R. L. Stine

R.L. Stine says he has a great job: "My job is to give kids the CREEPS!" R.L.'s books are read all over the world. So far, he has sold over 350 million books, making him one of the best-selling children's authors in history. He was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1943. His mother, Anne Stine, was a homemaker and his father, Lewis Stine, was a shipping clerk. He has a younger brother and sister-- Bill and Pam. No one in his family ever called him R.L. Everyone calls him Bob. When Bob was nine, he found an old typewriter up in the attic. That discovery changed his life. He carried it down to his room and started typing stories and little joke books. His mother begged him to go outside and play. But Bob always said it was too boring outside. He stayed in his room typing away-- and he has been writing ever since. In school, Bob was not a great student. He got mostly B's, but he never studied very hard. He spent most of his time writing stories and joke magazines. He was terrible in math, and he hated gym class. The only sport he was ever good at was ping pong! After graduating from Ohio State University in 1965, Bob headed to New York City to become a writer. He wrote dozens of joke books and humor books for kids. And he created Bananas, a zany humor magazine which he did for ten years. In those days, he wrote under the name Jovial Bob Stine. http://rlstine.com/