Just in time for Halloween, R.L. Stine, author of the long-running “Goosebumps” series is joins us with shivers for kids. Spooky, funny, beloved.

Beloved author R.L. Stine. (Courtesy the Author)

R. L. Stine knows how to scare the living daylights out of kids. How to make them scream and squeal and laugh – and keep reading. He’s the author of the “Goosebumps” series of funny, scary young-reader books that have kept millions of children reading under the covers. And a whole lot more. Four hundred million books in print. That’s a lot of mummies and zombies and creepy garden gnomes and abominable snowmen. Now “Goosebumps” is a movie with Jack Black. And R. L Stine is talking. This hour On Point — “Goosebumps'” R. L. Stine.

-- Tom Ashbrook

Guest

R.L. Stine, writer and producer known for his series of horror novels. Author of the popular "Goosebumps," "Fear Street" and "The Nightmare Room" series, among many others. (@RL_Stine)

From Tom’s Reading List

NPR Books: The Deep, Dark Secret Of R.L. Stine: 'I Never Planned To Be Scary' -- "If you are — or have ever had or been — a kid, if you like to read and you like to creep yourself out, then you probably know the name R.L. Stine. The prolific author has written hundreds of horror stories for kids, none more popular than his long-running series of frightfests, Goosebumps."

TIME: R.L. Stine Explains the Hardest Part About Terrorizing Teenagers Today -- "My rule for writing teenage dialogue is no complete sentences. You know someone doesn’t know teenagers when the teenagers are speaking in complete sentences, because they basically don’t. I remember when my son was a teenager—he basically grunted."

Guardian: Jack Black's a hoot as horror writer RL Stine — "There’s a streak of old-fashioned B-movie spooky playfulness here, and when actual, motivated characters are on screen it’s delightful. Danny Elfman’s score keeps the proceedings moving along, and it’s fair to describe the film as Tim Burton-lite."

Read An Excerpt Of "Trick or Trap" By R.L. Stine

https://www.scribd.com/doc/287762037/Excerpt-from-Trick-or-Trap-by-R-L-Stine