TIL the Goosebumps books were banned in some school libraries across the 90s for being too scary

mbpm · Sep 23, 2022

R. L. Stine on the Librarian Who Turned Him Into a Writer - I Love Libraries

R. L. Stine has been scaring kids for 30 years with his Goosebumps series of horror books for young readers. But Goosebumps may not have existed without a librarian. Stine credits a librarian in Columbus, Ohio, with introducing him to Ray Bradbury and other writers as a youth. He says their...

ilovelibraries.org

R. L. Stine has been scaring kids for 30 years with his Goosebumps series of horror books for young readers. But Goosebumps might not have existed without a librarian. Stine credits a librarian in Columbus, Ohio, with introducing him to Ray Bradbury and other writers as a youth. He says their works scared and mesmerized him, turning him into a lifelong reader and eventually a writer.

This Banned Books Week is the perfect time for readers of all ages to escape into Stine's gleefully terrifying books. Goosebumps has been challenged and banned in some schools and libraries across the U.S. over concerns that its stories can be too scary for kids. For some, that's the point.

"Fear is at the heart of Goosebumps, a series that acts in the same way that immunizations do, and it's just as mandatory for children's health," says author Alissa Nutting. "It gives them a small dose of scary and lets them produce needed antibodies towards fear, book after book, so that they slowly become less affected."

Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books: 1990-1999

ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from libraries, schools, and the media on attempts to ban books in communities across the country. We compile lists of challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools. This list...

www.ala.org

Laser Ramon · Sep 23, 2022

Remember that book where the girl finds out her librarian is a monster and he gets invited over for dinner and it turns out the whole family was monsters and they eat him?

That was pretty sick.

Futabaisthebest<3 · Sep 23, 2022

These boxarts were legendary in the 90s. Some 90s people were just weak-ass by looking at it (And probably still is)

Birdie · Sep 23, 2022

I forgot what it was but there was a children's book I read that was about an elf who got bullied by other elves and then befriended a goblin.

And then in the end he uh vores them and becomes a goblin. Really weird.

nsilvias · Sep 23, 2022

its funny because those scary scories to tell at night books were way more fucked up and those were easily avaible in school

Ithil · Sep 23, 2022

Chapter 27

I rolled my eyes, grabbed some Gak and tsk-tsked. Then suddenly everything EXPLODED.

Page 15

Chapter 28

As my dad opened my bedroom door with a bang.
"Dinner! It's chicken!".

Page 16

Terrifying stuff.

Servbot24 · Sep 23, 2022

Christian parents in the 90s were paranoid. No Pokemon, no Zelda, no mainstream music, etc, etc.

Sanjuro · Sep 23, 2022

What child wouldn't want to see this?

Lord Fanny · Sep 23, 2022

Birdie said:
I forgot what it was but there was a children's book I read that was about an elf who got bullied by other elves and then befriended a goblin.

And then in the end he uh vores them and becomes a goblin. Really weird.

Are you sure it was a children's book and not some weird online fan fiction?

Jarrod38 · Sep 23, 2022

The only one that should have been banned is Night of the Living Dummy.

Birdie · Sep 23, 2022

Lord Fanny said:
Are you sure it was a children's book and not some weird online fan fiction?

It was a book for sure. This was like 98? A collection of short stories

Instro · Sep 23, 2022

Reader beware you're in for a scare

Lord Fanny · Sep 23, 2022

Jarrod38 said:
The only one that should have been banned is Night of the Living Dummy.

Hell no, that and the original Mask were the best ones

Paroni · Sep 23, 2022

Servbot24 said:
Christian parents in the 90s were paranoid. No Pokemon, no Zelda, no mainstream music, etc, etc.

My parents were weirdly selective about that. When it came to video games, stuff like Heroes of Might and Magic and Disciples series were fine despite containing plenty of magic and literal demon factions, and books I read were not subjected to any kind of scrutiny at all so I went wild those, but good heavens the vetting of movies and TV for anything inproper could get intense. Music was the worst, it sometimes felt like almost any music could be enough to materialize Satan to my room if I was allowed to listen to it.

GreenMamba · Sep 23, 2022

Futabaisthebest<3 said:
These boxarts were legendary in the 90s. Some 90s people were just weak-ass by looking at it (And probably still is)

These covers were eye catching but often totally bullshit, I remember being so pissed reading this book:

and finding out the blob monster only appears in the end and the book is really about a magic typewriter that brings things written on it to life.

