Scream of the Evil Genie

Give Yourself Goosebumps #13

by R.L. Stine

When a genie named Jenna pops out of a soda can and offers you three wishes, you think all your dreams have come true. But Jenna has a few tricks up her sleeve. If you don't watch out, the wishes of your dreams could turn into a nightmare.

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a unique and interactive reading experience that transforms the story based on the choices you make. Each decision leads you down a different path, making it a compelling and dynamic read. The fun lies in the fact that it’s not just a single narrative; you can revisit it multiple times, exploring various outcomes and discovering new twists with each read.

As someone who enjoys a bit of nostalgia, this book brings back fond memories of reading choose-your-own-adventure stories. The format allows for a sense of agency that many readers find appealing, especially younger audiences. It’s a super quick read, making it perfect for elementary or middle-grade students looking for something engaging that they can finish in one sitting or take their time with across several choices.

What I appreciate most is how it manages to deliver a complete and satisfying story regardless of the path you choose. The narrative feels full and well-rounded, ensuring that readers get a fulfilling experience no matter which decisions they make.

In conclusion, this book is a delightful piece that encourages exploration and creativity, making it an excellent choice for young readers or anyone seeking a fun, nostalgic journey through storytelling.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun fact,I used to read the Give Yourself Goosebumps books when I was a kid and as soon as I got a good ending I was done with them.As I've gotten older going back to revisit them and finishing them the right way.I've come across some favorites.Scream Of The Evil Genie is not one of them.The story starts with you coming home from school and you notice your parents haven't made it in yet so you decide to raid the fridge.You open a can of cola and out pops a genie.Her name is Jenna and she grants you three different wishes and these wishes are split into four different storylines although one leads to the same place and overlap eachother.The first storyline I went with was wishing to be famous.This leads to you being either a barney knock off named Wilfred or a captian of a curling team.I actually got a good ending my first try which was weird.The wilfred storyline is really lackluster.You get angry parents and then you wish to be anywhere but here and that takes you to an island where you must follow a patriot ,ride a lion ,get sodas out of random vending machines and steal a ring from Jenna.This is mentioned one time and not explained that great.The next storyline was the rich storyline and it wasn't terrible you basically get a choice to hang out with two different friends and two different locations.You can go to the mall with Peter or invite Stephanie over to play video games.In the peter story you basically give away money and run away from people wanting money.The stephanie storyline is way better but its short.You get transported inside a video game called Mortal Revenge. That's a play on Mortal Kombat.But the game is more along the lines of Streets Of Rage or Double dragon.But then you run across what is basically Goro and a Master Splinter hybrid.The next storyline was the one where you don't know what you want to wish for and accidentally wish Jenna was your mom.You get a metal monster bug and that storyline sucks as well.And finally the best storyline ever is the best looking storyline which takes a whopping I think Two and a half pages.Scream Of The Evil Genie was a very weak book for me.The storylines weren't scary or even interesting, other then the rich storyline.We barley learn anything about Jenna.We do get kinda why she's in a can.But you kinda have to use your imagination.This leads me to the endings.I liked the ending where you get trapped in a soda can.That is actually kinda scary and answers the jenna origin sort of.There is an ending that reminds me a little of Mr.Beast.I should quickly mention that after each wish,Jenna changes.She gets bigger and meaner and this isn't explained either.My least favorite ending had to be the one involving Peter Pan.I give Scream Of The Evil Genie a two out of five stars.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Registered on Bookcrossing - http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1...

This is a fun book! It's somewhat creepy and a bit silly, so it's not very scary, perfect for middle school age kids. I didn't realize it's one of those where you choose your own story. I guess there are 3-4 different things and you can choose which way the story turns out. I used to love those Choose Your Adventure books.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should have gone to the mall because a rat-man killed me.

[Ami Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as some of the other books in the series, but still fun.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would definitely give this book two and a half stars. I thought that R.L. Stine really did an excellent job redefining the genie story, making what flows forth from your unusual discovery in a cola bottle into an adventure that is truly both highly inventive and original. I think of this book as another of R.L. Stine's Give Yourself Goosebumps books that measures up with some of the best in gamebook writing. Scream of the Evil Genie is both entertaining and well written.

[Weathervane · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is in most respects an average GYG book, a couple very amusing endings sent it to four stars. Nothing like some self-referential humour to make a zany story even more ridiculous.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Give Yourself Goosebumps adventure wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I ended up making a series of stupid wishes that were just...stupid.

Maybe next time I'll have more fun.

