#53 "It's a finger lickin' nightmare!"
Crystal and her brother Cole, like everyone else, note to stay away from Vanessa. She's a strange kid that wears all black and supposedly put spells on people. But that's just what people say right? When Crystal and Cole end up making Vanessa mad, they find out just how real Vanessa spells really are. ( )

## It's a finger lickin' nightmare!

Chicken Chicken is another entry I actively avoided as a kid. The name and the cover gave no suggestion of quality. The farm setting is exactly the place no city bumpkin like myself wanted to visit. The plot -- transforming into a chicken -- sounds awful. It is awful. It's also disgusting and silly and really, really fun.

[N.B. This review includes images, and was formatted for my site, dendrobibliography -- located here.]

Like How I Learned to Fly, this one was a complete surprise, particularly given its reputation as a series lowpoint. One thing it has going for it is how focused the plot and characterization are: Siblings Crystal and Cole cause accidental mischief against a young goth woman who lives alone with only her cat for company. Vanessa -- a witch -- casts a spell on them for their poor manners, leaving the two heroes with the words 'chicken chicken.'

Pretty soon -- and this is where it gets disgusting and uncomfortable and fantastic -- both Crystal and Cole find themselves transforming into chickens. The process takes days, dragging out the grotesqueness of the situation. Crystal's lips slowly harden to a bone-like consistency, pushing forward on her face (and making for an alarming amount of clicking whenever she tries to speak); Cole's having trouble talking without a cascade of clucking interrupting his sentences; they're both having to slowly and painfully remove feathers that are sprouting by the hour. And, of course, no one believes them despite the physicality of it all.

The entire story is focused around the horrors of their transformations, and the attempts to overcome it. In some ways, it's a rehash of the earlier My Hairiest Adventure in exploring the horrible changes of puberty and how that can wreck kids' social lives -- just in a much more interesting way. Many of the lesser series entries have trouble staying so focused before inserting unrelated happenstance and random events, so this one sticking so close to the two heroes and their woes is a 'pleasant' surprise.

Also, it's incredibly, disgustingly gross. Blegh.

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (1992–1997):
#52 How I Learned to Fly | # 54 Don't Go to Sleep! ( )

Goosebumps. This is the series that kept me reading through my childhood. More than any other series, Goosebumps kept me interested in reading, and R.L. Stein is a wonderful children's writer. I applaud his efforts, and can't express enough my gratitude for the series. ( )

Goosebumps. This is the series that kept me reading through my childhood. More than any other series, Goosebumps kept me interested in reading, and R.L. Stein is a wonderful children's writer. I applaud his efforts, and can't express enough my gratitude for the series. ( )

Personal response: This was one of the better Goosebumps books that I have read. The characters are well fleshed out given the length of the story and the setting is perfect for the main theme of the book. As can always be found in the Goosebumps series, this one contains a surprise ending. This one is actually logical and not reaching like some others.
Grades 4-8

curricular connections: ( )