Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum

Give Yourself Goosebumps #12

by R.L. Stine

Reader beware--you choose the scare! GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS! Your teacher thinks it'll be good for your class to hang out at the new wax museum in town. Yeah, right! Once you get there your teacher starts blah-blahing about something or other and that’s when you and your friend see the red door.If you decide to check out what's behind door #1, you'll discover the museum owner’s secret for making lifelike sculptures. And it doesn’t look like fun! If you decide to ditch the red door and go the other way you'll end up meeting scary Sybil Wicked — and wish you hadn't. Will you escape this creepy place before you're turned into a human candle? The choice is yours in this scary GOOSEBUMPS adventure that's packed with over 20 super-spooky endings!

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

163 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1996

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

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally got around to finishing another Give Yourself Goosebumps book.This one is called Welcome To The Wicked Wax Meusum.Ive heard from the community that this one is pretty well liked and I was curious to see if I would like it or not.I remember seeing g this cover on the previews of the VHS tapes I had as a kid and I would pause it to see better pictures of the Give Yourself Goosebumps section.I remember for some reason I thought this was the cover for The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp.The story begins with you and your friend Jake and Liz going on a school trip to the Wicked Wax Meusum.It turns out that Your Teacher Mr.Dunnam made a donation and this trip is before the grand opening.Your friend Jake gets in trouble on the bus by writing about hating history and the teacher makes all three of you stay in the lobby.When the teacher leaves though Jake ends up goofing off and going through a door and the door closes and you hear a motor running on the other side.You get your first choice and that's if you wanna go after Jake or get help first.I chose to get help first.This takes you outside to a limousine driving by a guy named Axel.You get a choice to get in the car with a stranger or not and the correct answer is getting in the car,which is crazy.You and Liz end up seeing That Axel is a little different ,this leads to another group of choices of symbols to call in the limousine phone.I chose the blank button.This takes makes the car stop and a trapdoor pop open and you go down this metal slide.This is where the story actually branches off I belive.You get to either go back up the chute or explore this locked door.I chose the chute and this leads you basically running away from Izzy Wicked himself and other henchmen that want to make you into a Wax figure.This story line was fine.I didn't love it,mostly because it got super confusing.You go through these steps into becoming a Wax figure.Thats getting skinned,steamed and then waxed.There is a maze here that I tried multiple times to solve but couldn't.There is some positives on this one though.We do run I to some Classic Goosebumps monsters.But I didn't love this story line it felt like to much running around while random things happen.I also didn't think the motives were particularly intresting.Now for the fun part.The other story line is going in through the door.You find a room that's totally purple with no windows and no mirrors.There is these blown up pictures of you and your friends with things labeled that this person needs.There is also this newspaper clipping about this woman named Sybil Wicked.She is the daughter of Izzy Wicked.It turns out there was this fire that basically ended Sybil.That isn't the case though as Sybil shows up and she is here to give you guys a "face lift".The description of Sybil is really good.She is basically a patch of different parts.One of her eyes is higher and a different color.She has random red hair growing in the middle of her forhead and all kinds of stuff.This story line was way better in my opinion.I knew Sybil was pretty known in the Goosebumps community and I see why.My favorite endings in this one has to be where you basically get torn to shreds and different body parts are hanging up.I also loved the deboner ending.I didn't love Welcome To The Wicked Wax Meusum.But I did like it.This whole book should've just been Sybil Wicked.I did think it was a little to confusing also.I give it a three out of five stars

[Art Hyrst · Rating 4 out of 5]

i forgot how fun these areeee

[C.J. Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the Give Yourself Goosebumps books, and I think the series was serviced really well as a choose your own adventure. It made it both scarier and more climactic flipping back and forth through the pages. At one point I had all five fingers of one hand between pages so that I wouldn’t miss any of the endings.

I went into this hoping for a Goosebumps version of The House of Wax and to a certain extent, it is, but it also does it’s own thing. A bit more supernatural, and it pulls a few characters from the original series to appear as wax figures!

Personally a 5/5*, really enjoyed this format.

[Bekah Manseau · Rating 5 out of 5]

i died at the end. rip.

[Kayla Malley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book for the millions of different endings and ways to move through the book. I also enjoy that they are somewhat scary. Very fun to read

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5
This is my first Give Yourself Goosebumps and I like the idea of it, but it just moves too quickly and it never really got to the good part. It just ended all of a sudden. I don’t think I would read another Give Yourself Goosebumps, but it was interesting for the 15 minutes that it lasted.

[Shainlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pick your own adventure. Pretty creative and creepy. So many different things …. I tried to do them all! A lot of them did not end with the character turning out in “favorable conditions.” I’ll leave it there. It’s definitely something that takes some navigation but it’s pretty fun.
I’m trying to read Goosebumps and familiarize myself with unknown lore due to the new show on Disney +.

