Tat Tuesday.

This book is why I never became a ventriloquist.

On this edition of Tat Tuesday I am not looking at a toy from my childhood. Instead I wanted to talk about one of the reasons I enjoy reading. Although I sadly don't do it as much as I should. As a kid I loved the Goosebumps series. They were books that were made for people my age. That age in between being a child an a teen. They call them "tweens"  now. Back then their wasn't a word for people that age. Maybe I was just getting caught up in the fad. I don't know but the stories were fun and the books were collectable. That added up to a much enjoyed series.

Before we get into Goosebumps proper, it's only fitting that we take a moment and talk about R.L. Stine himself. The man who wrote the Goosebumps books. All of the. I'm not going to tell you anything about his life you can find all that information on his wikipedia page. I just want to mention how prolific a writer he was. The man has written hundreds of books. From Goosebumps, to the fear Fear Street series, and many stand alone novels. Not to mention the spin off series and Anthologies. The man isn't called the Stephen King of children's literature for nothing.

Before writing Goosebumps R.L. Stine already carved out a niche for himself. He had come of a run of successful Young Adult horror novels when he was approached by the co-founder of Parachute Press Joan Waricha. She persuaded Stine to write scary books for younger children. Stine was originally contracted to write 6 books but end up writing 62 books in the main Goosebumps series alone.

The first book in the series "Welcome to Dead House" was released in July 1992. It was followed by three more books that year. The series was an instant hit. Goosebumps went on to sell over 300 million books. This made it the bestselling series of all time for several years.

Each Goosebumps book would run about 120 pages. The books would often follow a similar plot structure. I kid, often away from their parents, would find themselves in a remote or new location. These kids would then be confronted with some form of scary or uncertain situation. Many of these stories would end with a twist. When you look at the series from that point of view it is amazing just how much could be done with such a set up.

The Goosebumps series, those 62 books, would lead to the much larger Goosebumps brand. As a brand Goosebumps would spread out far and wide. Aside from a number of spin off book series such as  Give Yourself Goosebumps, Goosebumps Series 2000, and Goosebumps HorrorLand, there was a TV series, video games, and a possible movie in the works.

The success of Goosebumps can mainly be attributed to R.L. Stine but I feel it is more complex than that. For starters the illustrated covers were so eye catching. When you saw a Goosebumps book you could tell from the cover that you were in for a good time. While there were many cover artist for the series over the years the first was Tim Jacobus. His art style helped to sell the books, at least to me. The other main reason, as far as I am concerned, was the supposed controversy over the books. As with all things popular among children there were those who saw negatives. Some said that the books were to simple, while others found their subject matter to be dangerous. The latter are probably the same people that boycott Harry Potter.

At the end of the day Goosebumps got kids to read. I know. As a kid I had a large collection of the books. I was even a member of the Goosebumps fan club. I was also the library for my class. Everyone wanted to borrow my books. I happily lent them out but kept a list to keep track of them all. It was great. The kids in my school were more likely to listen to Tupac then read a book. Unless that book was a Goosebumps.

While Goosebumps is nowhere near as popular as it once was the series continues. Goosebumps HorrorLand is the current series. The most recent book "The Birthday Party of No Return" was released on April 1, of this year. It's hard to find something that was as popular as Goosebumps and had the legs to stick around. Success the likes of which Goosebumps had is usually relegated to flash in the pan fads. Goosebumps has become a staple of young readers life. It isn't just something form my past. It is something that will stick around for years to come.

Wikipedia
Goosebumps Wikia
Amazon
Youtube

As a treat here's a Goosebumps by the subject of my first Web Wednesday post CR.