If you were a kid in the 90’s you knew RL Stine. What you may not have known is that he was born in Ohio. So for Ohio Author Appreciation in April who is more perfect to talk about on a Thumbing Through Throwbacks than Ohio’s king of creepy?
Stine is known for more than one series that defined by childhood reading habits. Today I just want to talk about one, his massive Fear Street series. The original Fear Street Series is 55 books long, and has several spin off series attached. So for the purpose of this post we’re going to talk about all of the Fear Street books as one entity. The first Fear Street books I tackled were the Fear Street Cheerleaders, a murderously possessed cheer squad. I hated cheerleaders as a kid, they represented every bitchy girl who picked on me when I was young. So when I saw a series about a bunch of them killing each other I knew I had to read it.
Before I knew it I was hooked on Fear Street. I had already been a fan of Stine’s Goosebumps series but these books were much darker. People actually died in these. So next I moved to The Fear Street Saga, a trilogy of books that described the origins of the Fear Street evils. Once again, I was hooked. Once I discovered that these two series blended into a much larger story I devoured the Fear Street books one by one until I ran out of them.
What I loved so much about Fear Street was that they were like Goosebumps taken to the next level. The evil was bigger, the stakes were higher, and people actually got hurt. Of the many books in the series, it’s the Sagas and the Cheerleader books that still stand out. They were the ones that got me into the series and the ones that still resonate. If I could find them I honestly wouldn’t mind having them in my nostalgia collection.
For next week’s throwback post I WILL be covering Stine’s Goosebump collection.
Which Fear Street/Goosebumps books stood out for you? Share in the comments!
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As far as the Goosebumps books go, The Barking Ghost & The Werewolf of Fever Swamp are the ones that stand out for me. They were my favorites.
As far as the Fear Street ones go, The Cheerleaders ones, What Holly Heard, Cat, & a few others stick in my mind. They were great reads when I was in 6th-7th grade (I read them in later years too).
You’re right; it’d be nice to have them in my nostalgia collection again.