Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ghost in the Mirror by R.L. Stine Ghost in the Mirror by R.L. Stine. Mary is the main antagonist in the two part episode "Scary Mary". Mary was a beautiful girl who was obsessed with looking at herself in the mirror. One Day a fire started and Mary didn't notice the fire, until it was too late and she burned to death. Her restless spirit, revolted by her gruesome burned features, waited for someone to chant her name, so she could take their face and once again be beautiful and adored. To summon Mary, you must hold a candle in front of a mirror in a dark room, and say a poem. Then turn on the lights and look in the mirror at the same time. An insecure girl named Hannah carries out the task, but nothing appears to happen. Days later, Hannah finds a compact hairbrush with an M on it. Later Hannah sneaks out to go shopping for beauty supplies. Hanna is in her room applying make-up and brushing her hair with the M brush she found. Unbeknownst to Hannah, girls with masks are in her mirror. When her mom hears something she finds nothing in Hanna's room. After she leaves, Hannah is revealed to be in Scary Mary's world because the girls in masks broke through the mirror and pulled her in. While in Scary Mary's world, Hannah refuses to be like everyone else, who have given their faces to Mary. Mary uses the girl's faces to disguise herself as one of them, hoping that a boy will come to rescue the girl and take Mary out of her world, but nobody ever comes. Hannah's friend Eric comes to find her and finds Mary with her face and realizes that it's not her. Mary's farmhouse sets on fire, representing what had killed her. He finds the real Hannah in a chest, then gets back to the real world by going in a river full of Mary's tears. Mary later called for Eric from the mirror. Ghost in the Mirror by R.L. Stine. At the time I'm writing this blog up, it is January of 2020. Twenty years since 2000. Twenty years since Goosebumps Series 2000. Almost eight years prior in the summer of 1992, R.L. Stine skewed towards kids with the Goosebumps book series. Nobody expected the monolithic success it would attain, and how it became a staple of 90s kids culture. But those eight years behind the scenes would begin to fill with turmoil, particularly between the Stine family and Scholastic. Accusations, legal battles over ownership of the series and many other headaches were beginning to form. And the breaking point was approaching as R.L. Stine began to consider a life without Goosebumps. If you go back to my review of Earth Geeks Must Go!, the book prior to this one, I stated there that the book felt like a weak attempt even for Goosebumps standards. Was that a fluke, or a sign of the future? Let's get reflective on the final book of Goosebumps Series 2000: Ghost in the Mirror. And with it comes the final Tim Jacobus Goosebumps cover. At least officially, we'll get into that later. And it's an okay cover. Just feels like a lot of the staples. That's not to say those staples aren't neat as the clutter is interesting to look at, the green and blues are a nice color scheme and the skeletal monster hand sticking out of the mirror as if it were a dimensional portal is also nice and creepy. For the unintended last hurrah, it's decent, but still good regardless. Jason Sloves is a wuss. He doesn't deny it either, he knows he's scared of everything. It's not helped by the fact that his older sister Claudia always tries to scare him. He constantly refers to her as demented. In the case of the book's opening, it has to do with her scaring him as he's looking in a mirror, because he has a thing about always looking in mirrors to fix himself up. He also unfortunately has the "baby room" as his bedroom still has baby furniture. But at least he has his WWF posters. I mean, he was a fan of the Monday Night Wars. Kid can't be all bad. Cut to a couple weeks later. After playing with his friend Fred, Jason's parents have something to show them. They bring him to his room where the baby furniture is gone and is now replaced with a new dresser with a stuck bottom drawer and a large mirror that Jason is intrigued by. Almost to the point he feels like he's being sucked in. Fred shows up later and the two discuss the wrestling show the previous night. Of course there's no mention of actual wrestler's names, which makes my heart sink as the thought of Jovial Bob: Wrestling Mark would have made my day. They play a nondescript NBA video game when Fred begins to notice something moving in the mirror. Jason doesn't notice anything yet. After Fred leaves, Jason gets a snack then sees a note stuck