Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask

by R. L. Stine

Overview

For the first time ever, Goosebumps is in hard cover! Catch the series' most notorious characters--undead or alive... For the first time ever, Goosebumps is in hard cover! Catch the series' most notorious characters--undead or alive... From horror master R.L. Stine come two new chilling stories in one spooky standalone: Lu-Ann Franklin usually loves Halloween. Not this year. Her best friend, Devin O'Bannon, is going away for the week. And she has to go to a boring party where nothing exciting could ever happen. But when Lu-Ann comes face-to-face with The Haunted Mask, major trouble lies ahead. Devin O'Bannon didn't want to leave his best friend Lu-Ann Franklin behind on Halloween. He didn't ask to go on this trip. And that was before he heard the strange scratching on his windows and saw the shadows moving around in the fields. Something is out there and it doesn't seem to want Devin around!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545415187
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2012
Series:	Goosebumps
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

R.L. Stine has more than 350 million English language books in print, plus international editions in 32 languages, making him one of the most popular children's authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written other series including Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his King Charles spaniel, Minnie. www.RLStine.com.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

October 8, 1943

Place of Birth:

Columbus, Ohio

Education:

B.A., Ohio State University, 1965

Website:

http://www.rlstine.com

Editorial Reviews

Everyone wishes they were someone else from time to time. William inadvertently finds a way to do this when he puts on a cursed mask. The only problem is that once the mask is on, it can't be taken off and it fills the wearer with a rage so powerful that they destroy everything and everyone in their path. The only way to get the mask off is to destroy the wearer along with it. As his dying act, William attempts to hide the mask in a place where no one will ever find it in an attempt to protect everyone in his beloved town. For many years, the mask lays undiscovered at the bottom of a locked trunk, and William's spirit wards off potential intruders. Then, in a stroke of bad luck, Lu-Ann and her friends stumble across the chest and its contents. Will the group of friends survive this night of horrors, or will they share William's fate? The short chapters and larger font will appeal to reluctant readers. There are some graphic references to blood and death that may not be appropriate for younger readers, but for older readers, this may add to the intrigue.

Children's Literature - Heather Welsh

Praise for Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask:

"Pure, Goosebumps–style terror-by-formula, polished through use to such a high gloss that it slides along frictionlessly–a worthy celebration of the series' 20th anniversary." -Kirkus Reviews

"This book offers a great opportunity to rediscover what makes Stine so special: his swift characterizations, icky ideas, and prose that offers the exact right amount of cover-your-eyes detail." -Booklist

From the Publisher

Making its fourth appearance and by now practically a recurring character in Stine's creep-show opus, the evil mask with a mind of its own kicks off a new Goosebumps spinoff--the first to be originally published in hardcover. Stine crafts two Halloween chillers and links them at the end. In the first, after an introductory setup set 40 years in the past, Lu-Ann wanders away from a friend's boring party and discovers a demonic green mask in an old trunk. It not only doesn't come off once she dons it (natch), but enflames her with uncontrollable and destructive anger issues. In the second, Lu-Ann's friend Devin's conviction that his holiday is going to be lame since he has to spend it helping his family sell pick-your-own pumpkins doesn't last long. The vines start moving, the pumpkins turn squishy when he touches them, and the dead begin to rise from the graveyard beneath the field. Featuring plenty of sudden screams, eerie dreams, creeping dread and spooky undead (but no actual bloodshed), the plotlines ultimately intertwine in a climax that frees both young teens from their travails and allows them (and readers) to laugh at it all the next morning. Pure, Goosebumps–style terror-by-formula, polished through use to such a high gloss that it slides along frictionlessly--a worthy celebration of the series' 20th anniversary. (reversible dust-jacket mask [not seen]) (Horror. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews