INFORMATION TO USERS

This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter 6ce, while others may be from any type of computer printer.

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction.

In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book.

Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Arm Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600

THE EXPLORATION OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS' INTERESTS IN AND ATTRACTIONS TO THE WRITINGS OF R. L. STINE

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the

Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

Stacia A. Smith, M. Ed.

*****

The Ohio State University 1998

Dissertation Committee:

Dr. Karin Dahl, Advisor Approved by

Dr. Maia Pank-Mertz Advisor Dr. Patricia Brosnan College of Education UMI N um ber : 9 8 3 4 0 6 8

Copyright 1998 by Smith, Stacia Arm

All rights reserved.

UMI MicroFonn 9834068 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.

This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ABSTRACT

This study documented middle school adolescents' interests in and attractions to the writings of R. L. Stine's Fear Street novel series. Adolescent viewpoints were the focal point of the study. The data was gathered in an urban midwestem school system using a triangluation of research methods: Stine avid reader in-depth interviews, avid and non-avid Stine focus group discussions, Stine survey questionnaires, and a textual analysis of nineteen Fear Street series books. Adolescent developmental psychology, pop culture theories, young adult literature, reading development and interests, and Reader Response theories were the theoretical foundation for this study.

Stine avid readers reported that the initial attraction to the series was the mystery/horror elements they contained. The teen pop culture descriptions and interactions held their interests and kept them reading. Stine avid readers began to read through the eyes of a writer looking at characterization, the writing process, and descriptive language. Many avid readers stated that the novels' horrors were humorous. They discussed only the unexpected endings that helped them solve the mysteries and the teen interactions that represented pop culture teen life. Avid readers read works by other authors but they still self-selected to read and re-read the Fear Street novels. The analysis of the nineteen novels identified elements found in young adult literature: youthful protagonists, fast-paced plot action, adolescent viewpoints, absence of adult interferences, coming-of-age concerns, and pop culture trends. This study found that there were benefits for middle school adolescents who became Stine avid readers. Adolescents' interest in the mystery genre and teen pop culture interactions helped in building their reading fluency. The majority of avid readers were above average students who read authors from other genres including the classics. Only

12% of the study's participants reported reading Stephen King. Readers discussed personal experiences that were similar to books' protagonists interactions which helped to affirm their adolescent lifestyles, moral stances, and searches for self-identity. As readers read and re-read novels, they analyzed and criticized Stine's writing and compared it to their own writing development.

Ill Dedicated to my father, Victor C. Smith, Jr., OSU '43 and his relentless pursuit in persuading me to pursue a doctorate

IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my mother, Beulah G. Smith, for all her loving support and understanding in helping me achieve this goal. I wish to thank my advisor. Dr. Karin Dahl, who empowered me from my first graduate class at Ohio State and challenged me to think and read analytically. I wish to thank Dr. Maia Pank-Mertz and her daughter, Zan, for recognizing a kindred spirit and awakening an interest in studying adolescent culture through R. L.

Stine's pop culture novel series. I wish to thank Dr. Patti Brosnan for her continued support through cheerful enthusiasm and guidance with structuring a program to meet my academic goals.

I wish to thank Dr. Anna Soter for her academic questions in graduate classes that fostered a reader response's search for answers in this graduate student. I wish to thank Mr. R. L. Stine and his publishers for their help in obtaining incentives for teachers and students who participated in this study. I wish to thank Lexmark Corporation for sending me two ink print cartridges.

I wish to thank Brenda Custodio and Linda Min for their editorial comments and literary analysis discussions of course work papers and this dissertation.

I wish to thank Leonard Loflus, Karen Gudger, and Bob Jones, my school principals, who understood the demands made upon me as both a middle school teacher and a doctoral student. VITA

December 2, 1944 ...... Bom - Goldsboro, North Carolina

1965 ...... B. A.E. Elementary Education, University of Florida

1965-73 ...... Teacher Broward County School, Florida Dekalb County Schools, Georgia Cobb County Schools, Georgia

1973 ...... M.Ed. Georgia State Universiiy

1974-91 ...... Entrepreneur, Child Care Centers Little Paces Schoolhouses, Georgia

1992 - present ...... Teacher, Columbus Public Schools, Ohio

199 7 ...... National Board Certification for Professional Teaching Standards for Early Adolescence English/Language Arts

199 8 ...... Governor's Educational Leadership Award

PUBLICATIONS

1. Smith, Stacia A "Hatchet-ing our Way Through Unfamiliar Words." Best Practices, Resources and Teacher Leaders Directory (Ohio). Regional Professional Development Center, February. (1997).

2. Smith, Stacia A. "Creating Cultural Knowledge - China." Ohio Journal o f The English Language Arts. Spring. (1996) vi 3. Smith, Stacia A. "Review; Study Guides for Commerically Available Multicultural Novels." TESOL-ESOL in Secondary Schools. February/March. (1996)

4. Smith, Stacia A "Reviews: Study Guide for Shabanu; Study Guide for Land I Lost: Study Guide for Children of the River." Ohio TESOL Newsletter,, Vol XX, 2, Spring. (1996)

5. Smith, Stacia A "Adventure in Language Arts." A Celebration o f Teaching. Impact n, Ameritech Publication. (1994)

6. Smith, Stacia A "Divorce - a poem." Seasons to Come. National Library of Poetry: New York. (1994)

7. Smith, Stacia A. "Teacher Feature - A Better Place for Teachers."Young Children. May. (1992)

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: Education

Areas of Specialization: Young Adult/Children's Literature Language Arts Middle School

vn TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Abstract...... ii

Dedication ...... iii

Acknowledgments ...... v

Vita...... vi

Fields of Study ...... vii

List of Tables ...... xii

Chapters:

1. Rationale/The Nature of the Problem ...... 1 Adolescence and Pop Culture ...... 4 Young Adult Literature and Pop Culture ...... 6 Series Books ...... 9 The R. L. Stine Phenomenon ...... 12 Fear Street Series Novels ...... 13 Adolescent Readers, Reader Response Theory, and Pop Culture Series Novels ...... 14 Purpose of Study ...... 16 Significance of Study ...... 16 Research Questions...... 18 Definition of Terms ...... 19 Assumptions ...... 20 Study Synopsis ...... 21

2. Review of Related Literature ...... 22 Adolescent Psychology ...... 22 Pop Culture ...... 26 Young Adult Literature ...... 32

vni Reader Response Theories ...... 37 Continued Reading Development - Adolescent Reading/Reading Interests ...... 39

3. Methods and Procedures ...... 45 Informants and Site Selection ...... 46 Researcher's Role...... 48 Data Collection ...... 49 Phase One; Identification of Stine Readers ...... 49 Stine Student Surveys ...... 49 Avid Reader Portraits - Guided Interviews ...... 50 Focus Group Discussions ...... 52 Phase Two: Textual Analysis of Fear Street Books ...... 54 Data Analysis...... 55 Phase One: Stine Avid Reader Perspectives...... 55 Avid Reader Interviews ...... 55 Focus Group Discussions ...... 56 Stine Student Surveys ...... 56 Phase Two: Textual Analysis of Nineteen Fear Street Novels ...... 57 Summary...... 58 TimeLine...... 59 Table 3 .1 Dissertation Research Timeline ...... 59 Credibility and Trustworthiness ...... 60

4. Findings ...... 62 Avid Reader Interviews ...... 63 Determining Avid Readers ...... 63 Revised Definition of Stine Avid Readers ...... 63 Table 4.1 Stine Avid Reader Clusters ...... 64 Stine Wanna Be Avid Readers ...... 66 Table 4.2 Wanna Be Group Reader Characteristics ...... 67 Stine Beginner Avid Readers...... 69 Table 4.3 Beginner Avid Group Reader Characteristics...... 70 Stine Avid Readers ...... 72 Table 4.4 Avid Group Reader Characteristics ...... 74 Stine Advanced Avid Readers ...... 76 Table 4.5 Advanced Avid Reader Characteristics ...... 77 Focus Group Discussions ...... 78 Middle School Stine Readers Demograhics ...... 79 Survey Statistics...... 79 Table. 4.6 Young adult literature genres read...... 80 Stine student personal comments ...... 81

IX Textual Elements of Fear Street Books ...... 83 General Description ...... 83 Table 4.7 Fear Street Novel Series Overview ...... 84 Top Nineteen Popular Stine Novels Chosen by Avids ...... 85 Table 4.8 Favorite Novels Ranked by Avids ...... 86 Visual Characteristics of top ranked nineteen novels ...... 86 Literary Elements of top ranked nineteen novels ...... 87 Adolescent Elements found in top ranked novels ...... 89 What Holly Heard In-depth Analysis...... 90 Summary...... 92

5. Discussion ...... 93 Summary of Findings ...... 94 Discussion of Related Literature and Findings ...... 97 Adolescent Psychology ...... 97 Pop Culture ...... 99 Young Adult Literature ...... 100 Readers and Reader Response Theories ...... 100 Implications for Educators and Pleasure Reading ...... 102 Directions for Further Research...... I ll Limitations ...... 112 Conclusion ...... 113

Appendix A ...... 114 Sample Letter to Teachers...... 115

Appendix B ...... 116 Stine Student ...... 117 Parent Permission Slip ...... 118

Appendix C ...... 119 Stine Fear Street Checklist...... 120 Stine Avid Reader Guided Interview Guide ...... 121

Appendix D ...... 122 Focus Group Guide ...... 123

Appendix E ...... 124 Fear Street Textual Analysis Sheets...... 125 Appendix F ...... 126 Wanna Be Avid Reader Interview Sample ...... 127 Beginner Avid Reader Interview Sample ...... 131 Avid Reader Interview Sample ...... 138 Advanced Avid Reader Interview Sample ...... 145

Appendix G ...... 154 Language Arts Comparison Sheets for Stine Novels and Other Novel ...... 155

Appendix H ...... 162 Survey Data Samples ...... 163

Appendix 1 ...... 166 Survey Students Personal Comments ...... 167

Appendix J ...... 172 Visual Characteristics of 19 Fear Street Novels...... 173 Literary Characteristics of 19 Fear Street Novels ...... 174 Adolescent Elements of 19 Fear Street Novels ...... 175

References...... 176

XI LIST OF TABLES

Table Eage

3.1 Dissertation Research Timeline for Stacia A. Smith...... 59

4.1 Stine Avid Reader Clusters ...... 64

4.2 Stine Wanna Be Avid Readers Characteristics ...... 67

4.3 Stine Beginner Avids Characteristics ...... 70

4.4 Stine Avid Readers Characteristics ...... 74

4.5 Stine Advanced Avid Group Readers Characteristics ...... 77

4.6 Young Adult Literature Genres Read by Survey Students ...... 80

4.7 Fear Street Mini-Series Novel Sets ...... 84

4.8 Most Popular Fear Street Novels Ranked by Avid Readers ...... 86

XU CHAPTER 1 RATIONALE

Should adolescents read horror fiction, especially the works of R. L. Stine?

Educators and parents are discussing this concern at school board meetings, in newspapers, articles, and on-line chat rooms as Stine's works consistently appear on national best-selling lists. Many critics consider his books to be sub-literature (Traw,

1996).

This study investigated the reading perspectives of adolescent readers who avidly read R. L. Stine. The researcher explored the reasons, interests, and attractions that kept adolescent avid readers reading his books. In this chapter, these issues are explored within the contexts of current pop culture, patterns of adolescent development, and characteristics of young adult literature.

Two reading specialists debated the pros and cons of allowing children to read

Stine's horror books in a national teacher publication. One specialist argued that there were several valid reasons to encourage students to read Stine books. These reasons were; any reading was better than none; students eventually outgrow this genre; books weren't harmful and can be an educational experience with guidance; censoring books would make kids want to read them more; and scary books were fun. The other specialist countered that Stine's books: had little educational value with little artistic setting and few interesting characters; had characters that don't portray real lives with real families in real communities; stopped students from experiencing other genres; and limited reading enhancement by narrowing perspectives and lowering moral fiber ("Debate," NEA

Publications, 1997). Diane West in an article printed in both The Weekly Standard (1995) and The

American Educator ^1995) stated that Stine has created a new phenomenon for children; shock fiction. She felt that this new genre did not promote young adult readers to grow and discover but launched beginners into personal quests for "accelerated pulse rates and queasy stomachs." A written rebuttal to West by John MacDonald stated that this shock fiction had it roots in Victorian prose (Macdonald, 4/24/96). As an urban school language arts classroom teacher and a pop culture reader, the researcher became interested in the phenomena of Stine and Fear Street series when her students would become engrossed in these novels to the exclusion of all other activities. The researcher witnessed some adolescent students neglecting lessons to finish reading the novels. Reading Fear Street behind propped literature anthology books was common. Many of these same students were knowledgeable about other subjects, regularly achieved honor roll status, and read other authors. The researcher could identify with these students since many times she would anxiously await and voraciously read many contemporary authors' works while attending classes in the doctoral program. Like them, the researcher had stayed up late reading, neglected scholarly pursuits to finish reading chapters, and when she had nothing to read, re-read previous pop culture books.

Other students had expressed their dislike of reading and chose not to read at all.

As a life-long reader, the researcher was appalled by this attitude and when she observed students "hooked" on reading pop culture instinctively felt that there must be some benefit from reading "literature of this quality." Through the doctoral studies program, the researcher had read about numerous ways readers connect to text, but could not find much research about the use of a pop culture series in the classroom.

R. L. Stine grossed over $40 million in two years (Eorizes, 1997). Parents have written thanking him for helping their children to read. He stated that he receives over

2,000 fan letters weekly (Arthur, 1997). In public appearances, people are lined up for two hours for book signings. The researcher observed a crowd of over 1,000 children, parents, and grandparents waiting to shake his hand at a local shopping mall. Television shows, a Disney World show, and a theme park are planned. These are indications that he has readers reading. His books may have helped to develop readers. They are connecting to his text. Teachers and researchers need to understand what attractions the novels hold and how we can adapt them to our classroom lessons.

It has long been felt by this researcher that many avid readers who are good students have used R. L. Stine or similar pop culture/sub-literature novels to become readers. Then, they have progressed to novels that teachers consider good literature. Mr. Stine's writing has created a phenomenon with the public. Since the Fear Street series novels, Stine's young adult series, began in 1989, no qualitative study has looked at the impact that his writing has made upon adolescent middle school readers. Adolescent viewpoints will be the focal point of this study in addressing educators' and parents' concerns over Stine's horror fiction novels. Adolescence and Pop Culture

Research has shown that adolescence is a young person's search for self-identity

(Cobb, 1995). Much has been written about this period of life in which students begin to

establish their identity. With the modem conveniences of television, the beginnings of adolescence and this search for one's identity has been moved from the high school setting

to middle school (Adams, GuUotta & Markstrom-Adams, 1994). Further, research studies

have indicated that many children are television addicts who view approximately 15,000 hours before their high school career ends. Many television shows depict life as we live it

today. What once was thought to have occurred only in high school is now happening to

the 90's middle school student (Hamburg, 1993). A Carnegie Council Study on

adolescent development. Turning Points (1989). has recommended middle school reform

that will meet the changing demands that society now places upon the adolescent. Traditionally, the middle school or junior high school was developed to ease the

transition from elementary school to high school. It was designed to help younger

students handle the pressures of changing classes with more teachers. The Turning Points

( 1989) study has shown that adolescents have become more sophisticated by demanding to be shown why they are in school and what school has to offer them. More physical and

mental problems have occurred at this age. Many educators have begun to realize that we

need to consider what middle school students are thinking, reading, and writing to

understand their needs as shown by recent publications of articles and textbooks. A curriculum must be developed to meet these needs for adolescents in the 21st century

(Irvin, 1992).

Adolescence has been characterized by several central themes such as: forming an identity, developing a positive body image, learning to think abstractly, establishing relationships with peers, finding a role in the family other than one known as "child," and learning skills that may lead to development of a career. Adolescents may be swayed by many things. Current trends that are popular with the masses may impact adolescents more than at any other time in their lives. "Being in" with one's peers by acting, talking, and dressing correctly is usually foremost on many adolescents' minds. What is current on television, by music groups, at the movies, on the fashion models may be of prime importance to this age; the pop culture that surrounds daily life (Arnett, 1995; Fields- Meyer, 1995; Witkin, 1994).

Pop culture has been defined as "what we live with every day." (Cawelti, 1983).

It is everywhere about us: like in the air, advertising on television, recreation, print, film, music. It depends upon a mass audience for its existence. While adolescents are aware of global concerns of our society, their major focus is within themselves and their life - their adolescent culture. People Magazine, recognizing this emerging culture, has recently begun to publish a monthly Teen People Magazine (1998). The magazine promises its readership articles about real teens, real style. The editors stated that teen-related pop culture issues are serious enough to warrant national recognition and acknowledgment.

It has been purported that the study of popular culture through the reading of many young adult literature novels can help students in three ways: to understand our society's values, institutions, and minority cultures; to develop critical skills with which to evaluate the assumptions and biases which dominate contemporary life; and lastly, to gain insight into a culture's subject matter, raw material, and technique (Mertz, 1974). Young Adult Literature and Pop Culture

Why should educators consider looking at what middle school students are reading? We are approaching a new century where even the government recognizes that education needs revamping as suggested by programs called Goals 2000, or from

President Clinton's January 1998 State of Union Address. Some school districts are implementing steps of change in their curriculum designs to meet the demands that young people tell us they need by their actions and verbal statements.

Sue Ellen Bridgets, an author, has written: "The fact remains that all my books have young people in them, teenagers have turned out to be my sustaining audience - and what a wonderful audience to have! They read with enthusiasm. They are impatient and forthright. When they like a book, they pass it around. When they love one, they hold the memory of it close... But frequently teenager's worries are turned inward, and they grapple with their problems alone...In fiction I can ask: Who are you? And in a period of months, the answers come," (Bridgers, 1992). Richard Peck, another young adult author writes: "It's a rare day when a book changes the perceptions or value system of an adult. Generally, adults choose books that reflect and reinforce attitudes they already hold. Young adult readers, on the other hand, are actively searching for ideas, information, and values to incorporate into their personalities, and into their lives. The books they read become a real part of them"

(Peck, 1992).

Adolescence has been portrayed as a time of learning about and seeking one's identity (Cobb, 1995). Karen Homey, a prominent psychologist, considered the development of a healthy personality in the terms of the ability to value oneself and to see that one is valued by others with an emphasis on the impact that one's culture has upon this development (Cobb, 1995). While an adolescent is seeking to meet this development, they may feel shy about talking with an adult, i. e. a family member or teacher, to help with the decisions that they must make to meet this development. Seeking answers to their questions, they may turn to a young adult/teen novel that is steeped in teen culture - the pop culture of their lives.

Yoimg adult literature can help adolescents come to terms with many events that may happen to them. It can help them in stabilizing David Elkind's theory in which adolescents construct imaginary audiences that are constantly criticizing or praising their actions (Cobb, 1995). The use of young adult literature by the middle school teacher can help adolescents come to terms with many events that may happen to them.

By definition, young adult literature is anything that readers between the approximate ages of twelve and twenty choose to read (Nilsen & Donelson, 1993). It can be the current bestseller, i.e., the "what we live today" pop culture novel. This novel features several characteristics that almost all literature for young adults have in common. The authors write from the viewpoints of a young adult where parental influence is non­ existent. Stories are written at a fi-antic pace and in a variety of genres. Coming of age is central to the many of the plot lines with the stories having optimistic viewpoints (Nilsen & Donelson, 1993). These characteristics are found in almost all o f Stine's Fear Street novels.

Young adult fiction can also present its stories in a thematic approach. Stories can depict times when the adolescent; feels alienated from society, experiences fiiendships gone astray, undergoes family pressures, tries to understand universal societal problems as death or mental illness, makes sense of sexual happenings, or feels peer pressure to join in drug or alcohol abuse (Hippie, 1992). Many of R. L. Stine's Fear Street novels contain

these issues as themes within the plots developed. These are the issues that adolescents are facing in the search for their identity. These issues are current in today's life style.

These issues are reflective in the literature that they read. Many adolescents must deal

with these issues every day - pop culture issues.

Many changes have occurred over the years with young adult literature making

middle school students more important to the publishers of young adult literature. First, librarians and teachers do not control the reading habits of our teens today as much as in

times past since funding for schools and libraries has decreased (Nilsen & Donelson,

1993). Adolescents are now being enticed directly fi’om publishers who want them to

purchase paperback books. Covers are designed to inspire impulse buying and easily identifiable logo books are packaged as sets (Nilsen & Donelson, 1993). Paperbacks may be marketed for only a few months and then pulled off the shelf, much like magazines.

There is a higher percentage of original paperbacks, with R. L. Stine admitting that he must write two new novels a month (Nilsen, 1993). Young adult series novels, mostly R.

L. Stine’s, can be found next to adult novels for purchase near checkout lanes. For Stine's Goosebumps series, tee shirts, bookmarks, a CD Rom, calendars, and even party supplies have been merchandised to the public in order to entice them to buy and read this book series (Kiesewetter, 1995). When considering how middle school literature classes have been taught, three observations have been made about teachers and their literature classes: most classes employ anthologies, traditional classics usually dominate the literature curriculum, and little distinction is made between literature taught to college-bound and non-academic students (Gallo, 1995). Further, many students have complained to adults that they do not enjoy the assigned literature. They stated the literature lacked fun and a sense o f wonder and did not acknowledge readers' feelings. Others felt that teachers over-analyzed the text and there was a lack of textual prior knowledge (Carlsen and Sherrill, 1988). Themes and conflicts of the classic novels did not have relevance or meaning to these students' lives because they were faced with the safety issues of gang violence and/or physical or sexual abuse at home. Many felt that teachers do not want students to enjoy literature, but to read only for comprehension (Gallo, 1995). When students were allowed to choose books on their own to read, they often chose ones with pop culture themes (Nilsen, 1993).

Young adult novels that mirror adolescent interests accurately may help middle school students deal with contemporary life - the pop culture happenings of today.

Reading a number of young adult novels may also help middle schoolers acquire the tools needed to better approach the complexities of more adult novels (Samuels, 1995).

Series Books Linda Reif a noted young adult educator, recently published an acknowledgment of the importance of series books to her in an introduction to a middle school reading handbook. She stated that when she was ten, reading a Nancy Drew novel was one way she felt "smart and important" because "smart people read books" (Reif 1998). Many adults tend to look down upon these books, call them "trash, " and believe that they hinder children from enjoying other "good" literature (Greenlee, Monson, &

Taylor, 1996). Many critics do not like the implicit or explicit messages that series books convey (Greenlee, Monson, & Taylor, 1996). However, many ardent readers of serious literature have spent many childhood hours absorbed in reading as many books as they can of a popular series (Nodleman, 1996).

Series books are not new. They appeared in the mid 1880 with the Horatio Alger stories. Stories were considered formulaic since the plot patterns were introduced in one

book and adopted by others (Shadiow, 1995). Next, the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1906 made an impact on young readers. Edward Stratemeyer enlisted many authors to write the series stories of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. The popularity and success of these books made them a must read for many young readers (Shadiow, 1995). Stine's popularity will probably be referenced in the same manner as Alger and Stratemeyer in years to come. Series books have many redeemable qualities with readers. The plot develops quickly, thus capturing the attention of the reader immediately. Since they are written to a formula, most readers know that the ending will turn out well, even if the story's characters face challenges along the way. R.L. Stine says that his stories are "like a roller coaster ride... they're very fast, exciting. They change directions rapidly, they tease and fool you... But most important, they let you oflf safe and sound at the end. No matter how scary it is, or how thrilling, you know that you're safe the whole time" (Arthur, 1997).

Availability is another attraction for readers of series books. Readers can find them in the drug stores, discount stores, local bookstores, and supermarkets. Each new month or couple of months new titles appear for readers to select. This is in direct contrast with many novels where the only place to get them is off the library shelf or to borrow them from the teacher's lending library (Greenlee, Monson & Taylor, 1996).

Many adolescents read and own series books for social benefits that they offer.

Books can be shared with friends and the novel stories initiate conversations about the

10 plot or characters. Many students carry them to class to make a statement - some in

defiance of adults who try to steer them to other good literature. When teachers have censored Stephen King books fi'om teens, teenagers have rebelled and read them more.

Stephen King has stated that readable interesting novels don't begin with a desire to teach,

but a desire to please readers who possess the same qualities as the main protagonists (Power, Wilhelm & Chandler, 1997).

Many readers have became addicted to reading through series books. University students who wrote autobiographies about what influenced their reading habits admitted

to being "fanatic, voracious, or obsessed" over series novels at certain points in their lives.

They referred to this as an addiction or compulsion when describing their trips to libraries, bookstores, or belonging to book clubs to purchase these series novels (Reid & Cline,

1997). Familiar text has helped readers to understand the story. R. L. Stine has stated that he has received notes fi'om parents whose children were non-readers prior to reading his books. "I've read forty of your books - and I think they are boring!" stated another Stine reader (Arthur, 1997).

Series books have been read by both children and adults for years. The popularity may be due to the fact that they provide readers with a sense of mastery over the conventions of reading and many inexperienced readers have the opportunity to behave like experienced ones (Mackey, 1990). Readers of formula or series books may be learning the basic patterns from which less-formulaic books diverge (Nodelman, 1996).

11 The R. L. Srine Phenomenon

Mr. Stine has sold over 90 million Fear Street and Goosebumps series books.

Forbes Magazine listed him in the TOP 40 money makers among artists and entertainers for 1996-97. He grossed over $41 million in income and followed Kevin Costner, the actor, who reported $42 million fForbes. September 22, 1997). Sales from his

Goosebumps series in 1994 equaled sales from all other top fifteen best-selling series combined (Nodelman, 1996). A survey from 3, 200 teachers, librarians, and students ranked R. L. Stine as the most important author for young people (McElmeel & Buswell,

1998). He has been listed as one of the top five authors on the weekly publications of USA TODAY'S top-selling books and has received awards from the American Library

Association and Ohio Council of Teachers English Language Arts. Other awards include: the Ohio's Buckeye Children's Book Award and Children's Choice Award.

R. L. Stine is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from The Ohio State

University where he edited the campus humor magazine. After graduation, he tried teaching history for a year, but soon moved to New York to edit fan magazines and write coloring books, bubble gum wrappers, or soft drink articles. He was hired by Scholastic where he wrote for Junior Scholastic magazine and started Bananas, a humor magazine for young people. When Bananas was phased out, his editor suggested he write horror stories for young people. This suggestion resulted in Blind Date, a 1986 best-seller, and launched his horror series career. When he received fan mail for Blind Date, the idea came to him to write a series in which the action took place in a single town on an evil street. This was different from the other available series books that featured the same characters in each book. In 1989, The New Girl was the first book in the Fear Street series for middle school/junior high/high school students. His Goosebumps series

12 followed in 1992. Both series have contributed to making him one of the top-selling

authors in the nation according to USA TODAY (Arthur, 1997).

Fear Street Series Novels

Fear Street series novels are set in contemporary times in a town called Shadyside

where "the mosth o m i n g things seem to happen" (The New Boy. 1989). The main

protagonists are teenagers who attend Shadyside High, appear to be normal, and reside on Fear Street. Mr. Stine writes a new novel in the series each month.

The stories are predictable or formulaic. The main protagonists try to solve

mysteries and experience terrors that many adults think could not happen to teens. The

author follows the same style in each book by using dialogue to detail plot with many

chapters ending with questions that ask readers to predict what will happen next. The

novels present issues, trends, and fads that are teen-centered, hence, the pop culture of

teen society. Each book concludes with the main protagonist solving the mystery, explaining the villain's motives, and a teaser paragraph promoting next month's novel. .

Stine reported that his characters are not based on any one person from his past. The setting is pictured from scenes Stine remembers from Bexley, Ohio. His characters

are based upon normal average teens who have no special talents but must face horrors and must use their imagination to solve the mysteries. Inspiration for characters have

come from watching his son or nephews interact with friends. Characters must appear to

act like normal teens as exhibited by their dialogue, actions, dress, and mannerisms.

Watching MTV, reading teens' magazines, and reading some of the two thousand letters he receives a week has helped Mr. Stine include what is current in teen pop culture in his Fear Street novels (Arthur, 1997).

13 Adolescent Readers, Reader Response Theory, and Pop Culture Series Novels

Many studies report that many middle and high school students exhibit negative

attitudes towards reading and this has resulted in a decline towards voluntary or pleasure reading (Worthy, 1998). Some educators have observed that one major reason for this

decline could be that students feel that they do not have a voice in choosing what they

wish to read and the fact that the teacher has most of the control in classroom book talks (Worthy, 1998).

Employing the ideas from reader response theory as a way of teaching literature

can help the teachers of adolescent middle school students explore what they make out of

texts and what personal meanings they derive from these texts (Beach, 1993). This

instructional method is a definite departure from the accepted standard of having only one right answer, teacher-led discussions, or teaching a comprehension-based reading lesson.

Adolescence reader responses to Stine's themes may be a possible explanation of the popularity of the Fear Street series with middle school students

Louise Rosenblatt proposed a theory that readers come to texts as active readers in

which their past and present experiences and personal interests link with the verbal

symbols to create new meanings or responses from the text. Hence a new meaning, poem

or transactional event occurs each time readers read. It is a coming together of readers and texts. This is an ongoing process with a specific text, a specific reader, and at a specific time and place (Rosenblatt, 1978).

Richard Beach synthesized reader response theories from other researchers and grouped them into a range of five different roles (Beach, 1993). These five role responses can be applied to pop culture series novels. When readers apply knowledge of a mystery genre, this can help them in predicting outcomes found in Fear Street's titles in readers'

14 textual responses. Readers of Stine's novels can identify with characters when they are described by current style trends or compared to movie star look alikes in applying an

experiential response stance. Readers' subconscious or cognitive processes of underlying

messages found in the text may be reflective of the readers' responses found in the

psychological response stance when they read for the morals found in many of Stine's

novels. Meanings of the text found in the interpretive community which readers come

from and by the shared conventions valued by this group are the social responses of readers. These meanings can also be found in the teen dialogue and social situations

written into Fear Street storylines for readers to compare with situations happening in their lives. Perceived cultural roles, attitudes, values, and historical views are found in the cultural connections that readers find in the parent and school situations of Stine novels when the novels portray stereotyped situations found in the lives of many teen readers .

Understanding the need for young adult literature and students' responses to young adult literature, the researcher needs to consider why the fictional works of R. L. Stine are so popular with today's middle school students. Mr. Stine's work is in horror fiction - fiction that depicts blood, guts, thrills, chills, and death at times. The covers of his books alone depict the horror that one might find within. By understanding why adolescents are reading Stine, as evidenced by his growing media sales and best seller-status, the researcher can see what influences Fear Street novels have on students' reading habits, or educational foundation for the reading of other genres, or the development of a pleasure reader.

Drawing on Rosenblatt's theory and Beach's synthesis of reader response theories, this qualitative study will consider: the reader as adolescent middle school student; the text as R. L. Stine's Fear Street young adult novel series; the place as home/school

15 pleasure reading; the time as ages ten through fifteen; and the transactional event or poem as the popularity phenomenon of R. L. Stine's Fear Street series.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe why R. L. Stine is so popular with middle school readers who are in the throes of adolescence and middle school pop culture. The study will examine what middle school adolescents say influences them and makes them want to continue reading the Fear Street series. Goosebumps is the series that precedes Fear Street, but with the media attention given to R. L. Stine and his writing, many middle school students are reading his more mature teen theme novels.

Admitted avid Stine readers will be interviewed to create avid reader portraits.

Focus groups of both avid and non-avid readers will extend discussions fi'om interview sessions. A textual analysis of Fear Street novels that avid readers mentioned will be presented to try to understand what in the novels might attract middle school readers. Lastly, random sampling surveys of Stine middle school readers will determine the demographics of Stine readers found in the Columbus Public Schools, Columbus, Ohio.

Significance of Study As educators, it is hard to ignore the fact that many students are choosing to read Fear Street novels over what teachers are suggesting in the classroom. In an effort to engage students by showing them through daily lessons what is considered good literature, many teachers have inadvertently caused other students to dislike all reading. This study may show that the acceptance of Fear Street novels in the classroom has some value in enticing reluctant learners back to reading. This acceptance may also encourage

16 adolescent readers to read other novels that interest them and foster acknowledgment that adults recognized the connections that adolescents make to the pop culture. By presenting portraits of avid readers of Fear Street novels, the researcher will

report characteristics of middle school avid readers status and attractions that hold their

interest to Fear Street novels. These identifications may help educators and parents see

the value of promoting reading - even a pop culture series - which may entice many reluctant adolescents to remain interested in schooling.

Series books traditionally are known to be formulaic. It has been documented by

teachers that many students eventually tire of them and seek more challenging reading, the good literature teachers promote. The results of this qualitative study may confirm for classroom teachers and parents the value of letting middle school students read a pop culture series. For middle school students who are at odds with education in general, the acknowledgment of the value of Fear Street series by the public can say to the students that he/she is intelligent enough to choose their own reading material. It may also confirm that reading Fear Street novels for adolescents is similar to the way many adults anxiously await and voraciously read the next contemporary novel offered by a current best-selling author.

As adolescents progress through the middle school years, they seek their identity. In seeking this identity, many students turn to literature to help solve problems or affirm who they are. In reading pop culture series novels, it has been felt by this researcher that many adolescents sometimes see themselves in the novels' situations.

With the popularity of horror fiction in the past few years, many adults question the value of reading series novels that contain horror. The results of this study will

17 document students' opinions on the value of reading Stine's horror series novels and may indicate that middle school students find some redeeming qualities in this type of literature.

Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to describe why middle school readers are interested and attracted to the writings of R L. Stine. The study was conducted during the 1996-97 school year in the Columbus Public Schools, Columbus, Ohio. The following research questions guided this qualitative study:

1. What are the attractions that middle school readers report hold their interests and make them choose to become avid Fear Street series readers?

2. What are the textual characteristics found in the Fear Street series that might

attract middle school students to read the series?

3. What patterns or characteristics (sex, age, ethnic background, grade point average, other authors read) do middle school readers have in common as Fear

Street readers?

18 Definition o f terms

During this study, many terms will be used to discuss procedures, related literature, and findings. These terms may differ fi’om meanings found in other studies and are defined as they relate to this study. Adolescents in this study are children ages 10-15 found in grades 6 to 8 and attending Columbus (Ohio) Public middle schools. Avid readers are readers who have read an authors' works extensively. The researcher's definition at the beginning of the study was a reader who had read half or more of Stine's works. Fear Street series novels are Stine's teenage series books based upon a street in a fictional town. Characters are ages 14+ and stories are seeped in pop culture. Books began being published in 1989. Titles in this series usually have the words Fear Street printed on the front covers. Popular culture is a term used to mean the styles, trends, or issues that are current in the 90's and popular with society as reflected in the mass media.

Reader response theories are theories of reading that state that readers make connections to the text in various ways. Louise Rosenblatt suggested that readers read texts aesthetically or efferently. Richard Beach synthesized response theories from other researchers into the social, textual, psychological, cultural, or experiential perspectives of the texts.

Series books are novels that are connected through a common thread as main protagonists, themes, genres, settings, consistency of style or subject, or in all the texts that an author produces. Some series books contain formulaic writing, repetitive texts, low vocabulary.

19 Young adult literature is literature written for young people ages 10-18 and can be anything that students choose to read. Young adult literature can be characterized by having: adolescent viewpoints, little parent interaction, variety of genres, and basically optimistic, pop culture trends.

Assumptions

Several assumptions were made by the researcher in the development of this study.

1. Adolescence is a time of life in which teens' viewpoints are sometimes influenced

by the way other adolescents think, feel, and act among their fiiends.

2. Survey data and self-report interview data can be misrepresented by the

participants. 3. Adolescents interviewed were engaged in the reading of Stine novels.

4. Readers respond to texts in various ways and draw meanings from text within their

own cognitive framework. 5. Popular culture plays an important part in shaping a person's self worth.

20 Study Synopsis This study documents the attractions and interests that middle school students reported to the writings of R. L. Stine's Fear Street series. It is conducted in two phases; readers responses to the writings of R. L. Stine and a textual analysis of the Fear Street series. Guided interviews of avid readers, focus group discussions of avid and non-avid readers, and survey data will present adolescents' opinions of reasons readers chose to read Stine over other young adult authors. A selective sampling of Fear Street novels will be analyzed to try to understand what is in the novels that attracts middle school readers and makes them want to keep reading them.

The study follows a standard dissertation format. Chapter Two is a review of related literature. Chapter Three offers data collection procedures and data analysis methods that were utilized during the study. The findings fi'om data collection and analysis of the study are described in Chapter Four. Discussion and implications from the findings and directions for further research are found in Chapter Five.

21 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Educators must face the reality of the adolescents they are teaching (Atwell,

1998). Who they are, what makes them think the way they do, what's important to them are considerations that teachers ponder when constructing literature lessons for middle school. The review of related literature begins with research in adolescent psychology, and is followed by research in the following areas: pop culture theories, young adult literature, reader response theories, and continued development - reading and reading interests.

Adolescent psychology In developmental psychology several theories have been recognized by others as a means of explaining adolescent development. While theorists debate over the claims of each theory, knowledge of them can help educators develop a frame of reference in working with adolescents (Cobb, 1995; Adams, Gullotta & Markstrom-Adams, 1994). Piaget offered four stages of intellectual development. The sensorimotor thought stage starts at infancy where children depend mostly upon their senses for learning. This is followed by the preoperational thought stage, from ages 2 to 7, where children use symbols as words to think about things and may confuse the way things appear with the ways things must be. The concrete operational thought stage, from ages 7 to 10, is next.

22 Concrete operational thought has been defined as actions that can be reversed or undone and carried out in your head. These actions can be related to one another. Students might consider that an object may look different but it has not changed. The last stage, beginning at age 11 and in adolescence, is the formal operational thought stage. Students at this stage can apply what they have learned from classes of objects to classes of classes.

Thus, adolescents are able to think through an answer while not having the actual objects present. Thought becomes more abstract (Cobb, 1995). With the varied backgrounds of students found in middle school classes, many have just reached the concrete stage of thinking while others are emerging into more formal operational thoughts. Eric Erikson's theory explaining adolescent development stated that adolescents are searching for personal identity or for an inner sense of self (Cobb, 1995). Erikson believed that a person's identity emerged through iimer growth and developed through a sequence of stages, each taking a different form. The changes that people experience come through a series of crises with special characteristics. These stages are: infancy-one of trust vs. mistrust; toddlerhood - one of autonomy vs. shame and doubt; early childhood - one of initiative vs. guilt; middle childhood - one of industry vs. inferiority; adolescence - one of identity vs. identity diffusion; early adulthood - one of intimacy vs. isolation; middle adulthood - one of generativity vs. stagnation; and late adulthood - one of integrity vs. despair (Cobb, 1995). Adolescents at their stage are searching for possible answers or self-definitions. The four preceding stages equip them to meet this ego identity search: trust establishes confidence in themselves; autonomy gives purpose; initiative allows exploration of options; and industry promotes realistic evaluations of options. Once adolescents find the answers, they will incorporate it into their personality makeup - either

23 positively or negatively (Cobb, 1995). Erikson also believed that there were other factors that influence adolescents' identity formations: positive parent/child relationships,

appropriate sex-typed body images, positive social experiences of self-confidence and

poise, and ethnic/cultural experiences that develop a sense of unity with their heritage

(Adams, Gullotta, Markstrom-Adams, 1994).

David Elkind suggested a theory of personal fable where adolescents lose

perspectives as to what concerns them and others. They sometimes make easy tasks more

complicated than they actually are. For many adolescents, this theory can explain the

feelings of "no one understands me" and that "everyone must share my same concerns." Many adolescents construct "imaginary audiences" where they feel that others are

admiring or criticizing them at all times. These imaginary audiences contribute to adolescent perceptions of themselves as being very unique (Cobb, 1995). Only through

positive social and intellectual experiences can adolescents realize that other persons have different priorities from the ones that they focus on in their behaviors or thoughts

(Adams, Gullotta & Markstrom-Adams, 1994).

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development has been considered in academic circles as a theory explaining adolescent development and how adolescents learn to think. His theory stated that as students develop, higher thinking skills required in situations of role playing, decision making, interpersonal communication, and responsibility help foster moral reasoning. Adolescence included finding one's identity and finding out what is morally right. Kolhberg proposed six stages of development that can explain some behaviors educators see adolescents exhibit. These stages in order of growing complexity are: obedience and punishment; a focus on satisfaction of self the need for approval by pleasing others, a respect for authority, realization that relationships

24 are based upon individuals accepting mutual standards of concept, and lastly universal

rules of conduct (Adams, Gullatto, Markstrom-Adams, 1994). The major impact of Kolhberg's theory may occur during adolescence as students mature and search for self

identity. Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences has been discussed among

educators in working with adolescents. He proposed that within school classrooms there

are students who exhibit seven forms of intelligence: spatial, interpersonal, linguistic, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and interpersonal. Students display these intelligences when they solve problems as they arise (Cobb, 1995; Gardner, 1983). Further, Gardner claims that most methods of assessment reflect an emphasis on the

logical-mathematical ability when it is not needed (Gardner, 1983).

Biological development is primary in the mind of many adolescents. This is the

beginning of puberty, and the physical changes that are occurring in their bodies and the

body images that they present to others are foremost in their minds (Cobb, 1995). Research has shown that puberty is beginning earlier with many early adolescents facing

sexual decisions before they are emotionally prepared to make stances (Cobb, 1995). Peers and interaction with their peers become important to adolescents and can

lead to anxieties about fiiendships (Cobb, 1995; Adams, Gullotta & Markstrom, 1994).

With fnends becoming more influential, parental relationships change. Conflicts over independence often arise as adolescents seek self identity. Relationships with adults may

remain important to some adolescents, while others remain in a state of constant re­ negotiating. These relationships can have positive or negative effects on classroom environments.

25 When adolescents enter middle schools and experience these developmental stages while seeking their personal identity, many experience a decline in school motivation and performance. Some perceive themselves as less academically prepared and report symptoms of depression. Others experience a decline in self-esteem and engage in student misconduct or truancy (Roger and Eccles, 1998).

Adolescents need developmentaily appropriate tasks that are sensitive to their feelings of self-consciousness and increased desire to participate in their decision making.

While theorists state specific ages that adolescents should begin to exhibit their respective adolescent development stages, the reality for the educators is that many of our students have not reached the adolescent plateau. Many have not moved into Piaget's abstract thought or are still exploring the options and evaluating them as Erikson stated.

At the very essence of adolescence is the egocentricity of our students. This egocentricity is centered in pop culture. These current trends and styles of society impact the development of adolescents as they seek to conform or rebel against society's accepted ways.

Pop Culture

Pop culture has been defined as the culture "of the people, for the people and by the people" (Browne, 1994). A person can find it in advertising, recreation, print, film, music, and in almost every element of life. It is the everyday world: the mass media, entertainments, diversions, heroes, icons, rituals, psychology, and religion (Browne, 1994). The people who create popular culture have something to say that reflects the values, concerns, and myths o f society. For this reason, it has been a reflector of the attitudes and concerns of the society in which it exists (Cawelti & Rogerson, 1973).

26 Popular culture is being equated with the humanities. This arises from the belief that in a democracy, the democratic institutions and the ordinary people need to be a main focus of attention and study. A "New Humanités" has been formed from the acceptance of popular culture studies. Historically, academics have looked upon the humanities and the study of a whole culture from an elitist point of view designed for the educationally, socially, and financially privileged. Scholars that believe in the new humanities state that some aspects of culture cannot be studied in a vacuum separated from the whole society in which they exist. They assert that humanities caimot exist without some kind of human compassion towards the connectiveness of the physical or emotional experiences of life.

Anthropologists, doctors, sociologists, lawyers are turning to popular culture studies to help them understand humanity (Browne, 1994).

In 1990, the Census Bureau published statistics that indicated that there are approximately 63 .6 million children under the age of 18 making up 23% of the American population. From this study's statistics adolescents' lifestyles seemed to be immersed in the popular culture. The five "coolest brands" were: Nike, Levi's, Calvin Klein, Sony, and

Pepsi. Teenage girls spent over $4 billion on cosmetics. Per day, adolescents spent: 130 minutes watching television, 59 minutes reading a book, 52 minutes using a home computer; and 45 minutes playing video games. Teenage boys spent twice as much time watching MTV than reading for pleasure. Computers were used 70% of the time for games. Adolescents ages 9-13 named their fiiends as their number one source of information about new styles of clothing, followed by television, school, and stores. Nearly 80% of the households with children 2-17 reported having two or more television sets. Children in 54% of American households have television sets in their bedrooms and watch 21 more minutes of television per day than those who do not. Adolescents ranked

27 the following shows as their top five picks; Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Family

Matters, Simpsons, and M artin. Video game equipment can be found in 62% of households (Mediascope, 3/15/98). Adolescents of the 1990's are growing up in a media age where they are saturated by images depicting the popular culture of American society. In 1972, 31% of seventeen year olds watched television for three or more hours a day compared to 50% of seventeen year olds in 1990 that now watch television (Witkin, 1994). It has been stated that before a child enters first grade he or she will have watched 5,000 hours of television (Better

Homes and Gardens, 1996). Hence, television is one way that adolescents locate and define the popular culture trends of society. Television studies are reviewed here as a significant aspect of pop culture since adolescents spend more time watching it than any other activity besides sleeping (Mediascope, 3/15/98). Researchers differ in their assessments of what influences adolescents and how significant the impact of television is. By the time that students have graduated from high school, they will have spent some 15,000 hours watching this medium in comparison with the 12,000 hours spent in formal classroom instruction (Strasburger, 1993). Clearly, television must have some influence on our students and their pop culture stance. Yet, other researchers debate this statement by stating that during adolescence, especially late adolescence, students are away fi'om home more, listen to more music, and devote more time to peer-related activities (Huston et al, 1992).

These trends have an impact on the teachers of middle school. Students in middle school classrooms are of a media culture (Davies, 1993). The media influences our students in many ways, both positively and negatively, and directly reflects the pop culture attitudes and beliefs of adult and teen popular culture.

28 Adolescents who view television programs that contain violence have more likelihood of exhibiting aggressive behavior from the 1972 Surgeon's General Reports and

1982 National Institute of Mental Health (Strausburger, 1993). One to three shows a night from the television guide may feature violence in some form whether it is a made- for-TV movie, weekly drama series, or even a cartoon. Daily talk show hosts present hour long discussions of domestic situations in which violence plays a part. This may impact adolescents in some manner as they role play situations when they are seeking their self-identity. Yet, violence on television is perceived by other experts as the most authoritarian solution to any particular problem, either comedic or dramatic, and on television it is used to demonstrate power (Shanahan, 1995). Further, a study conducted over three northeastern high schools found that it was not possible to determine that heavy viewing of television causes more violence in situations adolescents would choose.

(Shanahan, 1995). People magazine (1995) quoted a student who said, "When you see a train blow up, you don't think, 'Oh, how violent'.' You think 'Hey, cool.' You don't go away and want to blow up the train yourself. People who think we're going to do that are pretty lame..." Another television study found that violence in an institutionalized context had a potential to play an important part in students' viewpoints, but it depended upon the student who interpreted the message (Tulloch, 1995). Television's portrayal of fashion styles and trends has been cited as another influence upon adolescents (Strasburger, 1993). This can have a dramatic effect on some adolescents who become consumed with how they look and neglect their studies. Since adolescents spend almost three to five hours a day viewing television, consumer research has found that it may influence their buying habits (Carruth, 1991). Many ads are written that appeal to adolescents only.

29 Poor school performance has been cited as a negative effect of heavy viewing of television (Strasburger, 1993). Students watching television do not finish homework.

Developing language skills is not fostered by heavy television watching (Spencer, 1996).

Since the television is not interactive, students who watch too much will not participate in socialization skills with others through play or conversations.

Television viewing may encourage cognitive passivity and apathy where adolescents perceive that less effort is required to learn something and what they leam really doesn't matter. The rapid pace of television may encourage short attention spans and increase impulsitity making students restless and impatient in classrooms and decrease creativity and imagination. Lower grades and lower scores on tests of academic achievement and skills may also be noted (Morgan, 1993). A study by Mee contradicts these statements by reporting that television combines objects, actions, and talk with images on the screen that can make a recognizable contribution to a child's language development. It can bring experiences from the world and connect them to language and vocabulary meaning (Choat et al, 1986). Stories, poems, and songs can motivate students by encouraging them to read, listen more effectively, and engage in an enrichment to a child's imagination. Television may have become the nation's storyteller by telling viewers more stories about people. Other researchers have argued that what has been observed is most likely an artifact of a variety of personal and social factors along with television viewing. High parental conflict, lower mental ability (IQ), decline in teenage years of television watching as teens move to more peer related social situations, are all given as factors that might influence achievement along with television (Morgan, 1993).

Heavy television viewing has impacted adolescents in many ways. Stereotyping of individuals through body types and attractiveness in programs and commercials can

30 influence adolescents to imitate personalities seen (Strasburger, 1993). There is a lack of

minority figures on television with men outnumbering women in many of the roles (Signorielli, 1993). Students'prosocial behavior can be affected by television viewing

(Strasburger, 1993). Programs such as Beverly Hills 90210 may help adolescents with interpersonal skills in dealing with one's peers. Obesity has been connected with heavy television viewing (Strasburger, 1993). This tendency towards obesity occurs because adolescents have reduced physical activity because of watching, nibbled high fat snacks, and they are encouraged to buy snacks by advertisements (Chevallier, 1992). Sex and learning about sexuality has been another suggested influence television has made upon adolescents (Strasburger, 1993). Situations are presented in a very sexual manner not only in the programs but on many commercials.

Today's adolescents are the first generation to grow up in a totally media-saturated society portraying the popular culture values of the society through television, popular music, movies, music videos, teen magazines, and young adult literature. This exposure is so great since the media is so accessible. Just as television viewing has become more accessible to adolescents, publishers have made young adult novels more accessible. Novels adolescents read used to be controlled by libraries and schools. Now, a higher percentage of original young adult paperbacks are being published, making the majority of books many adolescents choose to read on their own a part of pop culture. They can purchase these books from local retail stores or check them out from local libraries. Many books have media tie-ins. Covers are designed for impulse buying. Series books are prevalent. Television shows have been developed from series books. Many publishers have designated young adult departments to concentrate on marketing books just for this age group (Nilsen, 1993).

31 Young Adult Literature

Adolescents want to read books that contain their same point of view and mirror

today's society (Carlsen, 1980). Current popular culture trends and styles are fostered in

adolescent culture from the saturation of media they experience. To scorn pop culture as

reflected in young adult literature is to underestimate both adolescents' need for peer- group identities and the way popular culture connects to classroom studies (Witkin, 1994). Many critics consider young adult literature as part of pop culture (Nilsen, 1993).

The adolescent novel made an appearance on the literary educational scene in the

1930's. Known as "junior novels" or "teenage novels, " they were seldom taken seriously

by educators or reviewers. These junior novels had their roots in popular romances or

series books. Edward Stratemeyer was probably the most influential writer of series

novels through his publications of the Nancy Drew series. Other early junior novels were historical fiction. In 1942, Maureen Daly's Seventeenth Summer, made an impact on

adolescent scene. For the first time, a teenage novel was written from the teenager's viewpoints depicting the troubles and fiustrations of teens. In the 1960's, books for

adolescents adopted a new "realism." These novels depicted young people in ordinary

situations without censoring their language or conduct. Drugs, premarital sex, gangs,

themes of growing up, and conformity were issues that adolescents could now find in novels. (Hauck, 1984) The Outsiders (Hinton, 1967), Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (Head,

1968), The Pigman (Zindel, 1968), The Chocolate War (Cormier, 1974), are novels

frequently cited as ground breakers in this change (Shadiow, 1992). In late 1970, publishers decided to package fiction for teens in genre series that would appeal to teens' interests and reflected the increasing success publishers were finding with the young adult paperback market in retail stores. Sweet Valley High (1984) and the Fear Street series

32 (1989) are examples of this trend. In 1985, Christopher Pike created a new genre for

young adults by writing teenage thrillers, with R. L. Stine and Richie Cusick further

developing this genre. In the 1990's, author Francesca Lia Block created another direction for young adult literature. Her character Weezie depicted in several books lives in punk

reality and portrays alienated adolescents (Silvey, 1995).

Nilsen and Donelson (1993) offer several generalizations about young adult literature that make it popular with today's adolescents. First, the authors write their stories through the eyes of a young person, mostly from the ages o f eleven/twelve.

Second, parents are usually not the major concern in the young protagonist's life allowing young adults to take credit for the accomplishments or to outsmart parents in general.