on the mirror warning that "bringing this into your house means death". He assumes it's Claudia who wrote it, but she claims to have nothing to do with it, before scaring him again by saying there's a *Insert Book Title Here*. He then shows it to their dad who believes it to be Claudia. Though Jason begins to suspect it might not have been Claudia since even though she trolls him, she usually does cop to her pranks. The next day, Jason comes home to see the family dog Buzzy barking at the mirror. He's concerned, but nobody else thinks much of it. But you know, that could be a callback to how Dogs have acted around ghosts before in these books, but I doubt Stine thought of something like that like six years after last implementing it. Claudia does get in a good chance to scare Jason some more with a story she wrote about the mirror and how the reflection of a dead girl lived in the mirror, until she decided to get out and haunt the boy who lived in the house. This is interrupted when they hear Buzzy growling strangely. When Jason goes to check, the dog acts aggressive and his eyes are now black and almost demonic. Thankfully not hyper realistic. Buzzy then attacks Jason, biting his throat and clawing him up. He's saved just in time by his dad who takes the dog away while Jason cleans up. The next day, while Jason and Fred are playing a nondescript hockey video game, they notice what appears to be Buzzy in the mirror. They try to get Claudia to look, but she doesn't see anything in the mirror. Jason leaves the room to get a snack, but returns to see Fred has now vanished as well. After looking some more, Jason gets attacked by a monster, who is of course Claudia. After that incident, Jason looks at the mirror some more, then hears a whimper that sounds like Buzzy. The next day, Jason runs into Fred, who tries to make up an excuse as to why he left without telling him. In gym however, Jason is shocked to see that Fred, who once was terrible at sports, is now a living Mr. Perfect vignette. When Jason makes a comment that it was like he was possessed, Fred reacts in a concerned manner. And then he beats the hell out of Jason. So, this is two occasions where our protagonist is beaten to a bloody pulp. If this was Stine's swan song, he's going out in brutal fashion. Jason heads home after the altercation and goes to bed to rest, only to see what appears to be something moving inside the mirror. He then sees a pair of shadowy figures that look like Buzzy and Fred. He doesn't think to tell anyone since he knows they'll think he's just being scared, since that has been well established at this point. Later that night, he hears what sounds like strange breathing noises coming from inside the mirror. When he checks the mirror, there's no reflection. Only darkness. Suddenly, Fred is seen in the mirror, cold and gray. He then grabs at Jason, who struggles to get free. Jason blacks out, then wakes up in his room. Suddenly he sees his reflection in the mirror, gray like Fred's, telling him that he is Jason's ghost and that Jason is dead. He had died of fright. Well, at least this time it wasn't camera related. The ghost tells Jason to come into the mirror, but Fred and Buzzy warn him to stop just in time. And then Jason's ghost, in a fit or rage. bulges his eyes out into giant fly-like eyes, grows a three nostril bulb nose, a giant red tongue, a purple shell, and a pair of crab claws. Well, I'll give you credit Bob. I didn't see that coming. The creature grabs Jason with one of its claws and pulls him into the mirror. Jason grabs a small hand mirror and tries to smash the monster with it, but there's no damage. The creature intends to take Jason's place on the outside, like what's happened with Fred and Buzzy. Jason's mirror reflects off the monster, and somehow it creates like, a dozen smaller crab monsters and like, I have no idea what's going on. He manages to escape in time, returning to the outside world. Jason then tries to convince his family about all this, but when he jumps at the mirror, he just bangs his arm. However, it turns out things aren't going so well in the outside world. Mirror Buzzy escaped and is tearing through everything. Oh, and Mirror Fred is also causing mayhem, literally chucking cars over his head. Jason realizes that this isn't going to be fixed until he finds the real Fred and Buzzy, so he jumps into the mirror one more time. Jason falls into a strange room of mirrors. It's there where he finds Fred and Buzzy. And just to make sure it's the real Fred, he tries to punch him, only for Fred to cower. They eventually find their way to what looks like the way back to Jason's