In just over a decade, R. L. Stine went from being an obscure humor magazine editor to the biggest name in books for youth. Though his achievement is sometimes discounted as a fluke, Stine found a formula and tapped an audience that brought him unprecedented success. Many attribute his success to the great entertainment his books provide kids. Like Stephen King, to whom Stine is often compared, Stine knows how to tell a story. He knows how to keep readers interested and involved and, most importantly, how to satisfy them. Stine is not creating well-rounded characters; he is not using symbolism, metaphor, or any of the tricks of the trade in his writing. Instead, he practices the tricks of his own trade: that of entertaining people with "cheap thrills." He uses humor, roller-coaster plots, suspenseful chapter endings, gross-outs, credible kids' dialogue, recognizable...