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum
Plot: We’re going on a school trip to the Wicked Wax Museum created by Dr. Izzy Wicked (is he wicked) Get it? They say the museum is supposed to “bring history to life”. I just bet it will. Looks like we’ll be the first to see it. Before we even get in the front door my two friends and I (Liz and Jake) are in trouble for dumb stuff we did on the bus and sent to wait in the lobby. When the group leaves Jakes immediately runs off and disappears through a red door. We run after him as the door slams. Jake’s screaming for help and there’s the sound of a motor (in my head I see someone in a mask holding a chain saw for some reason making the noise. Yeah, I know. Blame in on all those scary tv shows and movies still in my head from last month). Should we go after Jake or get help? Hmm should I play this with what my head says or do it the opposite way? Let’s try the opposite way again. Hey it worked in a couple of these.

GO AFTER JAKE
We step into the red door and it LOCKS!

Our eyes adjust. Jake is strapped to a conveyor belt. He’s moving away from you. Moving toward a black tunnel. Across the room we see a shadow. What to do go after Jake or investigate the shadow.
Who gives a damn about Jake? (Remember I’m doing opposites). Let’s check out the “Shadow Man”. Maybe he knows some voodoo (Bayou) magic to stop the belt and unstrap Jake. Or maybe he’ll just turn him into a frog.

It’s the Executioner from (tries to remember the book. It’s the one when the kid’s go to the museum and find themselves transported back in time and learn there put under a spell and there a Prince and Princess. Tower of Terror?) And he has an ax (I was close. I got the man holding a torture weapon rght). He’s about to bring the weapon down on (us? Jake?)

Oh it’s Jake. He tries to strangle Liz. I pull her away and we escape. But someone’s following us. Do we look back over or shoulder or keep running? Everything in me would want to look back. I choose keep running.

(Ok now I’m confused and I’m usually pretty good with visualizations. First we were in a museum. We went through a red door into a room with a tunnel. We got back out through (a door?). Now we’re at the entrance of a brick apartment building closet.) First complaint of this book. Two much abrupt setting jumping. I know these books jump settings but this is a little to jarring. But moving forward we’re in a (hallway?) full of doors and they’re all locked. We reach the last one and…………

It unlocks in we’re in a apartment with a staircase in front of and the Executioner is on a walkway. (I mean... this just makes NO logical sense what so-EVER. A walkway in a apartment building/ A walkway is like one of those things you see at the hospital that goes over the street and connects one building to another. I thought).

We go up the staircase and he’s right behind us. He grabs us but he’s wax. (I say find the imaginary lighter that magically appears in your pocket and torch his behind).

You pull from his grasp, run up the stairs, and run into a room. Now there’s two men in the room. The Executio7ner and a man in overalls. It says he’s the museum worker who captured us in the Executioner’s room BUT… (no one captured us. They captured JAKE. We went into the room voluntarily which means someone didn’t do a good job editing this or got the story’s mixed up. Which I guess in a out of order book could very well happen). Overalls says we’ll stay with them forever. We see the candle in the window. (I guess you know what happens next).

We distract him. I grab the candle and wave it in the Executioner’s face. (That’s got to be a cool image of his face melting off and dripping down to the floor like a Dali painting).

So, we get out. Overalls is screaming threats about getting us and still having Jake. But Liz accidently hits a buzzer and here comes Turban Lady (aka the ticket lady). She’s a fortune teller. She offers us a red card and a black card. It says if you have red cards pick red. If you have black cards pick black. I have Disney cards that are red. I pick black. Hmm black takes me to page 1. Red it is.

Red means FUTURE. But before she can tells us our future we’re lifted up into a tornado. The fortune teller is holding up a sign that says the FUTURE IS YOURS. When we look down, we see a laboratory where they’re mixing hot wax. Liz starts to panic and is sucked OUT of the tunnel. UH WHAT?

We are now in a skin scaping lab. And there’s Jake. We rush over to the controls before Jake is skimmed. And we hit the POWER button. (Powerless would make more sense). The machine stops, shorts, and Jake’s body rolls towards the wax dipping laboratory.

On the inside you see what’s really going on. People are skinned, strung up, and dipped in wax (WICKED!!) And there’s Jake being examined for readiness. (And might I add what a CREEPY CONCEPT! Points on that at least 10 on the horror meter). The workers notice us and give chase. There are two ropes going up. One thin that looks like it won’t hold and thick fraying one. I choose the thick one.

We swing through the air and knock the Professor Wicked and his workers into a vat of hot wax. Then we rescue Jake. But the party isn’t over yet. Behind you is your teacher Mr. Dunning and he tells us about all the fun the other’s have had and says he hopes you’ve learned a lesson. YES WE HAVE! NEVER COME HERE AGAIN.

Rating: 7 It starts off a little jumpy. As settings go from one to the next in no logical rhyme or reason not making the slightest bit of sense. However, the concept was a horror movie in itself just waiting to be seen on a big screen. Skin scraping labs. I like it. A bit much for a kid’s book but it’s one of the darker themes for a GYG book I think I’ve read. AND I actually got a GOOD ending for this one! That’s definitely worth a low B. And any time I don’t need to read another ending is a VERY GOOD THING!