room, only for the entrance to be solid glass that they can't go through. Also they see Claudia stealing Jason's Game Boy, which got a chuckle out of me. Jason uses his pocket mirror, which is strong enough to create a hole through the glass and the three finally escape. Buzzy and Fred take their leave. However, Jason is visited in his room by. Jason, who turns into the creature again. Jason uses the pocket mirror, only for it to get swiped from his hands. Jason then just leaps on the monster and rips its eyes out, which does the trick I guess. He shoves the monster into the mirror, then hurls a lamp at the mirror, which smashes to bits. Jason cleans up the mess in his room. He ponders if the other Buzzy and Fred are gone, but that's really all the answer we're getting. In the midst of this, he sees the note from earlier. Then he sees the stuck drawer on that dresser he got from earlier. The drawer opens, and out pops a brown snake that asks if Jason got his note. Ghost in the Mirror is strange. Some of its concept is really interesting, albeit we've tread the evil reflections story so many times that it's not fresh, but the monster description is actually pretty creepy. Though that brings the problem of why this is called Ghost in the Mirror and not Monster in the Mirror. But I think the Sesame Street people beat Stine to that one. The story feels rushed in places, the mirror world, while interesting, never gets any time to breathe or to be taken in. Nor do the monsters or the motivations besides just wanting to be on the other side. And then, there's the twist which is a good old R.L. Stine "suck the air right out of the room" twist. One more for the road I suppose. Ghost in the Mirror gets a C+. Although it was never intended to be the final book. Stine had planned on other books, including what would have been the 26th Series 2000 book, The Incredible Shrinking Fifth Grader, which was far enough in the works that Tim Jacobus had finished cover art for it, but the issues with Scholastic and Stine led to the inevitable. R.L. Stine left Scholastic, with this book and the final Give Yourself Goosebumps book All Day Nightmare being his last remnants for the majority of the first decade of the 2000s. Stine would attempt to bring Goosebumps back with Goosebumps Gold, but that ultimately didn't happen. He would continue with horror books, including some standalone works, some other series like Mostly Ghostly and Rotten School, among other things. Ultimately, the Stines would give the rights to Goosebumps over to Scholastic and in 2003 both sides were amicable again. Then, in 2008, Stine would revive Goosebumps, and now in 2020, the franchise is still running. Honestly, the split was the best thing for Stine, as he would eventually limit his work from monthly to four books a year. And while my experience in the newer stuff has been mixed so far, it at least feels like a healthier and much more Jovial Bob Stine. Ghost in the Mirror by R.L. Stine. (An Undead Scan v1.5) Hannah wasn’t sure which had awakened her—the brittle crackling sounds or the bright yellow flames. She sat straight up in bed and stared in wide-eyed horror at the fire that surrounded her. Flames rippled across her dresser. The burning wallpaper curled and then melted. The door of her closet had burned away, and she could see the fire leaping from shelf to shelf. Even the mirror was on fire. Hannah could see her reflection, dark behind the wall of flickering flames. The fire moved quickly to fill the room. Hannah began to choke on the thick, sour smoke. It was too late to scream. But she screamed anyway. How nice to find out it was only a dream. Hannah sat up in bed, her heart pounding, her mouth as dry as cotton. No crackling flames. No leaping swirls of yellow and orange. No choking smoke. All a dream, a horrible dream. So real. “Wow. That was really scary,” Hannah muttered to herself. She sank back on her pillow and waited for her heart to stop thudding so hard in her chest. She raised her gray-blue eyes to the ceiling, staring at the cool whiteness of it. Hannah could still picture the black, charred ceiling, the curling wallpaper, the flames tossing in front of the mirror. “At least my dreams aren’t boring!” she told herself. Kicking off the light blanket, she glanced at her desk clock. Only eight-fifteen. How can it only be eight-fifteen? she wondered. I feel as if I’ve been sleeping forever. What day is it, anyway? It was hard to keep track of these summer days. One seemed to melt into another. Hannah was having a lonely summer. Most of her friends had gone away on family vacations or to camp. There was so little for a