Bill Brittain (1930–2011)

This book horrified me as a kid, and I still think about the tree roots scene.

A strange man comes to town for the annual fair, claiming to be able to grant wishes for fifty cents apiece. He sells four wishes, one each to four townspeople, then promptly disappears. The story of each person and their wish is told separately, but by the end they're all nicely entwined.
A fun version of the Foolish Wish trope, but nothing earth-shattering here.

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This was a cute, kid friendly retelling of "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The wishes were less gruesome, but still traumatic to the adolescents that were experiencing them. Some of them were actually quite comical. I could definitely see the kid appeal.