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was a worth reading book. Every page you read makes you want to read more and more. A pretty interesting book if you ask me. It starts out with three friends, that are excited to go on a field trip to the Wicked Wax Museum. They would of never thought if what the museum had in store for them. As you read this book, you are playing as the main character. Your friends are Liz and Jake, who you'll face danger with. This book has a catch with it. As you read along there will be points where you make a decision. Be careful and choose wisely because you can end up as part of the The Wicked Wax Museum.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is perhaps the quintessential Give Yourself Goosebumps entry. It contains properties common both to gamebooks and Goosebumps stories, and branches off nicely into an impressive myriad of storyline opportunities. The Vincent Price-like idea of stumbling upon the terrible secret of a Wax Museum that uses unsuspecting kids to fill its exhibits works well, in my view, and leads into a set of choices of which narrative to follow that I enjoyed reading. This is a very good book, with an attention-catching title!

[Sydney Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remembered reading another book like this called, "Dr. EEK" or something along that line, so i thought, why not? I was then in 5th grade, 10 years old. But only read up to one endings ( a 15 minute process) and I didn't like how I ended up rotting away in a old cage so much (giving me nightmares). I gave it back to my teacher and never dared to open it's flashy cover every again. Today, I laugh at my immaturity.

[Ankit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great experiment with writing skills! A horror novel is one thing, a collection of short stories is another, but 'this' thing... is pure awesome!

A must read!

It says it has 20 ends, and I have attended only 6 ends, but each was good.

I congratulate Mr. Stine for the out-of-the-box thinking, and suggest it as a must-read by all horror fans!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I read this book I was a kid.
R.L. Stine did an excellent job on the "Reader Beware You Choose The Scare" books.

[Angel Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool and very fun to read and re-read with friends.

Esta muy padre y es divertido de repetir e intentar con amigos.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Er… not that great but fine. One of my least favorite GYG books tbh. The wax stuff is creepy and all but very repetitive. The villains are very cool though. But that’s it. Just a bit below average.

[Anomaly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through probably seven to ten different endings before getting bored of the repetitive nature of backtracking to try other options, and I think that's a decent count for an adult reading middlegrade horror. I do remember Goosebumps books being really good in the eyes of my younger self, but this one was far better than I expected it would be in the retrospective view of an adult. In fact, it's basically a somewhat toned-down version of the movie House of Wax, albeit written before the movie existed.

Oddly, I remembered the silly puns and campy horror more than anything truly terrifying in these books, which is what made this one such a pleasant surprise. It has far more 'gore' (mentions of a skin-scraping chamber; kids being skinned alive then coated in wax to become living wax dummies) than I'd have expected, and the silly puns and 'bad' endings are actually amusing.

I always remember thinking that it was silly how upset some teachers got about my love for Goosebumps books when I was a kid, but then I was a kid who'd literally grown up on The X-Files so my spookiness threshold far surpassed that of most other kids in my class. Now? I might understand a little better. But also, let young horror fans live a little.

[Sadina Shawver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I somehow forgot just how much fun these choose your own ending type books are. I had a really fun time reading and rediscovering the anxiety, regret, and hope I felt as a young child making choices that could save me or end me. But in a safe space. I was surprised by how invested I was in staying alive while also having a spooky adventure as I read. The only downside to "surviving" right away is that you lose a lot of the background plot and villain character development. But that's what starting over and making new choices is for!

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars! A blast from the past. I read this as part of a challenge and I'd forgotten just how much I enjoyed these choose your own adventure books. It's such a fun concept to break away from reading dense books. R.L Stine was the first to introduce me to my interest in horror lit and his work has a special place in my heart for this reason alone.

[Yazhini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is very interesting and scary. It allows you to choose your own choices for example where to go or where do you think it will be safe. A group of friends go to the wicked wax museum as their history class trip and you get an different ending if you choose a different choice each time.

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 1st book my 4 year old listened to all the way through and didn't want me to stop reading it. She loved that it was choose your own adventure. Some parts really scared her but she was warned that she was "in for a scare" Haha.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page 25 was my ending for this first attempt. I knew I shouldn't have read this on a weekend.

I got turned into a wax figure to be placed along with other figures for the wax Frankenstein exhibit.

Lucky me.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Give Yourself Goosebumps book I’ve read since I was a kid. My immersion broke a little when it seemed like Jake could be in two different locations at once depending which path you took. Also…the Deb*ner? Really?

[Anushka Dhumale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of irritating

[Matt Leicht · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I started in this series because I wanted to do something fun and kid-like! Well this did the trick. Very “scary” and funny! Great endings!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are so much fun!

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 5 out of 5]

died immediately. 5/5 stars

[Becca Maree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept choosing the bad endings on purpose to feel something.

[A Menagerie of Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually creepy to read out loud. But we enjoyed it very much.

[Megan Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I am a sucker for these choose your own adventure type books.

[Griffin C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely my least favorite GYG by far. Neither storyline really interested me, the book was very repetitive, and I think that You're Plant Food! did this sort of concept way better. 3/10