The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight by R. L. Stine Page A

nap.
    Sticks had driven into town to pick up the mail.
    Stanley sat at the kitchen table, reading his superstition book. His finger moved over the page as he muttered the words aloud in a low voice.
    “Never again,” he had repeated at lunch. “I’ve learned my lesson about this book. I’ll never try to bring any scarecrows to life again. I won’t even
read
the part about scarecrows!”
    We were all glad to hear that.
    So now, on this lazy, peaceful afternoon, Stanley sat at the table, quietly reading some chapter of the big book.
    And I sat alone on the couch in the living room, hearing Stanley’s gentle murmurings from the kitchen, thinking about the night before.
    It felt good to have a quiet afternoon, to be all alone to think about what had happened. All alone …
    The only one in the room …
    The only one to hear Stanley’s low mumbling as he read the book.
    The only one to see the gigantic stuffed brown bear blink its eyes.
    The only one to see the bear lick its lips, step off its platform, snarl, and paw the air with its enormous claws.
    The only one to hear its stomach growl as it stared down at me.
    The only one to see the hungry look on its face as it magically came out of its long hibernation.
    “Stanley?” I called in a tiny, high voice. “Stanley? What chapter have you been reading?”

BEHIND THE SCREAMS

THE SCARECROW WALKS AT MIDNIGHT
    CONTENTS
    About the Author
    Q & A with R.L. Stine
    Fright Gallery: The Scarecrow
    Very Superstitious
    Scarecrows in History
    Teaser
    Bonus material written and compiled by Luke Woods

About the Author
    R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street, the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller
Dangerous Girls.
R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at www.RLStine.com.

Q & A with RL. Stine
    From Jodie’s first description, her grandparents’ place sounds like a lot of fun. Have you ever spent any time on a farm?
    R.L. Stine (RLS):
No. Except for the time I really needed a job and got one as a scarecrow. I had to quit that job. I kept getting a rash on my back from the pole.
    Stanley uses the book of superstitions to make people respect him. What would you use a book like that for?
    RLS:
I’d use a superstition book to look for ideas to scare people. Superstition is all about being afraid. I think people who are very superstitious make good characters in scary novels.
    Do you have any superstitions?
    RLS:
Yes. I have never written a Goosebumps book that takes place where I live—New York City. It’s just a superstition. Would it bring me bad luck if I wrote a book about New York? I don’t want to find out.
    Are you ever scared by an idea that you come up with for a book?
    RLS:
No. But sometimes I get scared by the ideas myreaders suggest for me. One boy said I should write a book about a vampire chicken. Now, that’s pretty scary!
    Who or what do you think is your scariest Goosebumps “bad guy” so far?
    RLS:
I think the scrapey, scratchy scarecrows in this book are pretty creepy. However
… I
don’t want to give anything away—but there’s a lot more evil to be revealed about Chiller House shop owner Jonathan Chiller in the HorrorLand books. He gets scarier and scarier the more you get to know him.
    Speaking of Goosebumps HorrorLand, the seventeenth book,
The Wizard of Ooze,
involves a squishy, oozing comic book character. If you could choose between being a superhero or a supervillain, which would it be?
    RLS:
You mean I’m not a superhero?! I’ve written so many of them. I invented my first superhero when I was 9. His name was Super Stooge. He wasn’t exactly the smartest superhero. He used to fly