[Archer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok book. When you've watched Aladdin as many times as I have you learn not to wish for riches or fame making the route I chose in the book much shorter than expected.

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scream of the Evil Genie (Updated)
None of these endings really sound “good” but I think of all of the choices I’m given, I’d have to go with this one for a best pick.

“Good Ending”
There’s no one home so you decide to raid the fridge. It’s packed! You see leftover pizza, a whole container of nacho cheese sauce, chocolate cake, a big bottle of fruit punch, two six-packs of cola, and fried chicken legs. You reach for some cake and see one of the soda cans move. You look at the can and when nothing happens you figure it must be the silence getting to you. You take the food into the family room and turn on the tv. You open one of the cans and hear it fizz. The fizz starts to overflow. Then something else comes from the can-a white mist-. It starts to turn into something alive.

A woman comes out of the can with spiked red and purple hair, baggy jeans, and a fuzzy sweater (short) and combat boots. She asks “What’s up?” but your too stunned to speak. You answer her and say hi back. She gets straight to the point. Her name is Jenna. She’s a genie and you get three wishes. Just nothing to do with death or weapons or her doing manual work. She asks what’s it gonna be and tells you to make your first wish. Before you do she says that each time you make a wish you have to open the can again.

Do you wish to be a big celebrity? The richest kid in the world? The best-looking kid in the world? Or Something else? You wish to be the richest kid in the world (45). You tell her you want to be rich. She says they all want that and laughs at the predictability. But that’s what you want. She tells you have to say the words “I wish I was rich”. So you do and a white mist surrounds you. You find yourself in a mansion.

You’re sitting on a fancy black leather couch in a family room the size of a gymnasium. An elegant oriental rug covers the floor. A huge-screen TV faces the couch, filling one wall. Along the other walls are three different media centers, with enough computers, video games, and electronic music equipment to fill a department store. A butler comes up to you and offers you a tray with pizzas, soft drinks, candy, and apple juice. You ask the butler who he is and where you are. He says your at home and his name is James. He’s been your family’s butler ever since you won the 80-million-dollar lottery.

You ask him if you can get a car to take you to see your friends but he says no. You can never leave that house. You’d be in too much danger. You try to talk him out of it. Your parents will never know but he says he’s under strict orders. So you say fine and dismiss him. He lingers but you tell him not to worry you won’t go anywhere. When he leaves you sneak out. You find the 10-car-garage and the driver polishing a Rolls Royce. So, you go over to him and ask him can he take you to see your friends. Will you pick Peter who likes to hang around at the mall or Stephanie who likes video games.

You decide to go to the mall with Peter (95). You go to Peter’s. When you pull up, he starts to lose his mind and scream to the top of his lungs. Then you start screaming your rich. Manny advises you not to but you don’t see why not. Peter says it was all over the tv. You owe him a dollar so you give him 100.00 and tell him to get in the car. Then you head for the mall. Peter is still dumb struck over the hundred dollar bill. You ask him hasn’t he ever seen one and you have more. To prove it you throw some up in the air. As you leave, some neighbors come snatch them off the grass. Manny tells you (you) can’t be doing that! You tell him to chill.

You start making plans. When you get to the mall you and Peter will upgrade your sneakers. Then you’ll see every movie playing at the theatre. Then you’ll have one of everything at the food court. You see some people admiring the car. A little boy compliments you on it and you ask if he wants to go for a ride. He and his mom get in. Then another man asks if he can get in. You tell the crowd admiring the car they can all get in.

After this it ask do you want to go to the food court or the sporting goods store. I was hoping it would be food court but no it’s sporting goods store (81). You decide to go to Sal’s Sports Spa. The new power play shoes are in. At Sal’s, you and Peter try on the high-tech sneakers. Then you try on hockey skates, soccer shoes, and climbing boots. You tell a sales girl that you want some lime-green skates but she snaps at you to stop wasting her time. You couldn’t even afford the laces. You flash come cash and tell her not only do you want to buy them you want to buy all the shoes you tried on. And you want to buy shoes for every one in the store. RIIIIGHT! Even tho I have seen a celebrity we have here go that in a KRISPY KREMES and post it on IG. But then someone yells someone’s buying everyone shoes and the store is soon swamped.

