Goosebumps Books — #11 and #33

by R. L. Stine

I had picked these up to release this week (Banned Books Week), and thought I ought to read them first, to make sure that they weren’t really offensive (they weren’t, of course).

The Haunted Mask (#11) Carly Beth has always been easy to scare, so naturally the kids at school take advantage, and scare her all the time. This year, however, she decides to get back at them by wearing the scariest Halloween mask she can find. The store owner warns her that she will regret getting that mask because it’s too scary, but Carly Beth assures him that for her purposes, it can’t be too scary.

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (#33) Wendy and Elliot are stuck on a road trip with their parents. The trip of a lifetime. But an accident separates them, and Wend and Elliot end up at a sports camp in the middle of nowhere, wondering where their parents are. The counselors seem a bit too happy to be there, and after a couple nights, Wendy notices that campers are disappearing once they receive six medals for winning sports. When Elliot is on the verge of this sixth medal, Wendy stumbles on to the truth of Jellyjam.

These books are harmless fun. The entire Goosebumps series has been challenged in several school districts and libraries by narrow-minded people who believe that ghost and monster stories can lead only to the devil. If they find it so offensive, perhaps they should just not read the books. In fact, perhaps they should just stick their heads in the sand so that they can’t open their big mouths anymore so that the rest of us can get on with our lives.