Third, the stories are usually action packed, told in short scenes, and at a frantic pace - almost in a media presentation manner. Books contain an emphasis on love, romance, horror, and sex. Next, not all young adult literature books are written alike. Many are stories of trivia, sports, health, mystery, or history, and cover a wide range of genres, themes, and subjects. Ethnic and culturally diverse characters and their heritage are often included in many young adult novels. Lastly, pop culture trends as reflected in series books such as Fear Street (Stine, 1989), or The Baby-Sitters Club (Martin. 1986), make these novels popular with adolescents (Nilsen & Donelson, 1993).

Youthful protagonists who are independent in thought and are growing in their awareness of themselves, adolescent hopeful points o f view and interpretations, directness of dialogue that mirror societal points of view, and consequences that result from adolescent actions and decisions are further examples o f what young adult authors draw upon to create novels that appeal to adolescents (Mertz & England, 1983). Understanding adolescent development is again a central theme with authors of this age.

33 Robert Small found other characteristics of young adult novels after examining over a thousand books in his years as editor of the Journal of Reading and the Alan

Review. Young adult novels usually have one teenage main character who is the narrator and interprets all the events with adolescents' solutions. There is little or no adult intervention. The plot happens in a relatively short time span with all events and problems related to adolescents' lives. The setting reflects contemporary times with considerable attention to details in a teens' lives as shown in the adolescents' choices of dress, dialogue, or slang. Short sentences and limited vocabulary are usually reflective of the writers' styles. Symbolism and allegories are used sparingly (Small, 1992). Since most of the novels contain one main character and are written in the first person point of view, adolescent readers can focus on the protagonist's sense of self possibly transferring the protagonist's view to their situations.

Young adult literature can help an adolescent come to terms with many events that may happen to them. Elkind's theory of personal fable, in which the adolescent feels that what they experience is unique only to them, is reflected in young adult literature.

Reading novels with these themes can also help educators understand adolescents' reactions and thoughts (DeMinco, 1995).

Understanding of one's socioeconomic status can be portrayed in young adult novels and help adolescents understand the attitudes of others towards them. Young adult authors know this and many times portray their characters acting in terms of this socioecominc status, i.e., as found in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (1967). While the story is told through the eyes of Ponyboy, a "greaser", it is Cherry, a "Soc," who helps

Ponyboy and the adolescent readers see "that things are tough all over." Teachers can

34 help the adolescents understand that the sense o f self worth is not related strictly to socio­ economic class (Pearlman, 1995). Discovering oneself and one's identity is one of the primary challenges that many

adolescents face. In the past few years, society has witnessed the decline of the family and family values as evidenced by the climbing divorce rate. Drug abuse, gangs, depression,

child abuse, confusion over religious beliefs, personal worth, and homelessness are all real

problems that many of adolescents face in today's world. Young adult literature can help adolescents identify with feelings of others and offer solutions and ways to talk among

themselves. Maniac Magee (Spinelli, 1990) works out solutions for himself after facing

homelessness, racial tensions, and the death of a beloved caregiver. Scorpions (Myers,

1988) deals with gang involvement and the consequences of violence caused by guns.

With the very essence of adolescence as a time where students move away from parent/teacher influence, young adult literature can provide an avenue to open up discussions of sensitive topics on a mutually agreed territory - the reading of novels (Vogel & Creadick, 1993).

Multiculturalism is no longer an isolated factor with students from many ethnic backgrounds in middle school classrooms. A way to foster positive understanding among various cultural groups is reading multicultural young adult literature. Adolescents can note common cultural similarities of self-worth, identity, and situations involving friends, family, and other generations (Ericson, 1995).

Gender issues of male and femaleness can be portrayed through the use of young adult literature in the classroom. The use of these novels can provide opportunities for adolescents to leam to accept their bodies and the physical changes that occur.

Relationships among friends is another prominent issue of adolescence.

35 Adolescents may want to select young adult literature novels whose stories portray situations similar to their own. Through the reading of these novels, students may be able to identify with the characters and realize that their feelings are not just unique to themselves. The use of young adult literature, which is written about developmental concerns of adolescents and address the problems that they consider important, can be a scaffold for adolescents who are seeking to find their inner sense of self (Samuels, 1992).

Authors of adolescent literature seem to understand the tensions and emotions of the teenager and write books that address these needs (van Allen, 1992).

In the classroom, the use of young adult novels can help foster the psychological development of the adolescent and lead to a foundation for working with middle school adolescents. Central to the teaching of these novels would be a classroom that could openly discuss the issues that adolescents consider critical. The teaching of these novels suggests that educators move away from our traditional concepts of literary elements to develop a community of readers where shared experiences, perceptions, and language are in the forefront (Purves, 1984). This type of instruction would include a teaching approach that is response-based and would recognize students' individually unique responses. Since many students are at different plateaus in their adolescent development, students' responses would be as varied as the range within the class.

36 Reader Response Theories

Louise Rosenblatt proposed that a reader comes to the text as an active participant

and that the reader draws upon past experiences both in literature and life. The text will activate certain elements in the reader's past experience and present interests that become

linked to verbal symbols. The reader then creates his/her own meaning from the text, a poem. The text at the same time has elements in it that guide a reader to select, reject, or

order what is meaningful in the poem. The poem then is a coming together of reader and text, a transactional event, an ongoing process, each reacting to each other. It is a specific text, with a specific reader at a specific time and place. If any of these change, it creates a new transactional event (Rosenblatt, 1978). With each re-reading of the same text, a new poem or new transactional event, is created.

Further, a reader may move in a continuum from a process of nonaesthetic to aesthetic stances. In aesthetic reading of a text, the reader will pay attention to the associations, feelings, attitudes, and ideas that the text evokes, and what comes with them.

The reader's attention is centered on the lived-through experience as he/she reads the story developing his/her relationship with the text. Whereas, nonaesthetic reading or efferent reading is what one has learned from the text. The same text can at times be read both efferently or aesthetically. The difference is in what type of reading the reader does and what stance the reader is adopting: whether for the personal and qualitative elements in his/her response or for the information or concepts that will be left for them (Rosenblatt, 1978).

Richard Beach synthesized other researchers' theories and grouped the response theories into categories that suggested that readers respond to texts in a range of different roles. The five theoretical perspectives on response based on this synthesis are: textual.

37 experiential, social, psychological, and cultural. These perspectives provide examples of how readers create meanings from the texts that they read, and help teachers plan instruction activities (Beach, 1993).

The textual response focuses on how readers draw upon their knowledge of text or genre to respond to a specific text. Textual-oriented responses include impressions of titles, first and last sentences, patterns found in text development in order to predict outcomes, and a sense of how all elements fit together to make a whole story. The experiential perspective focuses on the ways that readers engage with the text. Readers may identify with the characters, visualize images of the setting, and relate their personal experiences to the main protagonists. A psychological perspective focuses on readers' subconscious or cognitive processes. In adolescence, readers focusing on their identity issues may connect to the main characters of texts experiencing similar situations and look for underlying messages in what they are reading in the hopes of finding clues to their own identities. Multiple interpretations to the same text can occur in a class of adolescents. A social perspective focuses on the ways that the social context and text interactions have influenced readers. Meanings from text are usually derived from the interpretive community in which readers participate and by the shared conventions valued by the group. Lastly, readers respond culturally to texts as to how they perceive their cultural roles, attitudes, values, and seek to view their role in the larger historical cultural picture found in society. Response to text may be based upon the gender or race of the reader, in connection with the cultural values and practices that the reader has assumed about the text. Cultural awareness o f differences in society are found by readers who share and compare themselves with the differences found in concepts of family background traditions, ethnic traditions, and ways of thinking (Beach, 1993).

38 Various instructional implications for teaching practice have emerged from the

reader response theories that directly impact the teaching of young adult literature. Response theorists state that teachers must focus on the transaction between readers and the texts and understand that this response may be affected by prior knowledge and

experience. The response differs with the time and place read, and with each re-reading.

(Squire, 1994) While many readers have a common response to texts, there are no two

responses that are identical. Reading response must be active, one in which readers talk

about their reactions to others. Lastly, there are age developmental differences in children

and adolescents in the ways that they respond to literature (Squire, 1994).

Continued Reading Development - Adolescent Reading and Reading Interests

Individuals become literate and learn not only from formal instruction but from what they read and write about and who they read and write with. This learning takes

place in a culture where mutual social participation is encouraged. Literacy is a social phenomenon (Smith, 1989).

For a nation to become literate, society needs to understand what readers need.

Readers need to process information from text to produce meaning. This meaning can greatly differ among people based on their prior knowledge. Readers must be able to decode words quickly and coordinate fluidity with the process of constructing meaning from the text. Skilled readers are very flexible and read according to the complexity of the text, their familiarity with the topic, and their purpose of reading. Reading is a skill that improves with practice and motivation to read is the key to learning to read (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985).

39 A "Mood of America Youth" survey in 1996 found that reading for pleasure in

general has declined from 49% to 43% among teens since 1983. Teens read books, or newspapers, or magazines for only 3 hours and 37 minutes per week. Mystery/murder,

and horror/thriller fiction are 86.3% of teen choices for reading with girls more likely to

read these while boys enjoy sports and science fiction books more (Reading Today, 1997).

Adolescents who are readers usually will develop acceptable levels of literacy.

Without a reading habit, students will not develop literacy skills needed for this next century. Free voluntary reading or reading for pleasure is one way to encourage adolescents to engage with literature and progress towards improving their literacy.

Studies have shown that reading comprehension of texts will improve as a result of pleasure or voluntary reading (Krashen, 1993). Students will find more difficult, academic-style texts easier. Vocabulary, spelling, grammar and fluency are other areas that improve with pleasure reading. Educators can encourage literacy by providing access to books through library trips and a physical print-rich comfortable environment conducive to reading, by modeling reading and by reading books aloud (Krashen, 1993).

Other factors affect how much reading adolescents do. Peer pressure can influence adolescents on their choices of books. They want to read what their friends are reading. Store owners who create attractive displays with posters and bulletin boards entice adolescents to choose books. Paperback books are preferred by many adolescents over hardback books. The promoting of light reading such as comic books or teen romance novels, which are high interest/low vocabulary reading further encourage adolescents to read (Krashen, 1993).

Educators acknowledge that students progress in reading though stages. These stages give parents and teachers a sense of where the child lies on the road to becoming an

40 avid reader. Some students skip stages, while others linger. Stages may begin with the leafing through books and magazines; to reading comics, magazines, or newspapers; to

series books; to a fourth stage of the very narrow reading of one author/genre; to branching out and reading ail of an author or series; to wider reading of more authors or

genres and becoming avid readers (Leonhardt, 1995).,

Margaret Early has developed a theory of stages through which readers progress

as they move towards literacy. The earliest stage of reading development is from the ages

of three to five where children identify letters or words. This is called the "unconscious

enjoyment of language." This stage usually lasts from the pre-school age to pre­ adolescent. From ages 10-14, children move into an egocentric interest in reading and

choose books where they want to be part of the story and want stories that are believable.

Lastly, readers move into an aesthetic interest in which they read for deeper meanings and

exert some effort to discriminate text through judgment. Early also stated that readers

must progress through these stages in order, most secondary students are at stage 2, and lastly most readers never reach stage 3 (Reed, 1994).

Nilson and Donelson (1993) trace seven steps of literary appreciation. The first, birth to kindergarten, is a stage of understanding the pleasure of printed words. The second occurring in primary grades is where students leam to decode. Losing oneself in a book is the next and happens in late elementary. Finding oneself in books is the fourth stage and occurs in junior high/middle school. Students at this stage are reading realistic fiction, contemporary novels, and wish-fulfilling stories. Their purpose is locating books that help them find themselves and their place in society. They often hide their texts behind their textbooks, stay up late at night reading, and use reading as a means of escaping social pressures. The next three stages occur from high school to college to

41 adulthood in which readers move from venturing beyond self to reading widely to

aesthetic appreciation.

Kylene Beers, a researcher and professor of young adult literature, spent many

hours interviewing middle school readers. She identified five types of readers that can be

found in middle school classrooms; avid, dormant, uncommitted, unmotivated, and

unskilled. Avid and dormant readers enjoyed reading, identified themselves as readers,

made time to read, viewed the purpose of reading as entertainment, had positive feelings about other readers, and adopted Rosenblatt's aesthetic stance for reading, but used the efferent stance when necessary. Uncommitted, unmotivated, and unskilled readers viewed

reading as functional, used Rosenblatt's efferent stance as they read, and don't make time

for reading (Beers, 1998).

Avid readers also move in stages towards appreciation of literature. Between the

third and seventh grades readers find satisfactions with being absorbed into the story.

Around seventh grade, readers vicariously live characters' lives, leam about the world

through the characters, and wish to encounter themselves in situations similar to their own

emotions and relationships. Next, readers want to read about someone who represents themselves as represented by young adult literature. Lastly, readers seek literature that

grapples with philosophical issues and appreciate the beauty of words and finds satisfaction in them (Robinson, 1998).

Most struggling readers, in contrast, start out with word learning difficulties. This

is followed by failure to succeed and can develop into self-concept issues (McCormick,

1994). Hence, many students will begin to choose not to read. The less students read, the poorer readers they become (Beers, 1998).

42 Shared reading experiences with peers and teachers can help students progress

through reading stages and help struggling readers (Holaway, 1979). Materials such as series books, pattern books, "light reading" as comics, which contain repetitive texts, can

be used with struggling readers to improve reading (Worthy, 1996). Students want to be able to choose what texts they want to read. However, some students are overwhelmed with the amount of reading books they have to choose from and seek guidance from others, their peers or adults, to narrow their choice (Beers, 1998).

While young adult literature and social opportunities for response may be readily available to adolescents, motivation plays a key role in learning. Engaged readers are readers who are motivated, knowledgeable, strategic, and socially interactive. These readers choose to read for a variety of purposes. They are able to use information from previous experiences to construct, apply, and acquire new knowledge from the texts. This new knowledge can be applied to personal, intellectual, or social contexts. Cognitive strategies to decode, interpret, and monitor are employed by these readers as they read. They are able to share and communicate with other readers the meaning of the texts (Gambrell, 1996).

The body of literature demonstrates that adolescents found in middle schools are experiencing rapid changes in social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development.

Personal identity crises while conforming to peer group demands are issues that many face daily. They want independence and freedom in choices both at home and school.

Understanding how moral reasoning and values are developed may explain why many adolescents experience conflict with peers, teachers, and parents. At the same time, adolescents are struggling with locating their place in our culture as viewed by images found in the mass media. Academically, many adolescents found in middle school

43 classrooms are at various stages of reading and reading interests. Many seek young adult literature to meet their egocentric interests, pop culture stances, and academic achievement. Responses to these literature novels can be as varied as there are adolescents in the classes.

44 CHAPTERS

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Qualitative studies are ways of finding out how people think, act, and feel in their

environment. Methods such as in-depth interviewing and survey questionnaire can explain events, beliefs, or attitudes that shape a phenomena (Marshall and Rossman, 1995). The

research questions emerged fi"om the researcher's real-world observations of adolescents'

fascination with Fear Street series: students who were avid Stine readers were invariably

honor roll students. Many students in the researcher’s middle school classes were reading one to two Stine novels a day. At the same time, newspapers and weekly book journals were reporting Stine as the top best-selling author, listing his books over other adult

authors. From a theoretical standpoint, this study focuses on readers' responses to

literature and impact upon adolescent development in their culture.

Patton (1990) stated that the use of a variety of data sources in a study can strengthen a research design. This dissertation study adopted several explanatory and descriptive methods of qualitative research. Avid readers identified by teachers or peers were interviewed to explain adolescents' interests and attractions to Stine. Focus group discussions of avid and non-avid readers met to extend interview topics and to clarify interview issues about Stine readers. The researcher analyzed specific Fear Street series novels to identify literary and textual elements that might attract adolescents. Survey

45 questionnaires documented common attitudes and beliefs among randomly selected R. L. Stine readers across an urban middle school population.

The study was conducted in several phases within the Columbus Public School District, Columbus, Ohio, a midwestera urban school district. Phase One, adolescent readers' perspectives of Fear Street novels, was conducted in three parts: guided interviews of avid Stine readers, focus discussions of small groups of avid and non-avid readers, and randomly selected whole class surveys of Stine readers. Phase Two was a textual analysis of Fear Street series for young adults. The researcher read and analyzed nineteen Fear Street novels published from August 1989 to August 1997. Visual, literary, adolescent, and pop culture elements of the novels were identified that could attract middle school readers and contribute to Stine’s popularity. Students, site selection, access to a school district, and researcher* role are discussed below. A detailed description of data collection for all phases and analysis procedures for each phase are described. Sections follow that address these other provisions in the study are: timeline, credibility, and trustworthiness.

Informants and Site Selection

Students in an urban setting reflect different backgrounds and cultures. They bring different perspectives to their school classrooms. The Columbus Public Schools' diverse population of students was a sample representation of many types of students who might be Stine readers and might also be an indication why adolescents are attracted to the writings of R.L. Stine. The study identified R. L. Stine Fear Street middle school readers from the Columbus Public School District, Columbus, Ohio, during the 1996-97 school year. The Columbus School District has 26 middle schools with a population of

46 approximately 14,000 middle school students; 62% o f these students are on free and reduced lunch; and 58% of the middle school students enrolled are minorities. The Columbus Pubhc Schools were selected since the researcher is a teacher in the school district and knows many middle school principals and teachers. Permission to conduct the study from the Ohio State Human Subjects Review Board and from the

Columbus Public School District was given to the researcher before teachers, principals, or students were contacted. Personal contacts with school personnel were made by the researcher as much as possible. After schools consented to allow the researcher to conduct the study, verbal and written permissions from students' parents or legal guardians were obtained before the researcher conducted survey questionnaires, interviews, or focus group discussions. A letter explaining the survey to teachers can be found in Appendix A. Six schools were selected to conduct avid reader interviews. The researcher chose these schools since the staffs were willing to allow students to participate In the interviews during the school day and the schools represented different geographical areas of the school district. Focus groups were conducted at the researcher's own middle school.

Three focus group discussions occurred: a language arts class of 30 students organized into seven small groups; one group of four English-as-Second Language students; and a group of three avid readers based on interview data. Principals of twenty-five middle schools randomly asked teachers to conduct the Stine survey with their homerooms or one of their classes. Packets containing letters of explanation to teachers, students, and parents were given to principals for teachers. Incentives for teachers and students were included in these packets to encourage students responses to surveys.

47 Rp«;parrhpr*.s Role

The researcher scheduled appointments with middle school principals to discuss their schools' participation in interviews and surveys. Avid reader interviews were conducted on days mutually agreed upon by principals, teachers, and the researcher.

Principals asked for teacher volunteers to conduct surveys. Incentives were provided for principals, teachers, and students. Follow-up calls and personal visits were made by the researcher to encourage responses to surveys but the researcher did not have personal contact with any survey participants.

The researcher adopted a reader's stance for the reading of the Fear Street novels. A textual foundation emerged from reading the novels and was the beginning of an explanation to the researcher of the attractions adolescents might feel towards the books. This textual foundation provided a common ground between the researcher and adolescents in discussing the stories in the Phase One interviews and focus groups.

The researcher with the Fear Street textual foundation knowledge acted as a participant in interviewing avid readers and focus group discussions. Marshall and

Rossman (1995) stated that interviewing has its weaknesses and cooperation of participants is essential. The researcher felt that without knowledge of the series novels and active participation in interviews, adolescents would be reluctant to discuss their personal opinions about Stine's popularity. Many adults and teachers had expressed concerns to the researcher about students reading this type of literature. The researcher reasoned that adolescents must had or possibly heard similar statements since the Stine phenomenon occurred. With the researcher as an active participant, effective interviewing of adolescents was established promoting a two-way flow of communication (Patton, 1990).

48 Data Collection

Phase One: Identification of Stine Readers. Stine Student Surveys. A survey was developed by the researcher to determine the

demographics of Fear Street middle school readers pertaining to their sex, grade, age at

which they started reading Stine, Stine series books read, grade point average, where

books purchased, and other authors read. Besides Stine reader demographics, this survey

would indicate other authors read by Stine readers. The researcher had overheard

statements made on television that indicated that students who read Stine books almost

always read adult horror books, i.e. books by Stephen King. Another purpose of the

survey was the identification of avid readers of Fear Street series for in-depth interviews.

A personal comments section was added to the survey to solicit anonymous responses to reading Stine. The survey questionnaire was pilot-tested with several middle school students from another suburban school district to determine whether adolescents

understood the wording of the questions.

The researcher met with middle school principals and explained the study. Principals asked teacher volunteers to conduct the surveys with their homerooms or

classes. Teacher survey packets included the following; letters to students, parental

permission slips, and incentives. Survey and permission form is located in Appendix B. Efforts were made to control for non-response of surveys. Packets for the

teachers contained surveys, letters, and permission slips double the average number of classroom students enrolled. Incentives of decorative pencils. Fear Street

49 calendars, and a current Fear Street novel were included. Phone calls and visits to the school sites were made by the researcher to encourage responses. The questionnaire was asked to be administered once and at teachers' conveniences. Avid Reader Portraits - Guided Interviews. While incentives and personal contacts were made by the researcher to control for non-response, student surveys were slow in being returned to survey teachers and to the researcher. Surveys were tallied and ranked according to the number of Fear Street novels read to identify avid readers. When the surveys were tallied, they did not indicate a significant number of avid Fear Street readers.

Attempts were made to contact the surveyed avid readers' parents to schedule home interviews but many parents and students did not want the researcher coming to their homes to conduct the in-depth interviews. Thus, the researcher requested six middle school principals' permission to permit interviews to be held at school buildings. Six schools fi"om the eighteen middle schools that participated in the surveys granted the researcher permission to interview avid readers. The principals or teachers agreed to locate quiet areas for the researcher to conduct in-depth interviews, coordinate classroom release time for students to participate, and obtain parental/guardian's permission prior to the researcher arriving on site for interviews. This was only successful in two schools. In the remaining four schools, the researcher arrived at the school, identified avid readers fi’om students' peers or teachers, and contacted parents by phone for permission to participate. Often avid readers suggested the names of other Stine avid readers during the interviews. Written legal guardian permission forms were obtained from avid readers before any interviews were transcribed and included in the study by the researcher.

50 Avid Readers were asked to fill out the Stine survey questionnaire to help describe themselves. A Fear Street novel checklist was developed by the researcher in which readers circled all Fear Street books read and ranked their five most favorite Fear Street books read and one least favorite Fear Street book read. This checklist was used to verify students status as avid readers. An avid reader was defined by the researcher as: a reader who read a majority - half or more - of the Fear Street novels. The researcher had read many articles discussing avid readers, but these articles did not define the number of books needed to achieve avid status. The researcher found the definition of avid using Webster's

Dictionary (1968). According to the dictionary, avid means "very eager, very greedy, more than half." While many students were identified by their teachers and peers as avid

Stine readers, this checklist and interview data verified that they were not avid readers by the researcher's definition.

A guided interview questionnaire was used for the in-depth interviews with questions designed from the textual foundation the researcher established in reading and analyzing the novels. The researcher wanted to establish open communication with the participants but also sought to provide uniformity of interviews through the use of this interview guide. (Patton, 1990) Other questions were written from personal observation of students in the researcher's classrooms, other authors read, reasons to read, and the best thing about Stine. Interviews lasted approximately thirty minutes. The researcher encouraged the avid readers to "speak their minds" about Stine and his Fear Street novels. All interviews were taped recorded. At the conclusion of the interview, students chose a Fear Street novel for participation. The Stine Fear Street Checklist and interview guide are located in Appendix C.

51 Focus Group discussions. Marshall and Rossman (1995) state that an individual's

attitudes and beliefs do not form in a vacuum. People often form their opinions from

listening to others. Three focus group sessions were conducted at the researcher's middle

school to understand Stine phenomena among adolescents. The first focus group was the researcher's language arts class of thirty students who self-selected into seven small groups

of three to five students to discuss comparisons of reading a Stine novel with a recently read novel by another noted young adult author by the whole class. The second focus group was four English-as-a-Second-Language students who discussed their pleasure reading of Stine. Lastly, three avid reader interviewees formed a focus group to extend their individual discussions of reading Stine novels. Groups met once with sessions video­ taped and parental/guardian permission was sought.

Focus groups discussions had a round table discussion format and covered such topics as; the educational value of Stine books, the horror genre, student insights, and individual comments about reading a Fear Street novel. A guided discussion form was drafted since the researcher anticipated shyness among group members as many students did not know each other. The guide was developed to reflect elements found in the novel textual analysis. This form is located in Appendix D.

The language arts class had recently heard on a television news program that one of Stine's novels was being considered for censorship by a school in Minnesota, and about the national controversy over this issue. The language arts class members decided to adopt the stance of being panel members who would evaluate Stine Fear Street novels for censorship. They would base their reasons by comparing Stine literature with a Newbery

Honor Novel. The class divided into small groups and each group selected the same Stine novel to read of novels that the researcher had provided. After each small group read

52 their chosen Stine novels, the students were asked to compare it with another recently read noted young adult author’s novel listing the pros and cons of Stine literature. Students generated comparison lists and each group discussed their written comparison

lists and reasons for pros and cons with the researcher.

The researcher had provided a variety of Fear Street novels to the English-as-a- Second-Language (ESL) classroom for students to pleasure-read. Many times their

classroom teacher had spoken with the researcher about lack of appropriate reading material for her students to pleasure-read. The ESL teacher found that many novels in the

school library required prior knowledge that her students did not possess or were too

difficult to read because of decoding problems. Since the Fear Street series consistently used dialogue to build plot action and many plots pertained to situations that were familiar

to adolescents, the researcher offered the Stine novels for her students to read. Four ESL female students who read different Fear Street novels met with the researcher as a group

to discuss their views of Stine novels read. While there were ESL students in the large language arts focus group class of 30 students, many times these ESL students are too shy

to speak up or express their opinions in group work. The researcher anticipated that these

ESL students would speak more freely when the group was composed of just ESL classmates. Lastly, three avid readers who participated in the in-depth interviews met to

continue discussing their thoughts on reading Stine. These students were not in the same

classes or grades. This was an opportunity for them to discuss as a group their thoughts about reading Fear Street novels. The researcher also reiterated statements made by other avid readers from initial interviews to further extend discussion of Stine reading.

53 Phase Two: Textual Analysis of Fear Street Novels

The researcher purchased approximately sixty-two Fear Street novels written between 1989 to 1997. Randomly selected novels were read by the researcher prior to gaining access to the schools in order to discuss Fear Street stories with avid readers and focus group participants. By reading the numerous Fear Street novels, the researcher could conduct a reader's discussion of the novels with avid readers. Knowledge of the plots by researcher would help to confirm that avid readers were actually readers of the Fear Street novels in discussing the various plots.