You hand Cindy your wallet after every kid gets their shoes. You tell Peter no movies today but you’ll come back. Cinday says that’s not enough. You owe her 953.61. You try to tell her your good for it. You have the rest just not on you. She saw your wallet but she tells you (you) probably stole it and calls security and tells them she has thieves in her store. The police come and Cindy tells them you were trying to get one over on her and get her to believe your rich. One of recognizes you as the kid outside with the Rolls Royce. The police thanks you for taking his family for a ride in your car and says no way is he arresting you. He tells the salesgirl she’ll get her money. Then he offers you a police escort.

Outside everyone cheers you and follow you to the car like it’s a parade. With the second wish you have a pizza party for everyone. For the third wish you wish to make them all millionaires.

“Bad Endings” (a handful of these sounding interesting)
You wish to be famous (73). Jenna asks you what kind of famous movie-tv or sports star? You choose movie-tv star (85). So, you say the words to make the wish and the room starts to fill up with white smoke. So, much so that it starts to chock you. You start to think she tricked you until you see that your sitting in a big Hollywood dressing room. For a minute you wonder where Jenna is but your so caught up in the dressing room you don’t think about her long. You go to check out your closet and you find a “Wilfred” costume- think Barney. You hate Wilfred. A lady tells you its showtime and your audience is waiting (a bunch of 4-year-olds).

You decide to try being Wilfred for a white (19). *Which I would definitely NOT do! The lady offers to help with your costume but you tell her you got it. The costume is a nightmare to get into. For the next twenty minutes, you struggle to get into the pink-and-green dragon suit. It’s a joke. A really bad joke. The body part of the costume is stiff, hot, and hard to zip up. And the head? It’s so heavy, it’s like wearing a blanket. The headpiece isn’t only hot and heavy — it’s also much too big for you. It keeps slipping and sliding around, banging into your nose. Sometimes the eyeholes don’t line up with your eyes.

You can’t stand it! You rip the costume head off (in front of the children unfortunately). Angry parents start to scream and you and then they start coming for you. You take off running and make it to your dressing room and lock the door. You can hear pounding from the outside. Your hot and disoriented and make the first wish that comes to mind. You wish that you can get out of there but nothing happens. Then you think you have to have the can. But did you leave it behind or did it come with you.

You decide it’s probably in the dressing room somewhere (82). You find a mini-fridge filled with sparking water, juices, and cola. You start opening cans but no Jenna. You get to the last one. She’s in the last can but she’s different. She’s dressed in black leather and has an attitude. She asks what you *think* you want this time and calls you a smart mouth. She’s making you nervous so you blurt out. “I wish I was somewhere far away from here!”

You find yourself on a beautiful beach. Only it’s just you! You hear the roar of an animal but decide to stay put (65). Even though you still hear the rustlings coming from the jungle you decide you have a better chance out in the open. But then you start to get thirsty. There isn’t anything to drink in sight. You think about the can of cola and wonder where it is. Should you look in the jungle for the soda can or stay out in the open? You decide to take your chances and explore the jungle (7). Once inside the jungle a winged creature swoops down at you. It’s a parrot. It lands on your shoulder and tells you to follow it. So you do (30).

It leads you to five modern, vending, machines. A juice machine. A coffee machine. A candy machine. A milk machine. And a cola machine. Only a tiger is sitting on top of the cola machine. The parrot tells you to ignore it. Do you listen? You decide to listen to the parrot (67), The parrot gives you some coins and tells you to be careful. They’re the last he’s got. But then the tiger leaps at you. The tiger leaps over you. You get the cola from the machine. No genie inside. In a burst of frustration you hit the machine and another can pops out. Jenna is in this can but her eyes are a poisonous yellow color, shaped like a cat’s. Her teeth are all fangs now. Razor sharp and deadly. Her hair stands straight up in spiky points that look as deadly as her teeth. She says this is how she’s always looked.

You make your last wish. You wish to go home and everything go back to how it was, but you keep the memories of what happened. You save yourself from the tiger (36). Your saved only Jenna says you would have been safe if you’d just wished to go home. Now you have to grant her wish. Jenna tells you to pick up the can and hold it tight while she makes her wish. She says once she does you’ll be home. She says she wishes you were the genie and she was free. You scream NO and fill your body breaking up into a white cloud. You start to whirl faster and faster and then your sucked into a dark tunnel. Your now inside the soda can. Months go by. Maybe years then you hear a FIZZ. Someone popped the top. It’s a kid. You tell him you’re a genie and there to grant his three wishes. You think maybe being a genie won’t be so bad.

