April 29, 2024
'Goosebumps' Author R.L. Stine Accuses Publisher Of Progressive 'Censorship'

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The author of the popular horror book series “Goosebumps” has recently admitted to being ignorant about some versions of his books being edited by the publisher.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's book “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” for sale on a store shelf on Feb. 28, 2023 in Titusville, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

American novelist R.L. Stine is the creator of the Goosebumps series of books, which is considered the second-highest selling in the world, trailing only Harry Potter. Goosebumps is estimated to have sold over 300 million copies worldwide. During a 2018 ebook re-release, publisher Scholastic edited the books to align with progressive ideologies that reflect a leftist version of social justice, diversity, and gender equality. There were rumors that Stine made the edits, but the author has refuted it.

“The stories aren’t true. I’ve never changed a word in Goosebumps. Any changes were never shown to me,” Stine said in a March 7 tweet. He was replying to another Twitter user’s post, which said, “The fact he supports censorship and the alteration of works of art is quite disturbing. How shameful.”

The 1996 book “Attack of the Jack-O’-Lanterns” described a character as “tall and good-looking, with dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile.” It has now been changed to “tall and good-looking, with brown skin, dark brown eyes, and a great, warm smile.” The line “all four people were very overweight” was changed to “All four people were huge,” cited the British newspaper The Times.

“Don’t Go to Sleep!” from 1997 had a boy dismissing Tolstoy’s book Anna Karenina as “girl’s stuff.” The boy dismisses the book in the new version because it is “not interesting.”

Changing Goosebumps

The word “crazy,” which was mentioned multiple times in the Goosebumps series, has been removed and replaced with terms like “scary,” “wild,” “silly,” “stressed,” and “lost her mind.” The word “nutcase” has been replaced with “weirdo” while “a real nut” has been changed to “a real wild one.

Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, insists the edits were necessary to keep up with the times. “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,” said the publisher, according to The Times.

A line from the 1997 book “I Live in Your Basement” that originally said, “did he really expect me to be his slave—forever?” has been changed to “did he really expect me to do this—forever?” removing the word “slave.”

A character from the 1998 novel “Bride of the Living Dummy” was originally dressed as a clown with black rings painted around his eyes. The color of the rings has been changed to red.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/13/2023 - 23:00

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The author of the popular horror book series “Goosebumps” has recently admitted to being ignorant about some versions of his books being edited by the publisher.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s book “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” for sale on a store shelf on Feb. 28, 2023 in Titusville, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

American novelist R.L. Stine is the creator of the Goosebumps series of books, which is considered the second-highest selling in the world, trailing only Harry Potter. Goosebumps is estimated to have sold over 300 million copies worldwide. During a 2018 ebook re-release, publisher Scholastic edited the books to align with progressive ideologies that reflect a leftist version of social justice, diversity, and gender equality. There were rumors that Stine made the edits, but the author has refuted it.

“The stories aren’t true. I’ve never changed a word in Goosebumps. Any changes were never shown to me,” Stine said in a March 7 tweet. He was replying to another Twitter user’s post, which said, “The fact he supports censorship and the alteration of works of art is quite disturbing. How shameful.”

The 1996 book “Attack of the Jack-O’-Lanterns” described a character as “tall and good-looking, with dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile.” It has now been changed to “tall and good-looking, with brown skin, dark brown eyes, and a great, warm smile.” The line “all four people were very overweight” was changed to “All four people were huge,” cited the British newspaper The Times.

“Don’t Go to Sleep!” from 1997 had a boy dismissing Tolstoy’s book Anna Karenina as “girl’s stuff.” The boy dismisses the book in the new version because it is “not interesting.”

Changing Goosebumps

The word “crazy,” which was mentioned multiple times in the Goosebumps series, has been removed and replaced with terms like “scary,” “wild,” “silly,” “stressed,” and “lost her mind.” The word “nutcase” has been replaced with “weirdo” while “a real nut” has been changed to “a real wild one.

Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, insists the edits were necessary to keep up with the times. “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,” said the publisher, according to The Times.

A line from the 1997 book “I Live in Your Basement” that originally said, “did he really expect me to be his slave—forever?” has been changed to “did he really expect me to do this—forever?” removing the word “slave.”

A character from the 1998 novel “Bride of the Living Dummy” was originally dressed as a clown with black rings painted around his eyes. The color of the rings has been changed to red.

Read more here…

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