The researcher tallied the five favorite and least favorite novels from the checklists

(found in Appendix C) ranked by avid readers to determine the most popular and controversial book. The top five rankings had multiple novel titles since many novels received the same number of votes. Nineteen novels, identified by avid readers through completion of checklists in interview data as being the most popular, were analyzed according to three distinct categories established by the researcher: visual, literary, and adolescent development. The textual analysis sheet can be found in Appendix E. One novel. What Holly Heard (1996) was voted the most popular and tied with another novel as being one of the least-liked novels, making this book a controversial Fear Street book among avid readers. Because of this ranking, this novel was analyzed using the three distinct textual categories and is used as representation of novels found in Stine's series.

Three distinct categories of textual analysis emerged from the researcher's own observations of adolescent readers in language arts classes and students' self-selection of novels for pleasure reading during school library time. The visual perspective of novels reflected the many times the researcher had observed students choosing novels by looking only at the covers or at the number of pages novels contained. Other students spoke to

54 the researcher about novels that developed interesting characters or complicated plots that represented the literary element category. The last category, adolescent development, was developed since many adolescents seek young adult books about teen social situations and coming of age topics.

Data Analysis

Phase One: Stine Avid Reader Perspectives.

Avid Reader Interviews. The researcher visited six middle schools and conducted 57 avid reader interviews. Interviews were transcribed and a revised definition evolved of the term avid that was different from the researcher’s initial definition. Students who had read only one Fear Street novel identified themselves as avid readers as well as students who have read over half of the series. The researcher developed four distinct categories of Stine avid readers:

Stine Wanna-Be Avids - readers of less than 10 Fear Street novels;

Stine Beginner Avids - readers of 11-24 Fear Street novels; Stine Avids as defined by the researcher - readers of 25-49 Fear Street novels;

Stine Advanced Avids - readers of 50-89 Fear Street novels.

The above categories were established from the number of novels read and common characteristics found within the interview data. A transcribed avid interview sampling can be found in Appendix F.

Avid interviews were sorted into the four categories and coded for common themes. Many of the themes matched statements made by survey participants in their personal comments about Stine and the textual analysis themes from researcher's analysis.

55 Portraits of Stine avid readers precede tables that display themes according to grade, number of Fear Street and Goosebumps books read, age began reading, grade point average, why students read Stine, best thing about Stine, discussion o f Stine as a writer, re-reading of novels, and teen elements. Actual quotations from avid reader transcriptions were used in developing portraits and reflect common characteristics found in all interviews within a given category. Focus Group Discussions Video tapes of focus group discussions were analyzed for themes developed in textual analysis, survey personal comment data, and avid reader comments. Visual, literary, and adolescent development issues that novels contained, comments about Stine as a writer, comments about best reasons to read Stine, and students' personal comments about Stine were themes researcher located in discussion for analysis. Themes were grouped into categories and a summary paragraph was developed to reflect findings from these focus group discussions. Comparison sheet samples from the language arts class are found in Appendix G. Survey Data. Eighteen of the twenty six middle schools agreed to conduct the

Stine survey. Survey results were returned to the researcher in school mail and entered into a spreadsheet using Microsoft Word. Results were sorted and tallied. Percentages were used to display information about schools participating, race, sex, age began reading, other genres read, and where students found novels. A sampling of analysis sheets for survey students is found in Appendices H. Personal comments about Stine and his series were analyzed and grouped into major themes as expressed by the words that survey participants used in their written space. Student personal comments were grouped under these headings: Stine as the best; why students read Stine; Stine as an author; Stine as a writer, and personal messages or

56 appeals to Stine. These personal comments are summarized in the findings. Stine survey

reader comments category sheets can be found in Appendix I.

Phase Two: Textual Analysis of Fear Street Novels The researcher randomly selected a sample of Fear Street novels in preparation for

the discussions with avid readers. Many similarities among the books were noted. This

overview reading of the books helped the researcher to gain trust with the avid reader interviewees and to establish an acceptance among the avid readers for discussions about

Stine's horror stories. The researcher analyzed and charted the series history, general characteristics, and mini-series divisions among the Fear Street novels. Common trends

across the books were summarized. These included titles, school life, parental involvement, character descriptions, settings, and adolescent culture. Avid readers completed checklists listing their top five popular choices and their

least favorite novels. These lists were tallied and nineteen novels were identified as being the most popular and best liked. These novels were analyzed according to the categories

developed by the researcher; visual, literary, and adolescent development. Visual

characteristics of the novel were the covers, titles, illustrations, text leads, length of books,

series connections, number of chapters, and the horror as depicted on the covers. Literary

elements of the novels were the plot, characters, setting, grammar, point of view, foreshadowing techniques, vocabulary, style, mechanics, details and text description.

Lastly, the adolescent elements were the teen-related emotional, social, physical, and intellectual culture connections the novels depicted.

57 The researcher developed tables that displayed common characteristics across ail nineteen novels. These common characteristics from the tables will be summarized in the findings. These analysis sheets can be found in Appendix J. One novel. What Holly Heard (1996). was a controversial novel among Stine avid readers. It was the one novel mentioned the most times as the best-liked and tied with another novel as being the least-liked Fear Street novel read by avid readers. This novel was analyzed in depth according to the visual, literary, and adolescent development categories established by the researcher. It was used as a representative of Stine's writing for the novel series.

Summary The researcher summarized the findings across phases of the study by connecting common themes found in each phase. Data analysis included Stine avid readers' perspectives from the 57 avid reader interviews, 3 groups of focus discussions participants

(a total of 37 students), and 275 middle school survey participants. Textual analysis themes from the 19 Fear Street novels and the one controversial novel were analyzed as representative of Stine's series were connected to the Stine readers' perspectives.

58 Timeline The timeline for this study is outlined below. The site access, the two phases of the study (Phase One and Two) which data was gathered, data analysis, and report writing are listed under one column (Components). School permissions, Stine avid readers identifications, and textual analysis, and findings analysis are in the next column (Research

Project Activity). The last column represents the months and years in which the study was conducted. (Month/Year). The research was conducted in the Columbus Public School

District, Columbus, Ohio during the school year 1996-97.

Dissertation Research Timeline Comnonent Research Proiect Activitv Month/Year Site Access: OSU/Columbus Public Schools, Ohio June-Oct/1996

Phase One: R. L. Stine Survey Jan-Mar/1997 Avid Reader Interviews Mar-May/1997 Avid Reader Focus Groups May/1997

Phase Two: Analysis of Fear Street Novels series June-Dee/1997

Data Analysis: Texts, Survey, Interview, Focus Groups Sept -Dec/1997

Report Writing: Dissertation Drafts/Final Report Jan-June/1998

Table 3.1: Dissertation research timeline for Stacia A. Smith study

59 Credibility and Trustworthiness

This research design reflected a variety of data collection: textual analysis of

novels, surveys of readers, interviews and focus group discussions with Stine avid readers. This design was a comprehensive effort to control for researcher's bias towards pop

culture reading, reflect the opinions o f avid and non avid readers, and help to validate self-

report data from students' interviews and surveys. Throughout the study, the researcher

consulted with her program chair, an admitted non-pop culture reader. This stance helped

focus the researcher's commitment to critically view the qualitative data from texts,

surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and helped control for researcher's bias. Every effort was made by the researcher to report data in a truthful manner and to

ascertain that students' self-report data was accurate. Interviews and focus group

discussions were recorded and transcribed. The researcher scheduled interviews and focus

groups so students did not feel pressures of time restraint and mistrust in the discussion

sessions. Students were asked to verify statements made in the interviews by reaffirming

verbally their statements or completing checklists of books read. Teachers were asked to

help in verifying Stine avid reader status. The researcher read numerous Fear Street novels to confirm interviewees' avid reader status through discussions about novels

students read. The researcher summarized individual student's interview comments and

asked each student to verify whether the researcher's statements were correct before

interviews were terminated. In focus group discussions, the researcher as a participant

summarized the group consensus before moving on to another group. Teachers were asked to verify if students sent for interviews were considered avid readers.

60 The researcher consulted with a fellow teaching colleague who is also a doctoral student to audit the data findings to see whether the analysis was consistent with the researcher's findings. This inter-rater reliability rating was 87%.

61 CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS

The majority of students entering middle school are not just learning how to read, but are beginning to pursue their reading interests (Reed, 1994). Simultaneous with this reading growth, middle schoolers are entering the throes of adolescence. Worries about their bodily and hormonal changes are present. Adolescents no longer want to be just one of the family, but seek independence by establishing their own identities. Friends become more important than family. Acceptance into a peer group that constantly measures their worth by material items occupies their thoughts constantly. Adolescents' opinions are often related to their personal aspects of life (Fenwick & Smith, 1994). The reading interests of the young adolescent are usually very egocentric. Issues of growing up, romance, sports, adventures, mystery, school or parental conflicts, friendships, need for safety, friends, are topics adolescents seek in selecting novels for pleasure reading. The importance of seeing themselves as characters in the plots and themes is paramount in these choices for help in establishing identities (Reed, 1994).

Diane Donovan, former literary editor of the Chicago Tribune, stated that she did not read much until she discovered Nancy Drew. "Once I discovered Nancy and her world... 1 was in the fifth grade...I never wanted to leave...the primary appeal was that the lovely but feisty Nancy lead every adolescent girl's dream life - cool car, great dad, no mom, good

62 friends, no school, lots of money." Ms. Donovan felt that reading this series helped her

experience the transforming power of literature - an opposite opinion of many parents and

teachers who consider Nancy (and R. L. Stine) to be trash (Dorris & Buchwald, 1997). Adolescent readers' viewpoints were the focus of this study. Their expressions of

the attractions to the Fear Street series explained why the novels interested them. In coming to understand teenagers' attractions to R. L. Stine, the field needs to know who

reads these works and what they see in these novels. This chapter will present avid

readers and focus groups interviews first. The textual analysis o f the nineteen Fear Street

series novels will follow with comments about the novels made by avid readers woven

throughout this analysis. Survey results of the demographics of Stine readers found in

Columbus Public Middle Schools will be presented last. A summary of the findings across

all phases will end the chapter. In these sections, the words in quotation marks are the exact quotes of avid readers interviewed by the researcher or words from the novels.

Avid Reader Interviews Determining avid readers.

Revised Definition of Stine Avid Readers. Readers identified as avid by teachers or their peers were asked to complete a checklist of R. L. Stine novels read during the interview process. Many students were convinced that they were avid readers of Stine, but their definition of avid was not the same as the researcher’s. "Avid" as defined by the researcher was a reader who read 30 or more books in the Fear Street series. In contrast, students defined avid reader as one who read as little as 1 Fear Street novel to as high as

89 novels. The researcher had not considered that many students had read the

Goosebumps series prior to reading the Fear Street series, or the fact that Stine kept

63 publishing an additional new Fear Street novel each month. The researcher re-defined the avid reader category from the data into a continuum of four new categories by clustering

interviewees by common characteristics statements from avid readers' comments. The researcher began with the original definition o f avid at the beginning of study, those who read 30 or more Fear Street books, and then clustered interviewees with common

characteristics together. Four clusters were defined; Stine Wanna-Be Avids; Stine

Beginner Avids; Stine Avids; and Stine Advanced Avids.

The table below presents the four clusters of Stine Avid reader terms (Avid Term), number of Fear Street novels typically read to be included in this category (Fear Street

Novels Typically Read), and number of students who were clustered in that category (# of

Students). There were 57 avid reader interview students.

Stine Avid Reader Clusters N=57

Stine Avid Term # Fear Street Novels Typically Read ___ # of Students Wanna-Be I - 10 11 Beginner 11-24 21 Avid 25-49 15 Advanced 50-89 10

Table 4.1 : Avid reader clusters to typically read Fear Street novels.

The specific characteristics of each o f these clusters o f Stine avid readers is summarized in the sections that follow. For each cluster, reader portraits of avid readers are followed by tables summarizing group characteristics. These tables illustrate common characteristics of avid groups: School grade (G), number of Fear Street books (#FS)

64 read, number of Goosebumps series read (#GB), sex (S), race (R), grade point average

(GPA), age that readers began reading Stine(A), other authors read by avids (OAu),

reasons to read Stine, (Why), best thing about Stine (Best), comments about Stine as a

writer (Wtr), self-selecting to re-read Stine novels (ReR), and comments about teen pop culture (Teen). There are four Stine Portrait tables; Wanna Be Avids, Beginner Avids,

Avids, and Advanced Avids.

Many students stated they were Stine avid readers, when in reality they were not avid readers. The researcher determined this during the interview process with these students. Students were asked to verify avid status of Fear Street books read through the checklist found in Appendix C, they did not circle many novels. When their teachers and parents were consulted, they verified that many of these students were reluctant readers. One mother pleaded with the researcher to help her daughter learn to read. Since, the researcher offered a new Fear Street novel to students who completed the interview, the researcher felt that this offer could have motivated students to state they were avid Stine readers when in actuality they were not.

65 Stine Wanna-Be Avid Readers. "Covers;" and "I mean they are not about horrors, just like mystery books;" characterized Stine Wanna-Be Avids. They reported that readers could tell from the covers how scary and interesting the novels are. "I know that you can't judge a book by the cover, but sometimes I will do just that. I will look at the cover and if it looks okay, then I will start reading it." The constant suspense that the novels brought to the Wanna-Be Avids kept them reading Stine. Novels were discussed in generalities and described using terms such as; "good, interesting, boring, exciting, great." The majority of students in this category read Goosebumps prior to reading Fear

Street novels. As students read closer to 10 books in the series, they discussed the teen pop culture elements found in novels and chose to self-select novels to re-read. The students re-read the novels because they liked to feel scared or forgot what was happening in the books. "I mean, after I re-read it, after a month, you kinda forget how the books goes and what is happening in the book. You have to re-read it again but sometimes you will know some of the things that are coming up and it is not as scary as the first time."

The majority of Waima-Be Avids expressed comments about Stine as a writer and reported that the novels were written clearly and were very imaginative. The group generally exhibited understanding that reading could help them with school subjects. Most students had average to above-average grades. Wanna-Be Avids Readers began reading

Stine in middle school and read other authors' stories about adventures, spooky times, and mysteries. Most readers in this group completed reading a Fear Street novel within seven days. The table summarizes the specific characteristics of the 11 Stine Wanna-Be Avid Readers.

6 6 Stine Wanna-Be Avid Readers Characteristics N= 11

G #FS #GB S R GPAABe OAu Why Best Wtr ReR Teen 8 10 10 F B B/C 10 7 mystery more books X

7 7 15 F B D/F 11/12 folktales lots of books scariness X XX

8 7 all M W A/B 10 Richard Peck teen stuff teens X X X

7 6 5 F B B/C 10 Jesse Harris see myself horror X X X

6 5 15 F Mi A/B 8 unexpectedness suspense XX

6 5 20 M W A/B 10 Barbara Park scary stuff suspense/detail X X X

8 5 FB 12/13 covers XX

7 5 6 F B A/B Martin/Coville like them scary books

7 5 10 F W A/B 11 Betsy- Byars read more they're good XX

8 4 4 F Mi A/B 13 Koontz covers liked them X

6 I 20+ MW B/C 12 Garv Paulsen covers characters X

Table 4. 2: Stine Wanna-Be Avid group reader characteristics.

In summary, only 27% of the Stine Wanna-Be interview students were males; 63% of the students were non-white; and more than 97% of them were above average students.

Approximately 37% of Wanna-Be Avids stated they were Stine avid readers when they had not read enough Fear Street or Goosebumps series books to be considered Stine avid readers. Stine Wanna-Be Avids read a variety of other authors including mystery/horror writers, contemporary authors, and recognized young adult authors. More than 75% of these students were avid Goosebumps series readers. Almost all of the students mentioned connections between their writing and Stine's writing style. These readers read

67 Stine because: "lots of books," "mystery," "the scariness," and the "covers." The majority liked the suspense and scariness in the novels and mentioned the teen pop culture elements. Re-reading the novels was common among 50% of these students.

6 8 Stine Beginner Avid Readers. Beginner Avids read Stine because "(novels) are

like teenage stories and most kids like scary books." Many Beginner Avids reported that

they identified with the characters found in the stories. "Because people my age are just starting to read, and his books are interesting... I think he relates to kids in a way, like he knows how kids, how their minds are now. Like they like to read different things, suspense books, so I think that he relates to them, 'cause he gets into their minds, makes them think with his books." These readers felt the books were fictional books and could make life "exciting" because novels contained humor and were more descriptive about teen culture than books within the Goosebumps series. Besides the covers. Beginner Avids liked the way the stories ended. They enjoyed re-reading the novels to experience the scariness again.

Beginners read more horror/suspense authors than Wanna-Be Avids. They expressed dissatisfaction with the endings of novels, and were critical of Stine's writing claiming that the various titles ended too quickly or did not contain enough detail. How Stine ended his stories, the descriptive language to build details were writing process concerns that

Beginners had. Other Beginner Avids expressed interest in helping Stine create and participate in writing a story. Issues of censorship were mentioned, with many Beginner Avids stating that these novels were not "teaching" or instructional books for class use.

Almost all Beginner Avids had above average grades. Many began reading Fear Street prior to entering middle school. There were fewer avid readers of Goosebumps found in this group. Horror and teen culture were common themes for reading among these

Beginner Avids and this is reflected in their choices of other authors to read. Beginners finished reading novels within four days. The table below summarizes the 21 Stine

Beginner Avid Readers characterististics.

69 Stine Beginner Avids Characteristics N=21

G #FS #GB S R GPA ABe OAu Why Best Wtr ReR Teen 8 23 7 FB B/D Pike thriller horror X X X

8 23 1 F B A/B 9/10 Koontz.Suess characters details X X

8 23 2 F w A/C 12 Pike real life scariness XX X

7 22 5 F B A/B 10 Pike like teens scary books X X

8 21 lot F B B/C 10 others characters mystery X X X

7 21 36 M W A/B 9 King. Paulsen titles mysteries XX X

7 20 2 F W C/D 10 Andrews. Collins details plot ending X X X

8 20 15 F B A/B 12 Haniilton.Spinelli see myself scariness X X X

7 20 35 F A A/B 10 King. Lit Book e.\citing mystery X X

7 18 0 F W AÆ 11/12 Diane Hoh suspense scariness X X

8 17 12 F B A/B 9/10 Poe. 0 . Samuels suspense teen stories XX X

7 16 35 M A A 9 Coville. King about teens horror X X

8 15 4 F B A/B 12 LowTey.King.Tay about teens suspense XX X

7 15 3 F W A/B 11 Nancy Dreiv teens/details mystery X X X

7 13 3 F B B/C 13 None knows kids mystery X

8 13 8 M W A/B 12 Dahl horror horror X

8 13 5 F A A/B 12 PikeT)uncan. cover mystery X X

7 12 32 M W A/B 9 Hinton.Paulsen endings mystery X

8 12 27 M W B/C 10 Crichton.Appleg horror wierdness X XX

7 11 5 F W A/B 11 King mystery mystery X

8 11 2 F A A/B 10 DuncaiL Andrews covers horror X Table 4.3; Stine Beginner Avid group reader characteristics

70 In summary, only 24% of Stine Beginner Avid Readers were males; 57% were non-white; and approximately 72% were above average students. Stine Beginner Avids read many other horror/mystery writers, series books, contemporary authors, and recognized young adult authors. They read for a variety of reasons: 42% read for the teen elements in the books, while 23% read for the scariness. Almost all these readers had read Goosebumps series prior to the Fear Street series with 38% of them reading more than half of the Goosebumps series. The best reasons to read Fear Street was mystery as stated by 80% of the interviewees. Almost 80% of Stine Beginner Avids talked about

Stine's writing process. Almost all of these readers mentioned the teen elements, with 50% of them choosing to self-select the novels for re-reading.

71 Stine Avid Readers " The characters, who remind me of people I know, and

places I have been" kept Avids reading Stine. Many Avids reported that they felt they

were characters in the stories. Re-reading the novels let them re-live the characters'

experiences or find things that they did not see before so they could get a better

"comprehension" of the story. The description of the characters and the plot details made

Avids aware of Stine's writing style. Avids mentioned teen culture in discussing the books. "Just about fnendships. Like I think the reason people read them, because they can relate to them, like the fnendships, like fnends getting mad at each other over a boy, like families not getting together. Like stuff like that, I guess because it is like true, some of it, not the scary parts though." They reported making comparisons between their search for ideas on which to base their original compositions and the way that Stine seemed to effortlessly keep coming up with ideas for his stories. The development of Fear Street stories intrigued Avids and they made comparisons between their written stories and Stine's. Avids connected the writing process to Stine's development of ideas and use of descriptive language. "I thought it was cool because it was like the words they used in the action. It made you feel like you were writing the story." The horror and suspense elements these readers found in the books were discussed in relation to the endings of the stories and to the unexpected plot twists. Many Avids considered the horror humorous and reported that only a "crazy person" might imitate the horror. Avid Readers were critical of Stine's writing when plots ended too quickly, were like a Goosebumps book, or did not contain enough details.

These readers read as many Stine novels as possible. Many times they were grounded because they had stayed up late finishing a book. Avids had high grade point averages and were involved in school activities. Many carried their own Fear Street

72 checklists and mentioned sharing and discussing the novels with friends. Only a few Avids

read other horror authors. Fear Street novels were read in less than a day and only a few were Goosebumps readers. Most Avids began reading Stine in middle school.

The table below summarizes the characteristics of the 15 Stine Avid Readers.

73 Stine Avid Readers Characteristics N=15

G #FS #GB S R GPA ABe OAu Why Best Wtr ReR Teen 8 42 8 F W A/B 12 King teen teens X

8 42 0 F WB/C 12 Pike. Shakespear suspense characters X X X

8 40 3 F A A/B II CoonevvBennet suspense endings XXX

8 40 8 F W A/B 11 Keene.Byers.Coo suspense mysteries XX

7 37 37 M W A/B 9 horror ideas X X

8 36 43 M Me A/B 9 Barry.Gresh.Pike ideas covers XXX

8 33 I F B A/B 10 Pike. Cheryl horror covers XX

7 32 20 F W A/B 10 Pike suspense teens XXX

7 32 38 F B A/B 10 Tyree. Spinnelli scan ness horror X X

8 31 0 F B A/B 12 Cccney.Appleg characters horror X X

7 29 0 FB A/B 10 R.Dahl suspense horror X X X

7 28 20 FB A/B 9 King suspense endings XXX

7 27 2 F W A/C 10 Ann Martin characters words/mystery XX

8 27 0 F B A/B 11 scariness scariness X

8 25 4 F W A/B 10 King, fantasy covers.titles adventiues XX

Table 4.4; Stine Avid group readers characteristics.

74 In summary, only 13% of Stine Avid Readers were males; 53% were non-white, and approximately 94% were above average students. Over half of the students had been Goosebumps readers beside avid readers of Fear Street series. These readers read many other authors including the classics, horror, series books, and contemporary genres.

Several students in this group mentioned reading books by Stephen King. Suspense and scariness of books kept 73% of these readers reading Stine. Approximately 50% of these students chose to re-read the novels while 93% mentioned the teen elements found in the novels.

75 Stine Advanced Avid Readers. "I love how I get lost in the mood, like you feel the tension in the book. And you can pretend you are in the book, but you don't get hurt. I

mean you can just go on with your everyday life after it." Advanced avids are obsessive

about Stine's novels. They have read nearly all o f his books and anxiously await next

month's publications. They report that they identified with the characters because many

experienced the same teen situations found in the novels. One Advanced Avid elaborated

by stating: "I mean, his books can relate to how it is today. I mean, the um, gossip

throughout the schools." Many of these readers were avid readers of other authors. Common characteristics of Advanced Avids are: they had high grade point averages, they read

novels in a few hours, and they considered his Goosebumps series childish. Re-reading of

his novels was common when Advanced Avids had nothing else to read. They were fans of horror and suspense and read four or more Stine or other authors' books weekly. They re-told plots and remembered the first book that started them in the series. They traded novels with fnends to keep reading new Stine books. Advanced Avids' discussions of

Stine's writing style were linked with how Stine encourages readers to predict the outcomes in novels. Connections to teen culture were mentioned as reasons to keep reading Stine. Liking or disliking novels were based upon development of plots that made sense or offered a different writing style, i. e. time travel. Descriptive language and the use of Stine to model writing style were mentioned by Advanced Avids as reasons for classroom use. Most Advanced Avids began reading Stine at the end of elementary or beginning of middle school. The table below summarizes the 10 Stine Advanced Avid

Readers characteristics.

76 Stine Advanced Avid Readers Characteristics N=10

G #FS #GB S R GPA APf OAu Whv Best Wtr ReR Teen 7 85 0 F W A/B 9/10 Pike teen stories mystery X X X

8 72 3 F W A/B 12 McDaniel/Coon mystery mystery X X

870 5 F WA/B II Curick mystery mystery X X X

8 69 0 F B A/B 9 mysteries/fiction mystery suspense X X X

7 62 25 FWA 8 MartirLPike.King teen stories horror X X X

7 60 39 F B A/B 8 Blume teen stories horror X X

8 59 2/3 F W A/B 10 J.L.NLxon teen situations teens X X X

8 55 70 F B B/C 10 Pike.KoorLLowr scariness humor X X X

8 52 10 r W A/B 10 Pike am a character mystery X X

7 50 12 F B B/C 9 Suess. Berstein adventures mystery X X X

Table 4.5: Stine Advanced Avid group readers characteristics.

In summary, there were no male avid readers found in the Advanced Avid Reader group. Other characteristics of this group are: 40% were non white; 90% were above average students; and 30% were avid readers of Goosebumps series. These readers consistently read many books by other horror and mystery writers, and felt that the best reason to read Stine was the mystery element in the stories. All readers in this category mentioned the teen elements in the stories and 50% of them felt that was the reason to keep reading Stine books. Re-reading Stine novels was prevalent among 90% of these readers with 80% of them mentioning his writing techniques.

77 Stine Focus Group Discusssions

Focus groups were used in this study to determine what consensus small groups of

avid and non-avid readers felt about the phenomenon of Stine. There were three focus

group meetings in this study. One group was a class of thirty students who sub-divided

into seven small groups of 3 to 5 students; then, these small groups self-selected the same

Stine novel to read and compared it with another noted young adult novel the class read as

a whole group. The second focus group were three Stine Advanced Avid Readers who participated in the in-depth interviews. The last focus group were four English-As- Second-Language students (ESL) who each had read a différent Stine novel. The groups met once for approximately 30 minutes.

