Who Is R. L. Stine?

Who Was . . . ? Series

by M.D. Payne, Jake Murray (Illustrator)

Reader beware! The biography of R. L. Stine, author of the hugely popular Goosebumps series, is a scary-good time!

R. L. Stine began writing stories at the age of nine, after finding a typewriter in his family's attic. (Was it a haunted typewriter? Who can be sure?) Often referred to as the "Stephen King of children's literature," R.L. has created some of the scariest books to have ever been passed around a campfire, leaving readers wide awake at night. With over 400 million copies of his horror fiction novels sold across the world, R.L. Stine is one of the best-selling authors in history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Childrens, History, Biography Memoir, Juvenile, Middle Grade

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2019

About the author

M. D. Payne was born in 1978 in New Hampshire to an Air Force Family and grew up in 11 different homes in Maine, California, Idaho, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and Germany. As a child, he was a ravenous reader. While in elementary school, his favorite past-time was creating cut-and-paste scrapbooks of presidential facts that remain in his mother's possession today. M. D. has been a fan of Halloween and horror into adulthood, so he jumped at the chance to write marketing and creative copy for the famed GOOSEBUMPS series in 2007, and was soon pulled into the world of kidlit. He wrote his first books, the gross-out horror series MONSTER JUICE, from 2012–2014, and then became involved in the NY Times bestselling WHO WAS series, tackling spooky titles like "Who Is R. L. Stine?" and "What is the Story of Scooby-Doo?"

Before M. D. was a writer, he was a Jazz DJ, wrote scripts for Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio, and was associate producer on Essentially Ellington recordings and public radio programs such as "Honky Tonks, Hymns, and the Blues" and "W.C. Handy’s Blues." He took that decade of experience and poured it into the WHO WAS book on Jazz legend Duke Ellington. "Who Was Duke Ellington?" will be available December 1, 2020.

A fan of kids, reading, and especially kids who read, M. D. gives presentations on reading and writing to children and parents alike at numerous schools around the country, and around the world via Skype. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been an R.L. Stine fan since the early ‘90s. I just happened to see this book on my library’s site and thought it would just be something basic, but it was great! Tons of Stine info about his childhood and pre-Fear Street writings. Very detailed illustrations. I had no idea that MGM Studios had a Horrorland attraction! Great book for all ages of R.L. Stine fans!

[Hunter Lisiecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved to book because is was all about Goosebumps!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great R.L. Stine bio for youngsters. My son (5) saw the Goosebumps movie (from 2015) and has been enjoying the Goosebumps stories ever since. I loved The Fear Street books as a t(w)een, and this book gave me nostalgia while sharing a lot of neat tidbits about Stine’s career. I didn’t know he wrote a few novels for adults!

[Lukas Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about R.L. Stine it was about stines life young this also showed what books he read and what series he made like goosebumps and fear street and he made many other horrors and comedy's. This book protagonist is R.L. Stine the main character the antagonist for him was people. The genre of this book was a non-fiction because it was true and based on a real person. this is not there first book they wrote a lot of other books this one is the same to others because they all are memoir and true. This book is well written and very inspirational. I would recommend this book it is really good. This book is exactly what I thought it would be I knew it would be about Stine.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know he is a Columbus native!

[Ashley Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you need me I am going to be reliving my childhood by reading all the Goosebumps. I am sure I will be just as scared. ✌🏼

[Pumkin pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. I have to read Goosebumps now!

[Waelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and I think it was one of the BEST Who Was Books I've read! I loved how it showed you can change your life around in a snap of the finger!! 10/10 would read this again!!!

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who is R.L.Stine is a short biography written by M.D.Payne. .Apparently they write about all sorts of people. I've never actually heard of this series,but when my friends gave me this for Christmas, I knew I had to try it and I had fun with it .I absolutely loved the illustrations and the cover is a straight Goosebumps cover . Atmidditly I knew alot about Stine already ,so I didn't think there would be anything groundbreaking but there were a few things even I didn't know.I had no idea how many awards Stine actually won .It's alot ! I had no idea that Stine worked at a regular 9 to 5 job and got fired his first day . I also didn't know what jovial meant. I guess I never really thought about it I really enjoyed this biography and I would actually really like to read more about other people in this series that I don't know alot about like maybe Stephen King or even Dr.suess. I give Who Is R.L.Stine a solid 3 out of 5.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even as an adult, I absolutely loved this short children's biography. I learned so many things I never thought I would in a book like this. This book goes deep and covers everything with a concise and straight-to-the-point prose style.

Another bonus were the illustrations. Even when you read adult biographies or non-fiction the images are few. And if there are, they are only of photos, paintings, etc. that actually exist in real life. The illustrator used their imagination and artistic interpretation when drawing scenes that no photograph could ever exist for. And there were plenty of illustrations, not just of the milestones in the author's career.

I'm happy for learning so much about this author in so little time. You can quickly read this in one sitting and have a thorough understanding of this person's life, endeavors, achievements, and all the rest in between. Incredible! I couldn't recommend any more.

I'll be reading many other books from this series.