twelve-year-old to do in a small town like Greenwood Falls. She read a lot of books and watched a lot of TV and rode her bike around town, looking for someone to hang out with. But today Hannah climbed out of bed with a smile on her face. Her house hadn’t burned down. She hadn’t been trapped inside the crackling wall of flames. Hannah pulled on a pair of Day-Glo green shorts and a bright orange sleeveless top. Her parents were always teasing her about being color blind. “Give me a break! What’s the big deal if I like bright colors?” she always replied. Bright colors. Like the flames around her bed. “Hey, dream—get lost!” she muttered. She ran a hairbrush quickly through her short blonde hair, then headed down the hall to the kitchen. She could smell the eggs and bacon frying on the stove. “Good morning, everyone!” Hannah chirped happily. She was even happy to see Bill and Herb, her six-year-old twin brothers. Pests. The noisiest nuisances in Greenwood Falls. They were tossing a blue rubber ball across the breakfast table. “How many times do I have to tell you—no ball-playing in the house?” Mrs. Fairchild called, turning away from the stove to scold them. “A million,” Bill said. Herb laughed. He thought Bill was hilarious. They both thought they were a riot. Hannah stepped behind her mother and wrapped her up in a tight hug around the waist. “Hannah—stop!” her mother cried. “I nearly knocked over the eggs!” “Hannah—stop! Hannah—stop!” The twins imitated their mother. The ball bounced off Herb’s plate, rebounded off the wall, and flew onto the stove, inches from the frying pan. “Nice shot, ace,” Hannah teased. The twins laughed their high-pitched laughs. Mrs. Fairchild spun around, frowning. “If the ball goes in the frying pan, you’re going to eat it with your eggs!” she threatened, shaking her fork at them. This made the boys laugh even harder. “They’re in goofy moods today,” Hannah said, smiling. She had a dimple in one cheek when she smiled. “When are they ever in serious moods?” her mother demanded, tossing the ball into the hallway. “Well, I’m in a great mood today!” Hannah declared, gazing out the window at a cloudless, blue sky. Her mother stared at her suspiciously. “How come?” Hannah shrugged. “I just am.” She didn’t feel like telling her mother about the nightmare, about how good it felt just to be alive. “Where’s Dad?” “Went to work early,” Mrs. Fairchild said, turning the bacon with the fork. “Some of us don’t get the entire summer off,” she added. “What are you going to do today, Hannah?” Hannah opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice. “The usual, I guess. You know. Just hang out.” “I’m sorry you’re having such a boring summer,” her mother said, sighing. “We just didn’t have the money to send you to camp. Maybe next summer—” “That’s okay, Mom,” Hannah replied brightly. “I’m having an okay summer. Really.” She turned to the twins. “How’d you guys like those ghost stories last night?” “Not scary,” Herb quickly replied. “Not scary at all. Your ghost stories are dumb,” Bill added. “You guys looked pretty scared to me,” Hannah insisted. “We were pretending,” Herb said. She held up the orange juice carton. “Want some?” “Does it have pulp in it?” Herb asked. Hannah pretended to read the carton. “Yes. It says ‘one hundred percent pulp’.” “I hate pulp!” Herb declared. “Me, too!” Bill agreed, making a face. It wasn’t the first time they’d had a breakfast discussion about pulp. “Can’t you buy orange juice without pulp?” Bill asked their mother. “Can you strain it for us?” Herb asked Hannah. “Can I have apple juice instead?” Bill asked. “I don’t want juice. I want milk,” Herb decided. Normally, this discussion would have made Hannah scream. But today, she reacted calmly. “One apple juice and one milk coming up,” she said cheerfully. “You certainly are in a good mood this morning,” her mother commented. Hannah handed Bill his apple juice, and he promptly spilled it. After breakfast, Hannah helped her mother clean up the kitchen. “Nice day,” Mrs. Fairchild said, peering out the window. “Not a cloud in the sky. It’s supposed to go up to ninety.” Hannah laughed. Her mother was always giving weather reports. “Maybe I’ll go for a long bike ride before it gets really hot,” she told her mother. She stepped out the back door and took a deep breath. The warm air smelled sweet and fresh. She watched two yellow-and-red butterflies fluttering side by side over the flower garden. She took a few steps across the grass toward the garage. From somewhere down the block she could hear the low drone of a power mower. Hannah gazed up at the clear blue sky. The sun felt warm on her face. “Hey—look