All three focus groups had one thing in common: students in the group had read at least one Stine novel. Consensus among these groups about the popularity of Stine was: "It captures your attention and it keeps you reading." All groups felt the novels were very suspenseful and mentioned the endings to chapters as helping to create this suspense.

Many small groups in the language arts class stated that the novels contained morals which helped adolescents leam valuable lessons. These readers stated that while the books were advertised as "being super chillers," in actuality they were not even scary.

ESL students chose the books by the covers, and scary parts found in the books. They reported that they felt the novels were not for school teaching purposes, but for home reading. In their ESL classroom, these readers had just finished reading Children of the River (1989). The ESL students stated that they knew Children of the River was better literature, but if given a choice to read that book or Stine books, they would still choose Stine novels.

78 Groups mentioned Stine's use of descriptive language and that novels could be

used to model dialogue, different ways to make sentences, and plan story outlines. Teen

culture situations were mentioned as reasons to keep reading with students stating that

they felt like characters in novels since the books had their names or things they liked to

do. Groups were critical of his works when they felt the plots were not scary enough, the

stories were unrealistic, or they could not visualize the action. Covers, titles, and stories

about teens attracted many readers to Fear Street in these groups.

Middle School Stine Readers Demographics

Survey Statistics.

Survey questionnaires were designed to provide an overview of middle school

student readers who might also be Stine avid readers. There were 275 students from 18

Columbus Public Middle Schools that participated in the Stine survey: 173 girls and 102

boys. Black and white nationalities were represented equally: 46% each; with the

remaining 8% student other nationalities (Spanish, Russian, Mexican, Mixed).

Goosebumps books were read by 80% of students while only 52% read Fear Street. The majority of students began reading Stine between the ages of 8 to 12. Reading Stine took

less than 3 days for 50% of survey students. Bookstores and discount stores are places

80% of students purchased Stine books. Stine readers read authors from other genres with survey participants documenting

many authors only once. They listed the other authors' names on Stine Reader Survey,

Question 9, found in Appendix B. Recognizable authors’ names were grouped into genres. There was no response from 75 of the survey participants. Horror and mystery were the popular choices with readers. (Only 22 students mentioned Stephen King as an

79 author read.) Contemporary best sellers followed next. Children’s authors, as Phyllis

Naylor, Spinnelli, were the next popular genre followed by romance and series books.

The table below lists the reading genres that 275 survey students read besides Stine. The kind of genre(Genre) and the percentage of the students from the 275 surveys

listing recognizable authors read are represented (% Stine Survey Students).

Genres Read by Survey Students N=275

Genre % Stine Sut no response 27% horror/mystery 18% contemporary best sellers 12% other children’s authors 11% romance 9% series books 7% realistic/adventure 5% classics 5% multicultural 3% supematiual 2% historical fiction .5% poetry .5%

Table 4.6; Young adult literature genres read by 275 survey participants.

80 Students' personal comments. Several blank lines were provided at the bottom of the survey for students to add

their own personal comments. Personal comments written by students were categorized

into several distinct patterns and followed themes that avid readers discussed in

interviews. Five distinct themes emerged from these comments from 75% of all survey participants. These themes were: appeals made to Stine personally, Stine as a writer comments, Stine as an author comments, reasons students did not like Stine, and reasons

to read Stine. Approximately 9% of the participants listed several reasons why they did

not care for Stine books. Comments can be found in Appendix I.

Survey students made appeals to Stine personally. Some thanked him for the books and the excitement it brought to them. Another student asked him to send books.

Many pleaded with him to keep writing books. Others voiced how much they loved his

books, and felt that his books were very entertaining. Comments about Stine as a writer was a recurring theme among 25% of survey participants when students mentioned the word “write.” His creativity, descriptive

language, talent, and imagination were mentioned often. Many students in this category

thought he was a “genius” and “best at writing from a 12 year old viewpoint.”

Stine as author comments were mentioned by 20% of participants. Reading him was classified as ftin by many. Students prefaced their comments about him as an author

with many adjectives: “good, fast, great, best, second-best, very good, terrific, intelligent, original, or most extravagant.”

Approximately 45% of survey participants gave reasons to read Stine. The best reason to read was the mystery and suspense the books contained. Other reasons to read

81 were; entertainment, and endings that are “good page turners.” These students mentioned the endings and twist and turns of the plot as major reasons to keep reading.

"T don't read his stories any more" were several students comments about Stine. "Childish, " weird," "just okay," were listed by some of these 9% survey students who listed reasons not to like Stine books. Other students felt that his stories were all alike, plot too short, and were more interesting when they were 10 or 11.

82 Textual Elements of Fear Street^Qoks Prior to conducting interviews, the researcher had purchased and read randomly selected novels in order to intellectually discuss the novels with the adolescent readers. During the avid in-depth interviews, avid readers were asked to complete a checklist of books read and to list their choice for the five most popular novels and the one controversial novel. The researcher reviewed these lists to rank the novels according to avid readers' top five favorites and one controversial, then read and analyzed the novels.

General Description.

Mr. Stine has written over 100 books in the Fear Street series including his 18 horror books (which do not contain the words Fear Street over the titles). A new book is published each month with the copyright date listing month and year of publication.

Covers are visually attractive with titles consisting of one to three words connected to teen pop culture issues. The books contain advertisements for next month's novel and books from other authors. A plot summary is found on the back cover of each novel.

Short cliche lead sentences are found above titles to entice readers.

The series began in 1989 when Mr Stine decided to center the plot action around a street (Fear Street) rather than a central character. (Arthur, 1997) Fear Street is a street on the wrong side of a fictional town called Shadyside. The plot centers around main protagonists who attend Shadyside High, and live on or move to Fear Street. While Stine lists the population as under 15,000, Shadyside has many businesses to offer residents: mall, hospital, pizza palour, mill, Chevy dealership, apartments, Seven-Eleven, department stores, schools, and cafe. The town has woods, a run-down mansion, lake, river, and an island.

83 Novels are sub-divided into mini-series within the whole series. Mini-series plots are about cheerleading, amusement parks, historical ancestors, vacations, luxury cars, and college dormitories. The table lists an overview of whole series as of January, 1998. The designated columns are: the mini-series name (Title), how stories and plot actions are connected to each other (Mini-Series Storyline Connections), and the number of books in each mini series (Number).

Fear Street Novel Series Overview

Mini-Series Title Mini-Series Storyline Connections ___ Number Fear Street(FS) Teens living on Fear Street 48 FS Super Chiller Scarier vacation happenings to FS teens II FS Cheerleaders Shadyside High cheerleaders adventures 3 FS Saga History of Fiers, founders of Fear Street 3 FS Sagas Fiers'/Fears' ancestors stories 7 Cataluna Chronicles Luxury car tales 3 Fear Park Amusement park tales located on Fear Street 3 Fear Hall College dorm named for a Fear ancestor 2 99 Fear Street Haunted house located on Fear Street 3 Ghosts of FS FS Stories for younger readers 24 Thriller Young adult scary novels 18

Table 4.7: Fear Street mini-Series novel sets.

Characters are described in teen pop culture language. For example, Mark from Missing (1990) is: "just a straight forward guy...like a jock with those broad shoulders, big neck, blond wavy hair, and cute dimple in his chin." Other protagonists are compared to current movie actors. Parents are stereotyped as having high expectations or being from

84 "another planet" with minimal interactions with the teen characters. Many novels contain references to the death or divorce of parents. Stine conveys a sense of the importance of school subjects by having main characters meet deadlines for reports. He provides many instances where protagonists procrastinate on finishing school work. Many novels contain references to classical literature and other authors. Novels are immersed in teen culture. Main characters utter classic pop sayings, watch television, see first-run movies, and listen to music. Fear Street readers find detailed descriptions of teen ensembles, fast food items, games, sports, cars, magazines. Worrying about weight, school assignments, fiiends, jobs, privacy, smoking, sibling rivalry, dating issues, are subjects that are interwoven into character dialogues. Many characters have responsibility for pets.

Top Nineteen Most Popular Novels.

Avid readers completed checklists of books read listing their top five favorite and one least favorite, located in Appendix C. These checklists were used to verify the researcher’s definition of avid status; and were an attempt to locate any one significant book that might attract readers of Stine. Checklists were tallied. All novels were mentioned at least once except: The Overnight (1989). First Date (1992), The Dark

SecEet(1995), The Deadly Fire(1995). The Snowman (1992), I Saw You That Night ( 1994), What Happened to Ernie ( 1994), Forbidden Secret ( 1996), and The Hidden Fear

(1997). What Holly Heard (1996) was ranked as the most controversial novel since it was top favorite book and tied with Missing (1990), as the least favorite choice for avid readers.

85 The table lists the top five places (Place), titles found in each place (Novel Titles),

and the number of votes avid readers listed fi"om their checklists (Avid Listings).

Avid Readers' Fear Street Popular Novels

Place ______Novel-Titles______Avid Listings First What Holly Heard 12 Second Goodnight Kiss 2 9 Third Switched, The Baby-sitter, The Boy Next Door, New Year’s Party 7 Fourth One Evil Summer, The Stepsister, The Betrayal, Goodnight Kiss 6 Fifth Ski Weekend, Prom Queen, The Dare, Lights Out, The Burning, Sunburn, Double Date, Cheerleaders, Halloween Night 5

Table. 4.8; Most popular Fear Street novels ranked by 57 avid readers.

These novels contained a wide range of story plots from contemporary situations to vampires to historical ancestry of Shadyside and teen culture problems. Mini-series involving Super Thrillers, Cheerleaders, and Sagas were represented. One book had a plot that involved two girls switching identities. Babysitting, gossip, dating, daring people, cheerleading, dances, parties, and vacations, group outings were topics of remaining novels. Visual characteristics of top nineteen novels. Avid readers stated that the covers made them want to read the novels. Many covers depicted something horrifying happening, thus the researcher included horror in this category. For example. The Prom Queen n 992), a fifth place favorite, depicts a girl looking into the mirror only to see her face reflected back as a skull. The detailed visual analysis can be located in Appendix J.

All covers were bright and attractive with main protagonists on the front. Each cover contained a cliche textual lead: i.e., "They were flirting...with death, " from The

86 Boy Next Door ( 1996). Covers helped many avid readers visualize the story as many readers stated. Books ranged from 145 to 216 pages. Chapters were I to 3 pages long and there were as few as 20 chapters in one book to the largest containing 38 chapters. Each chapter ended with 2/3 of the page blank with the next chapter beginning in the middle of page. Avid readers constantly referred to Stine's books as being "page turners." The researcher felt this lack of text at the beginning and end of chapters helped to create a feeling of tension or suspense in the readers' minds. Dialogue and quotation marks are prevalent throughout the novels.

The horror in the novels ranged from ant bites to dead dogs to supernatural killers to witchcraft trials to dead friends. No graphic descriptions of the horror found in the books are presented to readers. Many "fake" accidents or murders happened in the novels where characters played a prank and acted as if they were dead, hurt, or injured, . Avid readers felt these situations were humorous and kept them entertained. Literary elements of the top nineteen popular novels. Readers of all ages chose novels because they identify with the characters in the stories, like the action found in plots, enjoy author's style of writing and point of view; hence, the literary elements found in text. Avid readers included statements about literary elements in their interview discussions. A detailed table is located in Appendix J.

Consistently, novels contained one main protagonist who constantly interacted with two friends who had opposite personality types and were at odds with each other.

Protagonists were described in pop culture terms and stories developed around situations in which the protagonists and fnends found themselves. Avid readers found these characters "interesting and exciting."

87 First-and-third person points of view could be found throughout all the books. The reader experienced the story through the main protagonist's mind with no indication

of how other characters were thinking. Predicting questions were posed through the main

protagonist's voice at the end of many chapters within novels. These questions often

occurred when a crisis or mini-climax was imminent. "It keeps you predicting," was stated

by one avid reader. The plots were teen-centered situations that occurred at school or home; gossiping, dating, boyfriends, school sports, parties, cheerleading, and babysitting. Some

plots centered around vampires or body switching, but avid readers found humor and entertainment in these situations. Many avid readers complained that "books ended too quickly" when discussing their least favorite titles. The twists and turns of the plot and the surprise endings were mentioned by nearly all avid readers interviewed. "I sometimes feel disappointed it ended too fast" was a negative complaint from avid readers. Descriptive language is used throughout the novels. Characters and situations are described in teen pop culture terms. Verbs, such as, "yelled, nudged, shouted, tilted, tugged, trembled, cautioned, jammed, knocked, demanded, declared, flung," are used throughout books to convey to teens how dramatic situations were. Avid readers stated novels were very detailed with understandable language.

While the series is based upon a street, the setting description was minimal compared to characters description and interactions. Moving to or living on Fear Street usually began the stories.

88 Adolescent Elements in the Avid Readers Top Nineteen Favorites. Stine avid readers stated that the novels were "like real life" and made comparisons to "mature reading" in which you have "to understand what he said and the details, he makes you feel like you are in the the book and gives you experiences that could happen, like a synopsis." A more detailed analysis table can be found in Appendix J.

The novels delved into adolescent feelings of emotional change and insecurities by having characters act shy, confident, happy, sad, or similar emotions. Almost all characters sought acceptance by their peers and plot situations focused on gaining this acceptance. The stories progressed through the development of social interactions between the protagonists and fnends. "You get really into the book. I am the person who they are describing, and stuff, and it is actually happening to me, just like the main person in the story," stated an avid reader of 50 plus novels. Gossip, revenge, rejection, friendships, dating, popularity, mood swings are all subjects of adolescent concerns that are interwoven into stories. Almost every book contained reference to a physical sport and the physical demands upon a character for participation in that sport. Readers were made aware that protagonists must maintain their intellectual development by characters who have school assignment deadlines or educational challenges to meet.

Avid readers stated that they "could really get into the book and I could picture myself in it." Another avid reader felt Mr. Stine relates to kids since, "he relates to being a teenager, like he knows kids, how their minds are now."

89 What Holly Heard (1996) In-depth Analysis. Avid readers listed this novel as controversial. The novel analysis is presented here as representative of novels that avid readers read. Woven into the analysis are comments avid readers made about reading

Stine. The cover illustration has three teenagers gathered at a locker: a boy and girl with locked eyes, and another girl looking over the boy’s shoulder with an expression of alarm on her face, mouth opened in an “O” position, hand held near her mouth. The sentence teaser: “It was too shocking to tell. . .” The back cover synopsis of the books contains a condensed picture with the question: “So you want to hear a secret.” The book is approximately 145 pages in 29 chapters, and was published in January, 1996.

Characters are described in teen culture language: permed hair, skin tight dresses, trademark scarves, double-pierced ear. Partying, reading Catcher in the Rye (1951), attending basketball games, having jobs, and caring for pets are activities main characters do. Three female teen main characters interact with each other to develop plot action. Gossiping about people is the theme and the reader surmises it can be dangerous, and lead to many problems, even death. Avid readers remarked about this element of gossiping that can be found in their schools. The plot is summarized:

Miriam, our protagonist is friends with Holly, who loves to

gossip: and Ruth, a shyer personality. Holly likes a boy who is

dating someone else. Miriam is having problems with her boyfriend,

Jed, who has violent outbursts. Ruth feels sorry for Holly’s boyfriend.

Holly overhears a classmate planning to “kill" her mother. She has

also volimteered to find out what is wrong with Miriam’s boyfriend.

Soon, the mother and Holly are dead leading Miriam to suspect Jed.

90 Miriam confides this to Ruth only to discover that she is the killer.

Enter Jed to save Miriam and confess he has been taking steroids.

Miriam forgives Jed when he admits that taking steroids is dangerous.

The story action revolves around Miriam and is told through Miriam’s perspective.

Dialogue is used to develop Miriam’s interactions with Holly, Jed, Ruth, and other classmates. Teen cliché sentences are present throughout the story with descriptive verbs and adjectives prevalent: “gaping, smacked, thunderbolts, skintight, reeking, blushed, brightest, screeching, dog-eared, buzzer-beating.” Pop culture items or activities that teens might identify with are: double-pieced ear, lots of attitude, ripped jeans, shaggy hair, worn leather bomber jacket, skintight black dress, hooded sweatshirts, toilet-papered house, make-up, weight lifting.

Predicting what happens next occurs when readers experience Miriam's ups and downs as she interacts with other characters: her doubts over her feelings for her boyfnend; conflicts in her girlfriend relationships: and emotional misgivings over gossip.

Through Jed’s character, readers can understand the rigors of playing team basketball and the consequences of taking steroids. Since Catcher in the Rye (1951) is mentioned in a chapter, readers can infer that characters are assigned this book for a school assignment.

91 Summary While the researcher conducted this study in phases, themes across data connected avid readers interviews to focus group data to novels' textual analysis to survey data. Avid readers, focus groups, and survey participants mentioned the mystery and suspense found in the novels as major attractions to the writings of Stine. Readers also identified with teen culture situations and pop culture styles as maintaining their interests in Fear Street novels. Many avid readers and focus groups identified plot situations in re­ tellings that happened in their middle schools. Awareness of Stine’s writing techniques, use of descriptive language, plot actions that encourage predicting text, were identified by avid readers, focus groups, and survey participants and linked their thoughts to the novels’ textual analysis. The majority of avid readers self-selected to re-read texts stating they liked experiencing scariness and re-living adolescent plot actions again which the novels contain.

92 CHAPTERS

DISCUSSION

The purpose of this study was to document the interests and attractions that adolescent middle school students reported to the writings of R. L. Stine who read his

Fear Street novels series. Adolescent viewpoints were the focus of this study. Research findings were gathered through avid reader interviews, avid and non-avid small group discussions, survey questionnaires, and textual analysis of twenty novels that avid readers checked as being the most/least popular. The discussion is organized into sections including the following: summary of the findings; discussion of the findings in relation to existing literature on adolescent psychology, pop culture, young adult literature, reading and reader response theories; and implications for educators and pleasure reading. The chapter concludes with directions for further research, limitations of study, and a conclusion statement.

93 Summary-gf Findings The majority of middle school readers interviewed reported that they continually read and re-read Stine books and became avid readers for two major reasons: the mystery/suspense and teen elements that the books contained. As readers moved up the continuum towards becoming avid Stine readers by reading and re-reading more and more books in the series, they began to read through the eyes of a writer. Some readers stated they were avid when in reality they were not avid readers of Stine Fear Street series books.

Almost all avid readers, focus group, and survey participants reported that their initial attraction to Fear Street novels was the mystery and suspense that the novels contained. This element made them want to keep reading and reading and re-reading. In talking about suspense, Stine readers talked about the unexpected endings and the unexpected twists and turns of the plots that kept readers in suspense while trying to solve the mysteries. Many readers criticized Stine's works if the books did not live up to their expectations of suspense or if the books ended too quickly. Stine readers did not elaborate on any details of the horror (i.e.,deaths or gory details) described in the books during these discussions.

After the mystery/suspense elements, the characters, teen situations like gossip found in the schools, the dress styles, and the details of teen life kept many avid readers reading. Stine readers reported picturing themselves as characters in the novels and identifying with experiences that the main protagonists had. Characters with the same name as the reader, similar school and home events found in novels, and detailed explanations of events and "stuff," made avid readers relate the events in the novels to personal experiences. Many readers reported that the novels' teen situations of

94 fnendships, family, and school life could happen, but found the horror depicted as humorous. Others felt that the if the horror happened, it was because the "world has crazy people." As readers continued to read and re-read more and more of Stine's series novels, they talked about Stine's writing style and process. Many readers talked about Stine's ability to keep novels original with the many different ideas for plots. They connected their search for creative writing ideas for compositions and the amount of time it took for them to find ideas to Stine's numerous titles. For many avid readers, it appeared to them that Stine did not have to search as they did for creative ideas. Other readers expressed that Stine's writing was "really good" because it made "sense." Readers talked about the descriptive language Stine used to build plot events, unusual ways to write a story (i.e., time travel), and detailed characterization. Not enough details or stories that sounded

"phony" made many readers critical of novels in the series.

Some students in this study did tire of Stine's Fear Street series and began reading other more challenging authors, but they consequently re-read and re-read Stine when they were "bored" or had "no other books to read." Many students had read the same novel as many as four times. Students stated that they found elements in the novels that they had not remembered or forgotten the details.

The textual analysis of the books located many instances where statements made by avid readers and non-avid readers connected the novels' text to their explanations.

Re-reading the novels was common among adolescents as they moved up the continuum to becoming avid series readers. They reported that novels were read again because they missed too many details in the first or more readings, couldn't remember the story, or that they wished to experience the feelings of "scariness" again.

95 Fear Street novels contain many references to teen pop culture items as depicted in

the media. Characters are described in pop culture terms or compared to current media

stars. Many situations are happenings that teens experience with school, friends, or

family. Like television, most novel stories move toward a climax at a rapid pace. While

most novels in the series have different protagonists and a self-contained plot that is not

continued in the next book, they do have the same basic elements: teens attending a high

school, situations involving best friends who are at odds with each other, boy-girl situations, friendships, misunderstandings of teen life by parents and teachers, social interactions, and socio-economic status situations. Readers mentioned that there were

"lots of books" to read, and this made the researcher compare the availability of novels to adolescents watching their favorite television sitcom: each new novel brought a new plot but the same elements; as each week brings a new episode in a syndicated sitcom show.

Fear Street novels build suspense by leading readers to believe that who they thought did "it" didn't, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock movies or Perry Mason television shows. In discussing the books, avid readers talked about the unexpected endings to plots, the feeling of "scariness" rather than the actual gory details of horror mentioned.

At the end of many chapters in the series books, Stine asked questions of adolescent readers that encouraged them to guess what event/horror would happen next.

When a prediction question was asked, the rest of the page was blank with the next chapter beginning in the middle of the next page. Many avid readers mentioned that Stine built their suspense or excitement when they experienced the "thrill" of figuring out the answers and that many books were "page turners." Asking predication questions and leaving pages blank where readers have to interact with the text and physically turn pages

96 to confirm their predictions helped build the feelings of suspense and "scariness" in readers

and added pleasure to their reading. Adolescent Fear Street readers in this study represented a varied ethnic

background. There were more girls than boys reading Stine's series. With the exception of

a few students, most Stine readers reported better than average grade point averages. The majority of students began reading Fear Street books in late elementary or early middle

school and many students were avid readers of Stine's Goosebumps series. Mystery or horror books were their favorite choices for pleasure reading, but they read many authors

from other genres. Only 11% of survey participants and 14% of the avid readers

mentioned reading Stephen King.

Survey participants mentioned that they liked reading Stine books because of the

mystery found in the texts and the plots had good endings. They reported that Stine was a good writer because he used language that was descriptive and had imagination. Many

students felt his books were "fun" and they brought "excitement" to their lives.

Discussion

Adolescent psychology, pop culture theories, young adult literature, reading and

Reader Response theories are pertinent to the findings of this study. Adolescent psychology.

As adolescents mature, they are seeking their self-identity (Cobb, 1995).

Adolescent readers reported that the Fear Street novels held attractions to them because they could see themselves in the novels - their adolescent development. Peer interactions and social teen situations were mentioned by readers as reasons to keep reading Stine.

Adolescents may construct Elkind's imaginary audiences that they feel are constantly

97 judging them; or they may experience Erikson's stages of inner growth where they search

for possible answers to their identity by seeking trust, purpose, choices and evaluations of

these choices (Cobb, 1995). Fear Street novels depicted teen coming-of-age situations that reflected these adolescent developmental concerns: questions of what to do in

situations of right and wrong, friendships, physical demands made upon bodies to participate in sports, and whether school pursuits have dominance over activities involving peers. By reading this series, many adolescents were focusing on finding answers to their concerns of inner growth and feelings that others were judging them.

Adolescents may focus on Kohlberg's moral theories of self-satisfaction and pleasing others as they try to learn how to respect authority. Intellectually, they are moving from concrete thought to more abstract thought, while trying to accept the biological changes in their bodies and coming to terms with peer relationships (Cobb,

1995). Misunderstandings of teen protagonists as viewed through parental eyes was common in many of the books. When adolescent readers reported their reasons to keep reading the novels, they talked about their own egocentric habits and their personal connections to situations in the novels. The novels made them think about situations similar to their own - these adolescent development issues. Since many adults do not approve of Stine novels, many middle school students may have chosen these novels to rebel against adults' authority over adolescent choices. Several students did remark that their parents or church members were not pleased that they were reading these books; but were able to justify their reading Stine to these adults. Many adolescent readers felt they were avid readers of Stine even when they had read only a few books in the series.

98 Eq-P Culture. Students today are a media-centered society (Davis, 1993). This media reflects the values, myths, trends, and styles of our society - the pop culture issues. Many avid readers reported that they chose Stine books from their initial response to the series' covers that depicted teen situations and showed teens in current pop culture lifestyle dress and peer interactions. Hence, they sought literature that represented their pop culture as viewed through media saturated adolescent eyes.

Adolescents spend more than 71 minutes per day watching television than they do reading a book. Many students leam how to dress and act from watching television programs (Strasburger, 1993; Mediascope, 3/15/98). The series contained many written references to current pop stars, forms of dress, food, and ways of American life. Avid readers reported that the books had "lots of details" and were "well written" so they "understood" them better, hence elements found in their own pop culture lives and viewed on television or video programs.

Television is a fast moving medium that brings pop culture and society's images from afar and presents them to viewers at a rapid pace (Morgan, 1993). Stine avid readers stated that Fear Street books kept their attention because of the fast-paced action in the stories much like the images from a television program. Many students chose to re­ read the novels because they read them too fast the first time, books ended too quickly, or wanted to enjoy the suspenseful plot action again; much like students who rent pop culture videos of movies they have already seen in theaters.

99 Young Adult Literature. Literature for adolescents reflects their viewpoints, have happy endings, are usually action packed, reflect pop culture trends, and contain little parental involvement (Nilsen & Donelson, 1993). Many books for this age contain contemporary settings with plots that

have a short time span and reflect problems related to adolescents' lives (Small, 1992).

