R.L. Stine Recommends 5 Horror Books That Will Definitely Give you Goosebumps

If there’s anyone worth turning to for a recommendation when you’re looking for something scary to read, R.L. Stine certainly qualifies. For more than three decades, the man behind Goosebumps has been introducing generations of young readers to haunted houses, sinister ventriloquist dummies, monsters, ghosts and all manner of things that go bump in the night. His enormously successful Goosebumps series alone has sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, while his Fear Street books brought his particular brand of terror to an older audience and inspired a series of Netflix films.

But what scares the man who has spent his career scaring everybody else? Like most writers, Stine was a reader long before he became an author, discovering some of the storytellers who would influence him while he was still a kid. Over the years, he has singled out a number of horror novels and stories that frightened, fascinated or simply stuck with him — including works by Stephen King, Ira Levin, Ray Bradbury, Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.

So, with Halloween approaching, who better to provide a scary reading list? From the Stephen King novel Stine considers his scariest to the Ray Bradbury classic that “gets horrifying,” here are five frightening reads recommended by the creator of Goosebumps.

‘Pet Sematary’ (1983)

Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Doubleday

What it’s about: When Dr. Louis Creed moves his family to rural Maine, they discover an ancient burial ground beyond the local pet cemetery with the power to bring the dead back to life. After tragedy strikes the Creed family, Louis makes the horrifying decision to test that power for himself, discovering there are some things far worse than death.

R.L. Stine says: “I think this is Stephen’s scariest book and scariest idea. I like the premise so much, I’ve stolen it at least three or four times!”

‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1967)

Author: Ira Levin
Publisher: Random House

What it’s about: Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband, Guy, move into an old Manhattan apartment building with a disturbing history and some unusually attentive neighbors. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, her growing suspicions about the people surrounding her lead to the terrifying realization that her unborn child may be at the center of an occult conspiracy.

R.L. Stine says: “Ira Levin’s classic, Rosemary’s Baby, ushered in a new era of modern horror, one that removed mythical boogeymen from far off English moors and vampiric castles and placed them right into New York City… It’s a perfect thriller… Rosemary’s Baby is the best thriller ever written.”

‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ (1962)

Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

What it’s about: Best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are drawn to a mysterious traveling carnival that arrives in their small Illinois town shortly before Halloween. Led by the sinister Mr. Dark, the carnival promises to fulfill people’s deepest desires, but those wishes come at a terrible price. The boys soon find themselves battling a supernatural evil that feeds upon human fears and regrets.

R.L. Stine says: “Bradbury is a hero of mine. He turned me into a reader when I was 9 or 10… [The book] is about a boy in the Midwest—I’m from the Midwest—who sneaks out late at night and goes to where a carnival is setting up, and it turns out to be an extremely evil… It gets horrifying.”

‘Frankenstein’ (1818)

Author: Mary Shelley
Publisher: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones

What it’s about: Scientist Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with discovering the secret of life and succeeds in creating a living being from dead human remains. Horrified by what he’s made, Victor abandons his creation, setting in motion a tragic confrontation between creator and creature. More than two centuries after its publication, Shelley’s novel remains one of the foundational works of both horror and science fiction.

R.L. Stine says: Stine selected Frankenstein for a Scholastic list of his favorite scary stories for Halloween, putting Shelley’s original monster alongside more contemporary children’s horror and dark fantasy. For a writer whose Goosebumps books have introduced generations of younger readers to monsters, it’s a particularly appropriate choice.

“The Black Cat” (1843)

Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: The Saturday Evening Post

What it’s about: One of Edgar Allan Poe’s most disturbing tales, “The Black Cat” is narrated by a man whose descent into alcoholism and violence leads him to brutally kill his beloved black cat, Pluto. When another eerily similar cat enters his life, his guilt and paranoia grow increasingly overwhelming, culminating in murder and a gruesome discovery hidden behind a wall.

R.L. Stine says: “In junior high, we ordered from the Scholastic Book Club, and it had an edition of Poe stories. ‘The Black Cat’ was in it. They can’t get rid of [the cat], so they wall it up, but that doesn’t kill it. It’s a very creepy story.”