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'Changes were never shown to me': RL Stine's 'Goosebumps' reportedly censored without his permission after Roald Dahl and James Bond row

The 'Goosebumps' series has sold more than 300 million copies and is the second biggest-selling book series after 'Harry Potter'

COLUMBUS, OHIO: RL Stine, the author of the horror book series 'Goosebumps' which has entertained children for many years has accused his publisher of censoring his work without his permission. Stine, one of the most famous and successful children's book authors of the contemporary era, said on Monday, March 6, that his books had been heavily edited without his knowledge.

The Goosebumps series has sold more than 300 million copies and is the second biggest-selling book series after 'Harry Potter'. More than 100 amendments were made by the publisher Scholastic, changing words such as "plump" to "cheerful", and replacing "crazy" with "silly". The publisher insisted that the changes were made keeping in mind the people's mental health, but Stine has claimed that he was never consulted about it.

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"The stories aren't true," the Ohio-born author tweeted in response following a complaint from a reader about the modifications. "I've never changed a word in Goosebumps. Any changes were never shown to me." This news comes after it came to light that Road 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.

Road Dahl and James Bond books were changed for the same reason

Roald Dahl was a popular British writer who wrote many books for children. Several movies were made based on his books, including 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', 'James and the Giant Peach', 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox', and 'Matilda'.

However, many people have previously claimed that some of Dahl’s books could also be insulting, especially the way he describes some characters. Thus, Puffin, the company that publishes Dahl’s books in the UK hired a company to change his books so they wouldn’t contain anything insulting. The Daily Telegraph reported in mid-February that Puffin had created new versions of many of Dahl’s books with “hundreds of changes”. It was reported that the word “fat” was taken out of the books. So were the words “ugly” and “crazy”. Creatures who were described as “tiny” are now described as “small”. Instead of “boys and girls”, the new books use the word “children”. Instead of “mothers” or “fathers”, the new books talk about “parents” or “family”.

Many famous people, including other writers, and even the prime minister of England, have criticized Puffin for changing the author's words.

New editions of Ian Fleming's classic James Bond series are set to be released with racial words removed and other "very small" changes to mark the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale. A sensitivity review was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications and was carried out by the sensitivity experts at the publishing house, Penguin Books, following the Roald Dahl row. It is reported that the inappropriate and discriminatory terms towards Black people, including the N-word, will be edited in the new drafts.

However, it is interesting to note that the terms used by Fleming for people of East Asian ethnicities will be retained. Other controversial terms like “sweet tang of rape,” “blithering women,” failing to do “a man’s work” and homosexuality being a “stubborn disability” will also be kept, reports Mirror. The reissued books will come with an expected disclaimer, "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace," as reported by The Telegraph on Saturday, February 25. The disclaimer is expected to further contain, "A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it was set," reports Mirror.

What are the changes made in the Goosebumps book series?

In the early 1990's Goosebumps became a major hit among teenagers and sold around four million copies a month at the peak of their success. The 79-year-old writer 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.

As reported by The Times, one of Scholastic's changes includes 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 cold 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."

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 in the series which goes by the name, '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 defends the changes

"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 said in a statement according to Daily Mail. "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."

'Please sue their tail feathers off'

Twitter users and Goosebumps lovers were outraged after they got to know the news. One user tweeted, "So the corny books I loved as a child are going to get se sores? Blasphemy!!!" Another tweeted, "This sucks. I used to love the Goosebumps books as a kid. Talk about over censorship." One user criticized the decision by tweeting, "strange way to encourage people to buy the originals." One Goosebumps fan tweeted, "Thankfully I still have my original collection, all 62 original books and the 25 series 2000 books! Love em and there’s honestly nothing inappropriate in them in my opinion" while another wrote, "Please sue their tail feathers off. The absolute nerve..."

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