out!” an alarmed voice cried. Hannah felt a sharp pain in her back. She uttered a frightened gasp as she fell to the ground. Hannah landed hard on her elbows and knees. She turned quickly to see what had hit her. A boy on a bike. “Sorry!” he called. He jumped off the bike and let it fall to the grass. “I didn’t see you.” I’m wearing Day-Glo green and orange, Hannah thought. Why couldn’t he see me? She climbed to her feet and rubbed the grass stains on her knees. “Ow,” she muttered, frowning at him. “I tried to stop,” he said quietly. Hannah saw that he had bright red hair, almost as orange as candy corn, brown eyes, and a face full of freckles. “Why were you riding in my yard?” Hannah demanded. “Your yard?” He narrowed his dark eyes at her. “Since when?” “Since before I was born,” Hannah replied sharply. He pulled a leaf from her hair. “You live in that house?” he asked, pointing. Hannah nodded. “Where do you live?” Hannah demanded. She examined her elbows. They were dirty, but not bruised. “Next door,” he said, turning toward the redwood ranch-style house across the driveway. “Huh?” Hannah reacted with surprise. “You can’t live there!” “Why not?” he demanded. “That house is empty,” she told him, studying his face. “It’s been empty ever since the Dodsons moved away.” “It’s not empty now,” he said. “I live there. With my mom.” How can that be? Hannah wondered. How could someone move in right next door without my knowing it? I was playing with the twins back here yesterday, she thought, gazing hard at the boy. I’m sure that house was dark and empty. “What’s your name?” she asked. “Danny. Danny Anderson.” She told him her name. “I guess we’re neighbors,” she said. “I’m twelve. How about you?” “Me, too.” He bent to examine his bike. Then he pulled out a tuft of grass that had gotten caught in the spokes of the back wheel. “How come I’ve never seen you before?” he asked suspiciously. “How come I’ve never seen you?” she replied. He shrugged. His eyes crinkled in the corners as a shy smile crossed his face. “Well, did you just move in?” Hannah asked, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. “Huh-uh,” he replied, concentrating on the bike. “No? How long have you lived here?” Hannah asked. That’s impossible! Hannah thought. There’s no way he could have moved in next door without me knowing it! But before she could react, she heard a high-pitched voice calling her from the house. “Hannah! Hannah! Herb won’t give back my Gameboy!” Bill stood on the back stoop, leaning against the open screen door. “Where’s Mom?” Hannah shouted back. “She’ll get it for you.” The screen door slammed hard as Bill went to find Mrs. Fairchild. Hannah turned back to talk to Danny, but he had vanished into thin air. The mail usually came a little before noon. Hannah rushed eagerly down to the bottom of the drive and pulled open the mailbox lid. No mail for her. No mail at all. Disappointed, she hurried back to her room to write a scolding letter to her best friend, Janey Pace. I hope you’re having a good time at camp. But not too good—because you broke your promise. You said that you’d write to me every day, and so far, I haven’t even received a crummy POSTCARD. I am so BORED I don’t know what to do! You can’t imagine how little there is to do in Greenwood Falls when no one is around. It’s really like DEATH! I watch TV and I read a lot. Do you believe I’ve already read ALL the books on our summer reading list? Dad promised to take us all camping in Miller Woods—BIG THRILL—but he’s been working just about every weekend, so I don’t think he will. Last night I was so bored, I marched the twins outside and built a little campfire behind the garage and pretended we were away at camp and told them a bunch of scary ghost stories. The boys wouldn’t admit it, of course, but I could see they enjoyed it. But you know how ghost stories freak me out. I started seeing weird shadows and things moving behind the trees. It was really kind of hilarious, I guess. I totally scared MYSELF. Don’t laugh, Janey. You don’t like ghost stories, either. My only other news is that a new boy moved into the Dodsons’ old house next door. His name is Danny and he’s our age, and he has red hair and freckles, and he’s kind of cute, I think. I’ve only seen him once. Maybe I’ll have more to report about him later. But now it’s YOUR TURN to write. Come on, Janey. You promised. Have you met any cute guys at camp? Is THAT why you’re too busy to write to me? If I don’t hear from you, I hope you get poison ivy all over your body—especially in places where you can’t scratch! Hannah folded the letter and stuffed it into an envelope. Her small