The 52-year-old author is a virtual one-man horror-book factory, churning out one new Goosebumps title a month. Stine’s books are so popular that bookstores can barely keep up with the demand. “Oh, cool!” he said, as the other kids nodded in agreement. Hearing this, one boy was so excited he couldn’t contain himself. Skipping ahead to the end, Wagstaff read a section in which the shrunken head actually talks. Wagstaff read passages from the book, then asked a few questions about the plot and characters, such as, “What did Mark bring with him to the island?” Fifteen hands shot up in the air the kids knew just about every little detail of the book.

It’s a sort of Raiders of the Lost Ark for kids, complete with red ants, quicksand, a tiger, and a shrunken head whose eyes glow. In it, a short, chubby 12-year-old named Mark describes his adventures on the fictional island of Baladora, where he attempts to rescue his missing Aunt Benna from the evil Dr. How I Got My Shrunken Head is typical fare from Stine, who last year sold more books than any other American author. Most of the children’s parents had disappeared to other parts of the store. The 15 or so kids, who appeared to be 8, 9, and 10 years old, sat on two long benches, clutching soon-to-be-purchased copies of Goosebumps titles while Carol Wagstaff, the store’s merchandising manager, presided over the monthly gathering. Stine’s mega-popular Goose-bumps series of horror books for children. Actually, they were discussing How I Got My Shrunken Head, book No. On a recent Saturday afternoon, I found myself in the children’s department of a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Denver, listening to a group of kids talk about.

My Name is Evil by R.L. Stine