R.L. Stine was born Robert Lawrence Sine on October 8, 1943, in Columbus, Ohio and is the oldest of three siblings. He was introduced to reading at a young age by his mother who was able to spend a good amount of time with her children due to the fact that she was a homemaker. He fell in love with reading. "When I was a kid, there were these great comic books called Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror," he says. "They were gruesome. I discovered them in the barbershop and thought they were fabulous. I used to get a haircut every Saturday so I wouldn't miss any of these comic books. I had no hair at all when I was a kid!" The first book he ever wrote was called The Giggle Book, which he wrote when he was nine years old. In the sixth grade, Stine decided he wanted to be a writer after finding an old type writer in his parents attack. He began to write stories and joke books in high school and would take them to school and hand them out to his class mates. He liked the reaction of the other students when they read his work and, of course, the added attention he was getting didn’t hurt either. This set off a chain reaction and Stine has been writing ever since. After high school, Stine attended Ohio State University. In 1965, he graduated with a Batchlor of Arts degree in education and began teaching social studies at a New York high school. On June 22, 1969, he married his wife Jane and their son, Matt Daniel Stine, was born on June 7, 1980. During this time, Stine was heavily into writing because that was his job. Stine, who at the time called himself “Jovial Bob Stine”, worked for many years with Nickelodeon and created the children’s commedy magizine Bananas. He soon after began working for the Junior Scholastic Magazine and on books like 101 Silly Monster Jokes and Bozos on Patrol. In 1985 he began writing for the New Yorker. However, this job didn’t last long due to the fact that many of the readers were uninterested in his work. Stine then decided that he wanted to start writing children’s novels where he could stretch his imagination. Stine began writing teen horror novels and in 1986 released his first book called Blind Date. Soon after he wrote his first series called Point Horror which included the novels Twisted, Beach Party, The Boyfriend, The Baby-sitter, The Baby-sitter II, The Baby-sitter III, The Baby-sitter IV, Beach House, Hit and Run, and The Girlfriend. This series was an instanst success amongst the youth and was the launching pad for his second horror series which was released in the late 80s. Stine with the help of Parachute Press, released a series of books called Fear Street in 1989 which is a colaboration of over 50 different novels. Although, some of the Fear Street novels have supernatural elements, such as ghosts, most are simply murder mysteries and Stine was not afraid to make them gory. The story of the Fear Street books take place in Shadyside which is a fictional place located somewhere on the East Coast. According to some sources, since the FearStreet’s release in 1989, over 80 million copies have been sold. In 1992, Stine, again with the help of Parachute Press, released his third series called Goosebumps which consisted of numerous best sellers; some of which were named Monster Blood, A Night in Terror Tower, and The Headless Ghost. The Goosebumps series is what R.L. Stine is most known for. Published by Scholastic Publishing, 62 books were released from 1992 to 1997. The book series quickly became a hit around the world. Translated into 32 different languages, it made Stine a worldwide publishing celebrity. He kept readers interest by never giving his books true endings, but “twist” endings. This is where a reader pretty much goes through a whole book fighting a monster and once the monster is defeated, the reader is then confronted with another monster, villan, ghost, or what ever Stine decides to throw at them. Stine is the author of over 100 children’s novels. In a 2001 interview with Teen Ink magazine, Stine reported that "Goosebumps has sold 220 million in this country. Altogether I've sold over 300 million books." He changed children’s Publishing with the Goosebumps series, which Guinness World Records calls the Best-Selling Children's Books ever. Several books in his new series Who Let the Ghosts Out, Mostly Ghostly, and Have You Met My Ghoulfriend? are New York Times bestsellers. Stine is an author in the The National Education Association and was selected by children all over the world as one of their best authors. The Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards have both recognized Stine with several awards.
Work Cited
“Who is R.L. Stine?” Scholastic.com. Web, December 10, 2010 http://www.scholastic.com/goosebumps/books/stine/stinebio.htm
“R.L. Stine” Simon & Shchuster. Web, December 10, 2010 http://authors.simonandschuster.com/R-L-Stine/1257831/biography