desk stood in front of the bedroom window. Leaning over the desk, she could see the house next door. I wonder if that’s Danny’s room? she thought, peering into the window just across the driveway. Curtains were pulled over the window, blocking her view. Hannah pulled herself to her feet. She ran a hairbrush through her hair, then carried the letter to the front door. She could hear her mother scolding the twins somewhere in the back of the house. The boys were giggling as Mrs. Fairchild yelled at them. Hannah heard a loud crash. Then more giggling. “I’m going out!” she shouted, pushing open the screen door. They probably didn’t hear her, she realized. It was a hot afternoon, no breeze at all, the air heavy and wet. Hannah’s father had mowed the front lawn the day before. The freshly cut grass smelled sweet as Hannah made her way down the driveway. She glanced over to Danny’s house. No signs of life there. The front door was closed. The big living room picture window appeared bare and dark. Hannah decided to walk the three blocks to town and mail the letter at the post office. She sighed. Nothing else to do, she thought glumly. At least a walk to town will kill some time. The sidewalk was covered with cut blades of grass, the green fading to brown. Humming to herself, Hannah passed Mrs. Quilty’s redbrick house. Mrs. Quilty was bent over her garden, pulling up weeds. “Hi, Mrs. Quilty. How are you?” Hannah called. Mrs. Quilty didn’t look up. What a snob! Hannah thought angrily. I know she heard me. Hannah crossed the street. The sound of a piano floated from the house on the corner. Someone was practicing a piece of classical music, playing the same wrong note over and over, then starting the piece again. I’m glad they’re not my neighbors, Hannah thought, smiling. She walked the rest of the way to town, humming to herself. The two-story white post office stood across the tiny town square, its flag drooping on the pole in the windless sky. Around the square stood a bank, a barbershop, a small grocery, and a gas station. A few other stores, Harder’s Ice-Cream Parlor, and a diner called Diner stretched behind the square. Two women were walking out of the grocery. Through the barbershop window, Hannah could see Ernie, the barber, sitting in the chair, reading a magazine. Real lively scene, she thought, shaking her head. Hannah crossed the small, grassy square and dropped her letter in the mailbox in front of the post office door. She turned back toward home—but stopped when she heard the angry shouts. The shouts were coming from behind the post office, Hannah realized. A man was screaming. Hannah heard boys’ voices. More yelling. She began jogging around the side of the building, toward the angry voices. She was nearly to the alley when she heard the shrill yelp of pain. “Hey—!” Hannah called out and ran the rest of the way. “What’s going on?” A narrow alley stretched behind the post office. It was a hidden place where kids liked to hang out. Hannah saw Mr. Chesney, the postmaster. He was shaking a fist angrily at a wiry brown mutt. There were three boys in the alley. Hannah recognized Danny. He was hanging behind the two boys she didn’t recognize. The dog had its head lowered and was whimpering softly. A tall boy, thin and lanky with scraggly blond hair, grabbed the dog gently and bent down to comfort it. “Don’t throw stones at my dog!” the boy shouted at Mr. Chesney. The other boy stepped forward. He was a short, stubby kid, kind of tough-looking, with spiky black hair. He glared at Mr. Chesney, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Danny lingered away from the others, very pale, his eyes narrowed tensely. “Get away! Go! I warned you!” Mr. Chesney snarled. He was a thin, red-faced man, entirely bald, with a bushy brown mustache under his pointed nose. He wore a tight-fitting gray wool suit, despite the summer heat. “You don’t have the right to hurt my dog!” the blond boy insisted, still cradling the mutt. The dog’s stubby tail was wagging furiously now. The dog licked the boy’s hand. “This is government property,” the postmaster replied sharply. “I’m warning you—get away from here. This isn’t a hangout for you troublemakers.” He took a menacing step toward the three boys. Hannah saw Danny take a few steps back, his expression frightened. The other two boys stood their ground, staring at the red-faced postmaster defiantly. They were big, Hannah saw. Bigger than Danny. They appeared to be older than Danny. “I’m telling my dad you hurt Rusty,” the blond boy said. “Tell your dad you were trespassing,” Mr. Chesney shot back. “And tell him you were rude and disrespectful. And tell him