While Fear Street novels are classified as horror fiction there is relatively little

horror found in the novels, and avid readers reported that they considered Stine as reading young adult literature. Avid readers rarely mentioned the actual horror when describing the novels but talked about the protagonists' situations of interactions with other characters, social happenings, or the trends or styles and how it related to their life styles, relating the novels to literature written for young adults. Endings to books were optimistic as many novels for young adult literature are. Yet, readers found the stories realistic to situations that could happen to teens. Many reasons that avid readers selected these novels was that they reported that it addressed their concerns which is at the very essence of young adult literature. Readers and Reader Response Theories

When readers read, they respond to texts in two ways; aesthetically, for the eiqoyment, or efferently, for the knowledge learned from the text. Each time readers read, a new transactional event or new meaning occur because readers bring their past and present experiences to a specific text at a specific time (Rosenblatt, 1978). Or they may respond to the social, psychological, cultural, textual, or experiential elements found in the texts (Beach, 1993). Avid readers in this study were motivated to read and re-read the

Fear Street novels from the personal responses or aesthetic responses they received while reading the novels. This pleasure reading of novels fostered other connections in readers

100 as Beach's synthesis of theories of response suggested. Experiential elements in the novels fostered personal connections to the happenings of the protagonists. The teen

social interactions of protagonists reflected adolescents' situations. The pop culture character descriptions could be found in many of adolescents' personal teen lifestyles. The

emotions that protagonists experienced as they interacted in teen situations mirrored

adolescents' own psychological concerns. Avid readers became aware of the textual elements of how plots are written in the development o f the mystery genre as they read

more and more books. Some avid readers read the books both aesthetically and efferently as they began to compare their own writing processes with Stine's development of plots. Readers also read books aesthetically and then re-read them to re-experience the

happenings in the book finding new details or re-living the plot, hence allowing for a new

transactional event to occur each time they re-read books.

Educators acknowledge that students progress in reading through stages. As students leave elementary school they no longer are learning how to read, but are developing their reading interests (Leonhardt, 1995; Nilsen & Donelson, 1993; Reed,

1994). Once avid readers reported that they liked the novels, they began to progress through the various reading stages and chose to continue reading and re-reading Stine. Some avid readers were progressing to other literary appreciation stages as they became avid readers of other authors, including the classics.

Motivation to read is important (Gambrell, 1996). The suspense and mystery found in the novels' texts provided most avid readers the initial motivation to want to read Fear Street novels. Trying to solve the mysteries was a constant and motivating factor that almost all avids mentioned in discussing the series. Peer pressure, pop culture interests, paperback books, advertisements, promotion o f light reading are all factors that

101 might affect adolescents' choices of reading (Krashen, 1993). After their initial motivation

to read, many avid readers kept reading the novels because of these choice factors. They

mentioned the many boy-girl/girl-girl situations in talking about the series, and how easily

it was to understand the characters who were described using pop culture terms or icons.

The media attention paid to Stine helped promote reading to many adolescents as they

purchased his books in supermarkets or retail stores.

Implications for Educators and Pleasure Reading

Teachers of middle school students must remember that adolescents are in a series of transitions: socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. They are searching for

their identity, moral stances, and peer social status. They are trying to understand their biological changes while focusing on their intellectual development. Egocentricity is at the

center of adolescents' thoughts and many times their perspectives reflect this egocentricity.

For the public and educators, the signal that students have entered adolescence is when

students enter middle school which is usually segregated from the elementary school. This

emergence into adolescence may not necessarily be true for all middle school students. In reality, many times adults do not recognize that while students are in middle school, many

have not reached this adolescent plateau in development and are still struggling with issues

concerning their identity. Many are actively seeking answers or trying to come to terms with these acknowledged developmental issues. In defiance of adult advice, they will seek support from other sources, i.e., the media - mostly television, or easily read series books that represent society's values and are written with a media-like fast paced action plot.

Learning how to read is usually delegated to the elementary teacher. However, while students may know the "how" to read, many leave elementary school who are just

102 developing their interests in reading. They have not read extensively nor have identified

their interests in choices of genres. Television or outside demands occupy their time after school. Others consider reading as a subject to be learned, and not for entertainment or

pleasure. Reading is work for many readers because: their reading level is below

educational expectation for their age; their interests are not the same as the teachers;

many novel stories require prior background knowledge to understand the plots' major events; and their priorities do not include reading for pleasure. An easily read novel series can help these students re-connect to the joy of reading while at the same time fostering reading growth and interests in other reading pursuits. Many Fear Street novels could be used to develop units in other areas. For example. The Fear Street Saga series is set in seventeenth century and could be used as a basis for a study of historical times. A few students in this study stated that they were avid Stine readers when they were not. These same students were considered to be reluctant readers by their teachers and parents, and one student was in an at-risk pull out reading program. Yet, they stated to the researcher they were Stine avid readers. Fear Street novels could be used as instructional resources with these students and other reluctant readers to entice them back to reading.

Students of today are a media saturated society. Television programs, video games, and computers vie for students' attention after school. Statistics state that children are reading less for pleasure each day. Teachers need to realize that to become life-long readers, readers must experience motivation to read books that interest them. Reading the varied books in the series helped readers advance through stages of literary appreciation. Readers in this study sought out the Fear Street series because they loved the mystery that the books contained. This mystery genre contained unexpected happenings and readers kept reading because they expected the books to keep them on the edge of suspense with

103 unexpected answers to the plots. The books were fast-paced, and with these unexpected

elements, it kept them entertained much like a television program. Once they were

"hooked," they kept reading. The more series novels they read, the more they began to

look at the character development, descriptive language, writing style, and other areas of

literary elements critically.

The avid readers in this study chose to read Stine novels because they were attracted to the pop culture elements of their lifestyles that the novels portrayed. This attraction was fostered by the books, particularly the visual covers. Many avid readers stated they looked at the covers as they read the books. The books linked television and movie images that many adolescents watched each day and helped them in affirming their own adolescent identity. Many readers remarked how alike the situations were to ones that they had experienced in school or home. They stated that the books were "well described" because avid readers could rely upon their personal background experiences with society's pop culture trends and styles described in the books and portrayed on the covers to provide the prior knowledge needed to enjoy the novels. Educators need to recognized and acknowledge the visual attractions that evoke responses from adolescents, as looking at the books' covers helped many adolescents understand elements in the series.

As avid readers read more Stine, they began to read as writers, and began to critically look at the novels. As many avid readers re-read the same novels, they stepped back from the texts and considered the processes that Stine used to develop plots. They talked about comparing their search for ideas with Stine's seemingly effortless way he wrote, producing a new series novel each month. Descriptive language, the mystery style of writing, and detailed characterization was viewed by advanced avids as ways in which they could improve their own writing. The students' self-selective encouragement of

104 becoming an advanced avid reader of a pop culture series by reading and re-reading novels

helped adolescents in this study connect the reading process with the writing process.

This re-reading of texts needs to be considered in middle school classrooms as each re­ reading will bring a new transactional event in the eyes of readers where they awaken new responses within their personal meanings from texts they have enjoyed previously.

Students expressed criticism of Stine's writing as they began to read as writers.

His endings to stories, lack of complete details in some situations, stories that ended too were comments made by made avid readers. These students were beginning to examine

Stine's writing through the eyes of literary critics as they made comparisons among the novels and explained why they liked or disliked a certain title. Further, they then began to compare their writing to Stine's style. Many expressed that Stine helped them to better their compositions by modeling his: for example, use of quotation marks and unexpected endings. Students read and re-read Stine's books to become avid readers, and then placed themselves as literary critics of his books by judging the merits of each title read.

Teachers who allow students to read and re-read novels by a specific author are encouraging students to become involved in a literary analysis of that author. Comparing the likes and dislikes of an author's works, encourages them to become literary critics of that author and can foster discussions of analysis, even if the novels are Fear Street ones.

Many middle school teachers ask their students to employ the efferent (comprehension only) stance in reading the teachers' choices for literature selections.

They ask students to read texts to write detailed answers or to discuss comprehension questions of who, what, where, when, or why. Many teachers employ this stance not only when they read from literature anthologies but when they ask students to read novels for classroom study. This classroom novel study is in the guise of pleasure reading and is

105 suppose to help students leam to appreciate literature and then seek other novels or authors found in the same genre. This stance does not encourage voluntary or pleasure reading. If students are not allowed to choose their own novels to read with adult

sanctions, then the development of reading interests is not fostered. This development is

essential in motivating students to read and in developing a literate nation and life-long

readers. Readers need to experience a variety of genres to understand which ones they

enjoy, and not view reading as comprehension only. Most avid readers in this study were above-average honor roll students. They read other authors, yet still enjoyed reading and re-reading their Stine books. Many stated that they knew that these novels were not

"teaching novels." The question to the field is: what makes a teaching novel different from a novel read for enjoyment? Is it the one that teachers use in classes to analyze elements versus the one that students choose on their own for pleasure? In many students' viewpoints, classroom novels that were not their choices and were read efferently, were viewed as novels to "leam." Students who have this viewpoint will not seek other novels by the same author or in the same genre since they do not view reading as a pleasurable experience.

Since adolescent issues are foremost on many students' minds during the middle school years, their choices in literature would reflect these adolescent developmental issues. In seeking answers for their own personal issues, they seek literature that helps to define this search for self-identity. While Stine's literature is classified as horror, avid readers made little to no mention of the situations in which the horror was depicted. They only reported the interactions between the protagonists and characters, the mystery style genre, and the pop culture situations similar to their reasons to keep reading Stine.

106 Violence is reported in the newspapers, radio, or television daily. Many of our

urban students live in violent situations happening around them everyday. Others

adolescents are involved with violent situations. Stine's novels are classified as horror, yet they contain no gory descriptions of the horror. Many novel endings are optimistic. This

is the opposite situation many adolescents experience. In these series novels, urban

students who are in violent situations can perceive that there are ways to combat the

violence, and that eventually good overcomes evil. Avid readers talked about the novels

containing morals that could guide them. Urban students who have little to no adult home guidance and defy teacher or other adult guidance, could seek answers to their situations

in these series novels.

Series novels are not new. Many prominent researchers have mentioned Nancy Drew series or the Hardy Boy series as reasons they became readers. Yet, many of these same researchers are not willing to recognize that this may be a needed step in the development of life-long readers. Many readers progress through this step in elementary school and by middle school are searching for other genres to explore. Many of our classrooms are filled with students who are rebelling against literature since they do not see reading as an enjoyable activity. These same reluctant readers are experiencing the throes of adolescent development. Series books that are easily read and speak to their adolescent development can be a way to help re-connect these reluctant students to interests that could keep them reading and literate.

Statistics state that teens are reading less for pleasure each day. Yet, R. L. Stine's media popularity and best-seller status have shown that he has been able to connect kids to reading through the mystery genre and adolescent reading interests. With his series as popular with students, educators need to tap into this pop culture interest and build upon

107 it. Through the active encouragement of reading a pop culture series, teachers can help

students leam that reading is pleasurable and that this pleasure reading is unique to readers' personal responses from the literature they have chosen. It can be an in-depth

supplement to the media presentations they are watching by adding to their enjoyment of

both the television shows and the novel series. Readers can visually view the programs

while they mentally read the images with their minds.

Within our school libraries, pop culture young adult fiction should be displayed

prominently. These books with their visual covers could attract media-saturated

adolescents. Many of these adolescents are at-risk or reluctant readers. Acknowledging

this interest in pop culture by the encouragement of reading of these pop culture books

sanctions students to venture into reading books as a means of finding their self-identity and moral stances within our media society.

Margaret Early has stated that most readers never reach the reading appreciation stage where they are evaluating what they read and read for deeper feelings that replace the concern for self. Yet, consistently, teachers are asking students to perform this task when they are teaching literature lessons. During the middle school years, when it is critical to help students develop into life-long readers by defining their personal reading interests through the reading of many genres, many teachers are consistently choosing novels that help students "develop" into analytical readers, when little to no foundation for such development has occurred. Instead of letting adolescents choose their own books that explore their unique interests that would foster the continued development of a reader, teachers have required reading that negates this development. Many times teachers discourage students from reading certain books because of titles or themes.

Teachers will replace the chosen book or openly stated that certain books are inappropiate

108 for students to read. A curriculum for middle school must be developed that would allow

students to actively "read" their personal interests within the boundaries of decency and parental/school concerns. This personal curriculum is crucial in the middle school years

when many middle school students experience the throes of adolescence and question

adult authority by rebelling as they seek their self-identity. This personal self-interest

reading curriculum needs to be incorporated into school time since media attractions command students' after school attention.

Once students identify their personal reading interests, including a pop culture

series, and have educators' support and understanding, then these adolescent readers may begin to explore unfinished chapters as homework. This exploration would allow students

to re-connect the pleasure that reading offers, yet at the same time, the more books they

read, the more literate they could become as they progress through literary stages, and

develop naturally into life-long readers. Teachers involved with this personal self-interest

curriculum would then become facilitators in which they helped students locate their self-

interest novels, even pop culture ones, that interested them, possibly reading the novels

with them, and actively participating in authentic book talk discussions. Reading then

becomes personable and pleasure can be derived from reading literature of one's own choice, whether it be the classics or a series book. This personal motivation would foster voluntary reading and promote more literacy into today's pop culture society.

Researchers have stated that many students eventually tire of series books and seek

other more challenging literature. Students in this study continued to read Stine while reading other authors. Teachers must not discourage students from re-reading novels.

With each new re-reading, students may re-experience the pleasure of reading the novel and begin to examine elements that they had not responded to from the first reading. By

109 re-reading novels, students begin to critically view and examine the author's style of writing by comparing their responses to the first reading with each re-readings and evaluating the text.

While many reading experts may consider the encouragement of reading a pop culture novel series as sub-literature, this study found that there were benefits for students who became Stine avid readers. Students reported seeing themselves in the stories which could help to affirm their own lifestyles and moral stances. The books contain mystery elements that initially attracted many readers and gave them a reason to read: predicting who would be the villain. Once they began reading the series, they not only liked solving the mysteries, but found cormections in the books to their pop culture happenings found in school and home. Traditionally series books are not considered "intellectually challenging." Yet, the majority of avid readers in this study were also honor roll students. They read other authors yet still continued to read Stine novels. Avid readers progressed rapidly through the Stine series books and improved their fluency. Readers who read more than thirty books usually read the books within a day or a few hours. Many avids connected the reading process with the writing process and caused them to consider how they could improve their own writing abilities. Stine's consistent use of dialogue in quotations allowed for avids to look closely at his use of descriptive language to develop the emotions that protagonist portrayed. Lastly, many avids also chose to read a variety of genres other than horror since they read the books so fast, or were interested in other authors in the same genre.

110 Directions for Further Research

Establishing a pop culture library in middle schools and studying the patterns that many readers may develop from choosing to read this genre would be a direction for further research. What authors students chose to read, why they chose to read them, other series books series and the quantity read, genres that students chose, and whether school reading then become home reading would be guiding questions to include in this study. If educators encouraged adolescents to read pop culture, whether the adolescent also read other recognized young adult authors, would be another research question to be explored in this study.

A comparison of a classroom of readers who were encouraged to read books from a personal self-interest curriculum to a classroom where teachers followed traditional guidelines would be another direction for further research. Comparisons of books read at home and school and possible reading achievement scores for both classrooms would be the focus of this study. It would need to be conducted over a school year including summer months to see if gains reflected in actual adolescent practices.

As documented, the media is having a tremendous impact upon adolescents. The relationship between reading choices as compared to media presentations would be another study for educators. Are students choosing novels to read because of their media preferences would be the guiding question for this study. With the focus on cormecting students to Internet learning through the use of modems and computers, another focus question that would stem from this research would be the impact the Internet had on choices that students make for pleasure reading.

A textual analysis of elements found in the Nancy Drew series compared to elements found in Fear Street would be another direction for further research. Elements

111 that are the same or different could be compared between the novels to define how

reading trends have changed. Avid readers of the Nancy Drew series could be compared to avid readers of Stine's Fear Street series.

Lastly, this study focused on middle school students' reading attractions to R. L.

Stine. Another direction for ftirther research would be to continue the sampling of the reading interests of this study's students as they progress into late adolescence or high school. Using this study as a foundation, comparison could be made to determine reading appreciation stages for these media saturated adolescents.

Limitations

The researcher was not available to conduct the surveys in each school building but kept in mind the problems that arose involving participation, scheduling, timing, and data management. Every effort was made to establish the credibility of the research by documentation of the problems and constraints and the fact that many teachers in schools the researcher visited were opposed to R. L. Stine's writings. The researcher's bias towards pop culture novels was noted. Since the study was conducted over a short period of time, the triangulation of data through surveys, interviews, and textual analysis of the books was made by the researcher in order to strengthen the research design. However, the researcher understood that self-report data is not always reliable. The researcher read

Fear Street novels and asked avid readers to complete checklists to help verify the statements avid readers made. Columbus Public School middle school students were sampled in this study and the findings may not be applicable to other middle school students in other school systems that do not have the same demographics as the Columbus Pubhc Schools.

112 Conclusion Avid readers in this study reported that they were attracted to and continued

reading Stine's series because they could see themselves in the texts as related to society's

portrayal of their pop culture. Secondly, they enjoyed the mystery genre and the elements

of suspense the novels developed. Continued reading to solve the mysteries and locate the

teen elements in the books that were similar to their own experiences eventually lead many avid readers to connect the reading process with the writing process. These findings are

consistent with developmental issues that students of this age experience and research

statistical reports that state mystery and horror fiction are the most popular choices with

pleasure reading among adolescents. As avid readers read more and more of the series,

they moved through the reading stages of appreciation and began to examine the text critically by examining Stine's writing style.

If our nation is to develop a community of readers in the midst of a media saturated society, educators and parents need to realize and acknowledge the connections that adolescents make to this medium. A personal reading self-interest curriculum must be

designed that would acknowledge these media interests that many adolescents have.

Many of these same adolescents are in the throes of self-identity development and at odds with educational objectives teachers practice in the classrooms. By adult affirmation of books that reflect pop culture images which are natural choices for adolescents who are seeking their identity in a media saturated society today, educators are promoting a literate society and helping adolescent readers define their personal reading interests and growth as readers.

113 APPENDIX A

SAMPLE LETTER TO TEACHERS

114 October, 1996

Dear Middle School Homeroom Teacher; My name is Stacia Smith, a doctoral candidate in Education at Ohio State University working under the direction of Karin L. Dahl, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Education. I am conducting a study on the phenomena of R. L. Stine and why he is so popular with middle school students. The study has two dimensions: who are the students that are reading Fear Street; and interviews with admitted "avid" Fear Street readers. I am inviting you to participate in this study by letting me place your homeroom in a pool of which one class will be selected for a survey instrument. Participation is voluntary, but it is hoped that as many homerooms as possible will agree to participate. The questionnaire will give an overview of the Fear Street middle school reader and identify "avid" Fear Street readers(who have read more than 31 titles) for more in-depth interviews. All information from survey and interviews will be kept confidential, and teachers and students may withdraw from the survey at any time without penalty. If we, as teachers, knew what made R. L. Stine popular with students, what keeps them interested, and if there is any possible educational benefits to being a "Stine-ite", his techniques may help us in designing our educational lessons so that students feel as excited about our teaching as they do about Stine's books - they will keep wanting more! If you choose to participate, your part in the questionnaire is simple. If your homeroom is selected by the random drawing, then during a homeroom period, you will hand out the parental permission slips to ask students to participate in the questionnaires. When the student returns the permission slip, give them the questioimaire to complete. Place completed questionnaire and parental permission slip in envelope provided and give them the reward (30 pencils/pens provided). You may answer any questions the students have. 15 minutes should be ample time to complete questionnaires. If a student is absent, invite them to participate in the survey when they return following the same procedure. When all homeroom students who have chosen to participate have completed the questionnaire, place in school mail to me. Results of the survey will be sent to you by February, and you may share them with your class. Your participation in this questionnaire is important to the study. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at Hilltonia Middle School, 365-5937. Thanks for your help!

Karin L. Dahl, Ph. D. Stacia A. Smith Associate Professor, College of Education Doctoral Candidate in Education The Ohio State University The Ohio State University

115 APPENDIX B

STINE SURVEY

PERMISSION SLIP

116 STINE READER SURVEY Please complete this questionnaire by filling in the blanks or circling the answer. Ifyou have any questions, ask your teacher. I f you do not know exact number, estimate.

Name______Sex____ Race______A ge ______

Mother’s occupation ______Father’s occupation ______

Middle School Grade Homeroom Teacher

1. What grades do you receive in Reading? A/B B/C C/D D/F

2. Have you read any books by R. L. Stine? YES NO 3. Which series have you read by Stine? Goosebumps Fear Street Other How many Goosebumpft Fear Street! Stine other books? _____

4. What age did you start reading R.L. Stine? ______

5. How many books do you own of: Goosebumps? Fear Street? Stine other

books? books by other authors? ______6. Where do you get your Stine books? ______books by other authors? ______

7 How many days does it take you to read a Stine novel? other authors?

8. Where do your read Stine? at home, at school, or both? ______

9. What other authors do you read besides Stine? ______10. Where do you read other authors’ novels: at home, at school or both? 12. At home: what book are you reading now? ______

last month?______six months ago? 13. At school, what book are you reading now? ____

last month?______six months ago? 14. Add your personal comments about Stine: ______

Thank you for filling out questionnaire. Place in envelope and collect a reward]

117 Parent/Guardian's R. L. Stine Survey Permission Slip

______The Ohio State University Research_Study Titled: ______

The Exploration of Middle School Students' Interest In and Attraction to The Writings of R. L. Stine

(STUDENT'S NAME) has my permission to participate in the survey being conducted by Stacia A. Smith to examine the phenomena of R. L. Stine and hisFear Street young adult novel series. I have the right to discontinue my child's participation at any time and understand that information will be confidential.

Confidentiality will be honored in the reporting o f the study.

Parent/Guardian's Signature

Karin L. Dahl, Ph. D. Stacia A. Smith Associate Professor, College of Education Doctoral Candidate in Education The Ohio State University The Ohio State University

Witness's Signature Date

118 APPENDIX C

STINE CHECKLIST INTERVIEW GUIDE

119 Please circle all Fear Street, young adult novels you have read: Fear Street Fear Street Super Chillers SOENT NIGHT 3 THEXEW GIRL PARTY SLNIMER GOODNIGHT KISS 2 THE SURPRISE PARTY SILENT NIGHT THE OVERNIGHT GOODNIGHT KISS MISSING BROKEN HEARTS Fear Park THE WRONG NUMBER SILENT NIGHT 2 THE FIRST SCREAM THE SLEEPWALKER THE DEAD UFEGUARD THE LOUDEST SCREAM HAUNTED CHEERLEADERS: THE NEW EVIL THE LAST SCREAM HALLOWEEN PARTY' B.AD MOONUGHT EearMall THE STEPSISTER THE NEW YEAR'S P.ARTY THE BEGINNING SKI WEEKEND THE CONCLUSION THE FIRE GAME The Fear Street Saga Other UGHTS OUT THE BETRAY.AL THE SNOWMAN THE SECRET BEDROOM THE SECRET BEACH HOUSE THE KNIFE THE BLTINING BEACH P ARTY PROM QUEEN TWISTED FIRST DATE Fear Street Cheerleaders THE HITCHHIKER THE BEST FRIEND THE FIRST EVIL I SAW YOU THAT NIGHT THE CHEATER THE SECOND EVIL WHAT HAPPENED TO ERNIE SUNBURN THE THIRD EVIL THE BABY-SITTER THE N'EW BOV THE BABY-SITTER II THE DARE 99 Fear Street: The House o f Evil THE b a b y -s i t t e r III BAD DREAMS THE FIRST HORROR THE BABY-SITTER IV DOUBLE DATE THE SECOND HORROR CALL WAITING THE THRILL CLLTB THE THIRD HORROR THE BOYFRIEND ONE EVIL SUMMER THE GIRLFRIEND THE MIND READER The Catuluna Chronicles THE DE.AD GIRLFRIEND WRONG NUMBER 2 THE EVIL MOON BLIND DATE TRUTH OR DARE THE D.VRK SECRET H.ALLOWEEN NIGHT DE.AD END THE DE.ADLY FIRE HIT AND RUN FINAL GRADE SWITCHED NIGHT G AMES Fear Street Sagas COLLEGE WEEKEND RU-NAWAY A NEW FEAR THE STEPSISTER 2 KILLER'S KISS HOUSE OF WHISPERS WHAT HOLLY HEARD ALL NIGHT P.ARTY FORBIDDEN SECRETS THE FACE THE RICH GIRI. THE SIGN OF FEAR SECRET ADMIRER CAT THE HIDDEN FEAR THE PERFECT DATE WHO KILLED THE HOMECOMING D AUGHTERS OF SILENCE THE CONFESSION QUEEN? THE BOY NEXT DOOR INTO THE DARK List your top 5 Fear Street novels. #I favorite is ______-) J.

Your least Fear Sreet novel is

120 Interview Guide for use with "avid" Fear Street readers ______Research Questions: What attractions do middle school readers report hold their interest to Fear Street series? What patterns or characeristics do middle school readers exhibit that make them choose to become "avid" Fear Street readers? The following questions will guide the interview with "avid" Fear Street readers: Are you male/female? Black/white/Asian/other? ses? What is your gpa? confirmed

by parent, teacher, report card

When did you start reading Stine? at what age? what age did you stop? Do you remember what the incentive was for reading Stine?

What Stine books have you read? Fill out a check list of his current publications.

What are your five top Stine favorites and why?

Where do you get your Stine novels? How many of them do you own? read last month?

What do you do when you finish reading a Stine novel?

Do you ever reread a Stine novel? How often? Which ones? Why?

Do you read other books besides Stine? at the same time?

How long does it take you to read a Stine novel - week, two weeks, month, two

months? Was this always the same for each novel that you read? Explain if you see any connections to your life and the life depicted in a Stine novel?

What age have you been reading Stine? Were you a Goosebumps reader?

If you are a post Stine reader, what did you do with your books you owned? Why do you think Stine is so popular with adolescents? best thing about a Stine novel?

What do adults(parentsZteachers) have to say about your reading of a Stine novel?

What time of day do you read Stine? at home? in the classroom? all the time?

What do you think of the Stine television program? Stine products besides books?

If you could ask Stine one question, what would it be?

121 APPENDIX D

FOCUS GROUP GUIDE

122 Focus Group Discussion Guide for Fear Street readers ______

The groups will consist of "avid" readers and non-avid readers of Fear Street novels. Groups will extend comments made by "avid" interview students from interview guide.

Questions will not be finalized until the interviews take place. Anonymity of student comments will be strictly enforced. However, the additional following

open-ended statements could guide this discussion:

Consenus as a group:

(book title) was listed as being the best liked story of Fear Street. Do you agree?

(book title) was listed as being the least liked story of Fear Street. Do you agree?

As a group, what are the top three aspects of R.L. Stine writing you like the best? least?

If R. L. Stine were here today with us in the discussion group, what would you like to ask

him? in terms of young adult literature? in terms of school? personally? If R. L. Stine were your literature teacher, what might your lessons be like?

Do you consider his writing as horror genre? Define his style.

How would you teach an R. L. Stine novel?

If your teacher was given a grant to purchase Stine novels, which ones should she purchase? Why?

