Goosebumps facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Goosebumps

Author	R. L. Stine
Cover artist	Tim Jacobus Mark Nagata Craig White Brandon Dorman
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Scholastic Corporation
Published	Original series: July 1992 – December 1997 Spin-off series: October 1994 – February 2000; April 2008 – present
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback) Audiobook E-book
No. of books	240 (List of books)

Goosebumps is a series of horror novels written by American author R. L. Stine. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in frightening circumstances, often involving the supernatural, the paranormal, or the occult. Between 1992 and 1997, 62 books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title. R. L. Stine also wrote various spin-off series, including, Goosebumps Series 2000, Give Yourself Goosebumps, Tales to Give You Goosebumps, Goosebumps Triple Header, Goosebumps HorrorLand, Goosebumps Most Wanted and Goosebumps SlappyWorld. Additionally there was a series called Goosebumps Gold that was never released.

Goosebumps has spawned a television series, video games series, comic series and merchandise, as well as a series of feature films, starring Jack Black as Stine.

The series was originally published in English by Scholastic Press in the United States and Scholastic Hippo in the United Kingdom. Spanning various genres, including horror, comedy, fantasy, adventure, supernatural fiction, thriller, and mystery, the world of Goosebumps explores a multitude of themes.

Since the release of its first novel, Welcome to Dead House, in July 1992, the books have achieved immense popularity, garnered positive reviews, and achieved commercial success worldwide. They have captivated a diverse audience, including children and older readers, and have sold over 400 million copies globally in 35 languages as of October 2022, becoming the second-best-selling book series in history (behind Harry Potter). At one point, the series held the distinction of being the best-selling book series of all time, selling over 4 million books a month during its prime. Individual books in the series have been listed in several bestseller lists, including the New York Times Best Seller list for children.

Structure and genre

An illustration of R. L. Stine with some of his creations. This illustration was from the cover of Stine's autobiography, It Came from Ohio!: My Life as a Writer.

The Goosebumps series falls under many genres but mainly horror and thriller, although Stine characterizes the series as 'scary books that are also funny'. Each book features different child characters and settings. The primary protagonists are middle class and can be either male or female. In Goosebumps stories, the central characters are often placed in remote or isolated locations, diverging from common societal conventions. This can range anywhere from comfortable suburban areas to boarding schools, foreign villages or campsites. Books typically feature characters who either recently moved to a new neighborhood or are sent to stay with relatives. The books in the Goosebumps series feature similar plot structures with children being involved in scary situations. At his peak, Stine was known to complete these stories extremely quickly, some of which were written in only six days. The books are mostly written in first person narrative, often concluding with twist endings. They contain surreal horror, with characters encountering the strange and supernatural.

The author has plot devices he follows throughout his Goosebumps books. Stine says he does not have any death in his stories, and the children in his novels are never put into situations that would be considered too serious.

All Goosebumps books are written at a reading level ranging from 3rd to 7th grade.

Inspiration and themes

According to the documentary Tales from the Crypt: From Comic Books to Television, R.L. Stine said that he remembered reading the popular/infamous Tales from the Crypt comic books when he was young and credited as one of his inspirations. Books and characters in the series were inspired by books and films. For example, the character Slappy the Dummy was inspired by the literary classic The Adventures of Pinocchio. Some of Stine's ideas for the books also came from real life; Stine got the idea for the book The Haunted Mask after his son, Matt, had a Halloween mask he had trouble getting off. Stine also uses his childhood fears to help him write his books. The author said, "Luckily, I have a great memory. As I write a story, I can remember what it feels like to be afraid and panicky". Stine states he often thinks of a title to a novel first, then lets the title lead him to a story.

Two common themes in the series are children triumphing over evil and children facing horrid or frightening situations and using their own wit and imagination to escape them. Stine does not attempt to incorporate moral lessons into his novels, and says his books are "strictly reading motivation".

Characters

Recurring characters who appear in multiple books and media.

• Slappy the Dummy is the main villain of the Night of the Living Dummy saga and the mascot of the series.
• The Haunted Mask is the villain of the book saga of the same name.
• The Horrors serve as the main villain(s) of Goosebumps #16: One Day at Horrorland and the HorrorLand book series.
• The Monster Blood is the titular monster of the book series of the same name.
• Amanda Benson is the protagonist of the first Goosebumps book, Welcome to Dead House.
• Carly Beth Caldwell is one of the recurring protagonists of the Haunted Mask series.
• Evan Ross is the main protagonist of the first four books of Monster Blood.
• Lizzy Morris is the protagonist of the first two HorrorLand books and a major protagonist of the HorrorLand series.
• The Menace is the main villain of the first story arc of the HorrorLand series.
• Jonathan Chiller is the main villain of the second arc of the Goosebumps HorrorLand series.
• Ray Gordon is the narrator character of the last part of the second arc of Goosebumps HorrorLand.
• Billy Deep is the protagonist of the Deep Trouble series.