I’ll file a complaint against all three of you punks if I catch you back here again.” “We’re not punks!” the heavier boy shouted angrily. Then all three boys turned and started running down the alley. The dog zigzagged excitedly at their heels, its stubby tail twitching wildly. Ghost in the Mirror. Originally, this book was going to be followed by The Incredible Shrinking Fifth Grader . However, the series was canceled before the book could be released, making Ghost in the Mirror the final book in the series. The cover illustration depicts a mysterious, bony hand emerging from a mirror. The hand appears to be semi-transparent. The area in the mirror where the hand emerges from appears to be rippling. Contents. Jason Sloves is always being pranked, scared, and teased by his sister, Claudia. One day, Claudia makes fun of Jason's bedroom for being babyish, but his parents have been reluctant to pay for updates, as Mr. Sloves has been unemployed for over a year. However, two weeks later, Jason is gifted an antique wooden dresser and a large mirror. Jason invites his friend, Fred, over. The boys play video games, Jason notices that the mirror is oddly smooth and very bright. But Fred is distracted when he thinks he sees something moving in the mirror. Fred eventually leaves, and Jason finds a note lying on the floor beside his new furniture. The note says: " BEWARE. BRING THIS INTO YOUR HOUSE — AND YOU BRING DEATH! " Jason assumes this note was a trick planted by his sister and tries to move on. However, Jason's fears are worsened when he finds his dog, Buzzy, barking at the mirror for no discernible reason. Jason discusses this occurrence with his parents over dinner, but the group hears what sounds like at least two dogs growling upstairs. Jason goes up to his room and Buzzy attacks the boy, biting his neck. Jason's dad grabs the dog and places it in the garage. Jason invites Fred over again, and the boys play more video games. Suddenly, the boys see Buzzy's reflection in the mirror. They try to show Claudia, but the dog's image vanishes. Jason briefly goes downstairs, but — when he returns — Fred is gone. Jason figures he went home, so he goes to bed. At night, he hears what sounds to be a dog whimpering coming from his mirror. The next day at school, Jason sees Fred in the locker room before gym class. Fred doesn't give an explanation for why he left abruptly. The boys are brought outside for a game of soccer, and Fred plays aggressively, which is unusual for the typically clumsy boy. After the game, Jason compliments his friend, saying how his performance made him seem possessed. Fred becomes enraged by this remark and begins punching Jason. Fred is suspended, and Jason goes home. Jason looks in his mirror and sees the image of Buzzy and Fred. The mysterious image of Fred reaches through the mirror and grabs Jason's arm. Jason winds up on the floor with scratch marks on his arm. A ghostly version of himself appears in the mirror and beckons him in. Suddenly, Fred calls from inside the mirror, telling Jason not to enter. Suddenly, the ghostly image of Jason turns into a hideous monster with crab-like claws. The creature reaches out and grabs Jason and pulls him in. Jason, now in a mirror-dimension, is informed by the monster that it intends to take his place in the real world. Jason sees more monsters in the mirror dimension, and he accidentally backs up and falls through the mirror, landing back in the real world. Jason calls his parents in, hoping to show them the mirror's true nature, but the mirror appears completely normal when they arrive. The next morning, Jason sees that a hole has been chewed in the garage door, and Buzzy is gone. The boy rides his bike and looks for Buzzy, but he finds Fred lifting a car over his head. Jason realizes Fred and Buzzy have been replaced by monsters, and — in order to save the real ones — he'll have to return to the mirror-dimension. Late at night, the mirror clouds, and Jason is able to enter. He falls into a hall of mirrors and sees Fred and Buzzy. However, Jason can't seem to break the glass to get out. He pulls out his pocket mirror and tries to use it to break the glass, but this doesn't work. He ends up pointing the small mirror at Fred, which clones the boy. Jason creates five clones of Fred, but even their combined effort can't break back into the real world. Jason points his pocket mirror at the original mirror, and the glass begins to sizzle. Jason, Fred, and Buzzy fall into the real world, but the monster that wanted to replace Jason appears and tries to attack Jason. Jason rips out the creature's eyes and shoves the creature into the