Students stated ______to his popularity - do you all agree?

Students stated ______why they read his books - do you all agree?

Students stated ______why they started reading his novels - do you all agree?

Students stated _____ who they are reading along with Stine - do you all agree? Students stated as their next favorite author - do you all agree?

How many Stine books has the group read in the past month? three months? year?

What do your teachers/parents have to say about your reading of Stine?

123 APPENDIX E TEXTUAL ANALYSIS SHEET

124 s. A. SM IT W S TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF FEAR STREET PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Title; Copyright Cover Illustration: text lead:

# of pages # of chapters______

Horror in chapters:

Series Connection:

Lead to next book: Other: LITERARY ELEMENTS . Characters: Plot:

Setting:

Climax:

Point of view:

Mechanics:

Style:

Vocabulary: ADOLESCENT ELEMENTS: Emotional teen issues: Social teen issues:

Physical teen development issues:

Intellectual teen development issues:

125 APPENDIX F

TRANSCRIBED INTERVIEW

126 Wanna-Be A\id reader. Sally. 8th grader. Black

S: tell me about yourself, you were at hilltonia. and then you went to barretL gpa?

T: 2.5

S; you read rl stine? When did you start reading rl stine?

T : like maybe when 1 was in fifth grade/sixth

S: did you read goosebumps first?

T; no. 1 am reading goosebumps book right now.

S; do you remember what is the first book you read?

T: no 1 don't remember

S; of all the books that you read, which is the best one that you read?

T; there is one about 1 forget 1 don't know it is called, but it is something about some the boys and girls they turn into \ampires or something, (one of these, super chillers) um. looking over list 1 know that 1 read the babysitter, or something man is calling some lady or something like that.

S: What is the best thing that you think about Es?

T; i like mystery books and they have good mystery to them and they leave you on the edge.

S: do you think that any of the books could happen here at barrett or hilltonia? which one?

T: yea, like could happen. 1 don't think so. they too like, too book like for it to really happen, if they happened it would be weird.

S: so it would be very unusual?

T : yea.

S: sec all those books over there and you get to choose one. how do you choose which you will read?

T: by the cover.

S; do you ever read the back?

T; sometimes, if i am not sure, then 1 look like maybe i really don't want to read this, and then 1 will look at the back to see if it is good.

S: okav when do you read rl stine? at school, at home.

127 T; i read them at school, and my mom has got this book thing, and some be coming through there, so i read them at home.

S: how many do you own?

T; about 20 okay. S; and you read them all?

T: no.

S: have you reread any?

T; no.

S; do you stay up late reading them

T: in the summer time, not during school

S: have you ever had an adult or another person say that you shouldn't read these?

T; no. they like that 1 read alot. because i do like to read

S; any teacher ever say that?

T: no.

S: okay, if you could ask mr stine one question what would it be?

T; um. laughs, how does he thinks the stories that he knows that we would be into?

S: what is the best thing about rl stine?

T: he's really like on the level, like he knows exactly what you want to read, and um.

S: why do you everybody likes him so much?

T: because his books are good, and they keep coming up with more, and they don't leave you with one book and then two years later they will come out with another one. he keeps coming out and you keep having to get them.

S; do you now any boys that read his books alot?

T: um. no. because the boys i hang with are the wrong group to be hanging with, they don't read

S; where do you get them fs?

T; your mom has a bookclub, you go to the library, yea. from the library, i get them at stores, i just see the book and i'll say i just want this, and i'll grab it.

128 S; what other books or authors do you read?

T : just goosebumps and fs

S: that is all you read, you don't read anyone else?

T; it's like, i read. um. if i read something else it's like during school. like in the literature books and stuff like that.

S; so you don't read at home very much, just fs or goosebumps. How many books have you read of his?

T; um. hard to tell. well, i think i read 20-30 of them.

S; you think that he is popular because he write what kids write. If you could be a character in one of these books, which one would you be?

T: um. the one that is always running from the people, and they normally don't die. they just keep rurming, whatever that one is i read that one. (here is a poster to help you with books) Goodnight kiss, is my favorite, because it was really good, the boy was getting mad. and I think it was the girls, that was the vampires in that one. very suspenseful. and it was not what i expected.

S: Did you read goodnight kiss one?

T ; no. but maybe you might

T; ski weekend next, i don't know, i just, i don't know. truth or dare, i liked that one because i didn't know who it was. and it was not who i thought it was. then didn't like wrong number, because it was kinda of stupid, it was not what I expected it to be. (what do you mean) because i don't know what i thought it was going to be but it was kinda good in a way but in a way i didn't like it.

S; what is the one best thing about rl stine?

T; um. he keeps coming out with more and more books.

S: do you talk to your friends about him or anything.

T: no i talk to my friend diann. she reads them too. she has a lot of goosebiunps

S: do you share books with each other?

T; yes. she gave me one of her books the other day. It was a goosebumps called, um the Scarecrow walks at midnight or something like that.

S; are you reading that at home?

129 T; no. i am reading that for a project here at school.

S; do you read at home?

T; sometimes during the summer if i don't have anything to do I might read.

S; you read at home. so. now um. what I am going to do. is see if there is anything else this is your mom. if you had nothing to do. and you were bored and it was Saturday, and it was raining and none of yoiu* friends, and you could choose one of these books, how long would it take to read one of fs?

T; it depends how into it i am. If i am really into it i could read it in about three days. S; nothing else to do and you had to stay at home, that whole time, your were sick or something.

T: you could read a whole book in one day. but then if i am like quit and then wanted to read some more, it would take me about 3 days, and if nothing else, i could read it in a whole day.

S: anything else you want to tell me about rl stine. T; nope, he's just a good author.

130 Beginner Avid; Mary, black girl 8th grade.

S I am going to ask you talk up. and tell me a little bit about yourself, where are you from, what you like

N 1 am from columbus. i went to mohawk last year, and summer school

S where did you go to elementary

N John burroughs

S did you know danielle before you came here? other fnends?

N 1 knew her at mohawk

S was she in your same class?

N no. she had some of the same teachers but we weren't in the same class

S so you didn't get to know her real well and she told me that you and she go to the library alot

N. yea. we hang around with each other alot because we were in the same choir and stuff

S. well now tell me when did you start reading rl stine?

N like i started this year, when i was in eighth grade, not this year, but last.

S where you in eighth grade before?

N no. 1 meant i was just saying it was the begirming of this year.

S did you start out with goosebumps. or did you read.

N. i read a couple of goosebumps. and then i started reading fs

S what was the first fs book you read? do you remember?

N i think the first one i read i remember was the first scream

S the first scream that was fear park series isn't that right

N yea.

S what did you think about it? what was your first impression?

N it was good, it was interesting, but you had to read the second part of it 'cause it was like a to be continued cause there was a fear street 2.

131 s fear park 2.

N it was good though, it was a thriller

S what made it good? explain good, mr roth tell you to do that?

N explain, yea. his writing is interesting, it's just like, he knows how to enthusias you know he explains it pretty good, i guess he just knows to make good books like this

S what in the books do you think are good? what do you like in the books? like do you like the setting? do you like the characters? do you like, what in the books makes it good to you?

N like the um what happens.

S just find a book over there see my big green tub. and see a book you have read and tell me what makes it good (picks up book), look through that book and tell me what makes it good do you remember story?

N house of whispers yea i remember.

S what is it about? N it is about this girl, she goes to live with her aimt and um her atmt has dark powers and stuff, and so she got a bunch of people are dying and stuff and she likes getting scared and stuff and then she finds out and her aunt wants her to be evil and stuff she met this boy, and her aunt tried to tell her not to cause aunt didn't like him but so then she ended up rurming off with the boy at the end. and her aunt tried to trap her in the house and her atmt tried to kill her. and put her in this cloud, and her evil spirits, and she was going to put her in that cloud, cause she was telling her that she was going to do it in her works and she was going to put her in that cloud, so she went off with this boy. i don't know his name, i read the first one too. (series) it was about

S front of the book might tell you the first one. it would be right over here somewhere

N a new fear i read that one is about

S is that a continuation of the house of whispers?

N no. this house of whispers is a continuation, this is number 2. a new fear was about this baby was bom and he was that is simon fear and he had this pendant and he had the power, (referred to other books in series) when he grew up he got married to this um other evil girl. yea. and they just did a bunch of evil powers together, and stuff

S so do you like the stories because of the characters? or do you like

N i like the evil things they do. it's just like the set ups the way he does it

S keeps you intriuged. maybe keeps you on your seat? is that what you are trying to say?

N yea. that's what i am trying to say. yea.

132 s can you picture it in your mind it happening? do you think it could ever happen?

N no. cause I don't believe in dark powers, and stuff

S but you were intrigued by it. it interests you. so you like to read about it.

N yea.

S so you never read any goosebumps?

N yea. i read some, the boy next door, no i mean the ghost next door, its about this girl she thinks that hes the ghost you see they had a campfire, and she thinks the boy next door to her is the ghost but at the end she finds out she's really the ghost and she dies in the fire and stuff.

S now you put here that house of whispers is your favorite - why is it - because of the evil powers?

N i just like i thought she was going to get trapped in the evil, but i just like the way she got away and stuff, and i was happy about that and it

S you liked the ending maybe?

N yea, i liked it was a good book.

S then you put a new fear

N that was the first one. next was what holly heard is my next because it like related to like she got herself in trouble fi-om gossiping and stuff and you know from hearing other things, and she got it in trouble and such.

S what do you think about that - could that happen in real life?

N yea. i think that that could happen in reallife, i could see that happening

S has it ever happened to you?

N no. laughs, cause that is like life, you know today people gossip too much, and you know that's what happens.

S double date

N laughs, oh that was good, it was the competition between the two sisters i mean that book wasn't really scary, but it was good though, it was about these two girls who were fighting over this boy. it was funny because the boy thought he was so conceited, and he was really really conceited, and it was funny how he did. and it ended up being kinda fimny because he kept thinking somebody was trying to kill him and stuff, and he thought he had a bimch of aimts one one side, but i forget what it ended up being, but it was just fimny - laughing all the time.

133 s it was one of the humorous one... explain your fifth favorite

N yea. stepsister that is a good book, that is another one of the first ones i read of fs too. yea,

S you did not like, the least

N the new s year party - it just it didn't have a good ending, it was like the two ghosts, the two dead people they just disappeared, you know, and then i mean the begirming, middle and end was okay, but i just didn't like the way it ended, that's why i didn't like it.

S a lot of people do not like rlstine because of all the horror, like you tell me the evil, and dead sisters, and the ghosts, what would you say to people

N it's not his books are just entertaining they are not true, i mean.

S so you know they are not true? have you ever read one that made you scared, a nightmare on? N not one of his books, one of Christopher pike books, one of his - whisper at death is the name the reason, because of five people left on earth by themselves, his just always, i just have this fear of being left alone.

S so it made you think it will too? how long does it take you to read rl stine?

N it takes me a day about a day.

S just a day. I mean reading straight

N not straight but like i read during mr roth ssr. and i read at home, i say it takes me about an hour and half.

S an hour and a half to read a whole two hundred pages,

N altogether, i'm saying. I read a book it i usually don't stop in the middle, i keep going

S how do you read a book, do you read it from beginning to end. or do you skip around in it?

N I read it from begirming to end. i read like, if i start a book in mr roth's class, i like 40 pages, then when i go home i read.

S what does your mother say. or anybody say about these books, or have you had any negative comments about these books?

N she says you need to be reading something else! She says all them scary books with all that evil

S so she doesn't like it because of the evil, did you explain to her that you do not see evil in it? or you know what you are doing?

N i tell her it is just a book, laughs, i told her. i don't know

134 s what is the best thing that you enjo)' about a stine book? if you had to say one thing?

N the thrill.

S if you had to ask him one question, what would that be?

N where does he get his ideas from? I can't i can write stories, but nothing like him

S why do you think he is so popular with teens?

N like, because alot of kids our age like to read scary books you know, and like they don't want love stories, or something just a regular book, they like thrillers and alt and that's probably why. and he's just a good writer, and some of his books relate to what is going on now. but he just makes it thrillerrr. and have something to do with it.

S what about have you e\ er reread any of his books?

N i read the first scream twice

S you did and you liked it so much you reread it?

N 1 had forgot i read it and then i read it again and i remembered i read it it was they cut off each other's head and stuff, way out

S really, so that was too way out maybe?

N yea.

S okay so. do you ever read stine books in then read other books at the same time? or do you just read stine alone or what?

N like one time. 1 get a book from the school library, cause I am not allowed no library books because of overdue, so i might get a book from the school library, and i have a library book at home, and i read that at home, and read the one from here

S did you tell me how many you fs own?

N i own like four or five, i don't have that many, i usually get them from the library.

S you get them from the library, do you find that the library has a lot?

N they have a lot of the books.

S what other authors do vou read besides stine?

135 N Christopher pike, i read i like carolyn b cooney. i like her books because her books are not scary, face on the milk carton, yea she wrote this book called someone’s watching you she writes some good books, its noL her books are just good. -

S do you think that stine writes the same way as them, or how would you rank Christopher pike. Caroline cooney and stine? who would be first?

N rl stine. then Christopher pike. Caroline cooney next Christopher pike is a r e a l good author too.

S now when you finish reading house of whispers, do you go to another stine book?

N like when I do sagas, 1 usually read all of three of them, see i didn't get to read them because ray dad had to take the ones back to the library, but i wanted to read all three, i read most of them, it was called the betiyal. or the...

S the betryal is part of the fs sagas, the burning the secret

N something about was not suppose to be it is not in there, looking for it...i think this one has five, no it has three, i forget what it is called...it something close to the betryal.

S do you remember what made you start reading rl stine?

N when i see. like sometimes i just read the back of covers, and you know that is just the way i pick out a book, and like when i am at the library, i just read the back of the book.

S so no one suggested that you read them?

N. no.

S do you see his tv show? goosebumps on tv

N i seen the haunted mask on goosebumps tv

S do you buy any of the pencils or anything like that, that they sell?

N i buy pencils, rl stines. not fs ones

S how many books did you read last month

N i read three last months, i read this one. and i read um broken hearts, it is about them two girls finding notes in their lockers about saying what if you

S since 8th grade how many books have you read - all the ones you listed here? so you read about 23.

N yea, and you are still reading more.

S so Y OU don't see anv cormections in Y our life at all with whatrl stine YYTites?

136 N the way about the gossip, like that is just like stuff at school, people gossip, and it is different than killing and all. and sometimes like evil sisters and stuff, cause.

S cause you have two sisters, are they evil?

N no. they are mean, laughs

S do you read stine at home at night dining the day. do you ever stay up late reading him? all the time?

N i stay up late sometimes, not late late but until i get tired, like 10 o'clock, reading

S so you just read whereever you can

N vea. i read okav.

137 Avid: Caroline - 8th Grader - White

S: Melissa tell me about yourself - where you are from? Are you from Hilltonia. have you been here three vears?

M: No this is my first year here.last year I went to Mohawk.

S: And where did you go to elementary school?

M: John Burroughs

S: are you a good student? average student, gpa?

M: My gpa is about 3.5.

S: do you like school?

M: Sometimes it is okay.

S: Okay, what do you plan to do?

M: Um. 1 want to be an actress. 1 think it is really fun.

S: Well you look like Alicia Silverstone. with her long hair, all you have to die it blonde.

M: 1 am getting it bleached.

S: oh. you are. you really are...

M. yeah. yeah.

S: so let me look at rl stine. we are hear to talk about rl stine. and you have read a lot of his books, like how many have you read?

M: 26 or more.

S: looks like more than 26. here when you start counting up.

M: yeah. 1 read a lot of them, he's a good writer, all his books keep you in suspense, where you don't know what is going to happen and you think something is going to happen, and its not what is happening. That is pretty neat.

S: do you remember what the first novel you read of his.

M: no.

S: did you read Goosebumps?

138 M; no. I didn't read Goosebumps.

S: when did you start reading Stine?

M; when I about 10 or 11 years old.

S; and that is when you started, in 5th or sixth grade

M: fifth grade. I can't remember. I never really goosebiunps. 1 read half of one. and it wasn't really all that scary, so

S: what attracts you to FS - the suspense, anything else in the books

M; the characters - they sometimes remind me of people that 1 know, and places that 1 have been.

S: really.

M; Sometimes 1 can relate to the stepsisters.

S: Tell me about the Stepsisters.

M: It's a good book about this girl 1 think her dad marries this woman or something and she has to live with her stepsister is evil, and they don't get along, and everything, some parts of it is hmny, how they fight and argue, and everything, like one minute she is nice, next minute the nice girl finds out how evil she really is. and everything.

S: how does it end?

M; um, the stepsister dies. 1 don't remember, it has been a while since 1 read it. because 1 thought I finished all these books, but I guess 1 didn't based upon the list

S: so you tried to read all of them?

M: yeah. 1 tried to read all of them.

S: Now. what was the last book you read of FS?

M; last book 1 read was Fear Park.

S: the new one. what are they about 1 haven't read them either. I don't have them listed. 1 have to update my list.

M: they were pretty good. It's starts way back like the first one is about when the first fear.

S: that might be the betray!, the secret and the huming

M; no. that is part of it, but

139 S; I thought it was about an amusement park

M: It is about an amusement park, it starts where this guy he tried to convince the village to build an amusement in the fear woods, but the fears would not let them, and so the guy went against his wilL and started measuring and everything and the guy died, and then um. that tells about all of that, and then the second one is where his son wants this girl never go down to cut the trees and everything, and well, he had put a spell on the woods, and then it made everyone go crazy, they chopped their heads off and everything, and everybody died

S; didn't that scare you? you didn't have nightmares over that? M: no.

S; what do you think about all that horror? chopping each other's heads off...

M: Sometimes 1 think it is furmy. if you just picture it sometimes it makes you laugh, sometimes ugh. but 1 always been into scary movies. 1 always watched them, so nothing really grosses me out anymore.

S; oh. really, have you ever had a nightmare after reading fs?

M: nope.

S; never, how long does it take you to read one of his books?

M: never, about 3-4 days, or shorter

S: 3-4 days, or shorter, okay Do you read it all the time, at home, at school, at late at night?

M; 1 read every minute that 1 have if 1 am not doing homework. 1 never watch tv. 1 am always reading, laughs.

S; what does your mom say about reading books like these? FS

M; No. she. my mom's into romance, so she don't understand, those books, so it's good in reading, but my dad he don't like them, my dad thinks they arc evil books -

S: why does he say that? Has he read one?

M; No. but there is a book on there, one of stine's. 1 thinks it's witchcraft or something, I think it is called that or something, where it might by someone else. 1 don't remember, but Switched is the book he thought was evil because this girl switches with her sister and something.

S: so he read it?

M; he read it. 1 read the epilogue to him. and he says that was an evil book and 1 shouldn't be reading books like that. But it is interesting 1 mean, it I don't know, it gets my brain working. S: gets your brain working?

140 M: Because I like to write and so maybe I should put a twist in there.

S: so what do you see in the novels there that might help you in the writing? Do you ever consider the way he writes or do anything like that in your writing?

M; um. sometimes 1 have and put suspenseeverything, that’s really why I read scary books and everything, because it keeps you suspense, it makes you like. okay, what's going to happen, and that you have to try to catch how he does that but it keeps it interesting.

S: do you talk about his books with other kids? Or do you have discussions about it or anything.

M: my cousin Rachelle. o

S: oh. Rachelle is your cousin, she is going to talk to me too. Do you share books?

M; We have, but everyone once in a while, but not all the time, because we both go to the library and get books.

S; oh you do? (yea) Now you put Fear Park, then College weekend

M; College Weekend - I don’t know, it was interesting, because this girl um. thinks it has been so long since 1 read them 1 forget, after I read them, she goes to see her boyfiiend at college, and she stays with his friend, and she then finds out her boyfriend is dead. yep. and then it makes pimch out for stuff like that laughs.

S; you put Switched, now what about one evil summer

M: One evil summer - um. this girl she goes and babysits, right, shes not rich, sorry, it will come across on the paper, oh. she was a witch, and she went to babysit for these people, and they had a girl in there that was going to siunmer school, well this girl found out she was evil because they had this cat. and everytime this cat was around this girl, would start hitting and the cat never really reacted to that, and then this girl finally decided that she likes him better than this other girl and tries to scare him away, and tries to scare her family away and tries to kill everybody. She had the cat, (how does it end) 1 think that the girl left or 1 think she died. I’m not sure. 1 can’t remember, it has been so long

S: and then the sleepwalker

M: the sleepwalker - 1 read part of it 1 read the begirming one week, and then the end the next week.

S; so you didn’t read the middle? You didn’t like it?

M: no. it didn’t make no sense to me. at the begirming she housesits for this lady, and this lady’s cat is really weird, and one day she goes up and she finds all these black shingles in this lady’s shorts and so she thinks she’s a witch, so at the end. it turns out she’s not. she’s the lifts the cat. it confused me. it was a confusing story.

141 S; have you ever thought about writing mr stine and telling him that the sleepwalker was a confusing sfoiy?

M: I didn't know 1 didn't have his address

S: I have his address, and in April he is going to be on line, and you can write him. Why do kids like him so much, you have your opinion, but what about others?

M: They are scary, yea.

S; but your dad says no.

M; um. I don't know, my dad really doesn't appreciate. I mean he appreciates me reading but he would rather me read stuff leamng about the past and everything, the only think I read about that is the Holocaust, but when 1 feel like reading something that gets me going. 1 will read rl stine or Christopher pike

S; So that would be what other authors?

M: Christopher Pike. William Shakespeare, poetry. 1 like poetry alot.

S: so you read Shakespeare alot? What have you read? M: 1 read two plays. Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet

S; you read them? how did you get through all that language?

M; yes 1 read them. 1 can understand it. Yea.

S: you can understand it? and did you understand tlie story and everything?

M: After I read it the second time 1 understood it.

S: so you had to read it two times?

M: Yea. 1 read it the first time, like you have to leam the language, then when you learn the language, go back through it and read it and find the plot

S; oh. you found the key how to read it - both laugh

M: hamlet 1 did not like. 1 couldn't understand it?

S: have you ever seen the movie? With mel gibson. it is suppose to be excellent.

M; no.

S: do vou ever reread anv rl stine books?

142 M; I read a whole bunch of them the stepsisters, most of fear street I have read three times.

S: are you reading any FS now?

M; no. not right now. I am reading a poetry book right now. from the school like whole bunch of top poets and their poems, an anthology, has about nature, creatures. life, death, and love and everything, so.

S; so. when was the last time you read a stine book?

M: um. i think it was last month

S; last month.

M; last month I finished all the fear parks - there are tfuee fear parks.

S; then he has a new fs sagas

M: in my library I only found one, and I tfiink 1 was the first one the new fear, and I read that one. So I will have to go and check all of them out and read them.

S; well i can give you a copy if you want then it will be easy for me to check off. what about would you consider yourself not a real stine reader anymore?

M; I am. but sort of like this summer. 1 am going to be doing a play, so you know the little theatre off broadway. in grove city, and 1 am going to try to get one there.

S: wow. that is exciting. So you have moved to Christoper Pike. Shakespeare, poetry, okay if you had to rank them how would you rank them? M; um. rl stine would really be first since 1 read all of them, i have read more of his books, then i would have to say william Shakespeare because he's like an idol to me in a way because he had done at first he had not thought anything that he had done would make him famous, and then he comes out with all these big famous plays, and everything, and so he's like an idol to me. and Christopher pike would be third and then the other poets would be last, so

S; and that is the way it would go. and if you had to ask rl stine one question what would it be?

M: how do you come up with yoiu’ ideas?

S; okay, why do you think that is such a big question everyone wants to asK?

M; because of his books, how you like them, they are so interesting, but 1 could sit for three hours and come up with some funky ideas, but i don't know how long it would take him. it would probably take him shorter than it would take me. because he has written so long in the book at the end. sometimes he gets his ideas from his son. so...

S: so and there is a new book. here, it came from Ohio,

143 M: oh. cool.

S; you would be honest with me. and you would not just say it

M: no. the first scary book that I read was by rl stine. so. 1 would have to go with him since I read them for so long and 1 have really developed around those books and everything.

S; if you could identify with one character in all his books, who would you be?

M; um. the fear house. 99 fear street um. The first horror and the second horror I have to say tfiat 1 would be one those girls cause it's like I don't know she has a sister and sometimes they don't get along, and unt I say I would be like her.

S; what characteristics does she have that would make her like you?

M; quiet unt mostly to herself, a good student and that is mostly what i can remember

S; okay, let me think, how many have you read in the last month?

M: four, in the last month, there was fear park and I read the new fear, i think i read let me think, i can't remember, there was another one. i can't remember,

S: just about four and then you read all those others, what about what do you plan to do on the holiday, read out of town.

M; i am going to work, make some money, help my mom. and 1 probably read while i am babysitting.

S: you said that you thought suspense would make him popular with everybody, and it would now. let me think. Where do you get your books?

M; mostly from the library, but i own about three or four. okay, so

S: what is the one best thing about rl stine?

M; um. how he writes them in the suspense, or anthing?

S: how do you choose his novels?

M: just what ever one 1 haven't read, that sounds good, and if it don't hey. if I haven't read it. I am going to read it anyway, and then you can see which one.

S: we're finished, thank vou.

144 Advanced Avid: Darlene - H - 8th grade - black girl -

S: Danielle tell me about yourself, where you are from. how long you have been at Hilltonia

D: well. I am 13 years old, I was bom in Columbus Ohio, this is my first year at Hilltonia. because my school got closed down. Mohawk, and it has been turned into an afiocentric school

S: where you sorry about tliat

D. yes. i loved Mohawk, and it was my middle school and I got attached to it. and with friends and everything.

S: did you have friends that moved over here with you?

D. yes i have a few of them actually

S: and are they in your classes.

D. yes two of them are.

S: are you a good student, bad student?

D: oh yes. i am a good student like i get a's and b's on my report and i am on student council, and i stay on honor roll, i get awarded nice things, and right now i am in the national honor roll awards.

S well how nice congratulations, you got selected for that. okay, when did you start reading stine? you read everyone? FS

D: almost like I started reading when i was nine years old.

S; did you start with goosebumps and then move up or did you start with fs?

D yes. i started with goosebumps. i read the curse of the mummy 2 the one right there, i eventually worked my way up gradually to fs books.

S: when did you start reading fs books?

D. fs books like in the summer when i turned 9 years old. late in the summer, when my mom took me the the library, got me a Ubrary card, and i picked up one of those books and i looked at it. cause i always been a fan of horror and suspense, so i picked it up. and i started reading it and i got attached to his books.