My Thoughts:
I actually like the “bad ending” of this one better than the good ending. The evil I dream of Jeannie twist really worked for this storyline! I could actually see this being one of the regular books in the series. Even one of the episodes. I see that originally I did get some of the other endings One I actually *did* want to try on this read but I found out I already did previously. I get some things for my family before heading to the food court. People start noticing us again and a girl comes over to us and ask am I the one giving out money. Because I’ve been dropping “tips” in all the stores. And she asks me for some money. I give it to her (dumb) and then there’s a riot of people trying to get to me to get money. I spot a hot dog cart and hide there but the mall police catch us and haul us off.
Ok 1. Me and my best friend talk about this ALL the time. How STUPID is it to just flaunt your money? That’s just BEGGING to either attract 1 FAKE behind people or 2 Thieves and robbers. I’m all for helping people, and tipping people, but throwing money outside up in the air. OH, HELLL TO THE NAH! I can think of better ways to waste money if I wanted to waste it then just throw it away. Let me win 80 million dollars. My character was just SILLY! Then speaking of dumb a mall police arrest you for hiding behind a COUNTER at a hot dog place. I mean what is that? But you know what? I’mma just leave that alone. Because I’ve heard of them SHOOTING someone for not much less than that.

There was another ending I picked that was similar to the “bad ending” I liked above. pick celebrity. She asks do you wanna be a sports or movie star. We pick movie star. BUT we turn out to be the equivalent of Barnie. We remember that we have to open the soda can to call Jennie. But this is a different version. The Evil-Goth version. We wish ourselves away to an island. Long story short it’s the one in the Peter Pan fairy tale and we wind up a cave with six other kids from different parts in time, there’s a beast outside, and Peter Pan is hovering over us.

It just seemed tame to banish us to Neverland. Unless this was a *darker* more warped version of Neverland. And if that was the case then it should have been more expanded. There was one last ending I got. I asked the genie to make me beautiful. She turned me into a beautiful museum painting.

Rating: 6

[Riski Oktavian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dari beberapa judul Goosebumps lainnya yang sudah kubaca (baru dua sih, hahaha), aku suka sama judul yang ini. Sejauh ini.

Selain karena format buku ini yang unik, cerita yang ditawarkan sendiri juga menarik dan bikin takjub gitu deh.

Kenapa aku bilang formatnya unik? Karena di buku ini "petualangan"-nya emang kerasa banget sih. Karena lewat instruksi di setiap bagian bawah halamannya, kita bisa menemukan hal-hal baru di setiap halaman yang diminta. Dan aku baru pertama kali sih baca buku dengan tipe atau format begini.

Supaya kebayang contohnya tuh kayak gini: Anggap kita baca dari halaman 5, di bawahnya ada petunjuk untuk melanjutkan ke halaman 91, nanti disuruh balik lagi ke halaman 67 dan ada dua pilihan antara mau ke halaman 119 atau 18. Begitu terus sampai kita bisa menemukan cerita yang lebih banyak lagi. Entah ya buku kayak gini tuh namanya apa sih? Mungkin kalau ada yang tahu bisa kasih tahu di komen ya!

Dan juga selain itu keunikan selanjutnya adalah melibatkan pembaca sebagai tokoh utamanya. Jadi semacam point of view orang kedua gitu deh.

Overall bacaan yang cukup ringan tapi juga putar otak banget. Bahkan aku menyediakan satu kertas khusus untuk catatin halaman berapa aja dan ke mana cerita ini bergulir. Bahkan beberapa kali di dua cerita yang berbeda bisa membawa ke satu halaman yang bener-bener nggak kupikir bisa nyambung!

Suka banget deh pokoknya.

[Anomaly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Just... meh. This one disappointed me.

The way the wishes go wrong - and we all know they will; that's the entire point of genies in horror stories - are sometimes entertaining but also sometimes incredibly dull. There's also one wish path that basically instantly leads to a bad ending and a minimum of two ways to reach one of the bad ends - exact same pages, not just similar - except one way is incredibly forced and ridiculous. Not only does the genie change inexplicably, but one time a completely different genie shows up for one of the wishes and doesn't even play by the established, implied lore of the universe, instead intimidating the reader character into panic-wishing in a way the reader has no control over at all. That's not fun! And it's certainly not interactive.

This book needed a lot more thought and some stronger imagination put into it.

[Paige Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one in the series! I had a blast with this story. All of my choices led me down a crazy path and the ending was pretty good.

Scream of the Evil Genie allows you as the reader to make three wishes. I made my first wish and it was what I'd expect but had a few snags along the way and then led me down an even weirder path as the story progressed. The ending was definitely karma and well deserved LOL.

[Randi Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made it on the first try!

