Chicken Chicken (novella)

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Chicken Chicken

Author	R. L. Stine
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Goosebumps
Genre(s)	Horror fiction, Children's literature
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	March 1, 1997
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Preceded by	How I Learned To Fly
Followed by	Don't Go To Sleep!

Chicken, Chicken is Goosebumps book #53 by R. L. Stine.

[edit] Story

Crystal and her brother Cole live in Goshen Falls. The siblings' parents own chickens which the kids both hate. Goshen Falls is a pretty average place, except for Vanessa. Some people think she is a witch and apparently she has previously cast a spell on someone, making his head blow up like a balloon.

One day Cole and his idiotic friends decide to play a mean prank on Vanessa. They pour water into her mailbox. Luckily, they manage to get away in enough time. The next day Crystal is meant to be buying her friend a birthday present but she meets her brother, who is playing the egg game with one of his friends. The egg game is where two people stand opposite each other and try to throw an egg to each one's self, gradually getting further away each time. When Cole's friend gets splattered with egg, Cole and him get into a little argument.

Crystal tries to break it up but as she tries to pull them apart she falls backwards and hits someone, Vanessa. Her shopping bags and groceries spill all over the street. Cole's friend apologizes and then runs away. Crystal and Cole, however, get up and walk away. Crystal hears Vanessa mutter the words "Chicken chicken". Crystal and Cole then run away without a word.

Over the next few days some weird things begin to happen. At chorus practice during Cole's solo he makes some weird noises that sound like "Bluuuuck Bluuuuck". At Crystal's friend's birthday party Crystal's lips turn weird and beak-like. Then all of a sudden they begin to grow feathers! They're turning into chickens and there is only one person that could have done this: Vanessa.

They need to get Vanessa to turn them back into humans. When no car is outside Vanessa's house they decide to go in and find a book. Then they try to do the spell backwards, but instead turn into little chicks. Thankfully Vanessa returns and tells them why she did it: Vanessa is a stickler for good manners. She collects etiquette books and punishes those who don't show her good manners with her magic powers. Crystal types out a thank-you note to Vanessa, who accepts and turns them human. Vanessa gives Crystal and Cole soda. When Cole belches very loud and they both laugh long and loudly Vanessa mutters, "Pig pig".