannah wakes up after having a nightmare that her room is on fire. So grateful that it was just a dream, she's actually nice to her younger twin brothers and helps her mom clean the kitchen. Later, she goes outside and meets a new kid named Danny. He tells her he moved into the house next door, which she thinks is weird because the house has been empty for so long. He thinks it's weird that she lives in her own house for some unexplained reason. Well, I know the reason because I watched the Goosebumps movie not too long ago! Her parents didn't have the money to send her to camp this year, so she writes a passive aggressive letter to her best friend at camp and then tries to find ways to keep herself busy. She tries talking to a few neighbors, who act really snobby or outright ignore her, before walking into town. Mr. Cheney, the head of the post office, screams at Danny and his friends. He apparently even threw rocks at one kid's dog and threatens to call the...

The Chalk Closet: Travis is so distracted by stuff happening around him that he never seems to get his homework done. And it's not hard work either! He can't even write down five reasons why he would want to be a pilgrim. So, he winds up in summer school. Mr. Grimley, their teacher, warns them that if they don't do well, they'll wind up in the chalk room. One kid gets sent to the chalk room and is never seen again, and then the same thing happens again. Travis tries calling their homes and finds their numbers disconnected. After failing his next test, the teacher takes him to the chalk closet, opens the doors, and slams it shut behind him. He turns to see all the missing kids and hundreds more in the room with their hands over the ears. Then he hears the noise of chalk screeching across the board and realizes he'll spend eternity the same exact way. Home Sweet Home: Sharon is 12 and stuck sharing a room with her seven year old sister and her sis...

Pumpkin Juice Charlie is getting ready to go out trick or treating when his best friend Frank comes over with a book on how to make your own crazy brews and drinks. He whips up a pumpkin juice recipe designed to bring out your inner beast. After hitting up a few houses, they both get so hungry that they start eating all their candy, then grass, raw eggs, hamburger meat, and anything else they can find. Frank finds a remedy in his book that calls for the same pumpkin. They rush back and find that the juice is all gone. Charlie's mom says she made the rest of the pumpkin into a pie. They eat and finally feel fine because it uses all the same ingredients. Mom then comes downstairs and proceeds to eat raw meat, telling them that the juice they made was good but left her feeling really hungry. Attack of the Tattoo Jeannie is a little disappointed about her trick or treat haul until she finds a cool temporary tattoo of a red and black snake. It doesn't go on the ...

Jordan and Nicole live with their dad in Pasadena, California while their mom lives in Pennsylvania. Their dad just got back from a trip taking photographs of brown bears in the Grand Tetons. When he goes to develop the film, he finds picture after picture of teddy bears. Jordan cracks up laughing and reveals it was all just a prank. He and Nicole decide to take a bike ride to beat the heat but run into some bullies first. Twins Kyle and Kara stab him with a popcicle before attacking both with water guns. Nicole winds up stealing one and chases Kara around until she falls head first into a compost heap. Their dad then announces that he has a new assignment going to Alaska to search for the abominable snowman and that he's taking the kids with him. Before they even land, Jordan thinks he sees the creature but it's actually just a sign. The three of them and their guide hike deep into the wilderness. Jordan slips and falls in a crevasse but recovers pretty fast wh...

Drew is incredibly short for her age, which is why her dad calls her Elf. She and her friends Walker, Shane, and Shana are looking forward to Halloween because they want to get back at these bullies Lee and Tabby. One year, the two had a Halloween party where two guys in ski masks burst in and threatened the guests. The figures made them get down on the floor and do push ups before they learned it was all a set up and the guys were the kids' next door neighbors. They come up with a whole bunch of gags, including a recording that mentions the two evil brats by name. They plan on turning the lights on and then turning on the recording. Other pranks include throwing fake slime at them and making a giant fake monster pop out of the closet. A few hours before the party, Tabby calls and says they're going trick or treating with some other kids instead and won't be at the party, meaning they get screwed for a second year in a row. After meeting up, the whole group ...

Evan still has a completely rational fear of Monster Blood given what happened in the last books. He hates the stuff so much that he can't even eat green Jell-O anymore. He also has a new job: baby-sitting for his cousin Kermit. His mom points out that his aunt can't afford to hire anyone else. Given that she only pays him $3 an hour, I can understand why no one else will do it. It also turns out that Kermit is the type of kid I would totally punch in the face. Conan, his next door neighbor, goes to school with Evan and picks a fight with him. Kermit shows up, threatens to cover him with an invisibility potion he made, and then throws it on him anyway. All it does it make his favorite shirt disappear, which leads Conan to punch Evan in the face. At school the next day, Andy teases him because she got a canister of Monster Blood from her parents and says she put it in his sandwich. He then makes her go to his cousin's house with him. Kermit asks Andy if he c...

Carly Beth and Sabrina are best friends, but Carly Beth looks much younger and gets picked on by everyone, including her friend. While at lunch, two guys named Chuck and Steve sit with them. Since CB isn't in the mood for rubbery noodles, she accepts Chuck's offer of a sandwich, only to find out he hid a real worm inside. She runs off crying while everyone laughs at her. Steven then convinces her that his pet tarantula escaped and is climbing up her leg. When she goes crazy and starts screaming in the middle of school, he reveals it was all a prank. She then goes home and discovers that her mom made a realistic mask of her in art class. Though she swears it blinked at her, CB tries to blow it off. Her mom also made her a duck costume, which shes seems breathing and moving right before it attacks her. No worries though. It was just her little brother fooling around. All Carly Beth really wants is to find a costume so scary that it will send Chuck and Steve runni...

The Werewolf's First Night Brian is a little nervous about going to Thunder Lake with his parents on summer vacation because he's now old enough for the boys' teen camp and he heard stories about werewolves roaming the camp. He hears wolf noises coming from the woods, sees one of the guys eating raw hamburger meat, and sees fur on another. Just as he starts to freak out, they reveal that it was all a big joke play on all new guys. That's when Brian completely transforms into a werewolf and starts chasing them all around camp. Unexpected. P.S. I Don't Write Back David is spending the summer at Camp Timber Lake Hills and is upset that his parents never write him. While all the other campers get letters, he gets nothing. He finally gets a letter from his mom that they aren't coming to visit him and to not write back. Then he gets another that says his parents are sending them to live with his uncle and to not write back. When he looks cl...