MechaMarmaset · Sep 23, 2022

I still don't understand how horror functions in text form so this seems so weird to me

Deleted member 41651 · Sep 23, 2022

These books sold like gangbusters at my school book fair. I never had the attention span to read em and just collected them for the covers... I will say that the television show had moments that approached the greatness of Are You Afraid of the Dark, like when a demon mask fuses to a kids head.

mbpm · Sep 23, 2022

GreenMamba said:
These covers were eye catching but often totally bullshit, I remember being so pissed reading this book:

and finding out the blob monster only appears in the end and the book is really about a magic typewriter that brings things written on it to life.

The book was like the blob monster is a writer and just has a blob eat things at the end or something. Weird story idea lol

Carnby · Sep 23, 2022

The only reason Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep is not on the list is because it was a lesser known horror book for kids. But man, some of those poems were gory AF.

DrFunk · Sep 23, 2022

The 90s were a era of hysteria

Even Judy Blume books were banned. It was a ridiculous time

DimpleSan · Sep 23, 2022

MechaMarmaset said:
I still don't understand how horror functions in text form so this seems so weird to me

I've been more scared reading things like IT as a teenager alone in the dark than with many horror movies.

Horror games, on the other hand, are something I usually can't bring myself to endure, and VR is a whole other level of stress.

Nappuccino · Sep 23, 2022

I accidentally got some Christopher Pike books removed from our library because I was telling another kid it might be too scary for them and describing a scene where a head was found decapitated and stuffed into a mail box.

I still feel bad about that :/

AlgusUnderdunk · Sep 23, 2022

GreenMamba said:
These covers were eye catching but often totally bullshit, I remember being so pissed reading this book:

and finding out the blob monster only appears in the end and the book is really about a magic typewriter that brings things written on it to life.

But then the Goosebumps movie made it awesome by essentially using that EXACT story arc, including the blob showing up at the end

snausages · Sep 23, 2022

This shit was pretty spoopy I thought at the time, don't remember what it was about tho

bluehat9 · Sep 23, 2022

I used to get one in my Easter basket each year lol.

Calvinien · Sep 23, 2022

Futabaisthebest<3 said:
These boxarts were legendary in the 90s. Some 90s people were just weak-ass by looking at it (And probably still is)

GB books were meh. But the boxart was legendary. Any one of those I ould hang in my room as a poster.

I fid it ironic that apparetly animorphs was never banned despite, you know, being essentially Game of thrones for preteens.

PlanetSmasher · Sep 23, 2022

nsilvias said:
its funny because those scary scories to tell at night books were way more fucked up and those were easily avaible in school

ME-TIE-DOUGH-TY-WALKER

PassiveObserver · Sep 23, 2022

Not in my school district. SFUSD represent.

Zeliard · Sep 23, 2022

Laser Ramon said:
Remember that book where the girl finds out her librarian is a monster and he gets invited over for dinner and it turns out the whole family was monsters and they eat him?

That was pretty sick.

There was also the one about the two kids who get menaced in an amusement park by all sorts of oddities and are scared shitless and it turns out the kids are robots who were designed to playtest the park.

Don't think in retrospect that Stine was a fan of robot rights.

Deleted member 1190 · Sep 23, 2022

Calvinien said:
I fid it ironic that apparetly animorphs was never banned despite, you know, being essentially Game of thrones for preteens.

People would have to actually have read Animorphs to know that

Temascos · Sep 23, 2022

Give Yourselves Goosebumps were my go to stories, I loved making the different choices and seeing what happens.

The 90s were a great time for moral panics.

PlanetSmasher · Sep 23, 2022

Calvinien said:
GB books were meh. But the boxart was legendary. Any one of those I ould hang in my room as a poster.

I fid it ironic that apparetly animorphs was never banned despite, you know, being essentially Game of thrones for preteens.

Almost everyone who read Animorphs burned out long before the series got to that point, honestly.

Deleted member 15395 · Sep 23, 2022

Seriously? I loved those. I read them when I was like 10 or something, must have like 20-30 of those books on my parent's home. I remember having a blast reading them but I don't think I was ever scared.

Zeliard · Sep 23, 2022

PlanetSmasher said:
Almost everyone who read Animorphs burned out long before the series got to that point, honestly.

I don't really think that's true and it got to that point very early; book #8 or something was Erek the android having his pacifist programming deactivated and brutally massacring an entire group of aliens and it's depicted as something quite shocking and violent. It's just that most of those elements were a lot less overt than "look at this scary monster on the book cover" with Goosebumps where it's easy for some parent to instantly judge.

nStruct · Sep 23, 2022

My school library carried them in the 90's and they were greatly responsible for getting me to actually read. Seeing some of the covers activates my nostalgia receptors.

MrHedin · Sep 23, 2022

Sanjuro said:
What child wouldn't want to see this?