Original Goosebumps series

R. L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps series

Following the success of Stine's young adult horror novels, the co-founder of Parachute Press (the company that developed the series), Joan Waricha, persuaded him to write scary books for younger children. Stine says the name for the book series came to him after he saw a TV station's ad in TV Guide that stated "It’s goosebumps week on Channel 11". He originally signed a six-book deal with the publisher Scholastic, but went on to write 62 books in the original series, the first book being Welcome to Dead House, released in July 1992. The series was originally aimed at girls, but both boys and girls enjoyed the series equally with half of Stine's fan mail being sent from boys. The cover illustrations for this series was done primarily by Tim Jacobus. Thirty-two of the books from the original series were later re-released with new artwork under the Classic Goosebumps rename.

Spin-off series

The books in the Tales to Give You Goosebumps and Goosebumps Triple Header series were written as short story anthologies, featuring a collection of stories in each book. From 1994 to 1997, six Tales to Give You Goosebumps books were published. Two Goosebumps Triple Header books were released from 1997 to 1998, beginning with Three Shocking Tales of Terror: Book 1.

Fifty Give Yourself Goosebumps books were published from 1995 to 2000, starting with Escape from the Carnival of Horrors. The books in this series were written as gamebooks, featuring multiple endings. The books in this series were ghostwritten by several authors, including Kathryn Lance and Stine's sister-in-law Megan Stine. Many of the cover illustrations for this series were done by Mark Nagata.

Due to declining Goosebumps sales and increasing competition (primarily from another series from Scholastic, Animorphs), Scholastic and R. L. Stine decided to create Goosebumps Series 2000. From 1998 to 2000, 25 books in the series were published, beginning with Cry of the Cat. The books in this series were written in a similar format and featured similar content to the original series, but Stine classified them as being "much scarier." The covers in this series were illustrated by Tim Jacobus.

The books in the Goosebumps Gold series appeared on illustrator Tim Jacobus's website and marketing sites but were never released. In this series, Stine intended to write a sequel to The Haunted Mask II (The Haunted Mask Lives!), and a sequel to Welcome to Dead House (Happy Holidays from Dead House). It was one of the two-book series by Stine that was planned to be released in 2000 (the other was The Nightmare Room).

The series was renewed in 2008 following the release of the first book in the Goosebumps HorrorLand series, Revenge of the Living Dummy, that was published on April 1, 2008. Before the 2008 release of Revenge of the Living Dummy, there had not been a Goosebumps book published in almost 10 years. Stine decided to start writing Goosebumps books again after receiving mail asking him to write new books in the series. Nineteen Goosebumps HorrorLand books were published, and books in the series mainly featured two stories. The series continued in 2012 with new stories featuring some of the series' most memorable villains, including Slappy the Dummy, the Lawn Gnomes and others. The first book of the spin-off series Goosebumps Most Wanted, Planet of the Lawn Gnomes, was released in October 2012.

Adaptations and merchandise

Audiobooks

Walt Disney Records and Scholastic Audiobooks have adapted Goosebumps into numerous audiobooks since 1996.

Television adaptations

In the 1990s, a Goosebumps TV series was produced in Canada by Protocol Entertainment in association with Scholastic Productions. The TV anthology series ran for four seasons from 1995 to 1998, premiering on the Fox Kids Network on October 27, 1995. The series mainly featured plots based on the Goosebumps books, among them The Haunted Mask and Cuckoo Clock of Doom. The TV series aired in over 100 countries and it was the number one rated children's TV show for three years in the United States. Margaret Loesch, formerly the CEO of Fox Kids, offered Scholastic a TV deal after her son responded positively to the Goosebumps book Say Cheese and Die! she had bought for him a day earlier. A book series, titled Goosebumps Presents, was based on the TV series.

On April 28, 2020, it was announced that a new Goosebumps live action TV series was in the works by Scholastic Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television Studios and Neal H. Moritz's production company Original Film. In February 2022, it was announced that the series would be heading to Disney+. It premiered on Disney+ on Friday, October 13, 2023.

