so today at out new library someone had the unenviable job of putting all the cam jasen in alpabetical order by title. there are some evil jobs at the library, esp when you are setting up in a new space.

I read one Pike at a friend's house and was really, well, horrified. Not much of a one for horror, me, even now.

Bah. Pike. R.L. Stine ALL THE WAY.

He actually wrote some decent young horror. Not the fear street stuff as much, and ESPECIALLY not the goosebumps, but I especially remember The Origins of Fear Street being awesome (and vaguely historical novelish) and the Cheerleaders trilogy.

All I remember is one weird one with a brother and sister who were too close for comfort and I think someone in a wheelchair

Did they go into a cave? I think that was See You Later. I don't remember much about it, or liking it all that much.

A movie was made of a Pike book, though? That I didn't know.

There was a TV movie made out of Fall into Darkness starring Tatyana Ali.

R.L. Stine and a bunch of others I can't remember off hand. You know, those books that had names like The Waitress, The Boyfriend, The Girlfriend etc.

Yeah, me too. Also Richie Tankersley Cusick. The Lifeguard was pretty sweet.

I remember lots of Christopher Pike, mainly because he was really, really dark where a lot of the others were pretty candyass in terms of horror.

Yeah, Pike was by far the best of the bunch, way better than Stine, in my opinion. His plots were more complex and his characterizations were deeper. All of Stine's followed basically the same formula.

I remember a series with anonymous letters.

That was Chain Letter and its sequels.

Um, I remember one called Monster that completely freaked me out.

Monster.

One with a witch who could see the future.

Witch. He wasn't very creative with his titles, was he?

I don't remember The Cold One, what's it about?

The Cold One was one of his adult novels, and I read it so long ago I don't remember what it's about exactly besides being supernatural. The Listeners and Season of Passage, his two other adult novels, are really fucking awesome and highly recommended. Another way he set himself apart from R.L. Stine, whose foray into adult novels, Superstitions, wasn't so hot.

And is Remember Me the one where a girl dies at a party and comes back as a ghost?

Yes. And there were two sequels.

Or is that the series that had something to do with scuba diving and a prom on a boat or something?

That was Final Friends, which was also cool. One of his non-supernatural ones that was still a good mystery.

Oh, and I remember one where this chick set her friend up for murder by throwing herself off a cliff.

That was the aforementioned Fall into Darkness. God, I want to read them all again. I'm like a giant Pike fanboy.

For kid-level mystery books, I was always a fan of Cam Jansen (she had a photographic memory that took pictures when she said "click")

My brother's read all of those, but I haven't.

and, of course, Encyclopedia Brown.

I was excited to see an Encyclopedia Brown book in the bookstore, and the owner commented, "No one knows who he is anymore." And my companions and I yelled and screamed at this travesty.

Or is that the series that had something to do with scuba diving and a prom on a boat or something?

The Final Friends series rocked my socks.

I just like how Polter-Cow's post points out how well we remember this shit. IOW, not at all.

And yes, I think it was See You Later. I remember Fall Into Darkness, and the one with the ghost, too. I didn't know I'd read that much Pike.

I especially remember The Origins of Fear Street being awesome (and vaguely historical novelish) and the Cheerleaders trilogy.

I loved the Origin of Fear Street books. (There were two, weren't there? Or am I just remembering two Sweet Valley Saga books and assuming that all the "historical backstory" books that came out around then had two volumes?)

I also read just about everything by Lois Duncan and Diane Hoh.

There was a period around third grade or so where my parents tried to say I couldn't read horror books, because I kept not being able to sleep or waking up with nightmares. They were terrible at restricting reading material, though -- they were just so invested in "must make sure kids love reading" that they couldn't take a book away from a kid. They finally did say no horror movies, but that didn't help at all with the not-sleeping -- horror movies didn't scare me, they made me interested in figuring out how the special effects worked, and figuring out how they made it seem creepy with the lights and music. When I read a book, my brain created a fully-formed world that seemed like it could be real.

Incognito Mosquito - Private Insective: I gotta check this one out. Encyclopedia Brown is a forgotten character? Nooo! Better buy a copy for the nephew.

How about the Great Brain books? Those were really funny, plus illustrated by Mercer Mayer.

Lois Duncan was one of my favorites. Especially "Killing Mr. Griffin" cause my math teacher pissed me off.

Incognito Mosquito - Private Insective: I gotta check this one out.

I think it might have been a series; I don't remember a lot of details except for one scene where he goes to a bar and orders a milk. And when he gets suspicious looks, he adds, "Put it in a dirty glass!"

Anyone else read the McGirk mysteries and the Ghost Squad books by E.W. Hildick?

Another author I read a lot was Edward Eager. Half Magic, Seven-Day Magic, Knight's Castle...

Lois Duncan was one of my favorites. Especially "Killing Mr. Griffin" cause my math teacher pissed me off.

Yeah, I read several of hers. And Joan Lowery Nixon.

I loved Edward Eager. In the wake of Harry Potter, many of his books are now back in print.