Be Careful What You Wish For... (novella)
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into Goosebumps (Original series). (Discuss) Proposed since August 2010. |
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 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (August 2010) |
| File:What you wish for.jpg | |
| Author | R. L. Stine |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Goosebumps |
| Genre | Horror fiction, Children's literature |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
Publication date | 1994(also 1989 as it was held) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Haunted Mask |
| Followed by | Piano Lessons Can Be Murder |
Be Careful What You Wish For… is the twelfth book in R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series. It has been the issue of much controversy due to a lengthly detailed locker room sequence in the opening pages of the novella.
Plot
Samantha Byrd is a 12 year old girl constantly being tormented by her popular classmate Judith. Samantha stays after school to practice for the basketball team.
One rainy afternoon after hitting the showers with her team-mates after soccer practice, Samantha happens to come upon an old woman named Clarissa who can't find her way home. Samantha helps the old woman, and is rewarded with three wishes. Samantha is skeptical, but decides to humor Clarissa by wishing that she were the best basketball player on her school team. The next day, during a basketball game, all the other girls excluding Samantha fall mysteriously ill and screw up on the court. Samantha visits Judith, who is delirious with the flu and accuses Samantha of witchcraft. Samantha gets angry and inadvertently makes her second wish: that Judith would just disappear.
When Samantha wakes up the next morning, she finds that she's the only person left in supposedly the entire world. There's no one at home or school or on the street. After some aimless wandering, Samantha meets up with Clarissa. Clarissa apologizes for the wish, stating that she isn't skilled in magic and couldn't make Judith disappear without making everyone else disappear. Clarissa offers to cancel the second wish and give Samantha a third wish...if Samantha can make a clear wish. Samantha wishes that everything is back to the way it was, except that Judith becomes Samantha's friend.
This wish is then granted, and Judith does indeed become Samantha's friend, but Samantha soon finds that Judith has become obsessed with Samantha. Samantha tries to get away from Judith and ends up crashing her bike in front of Clarissa. Clarissa, feeling sorry that Samantha isn't happy with her final wish, grants Samantha a fourth wish. Samantha wishes that she never met Clarissa and that Judith was the one who met Clarissa instead. The wish is granted, and Judith becomes Clarissa's friend. As Samantha walks away, she overhears Judith yelling, "Fly away, Byrd!" and Samantha, now a black crow, does just that.
Television Episode
In the television series based on the Goosebumps books, this story was adapted into a one part story.
Connections to Other Goosebumps Books
Clarissa was the inspiration for the Madame Doom fortune telling machines in Goosebumps HorrorLand.[citation needed]