“GOOSEBUMPS” BOOKS – A PARENTS NIGHTMARE

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Feb 17 (LSN) – The Education Reporter reported yesterday on the case of Margaret Byron, a mother of three, who requested that books from R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps”  fiction horror series be removed from Johnsville Elementary School library in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. The results of Mrs. Byron's valiant efforts to protect the sensibilities of the children in her community resulted in a blunt refusal to remove the books as well as a torrent of accusations labeling her a “censor” and a “book burner” from a review committee of the Anoka-Hennepin school district.  Mrs. Byron found the books very disturbing, in that they portray young children being “tormented and haunted by inanimate things coming to life.” Further, the characters typically keep their fears secret from their parents. She said that her neighbor had forbidden her daughter to read the books, then discovered that she was reading them anyway in the school library. “So I started asking around,” Byron said, “and I found a lot of parents who were alarmed that these books were scaring their kids.”  The Education Reporter notes that “The controversy over ‘Goosebumps’ is only one example of the ongoing battle over whether removing books constitutes ‘censorship’ or a worthwhile effort to save children from wasting their time reading books that lack literary merit.” There are 180 million “Goosebumps” books, aimed at children ages 8 through 12, in print and in circulation at most elementary school libraries in the US and Canada.