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Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Lincoln Center have formed a partnership. They will host a monthly event series at the David Rubenstein Atrium called “LC Kids Storytime at the Atrium.”

The inaugural event featured R.L. Stine and Marc Brown; they discussed their book The Little Shop of Monsters. The next event has been scheduled on Nov. 21 with Patrick McDonnell as the headliner; he will focus on his recently released title Thank You and Good Night.

Future events will take place on Dec. 19, 2015, Jan. 16, 2016, Feb. 20, 2016, March 19, 2016, April 16, 2016, and May 14, 2016. The participating authors and illustrators will be announced at a later date.

R. L. Stine Web Chat!

R. L. Stine is hosting a web chat on Thursday, October 29, 2015 from 2-3 p.m. ET.

I will be posting live updates from the chat on the Reading Buzz Board so you can join us there for our live Goosebumps Halloween R. L. Stine celebration! Hop over to the Buzz Board now! What are you waiting for? Click on the blue link!

If you miss it, you can go to the Reading Buzz Board any time to read the transcript.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Sony Pictures has unveiled the official trailer for the Goosebumps movie. The video embedded above offers glimpses of Jack Black playing the Goosebumps book series creator R.L. Stine.

According to Vanity Fair, other members of the cast include Dylan Minnette (who plays Zach) and Odeya Rush (who plays Hannah). Danny Elfman composed the score for this film.

Entertainment Weekly reports that the conflict in this story unfolds when “Zach senses danger next door and wanders over, only to end up unlocking every monster Stine has ever written. Soon, Zach, Hannah and Stine find themselves fighting the Abominable Snowman in the grocery store and fending off evil gnomes in their kitchen.” This movie will come out on October 16. (via Forbes.com)

R.L. Stine wants to encourage all children to “Power Up & Read!” In the video embedded above, Stine talks about his love of comic books and Ray Bradbury novels.

Stine signed up as one of thirteen authors to write an original short story for Scholastic’s Summer Reading Challenge program. The organizers behind this venture hope to break the record of 304,749,681 minutes (spent reading) that was set last summer.

Scholastic has enlisted 13 children’s books authors to help with the Summer Reading Challenge program.

The participants include R.L. Stine, Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pierce, Gordon Korman, Michael Northtrop, Varian Johnson, Jude Watson, Blue Balliet, Patrik Henry Bass, Roland Smith, Tui T. Sutherland, Lauren Tarshis, and Wendy Wan-Long Shang. These writers will create original short stories; kids will be able to access these “rewards” by tracking the minutes they spend reading.

According to the press release, “each of the authors has written a unique short story using the same opening sentence which is, ‘I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that no one had followed me into the shadowy library, then took a deep breath and opened the glowing book…'” The organizers behind this venture hope to break the record of 304,749,681 minutes (spent reading) that was set last summer.

Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar this week.

To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

Writer Marissa Moss will celebrate the release of Amelia’s Middle School Graduation Yearbook at Folio Books. Join in on Friday, April 17th starting 6 p.m. (San Francisco, CA)

Horror master R.L. Stine will appear at BookCourt to discuss the latest installment of the Fear Street series, Don’t Stay Up Late. Meet him on Saturday, April 18th starting 7 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)

Four children’s books creators will participate in the April Storybook Showcase panel at Books of Wonder. Check it out on Sunday, April 19th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (New York, NY)

Illustration by Jamie Smith from Jigsaw Jones #10: The Case of the Ghostwriter. This is one of my favorite illustrations from the entire series for reasons explained below. Jamie gave me the original artwork — for free, here, take it — and now I hang it on my office wall, and it always makes me think of my brother. Every day.

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In what I hope will be a recurring feature on an irregular schedule, I thought I’d try to convey some of the background to each of my Jigsaw Jones titles.

And in no particular order.

The Case of the Ghostwriter has a lot of cool little things in it that most readers might miss.

I dedicated this book to Frank Hodge, a near-celebrity local bookseller on Lark Street in Albany, who is known and beloved by many area teachers and librarians. He’s one of Albany’s living treasures. When I moved to the area from Brooklyn, in 1990, Frank’s store, Hodge-Podge Books, was right around the corner. Of course, I stopped in and we became friends. I actually put Frank in this story: a guy named Frank owns a store called Hedgehog Books. I even included his cat, Crisis. Jigsaw and Mila visit Frank’s store in the hopes of tracking down a mysterious author.

Chapter Eight begins:

Hedgehog Books was a cozy little store. Our parents had been taking Mila and me since we were little. My mom said that Frank’s favorite thing was to bring books and kids together.

In the story, there’s a series of popular books — The Creep Show series — loosely modeled on R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps.” Mila has been eating them up, reading titles such as Green Wet Slime and Teenage Zombie from Mars. The author’s name on the cover, a pen name, is R.V. King. (Ho-ho.) There’s a rumor that he’s coming to visit room 201 for the “Author’s Tea.” Who can the Mystery Author be? I bet you can guess.

