The moral of this story is "Just hang in there."

I love R. L. Stine and what he's done for reading. His Goosebumps series ruled in the '80's. Kids loved his books. Kids who had never finished a book in their life, proudly carried around their dog-eared copies of Monster Blood. Even though I owned a bookstore I loved to take my kids to a local, dusty old used bookstore and buy a bag full at 25 cents each. We had family checklists, all that stuff.

There was nothing to compare with reading a Goosebumps aloud at bedtime. That last paragraph of every chapter scared the hell out of you and your sleepydreamer so you just had to keep reading.

So when we had the chance to get Mr. Stine for an event I jumped. But I'd heard stories about him, from reps and other booksellers. Enough said.

As the afternoon of the event got closer I started sweating. Would anyone come? Drawing kids to events is not a slam dunk. There's soccer practice, homework, the car pool, etc. And in this case the Goosebumps craze had moved on. His first wave of readers had aged out. They were now all writing software, founding dotcom's.

I set up the chairs, cascaded the books on a few tables. The event was 2 hours away. And in walked Mr. Stine, way early. He took one look around, saw no one, and grumbled, "This is just a stock signing, right?" Like he was ready to bolt, after signing books (with the special pens he had requested) and perhaps a quick nod to a fan.

Nervously I suggested that his publicist had said he would do a reading and then a signing. He said, "That's not what I thought. We'll see." He disappeared down the street for lunch.

Upon his return, he ducked into our office and kept looking at his watch. I kept leaving the room to straighten the books, I couldn't take the tension.

And then it got good. (Like it usually does.) In ones and twos, kids came wandering in, looking kind of tentative, curious. Some with paper bags of books! Most parents hung back. Many had never seen their child so excited about meeting an author.

Mr. Stine just sat in the back of the office. I tried to make small talk. We hadn't settled on the stock signing versus event question.

Then he peeked out the door. And saw the huge crowd. And got excited. And gave one of the best storytelling, writing lessons I'd ever seen.

"All right let's go," he said. I did a quick intro and he took off, telling the kids how he became a writer despite his teachers. He was brilliant. Kids were raising their hands, laughing, asking great questions. Mr. Stine talked about reading to his own son, now grown. He did a wonderful hands-on writing exercise having the kids compose a story.

I saw R.L.Stine in his element. That afternoon he was the Pied Piper of YA lit.

We sold many dozens of books. I'm sure more than a few kids stayed up past their bedtime.