Who is R.L. Stine? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Robert Lawrence

The author was born Robert Lawrence Stine in 1943, although is known to family and friends as "Bob". He's the eldest of three children and his parents were a homemaker (his mother) and a shipping clerk (his father).

As a child, Stine was very shy and afraid of everything. He says that this is one of the reasons he spent so much of his time writing in his bedroom. Reflecting on being a timid kid, Stine does think it helped to shape his stories because he can remember that feeling of panic and bring it to his books.

Answer: Goosebumps

Goosebumps books have been translated into more than 30 languages and are scary stories pitched at kids aged between 7-11 years old. Because of this demographic, there are very few deaths (unlike another of his series: 'Fear Street'), nor any drug-use or child abuse. Instead, the books are often set in a generic suburban environment (to be relatable) and contain elements of the supernatural.

'Little Golden Books' have a series of authors, 'The Berenstain Bears' series was written by Stan and Jan Berenstain and then later their son, Mike, and the 'His Dark Materials' series was written by Philip Pullman.

Answer: Ohio

Stine grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University, graduating in 1965 with a Bachelor's degree in English. While studying there, he became the editor for the university's magazine, and, under his leadership, 'The Sundial' was voted the USA's best college humour magazine in 1965.

Although he's a fan of football, it's not a team of his birth state that he supports. Since moving to the state, he's now loyal to the New York Jets, as well the New York Giants baseball team and the New York Knicks basketball team.

Answer: Bananas

Popular in the 1970s, Stine created and edited the humour magazine, which was published by Scholastic and meant for kids aged 12 and older. It contained funny articles, comic strips, jokes, centrefold posters, and articles about popular celebrities of the time. In total, there were 72 issues printed between 1975 and 1984.

Answer: At a party

Stine met Jane Waldhorn at a party he didn't want to go to since it was raining and he didn't have a way to get back home. His decision to attend anyway was fortunate because he met Jane and on June 22, 1969, they were wed.

Jane was Stine's boss at Scholastic for four years, and she was supposedly a "tough editor". As her husband's writing career took off, she left Scholastic, and co-founded a publishing company called Parachute Press, which helped to create R.L. Stine's most popular book series.

Answer: Matthew

Matthew was born on June 7, 1980, and, although he was embarrassed by his dad's popularity growing up, has become more appreciative of it later in life. Nowadays, Matthew (or "Matt") works behind the scenes in the music industry, and has children of his own, making R.L. Stine a grandfather.

He even tried his own hand at writing, co-authoring a children's book called "Little Chef" with his wife at the time, Elisabeth Weinberg.

Answer: Blind Date

Although all of these options are titles by Stine, "Blind Date" was the first. It centers around a teen football player who goes on blind date with a woman he thinks sounds really attractive over the phone. He soon finds out that the girl of his dreams might actually be a nightmare.

Stine says that writing teen horror novels was an accident that started when he had lunch with the editorial director of Scholastic. She suggested he might be able to write a scary novel for teenagers called "Blind Date" and Stine, who had been writing comedy to that point, didn't want to turn down the opportunity and agreed. It became a #1 bestseller, as did his sophomore attempt, and the rest is history.

Answer: True

Unlike many authors, Stine comes up with the title first and then uses that as a springboard to build out the rest of the story. Once he's got the title, he writes a plot outline before filling in the gaps. Stine says that knowing the ending helps him "know how to fool the readers" and prevent them from figuring out how the story will end before they get there.

Answer: Jumping into a swimming pool

Stine says that he laughs at most things others are afraid of, but did admit in an interview with "Buzzfeed" that he has a phobia of swimming pools and cannot jump or dive into them. He claims that he has to carefully lower himself into the water. Apparently his nephews find this hilarious.

Answer: Jack Black

Jack Black played R.L. Stine in the 2015 film "Goosebumps", although the author also made a cameo appearance, but as a different character. Black met with Stine before filming began and told the writer that he'd be playing "a sinister version of [him]" in the film. It obviously paid off because Stine thought Black's portrayal was hilarious.

Jack Black played alongside a giant gorilla in the 2005 film "King Kong", and alongside the Lilliputians in "Gulliver's Travels" (2010).