Earlier this year, reports emerged that author R.L. Stine’s iconic Goosebumps series of books had earned edits by publisher Scholastic that he wasn’t aware of, and while Stine first debunked the notion that he personally rewrote elements of his stories, he more recently addressed that he supports the changes made by the publisher to make the stories more inclusive. After the reports emerged, Scholastic confirmed that the changes to the language had been made years ago and had seemingly gone unnoticed, and that these changes were made in hopes of avoiding any language that could “negatively impact” young readers.
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“They update things all the time,” Stine explained to Rolling Stone. “I was surprised [when I learned about the changes] but it was good because you don’t want to offend people. People are a lot more sensitive now and a lot more aware of things, and in these books I definitely don’t want to offend anybody. You want to be careful, although I don’t want to be too careful of course.”
Some of the changes in the reissues include Bride of the Living Dummy swapping an attack as being called a “love tap” to being referred to as a magic spell, while the book Don’t Go to Sleep! has been updated so that the book Anna Karenina is no longer referred to as “girl’s stuff” and is now referred to as “not interesting.”
“For more than 30 years, the Goosebumps series has brought millions of kids to reading through humor with just the right amount of scary,” Scholastic shared in a statement when the changes were being reported. “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.”
“It’s not a bad thing to update things if it’s done well,” the author expressed. “[Scholastic] took out all the fat jokes because it’s not appropriate anymore.”
Even with these tweaks, Stine feels as though the core concepts his books explore, both of the past and of more contemporary works, haven’t changed drastically.
“The world has changed a lot,” Stine confessed. “I think the world has gotten scarier but as far as writing these books for kids, I don’t think anything has changed much at all. Our fears never change and I don’t think kids have changed that much. In all these years, we’re still afraid of the dark, afraid something’s lurking under your bed, and are afraid of getting lost. Those fears never changed.”
An all-new Goosebumps TV series is now available on Disney+ and Hulu.
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