I'm not gonna lie though - I didn't think I'd make it out of this one alive! Or at least safe!

This book gives you four options to choose from right away instead of the usual two or three. That means my chance of picking correctly from the beginning was only at 25%.

But I made the right choices and that's all that matters!

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m participating in Old School April, a nostalgic read-a-thon, and one of the prompts was to read a Goosebumps book.

I am 47 and don’t remember reading Goosebumps as a kid, but this was SO nostalgic and FUN!

I read through, choosing my own adventure twice and “died” both times! 😂😂😂

Great fun!

[Sarah Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genie from a soda can that makes wishes true even the worst of them. I had no choice but to love this one, the adventures were so cool and relatable. It’s fun having to choose what to wish for next and seeing what happens when it’s actually granted.

[Katherine Vellenga · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always been a fan of choose your own adventure stories. This one is fun and quick!

[Lexi Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it one of my favorites no matter how you play the book all endings are amazing 10/10 would recommend

[Kish · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more boring than the usual. Good premise, most boring execution ever.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up to 3 stars

[Justin Spanbauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Every path in this book is pretty interesting and the best one can be entered multiple different ways making it both cohesive and varied.

[jennalikebook · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars cuz it was fun and the genie's name is Jenna. heh

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best GYG thus far. Most endings were good. Disliked the island storyline but that still had some good stuff. Jenna is a cool character. Cool genie concept. 8.5/10.

[Griffin C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a very good book, the endings are great and the only part I hated was the deserted island. 8/10

[fanboyriot · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were some entertaining endings but the baseball star one had to be my favorite.

[Nerd Does stuff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still have some questions but the stranded island thing was weird overall good book 6.5/10

[BookieWookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one starts with you finding a spunky genie inside a cola can, which is a fun twist on that old cliche. From there you start making wishes, but of course the "be careful what you wish for" rule is in full force so you can get a bad ending pretty quickly or in over your head.

There are a few predictable paths (especially if you're familiar with The Monkey's Paw), in addition to some very abrupt, unsatisfying endings. Oh, and it fails to follow its own internal logic at times. BUT! There are other twists on the old genie formula here to make it feel fresh most of the time, and some of the situations the reader finds themselves are a lot of fun and unexpected. I quite liked this one as a kid, and as an adult I still got a kick out of re-reading it.

One thing to note is that this one is definitely silly fun, and not particularly scary. There isn't really anything spooky, just surreal situations.

My favourite ending is where it berates you for making a bad choice, telling you that you should know better if this isn't your first CYOA book.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich bin ein großer Fan der Gänsehaut-Reihe. Dieses Buch war etwas anders als die anderen Gänsehaut Bücher. Hier handelt es sich nämlich um ein Abenteuer-Spielebuch, das in mehrere Abschnitte aufgeteilt ist. Man liest es nicht von vorne bis hinten in einem Stück durch, sondern springt immer jeweils zu dem Abschnitt der am Ende des gerade gelesenen Abschnitts angezeigt wird. Manchmal hat man mehrere Entscheidungsmöglichkeiten. So kann man sich aussuchen, wie man sich in einer bestimmten Situation verhalten möchte und beeinflusst so den weiteren Fortgang der Story. Diese Idee finde ich super. So kann eine Geschichte gleich mehrere verschiedene Enden haben, je nachdem wie man sich entscheidet.
Die Geschichten selbst waren zum Teil sehr unterhaltsam, zum Teil etwas abgedreht (ok, ist ja auch ein Kinder-Gruselbuch mit viel Fantasie). Jedenfalls konnten mich einige Storys nicht ganz so "fesseln". Da ich aber die Idee mit dem Springen im Buch sehr gut finden, gebe ich 3 Sterne.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my absolute favourite Reader Beware You Choose The Scare.

Jenna the Genie has a personality that I became instantly infatuated with the first time I went through this story as a kid. I love her spunk. At the time I especially loved the option of choosing her as my mother, even though she grants wishes to your pain in the butt brother whom always serves as an adversary toward your best interests.


If you get to the part with the talking parrot on the island, follow it! (PS: If you don't you'll be told to anyway).

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

R.L Stine always finds ways to give free reign to his overactive immagination but this Goosebumps plot allows his imagination to go into overdrive. Scream of the Evil Genie obviously involves a genie that grants wishes...and hilarity and terror on a grand scale ensue! Well neither actually ensues, but Stine does get to work in some original ideas thanks to this reliance on said genie. Probably one of the better examples of the 'Pick a Path' genre.