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who is R.L.Stine is another installment of the New York Times Bestselling Who Was series for kids. We received a copy of this (along with several others in the series) from the generous Harold Greenspoon Foundation and PJ Library. My son absolutely loves the series with their high-quality illustrations and captivating portraits of some of the most influential people in history, and of course Stine being Jewish and starting off on his own two feet making ends meet with little to his name always makes for an excellent story in our house since that is where our family origins came from as well. His story of never giving up, doing whatever it takes to become a writer who makes his living from copyediting to even holding down a job at a financial newspaper for just one day once they figured out he knew nothing about finance made for a great story – not to mention the fact that once he started Fear Street and of course Goosebumps, he became one of the most famous, influential, richest writers of all time. A great deal of fun, Stine’s contribution is unmatched in children’s literature, and the Who Was series (in particular this one of many contributions to it by M.D.Payne) was a pleasure to read – I know I will see him dipping into it again and again, and it will share shelf space with our other great books from the series including that of Ralph Lauren and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is still a little too young and skittish at bedtime to go to bed reading Goosebumps (even though at his age I was devouring one a night), but when the time comes, we will know exactly how Stine got to be the master he is.

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the Who Is/Who Was series. There have been fun people, people who you do not know, and of course, popular people. This time we have R. L. Stine who is a well-known author, but mabe not on everyone's radar. A lot of fun facts about Stine and quirky illustrations allowed even this adult to learn a thing or two. As it was published in 2019 it is possible it needs a few updates, but the main goodies are there. My favorite part was the timeline at the end: at least two monumental events happened the same year as historical events: Stine got married the same year as man walked on the moon, and his first YA horror novel happened the same year as the Challenger explosion, but I'm sure they are just coincidences. 

[Isabella Parkhurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally I was planning to read a book from the Goosebumps series, when I ran into this little biography! I have always loved R.L. Stine as a kid so I was very interested in learning more. I can truly say I was thoroughly impressed. This man accomplished so much in his lifetime while developing one of the most inconic series to this day. This book was very informative, interesting, and fun to read. I loved learning more about R.L. and the development of Goosebumps. I would recommend this book for all ages, Goosebumps fan or not, you might find yourself one after reading this book.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Goosebumps series when I was a kid and also read some of the Fear Street books. I thought it would be interesting to learn a little more about R.L. Stine. I didn't know that he actually wrote joke books and humorous short stories before he got into the horror genre. That was a surprise. It's pretty amazing what all he has accomplished in his life and has still been a family man through it all. I'd say that's pretty commendable.

[Carson Bickford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great short little biography detailing the life and key events of R.L. Stine. This biography is written in an entertaining and goofy way so I could see it being great for children or students. Also, I learned a lot of new information about R.L. Stine that I did not know from reading this biography, so I would imagine students would get a lot out of this biography. Overall, very engaging biography written in an engaging and creative way!

[Stasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confession: I have never read a Goosebumps book.

I had no idea that RL Stine was from Ohio, which is what drew me to pick up this book and his own autobiography. My curiosity to read something else by him has gotten the better of me, so I have one of his books checked out from the library. We shall see if the writing lives up to the hype.

As far as his life, you can't say the man has no drive. And he certainly can't be accused of being a lazy writer with the pace he was rolling things out!

[Haley Corkery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goosebumps were my favorite books as a kid🧪. I remember renting them out three at a time at the local library. Many of my brother’s summer baseball games were spent sitting in a lawn chair, nose in a book, devouring these spine-tingling tales📗🦠.

Thank you R.L. Stine for stemming my love of reading and all things scary!

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. I knew bout the goosebumps books, but it's different hearing about the authors story. I didn't know that he wrote other things aside from that, so I may have to look into reading some of his other books.
Loved the way the story is written, and want to read others by the same publisher.

[Sundee Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a little late to the party. Truthfully, I didn't know much about R.L. Stine. I live the Goosebumps movie with Jack Black, but it is far from accurate when it comes to Stine's life. He has lived a fascinating life. I look forward to reading more of his books.

[Nathan Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun quick read on the legendary writer of Goosebumps and Fear Street. Learned lots about him, including that he originally started writing comedy and that he taught history in middle school for a year!

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Who Is . . .?" series of biographies for kids is pretty good, though intended for kids a little older than mine, really. But my 8 year old son has gotten VERY into "Goosebumps" lately, so I read this one with the kids so they could learn a little bit more about R.L. Stine!

[Karthika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, quick read. Now I know about a great kids author

[Vani Ghanate · Rating 5 out of 5]

For whatever reason, I had not heard of R. L. Stine earlier. Glad to be introduced to the famous author through this book. I liked R. L. Stine as a person by end of the book..

[Joshua Arnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The German title of Goosebumps translates to "Flesh of the Chicken".

[Chloe Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who is R.L. Stine? is an inspirational biography about the author of the well known Goosebumps series. This book allows readers to dive into the details of Stine’s successful career as an author.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful short fun biography for children, just like the whole series.

[Edna Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Who is/Who was book. Read with my RL Stine loving son.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually way more interesting than I was expecting it to be.

[Lily Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do really enjoy this series. writing about non fiction is really hard.
this was for BUZZWORD 2022 January: who, what, when , why

[Tina Hites · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved learning things about R.L. Stine that I never knew seeing as I grew up reading Goosebumps and his fear street books