Film adaptations

A film adaptation of Goosebumps was released on October 16, 2015, directed by Rob Letterman written by Darren Lemke and duo Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski with Neal H. Moritz and Deborah Forte, the latter of whom developed the TV series, producing the film and stars Jack Black as a fictionalized version of R. L. Stine "whose scary characters literally leap off the page, forcing him to hide from his own creepy creations" with Dylan Minnette as Zach Cooper, and Odeya Rush was cast as R. L. Stine's fictional daughter, Hannah. In the film, Hannah's father R. L. Stine keeps all the monsters in the series locked up in his books. When Zach unintentionally releases the monsters from the books, Zach, Hannah, and Stine team up in order to put the monsters back where they came from.

A sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was released on October 12, 2018, directed by Ari Sandel, replacing Letterman, due to being busy directing Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, and written by Rob Lieber. Jack Black returned in the sequel, making his characters the only one from the previous film to return, the sequel stars Madison Iseman, Caleel Harris and Jeremy Ray Taylor as the new leads.

Video games

There are seven Goosebumps video games, two of which have been created for the PC by DreamWorks Interactive. A 1996 game entitled Escape from HorrorLand is an interactive sequel to the book One Day at HorrorLand, and a 1997 game entitled Attack of the Mutant was based on the book of the same name. Scholastic released a Goosebumps video game in October 2008 entitled Goosebumps HorrorLand, based on the series of the same name. Another video game, Goosebumps: The Game, a prequel to the 2015 film, was released on October 13, 2015. Goosebumps: Night of Scares, a mobile game based on the film and the book series was released for iOS and Android devices on October 15 of the same year. A Mobile game, Goosebumps: HorrorTown was released in 2018. One last game released in 2020 called Goosebumps Dead of Night, available for PC and Consoles.

Comics

A comic book series, titled Goosebumps Graphix, was written based on books from the original series. There were three books published in the series; the first one, Creepy Creatures, was published on September 1, 2006. The second one Terror Trips is published in March 2007. The third one Scary Summer was released in July 2007. The fourth one Slappy's Tales of Horror is released in August 2015.

IDW Comics later released a new Goosebumps comic series, with three issues per arc. Its first arc, Monsters at Midnight, was released from October to December 2017; a second arc, Download and Die!, was released from March to May 2018. The latest arc, Horrors of the Witch House was released from March to May 2019. Each were also released as trade paperbacks.

Other media

Goosebumps has spawned merchandise, including T-shirts, board games, puzzles, hats, fake skulls, dolls, bike helmets, fake blood, and boxer shorts. Goosebumps was also adapted into a stage play by Rupert Holmes in 1998 and a stage musical by John Maclay and Danny Abosch in 2016: Goosebumps The Musical, based on book 24: Goosebumps: Phantom of the Auditorium. Goosebumps has an official website, which garners 1.5 million page views each month as of 2008. An attraction based on the series, the Goosebumps HorrorLand Fright Show and FunHouse, opened in October 1997 at Disney-MGM Studios's New York Street. Before it closed, the attraction consisted of a stage play which featured characters from the series; this show played five times a day. The attraction also featured a funhouse, called the Goosebumps HorrorLand Hall of Mirrors, which contained a maze of mirrors along with other props and gags from the series. In 2008, it was announced that Sally Corporation would market Goosebumps rides. The books One Day at HorrorLand and A Night in Terror Tower were adapted into two separate board games in 1996. Both games were published by Milton Bradley and designed by Craig Van Ness.

Legal dispute

In November 1996, Scholastic, the publisher of the series, and Parachute Press, the developer of the series, agreed to a new contract. Scholastic retained control of book publishing and the TV series, but gave Parachute Press merchandising rights to the series. In September 1997, following a dispute between Scholastic and Parachute Press, Scholastic accused Parachute Press of violating the contract. Scholastic claimed that Parachute Press had been making merchandising deals and issuing press releases without Scholastic's required consent, and had begun withholding payments from them. In November 1997, Parachute responded by alleging Scholastic had repudiated its financial obligations, claiming Scholastic had voided its rights to publish 54 books. Parachute Press filed a lawsuit, which followed with numerous other suits and counter lawsuits over who controls certain rights to the series. In 2003, the two sides reached an agreement, with Scholastic receiving the Goosebumps trademark and all other rights to the series for US$9.65 million.

See also

In Spanish: Goosebumps para niños

• Fear Street
• Gooflumps
• Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids
• Shivers (novel series)