Children’s horror author R.L. Stine accuses Scholastic of censoring his books

One of the world’s most successful children’s book authors has accused his publisher of censoring his work without his permission.

R.L. Stine, whose Goosebumps series has sold more than 300 million copies and is the second biggest selling book series after Harry Potter, said on Monday the books had been sanitized without his knowledge.

Publisher Scholastic has made more than 100 amendments, changing words such as ‘plump’ to ‘cheerful’, and replacing ‘crazy’ with ‘silly’.

Scholastic insisted the changes were necessary to protect young people’s mental health, but Stine said he was not consulted.

‘The stories aren’t true,’ the Ohio-born author tweeted, in response to a reader complaining about the modifications. 

‘I’ve never changed a word in Goosebumps. Any changes were never shown to me.’

The move came after it emerged Roald Dahl’s books had been rewritten – sparking uproar among his fans.

Publishers Penguin were then forced to issue a ‘classic’ edition of the books, which were unchanged. 

Goosebumps became a major hit among teenagers in the 1990s and sold around four million copies a month at the peak of their success.

Stine, 79, wrote 62 books from the series and has previously described how he can write a book in six days.

The franchise spawned a movie in 2015 starring Jack Black, which brought in $158 million at the box office.

Scholastic’s changes, first reported by The Times, included removing a reference to fat people with ‘at least six chins’ who were abducted by aliens. 

The revised version now says the people are ‘at least six feet six.’

In a reissue of the 1998 title Bride of the Living Dummy, the ventriloquist dummy Slappy knocks out a girl unconscious with a ‘love tap’ but the villain now uses a magic spell. 

In the 1996 book Attack of the Jack-O’-Lanterns, a character is described as ‘tall and good-looking, with dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile. Lee is African-American, and he sort of struts when he walks and acts real cool, like the rappers on MTV videos.’ 

The revised version now calls the character ‘tall and good-looking, with brown skin, dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile. He sort of struts when he walks and acts real cool.’

Attack of the Jack O’Lanterns has had multiple edits made by the publishers Scholastic

The Goosebumps franchise spawned a movie in 2015 starring Jack Black, which earned $158 million at the box office

In The Curse of Camp Cold Lake, from 1997, the boys of summer camp ‘whistled loudly’, instead of having given ‘a loud wolf-whistle’.

Another book, I Live In Your Basement, originally features the main character asking: ‘Did he really expect me to be his slave – forever?’ 

The protagonist now asks: ‘Did he really expect me to do this – forever?’

Scholastic defended the changes, saying they were to protect mental health.

‘For more than 30 years, the Goosebumps series has brought millions of kids to reading through humor with just the right amount of scary,’ read the statement.

‘Scholastic takes its responsibility seriously to continue bringing this classic adolescent brand to each new generation. 

‘When re-issuing titles several years ago, Scholastic reviewed the text to keep the language current and avoid imagery that could negatively impact a young person’s view of themselves today, with a particular focus on mental health.’