mirror-dimension. Jason then picks up a lamp and hurls it at the mirror, destroying the dimension's entry point. While cleaning up the broken mirror, Jason finds the warning note from earlier and decides to throw it away. Suddenly, a large, hairy, snake-like creature emerges from his wooden dresser, and the monster asks if its note was received. R. L. Stine. Robert Lawrence Stine (born October 8, 1943), [2] known as R. L. Stine , and Jovial Bob Stine , is an American writer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," [3] is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street , Goosebumps , Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The Nightmare Room series. Some of his other works include a Space Cadets trilogy, two Hark gamebooks, and dozens of joke books. R. L. Stine's books have sold over 400 million copies as of 2008. Contents. Biography [ edit | edit source ] Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio on October 8, 1943 [4] to Jewish parents, Anne Stine, a homemaker and Lewis Stine, a shipping clerk. [5] He began writing at age 9 when he found a typewriter in his attic, subsequently beginning to type stories and joke books. [6] He graduated from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. [7] While at OSU, R. L. Stine edited the OSU humor magazine, The Sundial , for three out of his four years there. [2] He later moved to New York City to pursue his career as a writer. [5] He wrote dozens of humor books for kids under the pen name Jovial Bob Stine and created the humor magazine Bananas . [5] In 1986, Stine wrote his first horror novel, called Blind Date . [8] He followed with many other novels, including The Babysitter , Beach House , Hit and Run , and The Girlfriend . [5] He was also the co-creator and head writer for the Nickelodeon Network children's television show Eureeka's Castle , original episodes of which aired as part of the Nick Jr. programming block during the 1989 to 1995 seasons. [ citation needed ] In 1989, Stine started writing Fear Street books. [9] Before launching the Goosebumps series, Stine authored three humorous science fiction books in the Space Cadets series titled Jerks in Training , Bozos on Patrol , and Losers in Space . [10] In 1992, Stine and Parachute went on to launch Goosebumps . [5] According to Forbes List of the 40 best-paid Entertainers of 1996-97, Stine placed 36th with an income of $41 million for the fiscal year. [11] His books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide as of 2008, [12] landing on many bestseller lists. In three consecutive years during the 1990s, USA Today named Stine as America's number one best-selling author. [13] Among the awards he has received are the 2002 Champion of Reading Award from the Free Public Library of Philadelphia (that award's first year), the Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Award for Best Book-Mystery/Horror (three-time recipient) and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also received three times). [13] During the 1990s, Stine was listed on People Weekly's "Most Intriguing People" list, and in 2003, the Guinness Book of World Records named Stine as the best-selling children's book series author of all time. He won the Thriller Writers of America Silver Bullet Award in 2007. His stories have even inspired R. L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse , 4D movie-based attractions at SeaWorld San Diego and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. [ citation needed ] Also produced was a Goosebumps TV series that ran for four seasons from 1995–1998 [14] and three video games; Escape from HorrorLand , Attack of the Mutant [15] and Goosebumps HorrorLand . [16] In 1995, Stine's first novel targeted at adults, called Superstitious , was published. [17] He has since published two other adult-oriented novels; The Sitter and Eye Candy . [7] In the first decade of the 21st century, Stine has worked on installments of five different book series, Mostly Ghostly , Rotten School , Fear Street , The Nightmare Room , Goosebumps Horrorland and the stand-alone novels Dangerous Girls (2003) and The Taste of Night (2004). Also, a direct-to-DVD movie The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don't Think About It, starring Emily Osment was released by Universal Home Entertainment on September 4, 2007. [ citation needed ] Personal life [ edit | edit source ] On June 22, 1969, Stine married Jane Waldhorn, who became an editor and writer [7] and formed Parachute Press with Joan Waricha on April 1, 1983. [18] Their only child, Matthew, was born on June 7, 1980 [7] and works in the music industry. [19]