For me, the part I’m proudest of in this book is Chapter Seven, “My Middle Name,” a tribute to my oldest brother, Neal, who passed away in 1993, a few months after my first son, Nicholas, was born.

Ms. Gleason has the students reading family stories in class, Abuela by Arthur Dorros and The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Pollaco. The students, including Jigsaw and Mila, are asked to write their own family stories.

To research his family stories, Jigsaw interrupts his parents while they are playing chess. “Now’s not a good time,” his father replies. “I’m trying to destroy your dear mother.” (I always liked that line.)

At bed that night, Jigsaw and his father have a heart to heart. Mr. Jones tells Jigsaw about his middle name, Andrew, who was Jigsaw’s uncle. Now this part is totally true, because my son’s middle name is Neal, after his uncle.

“And he died,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “Andrew died.” I heard the air leave my father’s lips. The sound of a deep sigh.

I put my head on his shoulder. “Why did you name me after him?”

They talk some more:

That’s when I noticed it. The water in his eyes. A single tear, then another, slid down his cheek. My father was crying. I’d never seen him cry before. It made me nervous.

“Don’t be sad, Dad.” I hugged him with both arms, tight.

He wiped the tears away with the back of his sleeve.

He sniffed hard and smiled.

“I’m not sad, Jigsaw,” he said. “It’s just that I remember little things that happened. Little things Andrew said or did. And I’ll always miss him.”

“Can you tell me?” I asked. “About the little things?”

My father checked his watch. “Not tonight, son. It’s late already. But I will tomorrow, promise.”

“Good night, Dad,” I said. “I’m sorry you’re sad.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “That’s life, I guess. Sometimes we lose the good ones. Good night, Theodore Andrew Jones. Sleep tight.”

Then he shut the door.

I’d never attempt to read that chapter aloud to a group. I can never read it  without remembering, without crying. I guess in that scene, I’m Jigsaw’s dad — and my son, Nicholas Neal Preller, stands in for Jigsaw, trying to learn about an uncle, my brother, whom he never had the chance to meet.

———–

NOTE: I originally posted this in 2009.

When bibliophiles think of horror, typically names like Stephen King, Anne Rice, and R.L. Stine come to mind. How about Peggy Parish? Dorkly.com editor-in-chief Andrew Bridgman and comics creator Andy Kluthe collaborated on a parody piece starring Amelia Bedelia.

Many children’s literature fans will fondly recall Parish’s lovable goofball maid “drawing the drapes,” “dressing the chicken,” and “dusting the furniture.” The ”Why Amelia Bedelia Is Literally The Most Terrifying Character Ever” piece features antics that include “making the bed,” “throwing a baby shower,” and “having a brainstorm session.” What do you think?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Goosebumps series author R.L. Stine wrote a scary story called “What’s In My Sandwich?” on Twitter.

Below, we’ve collected all the tweets that make up the short story in a Storify post embedded below—what do you think?

Tomorrow, Stine will unveil another short fiction piece entitled “Let’s Make a Trade” on Wattpad for the “The R.L. Stine Fill In The Fear Contest.” (via BuzzFeed)

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Wattpad is running “The R.L. Stine Fill In The Fear Contest.” This allows fans to collaborate on a short story called “Let’s Make a Trade” with R.L. Stine.

Stine wrote the beginning and now it’s up to the participants to fill in the middle; Stine will be responsible for the ending. Writers have until October 9th to turn in a submission.

Both the winner and the finished piece will be unveiled on October 31st; readers will be able to access the entire story on Stine’s Wattpad profile. Follow this link to learn all the rules for this contest.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

R.L. Stine has revealed the back story for Fear Street on Wattpad. The two-page essay, entitled “How did FEAR STREET become the street where your worst nightmares live?“, reveals the origins of this popular young adult series. What do you think?

Stine also posted a three-part excerpt from the forthcoming book, Party Games. This project marks Stine’s return to Fear Street after an extended hiatus. St. Martin’s Press will release the book on September 30, 2014.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Writer R.L. Stine plans to re-boot his popular Fear Street book series. The last Fear Street title was published back in 1999.

St Martin’s Griffin will release Party Games on September 30th. In an interview with MartiniProductionsNY, Stine revealed that he has 6 more Fear Street books planned for the future. We’ve embedded his announcement on Twitter below.

Here’s more from Bustle: “Stine’s Fear Street series was the YA equivalent to his middle grade series Goosebumps. It was ‘sleep with the lights on’ spooky, and occasionally just skewed the right amount toward silly. (Can I direct your attention to Cat?) The series was a commercial smash, and now it has acquired a cult following from twenty- and thirtysomethings across the country.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Meet Goosebumps author R. L. StineGoosebumps