What are the best books by R.L. Stine

A closer look into author R.L. Stine’s writing career

Robert Lawrence Stine (or R.L. Stine for short) was born in 1943 in Columbus, Ohio, to a Jewish-American family. He spent his childhood in Bexley, a Columbus suburb, and it was there that he first gave writing a shot at the age of nine after discovering an old typewriter in the attic. An avid reader of pulp-fiction magazines such as Tales from the Crypt, young Stine started writing stories about the paranormal, exploring many of the themes he would eventually cover in his more adult work.

Stine graduated from the Ohio State University with a degree in English, and after having spent a couple of years working as the editor for the Sundial magazine, he spent the ’70s writing humorous stories under the name Jovial Bob Stine, eventually even creating a magazine called Bananas. The magazine was published by Scholastic Press for 72 issues and was discontinued in 1984.

Two years after the magazine was discontinued, Stine wrote his first novel, Blind Date, which he followed up with The BabysitterBeach House, and Hit and Run. In 1989, he started working on his Fear Street series, and in the early ’90s, he graced the world with the first installment of his famous Goosebumps series. He has also written several standalone novels, for example, The Nightmare Room and Mostly Ghostly. R.L. Stine is additionally one of the authors of the Point Horror young adult horror fiction series.

Stine now lives in New York City with his spouse, Jane Waldhorn, and his pen is still restless.

R.L. Stine’s lasting impact on the children’s horror genre

Being one of the bestselling authors, Stine left an obvious mark on the horror genre, influencing many future authors (e.g., Stephen King), movie directors, and screenwriters either directly or indirectly, and his books, especially the Goosebumps series, have become a cultural phenomenon and a household name for light-hearted, accessible horror storytelling.

Stine’s influence owes a lot to his style, which is age-appropriate but never condescending, along with his innovative approach to well-known type scenes and tropes that we’ve come to expect and recognize in the genre.

Stine’s print moves beyond the confines of the novel and short story and extends to other forms of media, such as painting, digital art, television, and cinema. Even some of his own work has been adapted into TV series and movies—most recently the highly-acclaimed Fear Street Trilogy distributed by Netflix in 2021 and the Goosebumps movies starring Jack Black.

Stine has also been involved in animated television. He was the head writer for the show Eureeka’s Castle, which aired on the Nick Jr. programming block of the Nickelodeon TV network, and he was a guest voice actor on the children’s TV series Arthur in the episode “Fright Night.”

The books that R.L. Stine is best known for

R. L. Stine has written hundreds of horror novels, children’s books, and graphic novels—and he keeps publishing new books to this day. In other words, listing them all here would be an impossible task. However, for readers interested in getting into Stine’s work, we have a list of his most popular work below. Some honorable mentions include Rotten SchoolThe Werewolf of Fever SwampWelcome to Dead HouseDeep TroubleIt’s the First Day of School…Forever!, Little Shop of MonstersSay Cheese and Die!, and the HorrorLand series.

Night of the Living Dummy

Night of the Living Dummy is the seventh book in the original Goosebumps series and one of Stine’s most-read and beloved novels. It was published in 1993, and it follows the story of Kris and Lindy Powell, two siblings who come across a ventriloquist dummy called Slappy. The twist? The dummy can speak, and it has a mind of its own—a malevolent mind possessed by a sinister force.

Thanks to its memorable villain and gripping narrative, Night of the Living Dummy solidified Stine’s position as the most popular children’s horror author, and it remains popular to this day, with Slappy being one of the most iconic characters to ever grace the genre.

Monster Blood

Monster Blood is the third of the original Goosebumps books. It came out in 1992, and it tells the story of Evan Ross and his friend Andy who discover a jar full of slime called Monster Blood. The substance seems harmless at first, but the boys quickly realize there’s more to it than meets the eye when it starts to grow and come alive.

The novel immediately grabbed attention thanks to its fast-paced plot and memorable gooey villain. It inspired three additional sequels and was adapted into one of the Goosebumps TV series episodes.

The Haunted Mask

Haunted masks are a well-known trope in horror, but Stine brought it to the forefront in his eleventh Goosebumps novel The Haunted Mask. The book came out in 1993, telling the story of Carly Beth Caldwell and her creepy Halloween mask that can’t be taken off. As the mask’s personality starts taking over, Carly’s time is running out, and she must act quickly if she’s going to find a way to get rid of the spirit that’s about to possess her forever.

The book was adapted into a TV show episode, and the Mask also plays a role in the 2015 movie adaptation.

The New Girl

The New Girl is one of Stine’s standalone novels. It came out back in 1989 and is thus one of Stine’s earliest novels. The plot centers around a boy named Cory and his school crush Anna, who is not only beautiful and fascinating but also possessing of strange powers that let her influence people around her. Also, she seems to be dead.

Although Stine’s early attempt at writing novels, The New Girl is a masterful narrative, a tale of obsession and revenge is still widely read in young adult circles.

Party Games

Party Games is the first of the revived Fear Street books published in 2014. The story is simple: Rachel’s friends warn her not to go to the party, but her crush is there, and she’s been waiting for the opportunity to be with him for a long time. She decides to go, and the party is popping—but when guests start dying one after another, Rachel realizes her friends’ warnings were justified.

Don’t Stay Up Late

Don’t Stay Up Late is the second installment in the Fear Street relaunch published in 2015. The title sums up the story pretty well: Don’t wake up, or bad things are going to happen. Unfortunately for Lisa Brooks, she realizes that too late, and constant hallucinations plague her day and night until she ends up in the hospital—and her nightmares start becoming a reality.

The Adaptation of R.L. Stine’s books into movies and other productions

Stine’s prolific career as a writer ensured his work would be adapted into numerous movies and television shows over the decades he’s been active in the horror genre and entertainment industry.

Among the first TV interpretations of his work was the Goosebumps TV show that ran for four seasons from 1995 to 1998. The series saw some of Stine’s most popular books adapted for the first time, for example, Night of the Living Mummy and The Haunted Mask, and it’s still the go-to series for Stine’s fans.

In 2010, the first season of The Haunting Hour aired on Hub Network to a series of reviews. It got renewed for additional three seasons, and it remains highly regarded as a terrific example of a show that creates suspense and horror without resorting to gore and violence.

In 2015, a year after The Haunting Hour finale, a Goosebumps movie starring Jack Black came out. The flick was a breath of fresh air in the stale genre of family movies. It captured all the nostalgia of the ’90s without relying on it as its sole gimmick, and it offered a fantastic view of Stine’s bizarre fiction. The sequel, Goosebumps 2, came out in 2018 with a few less positive reviews on IMDB, but it’s still overall a fun adaptation of Stine’s works.

R. L. Stine continues writing and publishing new stories, but he’s branched out into other media, too. He runs the Rainy Night Theater podcast, and he’s an accomplished screenwriter and producer living in New York City.

Listen to R.L. Stine’s books with Speechify audiobooks

Reading horror stories is fun, but hearing them read aloud is a whole other experience. You can enjoy R. L. Stine’s stories in audiobook format at Speechify for as little as $1 a month and hear all the ghouls, malevolent spirits, and haunted houses come to life.

Speechify is a new but growing audiobook platform with tens of thousands of titles waiting for you to download them, including some horror masterpieces by Stephen King, H. P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, and William Peter Blatty.

Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.

Dyslexia & Accessibility Advocate, CEO/Founder of Speechify Dyslexia & Accessibility Advocate, CEO/Founder of Speechify

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