It's hard to write children's horror books without making it TOO scary. I remember, after hearing a story from some Stories To Read In the Dark or something like that, I was SO scared i was CRYING that night. I finally yelled for mommy and daddy, who then told me no more reading scary stories. It really scarred me! But Goosebumps doesn't go overboard like that. It seems to know how to create an excellent blend of humor and watered down horror, that most kids can actually enjoy it. Of course, it had it's share of stupid stories(a. LOT. of them, too), and some went that extra mile to give an extra "boo!" for their buck, but most were just amusing. It also had heroic and modeled behaviored heroes, as well as some violence, frightening scenes, some stories got carried away and got a little bit Twisted, and a good part of the non-idiotic stories had a kind of dark and, dare i say, DISTURBING feel, tone, and atmosphere. But I'm only gonna talk about a select few, because this review is already starting to drag, I'm sure. tHE hAUNTED mASK series: In 1, it centers around young-ish tween, Mary Beth or Sarah Beth or something, wanting an awesome halloween mask this year(the previous years, her masks have usually been crudely made by her mother). So she goes to a store, the manager tells her the one she wants isn't for sale, so she takes the mask and runs, leaving all her money behind, hoping it'll make up for the mask. So she wears it and scares the kids who made fun of her for having crummy masks in previous years, but only when she starts acting EXTRA mean do her friends look into it. So they talk some sense into Maybeth, and the friends find out that the mask won't come off! It's physically attached to young Marybeth's skin! So, as it turns out, the masks in the back that Marybeth saw were used to hold evil spirits and now one's gradually taking over(one could say possessing) Marybeth. But, in the end, Marybeth stops the transformation by putting her faith into a clay sculpture of her face that her loving mother had made her, which earlier she had just dismissed, thinking it was weird. So her mother's love saved her. And revenge only quickened the evil spirits growth. But also, she DID somewhat steal the mask from the man. The second's pretty much the same.