'Goosebumps' author R.L. Stine celebrates 30th anniversary of spooky series

With Halloween upon us, you might have memories of being a kid during this time of year reading the latest book in the "Goosebumps" series, hanging on to every word even when you were scared to read what happened next.

From Slappy the Dummy to the creepy attractions at Horrorland, author R.L. Stine has been frightening millions of children and tweens for years with his best-selling horror series.

The Bexley native and Ohio State University graduate began "Goosebumps" with the book “Welcome to Dead House” in July 1992 and has been writing them ever since — now there are more than 330 titles. “Goosebumps” has sold more than 400 million books in 32 languages and spawned television and film versions. After “Harry Potter,” it is the second best-selling book series in history.

The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. celebrated the series' 30th anniversary earlier this month during a Halloween Family Day event. Stine was in attendance, along with fellow children's author Mary Pope Osborne, who was celebrating the 30th anniversary of her series, "Magic Tree House."

Stine told The Dispatch in June that he never would've thought "Goosebumps" would still be popular years later.

"The truth is, when we started “Goosebumps,” back in 1992, I was very reluctant to do it," he said. "No one had ever done a scary-books series for 7- to 12-year-olds, and I was afraid it would mess up my audience for 'Fear Street.' I was already doing the older, teen series. That’s the kind of businessman I am: I didn’t want to do 'Goosebumps.' I said, 'OK, all right, let’s try two or three of them.'"

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Love of writing came early for Stine

Stine, whose initials stand for Robert Lawrence, became an avid reader as child, mostly reading comic books. But when he was 9 or 10 years old, a trip to the Bexley Public Library introduced him to the work of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, he said. Around that time, Stine began writing his own stories.

"I had no idea why it appealed to me so much," he told The Dispatch. "My parents didn’t understand it at all. My mom would be outside my door, saying, 'What’s wrong with you? Go outside and play.' The worst advice I ever got, right? 'Stop typing and go play.'

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From joke books to 'Goosebumps'

After graduating from Ohio State in 1965, Stine moved to New York and began writing children's joke books for Scholastic. In the 1980s, he switched over to horror, creating the popular young adult series "Fear Street" in 1989. After the first "Goosebumps" book came out in the early 1990s, Stine focused on both series, churning out two books a month, he told The Dispatch. Between 1992 and 1997, the author wrote 62 "Goosebumps" books.

Stine's favorite books in the series include "The Haunted Mask," where a girl's Halloween's mask becomes attached to her skin, and all of the books featuring Slappy, according to his website.

The latest "Goosebumps" entry, which came out last month, is an origin story about the evil dummy, titled, "Slappy, Beware!"

Stine told The Dispatch he believes "Goosebumps" books are popular because of their sense of humor and surprises.

"They know, when they read it, (it’s) never going to get too scary (or) go too far," he said. "I think that’s really important for them. It’s like a roller coaster ride — the twists and turns, a lot of screams and laughing, and then it lets you off safe. Every book has a happy ending, every single one."

Reporter Peter Tonguette contributed to this story.

mwalker@dispatch.com

@micah_walker701

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Author R.L. Stine celebrates 30 years of 'Goosebumps'