I still wish I had my original copy of that book. The stories were not really scary but that art was something else.

PlanetSmasher · Sep 23, 2022

MrHedin said:
I still wish I had my original copy of that book. The stories were not really scary but that art was something else.

A lot of them were like kind of spooky but not that bad, then randomly ended with a jarring "and then there was a monster and it killed him the end". It was weird.

SNRUB · Sep 23, 2022

My school had shelves full of Goosebumps books, granted this was the early 2000s so maybe the paranoia simmered down after the 90s passed.

I do remember renting the audiobook tapes that Disney made, they were campy for sure but to a kid it elevated the scariness of the books. My hairs get a raise to this day listening to them still tbh.

heathen earth · Sep 23, 2022

I always thought they weren't scary enough. I went directly to Fear Street and Christopher Pike. Then Stephen King and Anne Rice by the time I got to junior high.

Gaius Cassius · Sep 23, 2022

Zeliard said:
There was also the one about the two kids who get menaced in an amusement park by all sorts of oddities and are scared shitless and it turns out the kids are robots who were designed to playtest the park.

Don't think in retrospect that Stine was a fan of robot rights.

That's some Battlestar Galactica and Westworld type shit, lol

Birdie · Sep 23, 2022

Zeliard said:
There was also the one about the two kids who get menaced in an amusement park by all sorts of oddities and are scared shitless and it turns out the kids are robots who were designed to playtest the park.

Don't think in retrospect that Stine was a fan of robot rights.

Wasn't that plotpoint reused for one of the Choose Your Own Adventure GBs as a bad end?

Lulu · Sep 23, 2022

The one with the werewolf will always be my favorite because of that really stupid twist. It inspired me

mbpm · Sep 23, 2022

Lulu said:
The one with the werewolf will always be my favorite because of that really stupid twist. It inspired me

Which one, there were at least 2 lol

As a kid I liked the Werewolf in the Swamp one bc in the end the kid turns into a werewolf himself after a bite and is just completely cool with it. Just runs with his dog and its a happy ending

Aaronrules380 · Sep 23, 2022

the Goosebumps book that tends to stick in my mind for whatever reason was the one where the main character thinks this boy and his family who seemed to suddenly move next door out of nowhere is a ghost and the twist is that she and her family were the actual ghosts and they had died in a fire like a decade or two ago.

PlanetSmasher · Sep 23, 2022

Birdie said:
Wasn't that plotpoint reused for one of the Choose Your Own Adventure GBs as a bad end?

There was an entire Give Yourself Goosebumps set in Horrorland, yeah. I don't think they reused that exact ending though.

Nida · Sep 23, 2022

Aaronrules380 said:
the Goosebumps book that tends to stick in my mind for whatever reason was the one where the main character thinks this boy and his family who seemed to suddenly move next door out of nowhere is a ghost and the twist is that she and her family were the actual ghosts and they had died in a fire like a decade or two ago.

Isn't that a certain film with Nicole Kidman?

PlanetSmasher · Sep 23, 2022

Nida said:
Isn't that a certain film with Nicole Kidman?

You're thinking of The Others, where Nicole Kidman moves into a house she thinks is haunting her and her kids but really she murdered her kids and they're all ghosts haunting the house's current owners. It's kind of the same plot arc but within one house instead of next door neighbors.

Lulu · Sep 23, 2022

Aaronrules380 said:
the Goosebumps book that tends to stick in my mind for whatever reason was the one where the main character thinks this boy and his family who seemed to suddenly move next door out of nowhere is a ghost and the twist is that she and her family were the actual ghosts and they had died in a fire like a decade or two ago.

Camp is being terrorized by a werewolf or some kinda monster, turns out it was the counselors or something. When the reveal it was all to fuck with the main character to see how tough it is, they also reveal that his parent are going to investigate the creatures of any planet.... earth. Like huh.

PlanetSmasher · Sep 23, 2022

Lulu said:
Camp is being terrorized by a werewolf or some kinda monster, turns out it was the counselors or something. When the reveal it was all to fuck with the main character to see how tough it is, they also reveal that his parent are going to investigate the creatures of any planet.... earth. Like huh.

Welcome to Camp Nightmare was probably the book that broke me on reading Goosebumps books sequentially. Once that bullshit ending dropped I read the first page of every Goosebumps book before the rest of the book.

bremon · Sep 23, 2022

The greatest Goosebumps story was "ghost beach". 7-8 year old me absolutely did not see that twist coming. Had me shook.

Also, RL Stine was milking a hell of a cash cow pumping one of these books out every month.

TIL the Goosebumps books were banned in some school libraries across the 90s for being too scary

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