S: do you remember what the first book was that you read?

D: the new girl, she was real pale

S; so that was the very first one.

145 D yes.

S so you read the very first one. so you must not have read many goosebumps?

D: no i only read like two of them really 3; i read the curse of the mummy, the night of the living dummy and the night of the living dummy ii then i started into the fs books. S and so why didn't you like goosebumps. most everybody likes goosebumps before they get into fs?

D; i mean i like goosebumps and all but it was kinda i wanted something more intriguing and more suspense filled, and goosebumps was like a cartoon to something to me like, just like a cartoon, or a movie that you find on tv that you sit down and watch iL it was mixed with funniest, and humor, i wanted sometliing with horror and suspense, as well as humor, but i wanted a little bit more horror and suspense, than there was the humor.

S. and how does it ususally take you to read fs books

D: a day and a half

S; a day and a half from begirming to end. where do you get your fs books? you read so many?

0; i read, i get them from the library, or i go to bames and nobles bookstore and get them.

S; how many fs books do you own yourself?

D; right now i own four.

S; four, so you really get them from the library, do you ever reread them and check them out again and reread them?

D. I've read the same book like the same book about 3 times, like maybe four books 3 times.

S; which of the four books that you keep checking out to reread?

D; the double date, the secret admirer, the confession, the boy next store

S; and why do you keep rereading? what is in those books that makes you want to reread?

D: I just like the way he writes them,

S; explain what you mean the way that he writes them?

D; like the way he writes them, how he tells the story, and like when he keeps them in suspense, i like finding out like, i like knowing who the killer is. and the same time, i like to turn the pages and see how they killed and she how the person did what they did. and it is so hard to find books like that, and just keep going back and reading it. and i tell everybody that i read that book over and over again.

146 S: of those four books you read over and over again, you didn't think that those were the top four, i mean you put bad moonlight as your favorite.

D: oh, i love that book too. the reason that i liked that book so much is that it has my name in it. oh. laughs.

S: you like it because it has your name in it. oh. okay, now i did not even have silent night 3 here on my list, there is a silent night 3?

D. yes. it just came out in december.

S in december. so you read it, i just had these, so i guess i need to add more of them from this year, so your least favorite is the face? why? D cause i thought it was kinda boring, like she couldn't see the face, and she really didn't know what it was. and she really didn't know what it meant, and you kept trying to go back and find out what it meant, but you really you couldn't find it in a sense, so really

S: so the only it only takes you a day and a half to read a novel, and when you finish them sometimes you reread them, then how many times like you read them four times, or then more than that?

D: it was probably four times that i reread each book that i have, like the books i have at home, i reread those when i get in the mood to read, and i may not have a new book available from him (stine), like i am waiting on a book right now. runaway, so i read the ones that i have at home. Like i got bad moonlight at home, so i will read that and start reading that

S what are the foiu* books that you have at home?

D; bad moonlight silent night 3, house of whispers, and the new evil.

S do you read them at night before you go to bed. do you read them in the morning, during the day.

D; i read them any time i get a chance too.

S; really, so do you bring them here to school?

D. yes.

S. so whatever you are reading you will read them here at school, why do you think he is so popular with teenagers?

D; so he keeps the horror and suspense going in the story, he keeps his readers waiting for more, like waiting for more suspense to see what will happen nexL he keeps you predicting.

S: and you like everything he does, or not in the book? let's take bad moonlight did you enjoy everything about that book from beginning to end, or was there something you could have done without?

D um. i liked everything he does, he could make an adjustment or something like.

147 s. like what?

D: who the killers are. because he makes it too obvious, and sometimes, and i like it when he makes it not too obvious.

S; you have to keep guessing?

D yes. you have to keep guessing, and sometimes he makes it too obvious &om the begirming.

S. what about if you could ask him one question what would it be?

D; where does he get his ideas from?

S; number two question.

D how long does it take him to write his books? and does he really read his books, like do he really read his books as much as the teenagers do?

S: what about the best thing is the suspense and the horror? what do you have about all these people that say it is bad for the kids?

D. well, that their opinion, and we have ours, like basically, it they have kids, they should train their kids to believe what they want to believe, but they can't tell other people's kids, what to believe and what to read, they have their opinions, and we kids have ours.

S; do you ever get scared by reading his books?

D.. sometimes i do.

S really, can you think of a book that you got scared?

D: broken hearts

S. what made you get scared?

D. the notes she kept getting in her locker, and they were saying you're dead next and had a big heart and she thought it was the guy that she was going with, and he was doing all this stuff to her, and i am thinking oh my gosh, what if he kills her, and she was one of my favorite characters in the book,

S and so that made you scared because could you identity with her, could you. or you just liked it because she was just one of your favorite characters.

D: like i could really identity with her, cause i was back in 5th grade, people use to play pranks on me all the time, and everytiiing, i had some notes like tliat around valentine's day, and i found out it was a boy in my classroom doing stuff like tliat.

148 S: so that was what made you really scared, that you had something like that do you lose sleep over it? or have a nightmare over it?

D one time i had a nightmare over it over broken hearts, then like i woke up in the middle of the night i had to get up, and i had to Gnish the book to Gnd out if she got killed, so i had to Gnish the book right there in the middle of the night

S: and so you got up in the middle of the night and read that book, and did your mom know that?

D maybe, she, i think she knows this, she knows that i read up into the middle of the night she says you really need to go to bed because that is not healthy enough for you. but she knows that sometimes on fridays i might wake up in the middle of the night and i will take my flashlight and read the book.

S. oh. so you read with your flashlight so you don't want to turn on the lights, or do you share a room with someone?

D i share a room with my sister and my brother, i don't want to wake them up. someGmes. i just don't want to turn on the light

S.. oh my goodness, does it make it more scary when you read by flashlight?

D yes. and i like that scary feeling, it's beautiGil. cause you like have a chill down yoiu’ spine that you expect but you really don't expect once you get it from, so

S oh right so you began reading at age 9. and you only read a couple of goosebumps. then what does your mom think about you reading all these fs?

D she thinks like, she says, read more GcGon books than you read more business books, stuff like that but at the same time, it really interesGng that i have a hobby, and that i picked such a writer, and she says he's a good writer.

S has she read them?

D she read um. two fs. and she read supersiGtion. that book by hint she says that he's a good writer, and it's interesGng that i have picked him. cause he not's promoGng like the most over writers are promoting like violence and stuff like that

S; she doesn't that the horror, like the murder.

D. she doesn't see that as immoral, she doesn't no,

S: what other author do you like besides him. or is he the onlyone you want to read?

D. i like carolyn keene, diane hoe, maya angelou poems, and stuff like that i am into a whole bimch of books like that

S do vou have anv other books at home?

149 D um. i own a lot of sweet valley high hooks, francine paschal, waiter dean myers.

S you like waiter dean myers too, and you get most of your books from the library?

Dyes.

S how many books a week do you read, or do you read one book a week, or what?

D. maybe, i will read four books a week. I check out four books a week on average.

S and that includes a stine book a week in every week. even if you reread one.

D yes. umum

S like when you reread stine. do you see anything new in it or you just reread.

D sometimes i do. like sometimes, i see something new. like a part that i missed before, hey. i did not see that in here, and i will read that part, and like i didn't see that in here, and so i will read that part and that part and oh. yea i seen that earlier but i just did not remember it and sometimes i just remember some of the parts, like that was one of my favorite parts there in the book, and i'll read it

S so you really enjoy stine i am very pleased that you do . as i like him too. did you know that he has a new book out that is the story of his life, "it came from Ohio"

D no. looking at it

S it just came out and i talked with him on the telephone last week, and he said he did not know it was out and you know what he said, he said that the number one question that kids asked him. and it was the number one question that you asked, where do you get your ideas. What do you want to be when you grow up?

D i want to be a writer, or a lawyer.

S so . because you like to read, or because.

D i like to write, i like to read, sometimes, i have different ideas on what i want to be. one week i might want to be a reporter, cause i might get an idea from class, but most of the time, my number two goals are to become a writer or a lawyer.

S do one or the other.

D and maybe do both.

S you have three brothers and sisters, do any of them read gb or fs?

D my brother, he's just started night of living dummy that i own at home, and he's really interested in them, he says it's fimny. he's just turned 7.

150 s does he get scared sometimes, or nightmares?

D. no. i don't think he has nightmares, he reads them more in the daytime than he does at night, so

S since you read 69 of these books why did you choose bad moonlight as the best because you identified with the character and it had your name as the best.

D yes,

S silent night 3?

D. well sn3. cause i did not like REBA. well i liked her and i didn't and i wanted to see how her character was going to end up. like was she going to change her ways,

S did she?

D basically, yes. and no. but she still was a little on the snobby side, but she did leam to care for others.

S. you know that rl stine's likes reba too. and he thinks that it is one of her favorite characters to write about, next?

D Goodnight kiss 2 i liked because it had to do with vampires, and i like gothic stuff also.

S. besides mystery and the horror, o

D. lights out because it was about a camp, really scary, and one of my favorite characters was in it. Lyndsey. and i liked that, house of whispers - because i liked norma fear, (character), i liked her. it was really good, it kind of had a twisL and there are two more, there's i just read it. there's hidden evil, i am reading that now. and that's a new one. and there is a niunber four, i think it is forbidden secrets, then there's another one. sign of fear, and then there's the hidden evil,

S there are five of these, then that carries out what did you think of the betrayal, secret, the huming?

D i loved thent cause.

S. i think they are pretty gruesome.

D yes. they are. but people, like when he grew up in a new fear he people really, he's he;s they were so scared of him. and the\ were blaming curses on him and they were Just so scared of him

S well. now. let's see. the face, you did not like as much, was there another one that you did not like as much?

D um it stands out really, but there was.

S. so vou haven't read the first evil, but there was.

151 D. no i haven't read that yet like i look for it and i look for it but i can't Gnd it and i can't Gnd it. S i might have since i have a lending library here, and you can come later and borrow it &om me. you can check it out Grom me. so overall if you had to tell a teacher what you thought about stine. you would say to mr roth since he is your teacher, and you want to have him teach, rl stine in the classroom be. what would your argument be. why should we teach him.

D cause he's fascinaGng. he keeps his readers Gill of mystery, and he keeps them predicting and guessing, everything that happens in a story

S how does that relate to our english language arts program? what could you tell us?

D well we have a ssr period and they maybe if most kids get involved in it they would probably really read instead of doing some of the stuff th ^ do now. like sit around and sleep, or some write notes to each other, me personally, i pick up his book, and i read and read, and i get my two points for it, and sometimes i Gnd myself Gnishing the whole book in his class, during the silent reading period, and he sets a time as for how long we are suppose to read, and i still keep reading and i say, i have to keep reading mr roth. i just have to Gnish this chapter, so he gives me five more minutes to read the book.

S what about do you think that reading all these rl stines have helped you in the class work?

D. yea. it like has helped me to like when we have to write our stories.it helps me to plan an outhne. really around my story, and how to get it, helps me to put my quotation marks where the conservation starts and where the dialogue begins.

S so you sort of model maybe aGer you see how he writes so you can model so it has helped you in your writing maybe.

D yes.

S do many of your fnends read rl stine as much as you?

D yea. like Nicole, she reads a lot of them too. in nu- webb's class? she reads a lot from me. we switch them with each other, she has double date and i will read them and i will switch her with bad moonlight, and we will read those and she will get her book back and i will get mine back, we usually switch books and sometimes we will go to the library with each other.

S you and nicole go to the library together you live near each other?

D tun. she lives on terrace and i live on oakwood.

S where any of your friends from mohawk read rl stine as much as you?

D tun. my Giend Marie and i have one friend named sarah who use to read a whole bimch too.

S and where do they go to school?

152 D Sarah moved to lancaster and marie goes to wedgewood,

S do you ever talk to marie would she let me interview her. would you ? i could ask her mom?

D i will ask her.

S. Oh. right in the past month how many have you read?

D. i think i read about close to six.

S and other books too.

D. yes.

S. thank you.

D. talking about remember everything you read because it might come up to you and you say 1 read that and someone might explain the book to you and it mil click in your head, oh that was what evil summer, of that's the second horror, and that book is so good, and i read it and people might really and people might say how could you remember that? it just clicks in my head, really my mom says that i have a good memory, and i remember most of the stuff that i read.

S do you ever talk about his books with the other kids, among yourselves, do you ever talk with nicole?

D yes. she(nicole) likes reads killer kiss and she's been trying to Gnd it again so that she can read it and she says that it is a really good book, she likes it alot. and she says that when she Gnds iL she's gonna let me read iL if she Gnds iL

S. well, what you ought to do one should get killer's kiss, one get some other and you can switch

D - okav

153 APPENDIX G

LANGUAGE ARTS FOCUS GROUP COMPARISON SHEETS

154 i 'O û

Be^CaoSe. i-t-5 m -k rc sty -fo -ke/vx^crs us^^/i/crs 0 5 b/--- Q + h tr }

Rcccuse -hhc.Shor:c5 keep yoü you con4-. S+o^ rtaX:

^CCû-O bC, 4 Ke ^dc.5 qpe alcoü+-péopfe our

',/M, 4n,.(J.se.^efï- -I/-- . . , ■ _ . -k) ^i^uL\re ^ujt 'Hv:: ^ ^ c t^ n G s. — - '._y< 4

Som€4\mes 70a can (

155 3

cTÎ

156 ^ : S (T g - ; • O

Cl 'O G ^ C ■ ^ c J O ~ f c s O T3

- 8 " g ^ QJ ? ^ 1 1 H

Q) £ CO &) v ' l g d)

" 8 q) o i 13

157 M R T C H t T .

,G o cd G a d

3i Ù Ü O . Verü dlecnpVWS' '

G'w/eô 0ODci surdw /al XV doesn-V ôVs^e> LA t i p s . 00 Lü-er^e^ dh-e Xx'mdo 1 K i V s , ' i XV Gas a com pi j'ine.. X V doeanV

V ouj sVran^ dh-e G \& V Ü J 8 5 . ^ H -e. hàcP +oa m'uch - g

U é i \ c ) d ) I '

159 î.r~ "ifLnl

■0^ c W

■Q.1dL cJr d'Q&'bi C d\(W e C%L#.ure qo^ •^VvN r\i' '&G'&cgjR^ \ orù . T.45 dl ^ tc k VvA Vo^'^ ® .Vï K"5y4 n %ocJ 3jL "ôfeo cl'e4:^) \ 'Q.k \Ac 400

^6k: çlA <^ d;jji n^- A(\J ^ 4 W . €a ^/ ~ t ^ gc^Y (j i-~i^

tK % - C9/Ae. 4ô su cre W,f>

k ^ ^ /A c iJ 4W . pj?LA2.^K/L S%3 tKwn C#

R^ojrrL ujKû./} Ke_ Ç ào< .(vJ'& ^^ztyco) Ul?l P% t^ "c& f c S K ^ / o ^ ' h ^ - 0 4 ^ ooZ^-

160 O Qt D

'O c x r ciivcUH- ^içiç^

o r L c rô n ^ ^ ^ Ho

ÜSI^ S o rr^-c Hou. u&i'^t LcAS ^ V^lLfp^ N^%,

*H (^006 bcûk %r -Le%^ u S ^ ~to '(c^'bd.hy b'^C.'^u^ ^ 4j v " S W < ^ ’^ 9 . '■-ts'Ssd'.og "tbi becîüus C .îp W «5 tkiT SW&^(

161 APPENDIX H

SURVEY DATA SAMPLE

162 p .. p .r. Aff« iftdi Am B/q p/q n/F No orehimear sire«Qtiiaf ..AnaSlarteoQHtiiE«ataimn«flUiBi Qttifl'fAutlira OHiarj ullina tlu n i ailn* 0 0 13 buy them buy them NUdlaZinncr ^ w 13 8X X 7 1 0 9 4 X s 0 0 .13 0 0 0 0 school school LatoihiEvui* w 13 Ox •r . •/ 32 bookstor»-n Amy Ucnntll i w 13 7 X X 52 13 0 52 ■ ' 10 0 0 20 store bookstore Erica CoUina w 13 7 X X 20 5 . 10 11 1 0 0 free street Jennifer Coi , w 13 7 X X 2 0 10 1 0 • * • . . 3 school llbraiy Chrlitina Read w 13 7 X 10 12 10 0 0 0 10 store • store , Brenda Mill | w 13 7 X X 0 11 9 7 20 store store w 13 7 X X IB 3 0 1 KriitenCralt : 10 9 27 bookstore bookstore MellsaaScoH w 13 7 x X 20* L L ' ' 12 11 5 SO dept stores dept stores Kriila Krolejr w 13 7 X X c 11 5 0 12 0 0 0 7 llbreiy llbreiy ■ Candy Smilh w 13 7 x X 10 4 12 0 0 0 7 llbreiy stores Sally Clark W/BI 13 8 XX X 5 12 5 . kmtrt i f 13 7 X X 1 Janim While 3 0 10 0 0 0 3 local llbreiy llbreiy m esta 13 7 * , X 2 Zcb Robbuon 8 11 3 Phaimoor Cbartet WatMMi M B 13 8 x X S Daltons Daltons X 5 1 0 0 4 2 1 Aaron Kron M B 13 8 X bookstores X 2-3 11-2 0 Adrian And rcm M B 13 8 x 0 Teacher B 13 Ox X 3 13 0 0 0 0\ Jette Nl(bl M 14 bookstore bookstore Ox X 9 0 0 11 3 0 . 0 B 13 0 Meljer, Tenllbreiy Tbomat Mall X 7 0 0 10 2 0 • 0 B 13 Ox 32 (amUy ' tamlly ; ■ Marcui WaWt s X 2 4 0 12 2 0 0 ID b 13 7 x Anton Miller 7 4 2 - 3 Itl b 13 7 X X 2 bookstore bookstores ScanSniilh X 5 11 2 . m b 13 Ox 9 krogar Janiet Droim b ' 13 7 x X 5 3 7-s 4 1 m 0 0 no Tony Wood M mU 13 0 X X 0 0 0 0 0 0 llbreiy Ray Butter mix 13 7 x X 5 . 0 m 0 0 100a llbreiy library/store Curttt Barnett :M Olh 13 Ox X 4-5 12 0 Cannon Dillon 0 5 12' 3 4 alc4 . • school, stor-school M Rus 13 Ox X 9 kmaiVtarger 4 Joe Vogel w 13 Ox X ■ 7 5 X 13 3 4 X M 10 2 0 stores I dont Cbrit Black M W 13 7 x X 5 . 5 7 ; Daron GIvcnt 4 0 2 school family M w 13 Ox X 7 llbreiy, blg Iboideis, llbreiy Jette Morrell X 10 1 1 0 5 1 1 > M w 13 0 X 25 dont buy Karen Wltclllfs Vic Mall 1 1 0 1 • M w 13 0 X X 12 llbreiy llbraiy Lenny Bernalh 0 X 5 5 12 5 4 m w 13 X anyvrhore Darryl Salem 13 7 XX 17 0 20 • m w St John Marrk w 13 0 X X 2 12 2 m 0 0 29 0 bookstore, back Sieve Colfey m w 13 Ox X X 2 11 0 Malt Sayre :tln*No«th#ifJov#Hom« School Both t.QAuthoraRead Ha acb Ba lt.HhaaKNawt UatMantti aUMantha

5 1/5 X glendon swarthoul X OnoflA wake me at midnight go eat worn» 8 1/10 X - any as long as ITs a got X none none .2 X Jay benne* X goodnight kiss 2 forbidden spcrejt^ evil moon - cataluna chionick 7 4 - X eb wblte x charlotte's web eta months ago 21-27 21-27 X James howe x teddy bear^ scrapbook double trouble babysitters dub 14 14- X aMn scbwaitz x the hitchhiker It Stine 4 5 - X ann dee X. goosebumps goosebumps other 4 5- X beverty deary X batwlng haH magazines where thé red fem grows 2 2-4 X dirlstopber pike X little worten of nightingales they weep sM weekend 11-2 X cbrtstopbef pike, carol i X d lce/s song, the dlent. the pinballs, dellnetty cool fear street trilogy 4 8-7 X all authors X maniac magee welcome home Jelly bean fear strett the babysitter 1/2da 1 day X Dean Koontz, etc X A Slimmer to Die Curse of the Mummy Idonlknow 3 X none X babysitters dub X 4 2 X atvin Schwartz X the falrfield triangle true stories Idonlknow 5 X Stephen King X R. L. Stine Steven King RL Stine tm 1hr20 X ME Kerr, Douglas Adanx fldlon books Martin Luther King Goosebumps #5 7 X Dean Hughes X aboutland and countries Mr. President SoccorStar 21/2 3-4 X Nathan McCall, Gary Par MakeWannaHoller HarrletTubman MIsslBrldge, £ 3 1/4 X Alvin Schwartz x ScaryStortesToTelllnTheDark 0 10 1/14 X Beverty Cleary, EBWhk X Big Men, Big Country Chalotts Web Say Cheese 8 Die again, Bk> 7 1/7 X Judy blume, barbare patx the werewolf of fever swamp welcome to the wax museunnone ' 2 4 - X X littacfc of Jackolantems 2 X lolslowry X . the lemonade trick robin hood fever wramp 3 5 - X X night of living dummy 3 January 0 MMWino no no Margaret Davidson no no no JackeRoblnson BravestManIn Anglewood Parks FoottiallSt 3-5 X everyone else X {jo n ie ^ don't know the ftiendshlp, the Mg lie i 5 1-2 X JoanLoweryNlxon, Rha X Spring Break Maniac dont remember 2-3 2-3 X doesn't matter as long 1 X GB, Scarecrow walks at mMn The Beast OB 1/0 X James horrle bnioe covi X silent night 3 silent night 2 ' none ' 1 none x none Revengeolthelawnknomer none 2 X EB Whlte/Bnrce Cohen X My Teacher's an Allen Mysteryof the Island Fires Super Fudge 3 1/10 X douglas adams,plersanl X Voyager Voyager OuUander 1 1 Iwk Anthony Burgess X The wanting Seed The ReNc Lord of the Flys | 13 1/13 X nancy fanner x deep trouble go eat worms monster blood 5 X avi X ooocoo dock of doom monster blood ghost next door 10 X bartnsten x Indian's encydopedia Febnuuy 21 dep X gerliude chandler x weaseal 3 waves of bllle to treat the hunter's heart JMBonKNflw LMoirth «■Comnunt SMonth^

say chaas and die monster blood I think that he make very good books. the phantom of the ai do the hinky pIcMy welcome to dead house goodnight Mss 2 forbidden secrets he Is a great author. txMks are the one I read tire most ' r * • / cover up the pumpkin ate my txother last month Xhe Is a good book writer sing down the moon forget lylhlnr iink that he's a great author don't know sing down the moon ri Stine >/llkelike hlnr because he can right good books dont know nothing number the stars dind Is a good author and some of the best trooks I have ever read are stIne cannot remember the giver magazines M think his a very talented writer where the red fem gi> the pinballs the big lie llhink they are very entertaining and Interesting missing diceyy song, the dlent. the pinballs, dehnelely cool vjthlnk he Is a genius at writing and he Is best at writing from a 12 year olds viewpoint r fear street trilogy maniac magee welcome home Jellybean I like Stine bo6ks they're mysterious and you never know what's going to hapj fear street babysitter A summer to Die I don't know he alright Ooni keep track of It sing down the nraon X falifleldtflangle tnie stories •s/ice creative writer Idonlknow RLSUne RLStlne I like his books there fun to read. R t^T IN E Goosebumps #3 , Winnie the Pooh They're fun to read. Jackie Roblnson&Wtl About our land and oounldes Mr. President Really good books Soccer Stars MakeWannaHoller CIrde of Gold Hels a good Interesting author o\ Scaiy Stories IMMHe's a very good author. Big Men, Big Countiy Chartott's Web I like the Goosebumps, they are my best. • Say Cheese and Die twisted taums cataluna chronldes Stine is a great author and I love his books none attack of Jack o; lanterns I think he is a person wh wants people to enjoy the scare bi the book the giver upstairs room r I Stine has the best horror stories for kids goeatwonna ghost beach January tw o he Is very good author JacMeRoblnsonBravestMan In AnglewoodPaitrsPootball Star I don not like Sllne books. book about wairsn g haiding Stine'S book are okay, but Tm not Interested In them. Spring Break Maniac His books bnd really stupid doni remember Scarecrow walks at mIdnlgIN dont know He's a pretty good author. donlknow deadly stranger let's get Invisible ri Stine Is dn Interesting man. he keeps you occupied with every book he mak none none Deep Trouble I love his books. Nothing Nothing His bodks are good Nothing How to Mn a monster Dulalres book of myths His books keep you surprised and make you vrant to turn the page. The restaurant at enc The Wanting Seed The Relic ^ ^ h a t e his book I think they are so childish and boring and loo easyto tesKl. Lord of the Flys silent night ) attack of the mutant r I Stine'S books are exciting for all ages, nothing nia thinks for making great books n/a viola vock nlê he Is a good person weasel same he's a great author for enjoyment same APPENDIX I

SURVEY STUDENTS' PERSONAL COMMENTS

166 PERSONAL MESSAGES TO STINE Mr. S tine, your books are really good, keep it up. PLEASE Thank you for your exciting books to young mines Stine you are one of the best thanks for making great books good job, can you send me some free books

STINE AS A WRITER He's a real grab the reader kind of writter He is very creative and imaginative writer R L Stine is a great writer. I watch Goosebumps on Fox 28 He is very descriptive and doesn't keep anything from you that you don't know already He writes good books I think he wright good thriller books I think he write frin entertaining books for all people He is a talented writer He has a very good personality and writes good books He's a good writer but I don't read much of his books / enjoy reading Stine's books becuase hew he writes the story. It makes me want to keep reading He's an excellent writer I think he is a creative book writing genius He's a good writer, but I think I've outgrown his books He is a very good writer and his books send chills down my spine He is a great role model. I wish I could meet him one day He is very creative and his storys never get you bored He's a good writer. He really knows about horror He is a good book writer I like all the books he wrote I like him because he can right good books I think he is a great writer and should keep on writing good writer, scary stories he is a good excellent writer and good imagination. I'd like to meet him someday He is a great writer. He really knows how to catch & keep your attention I think he's a very talented writer I think he writes good books 1 think he is a good writer, especially Fear Street I think he is a genius at writing and hei si best at writing from a 12 yr old viewpoint nice creative writer he is a very imaginary person who loves writing for kids.

167 STEVE AS AN AUTHOR You are the best author even tho I don't read your books He's the second best author to me Stine is a very good author. I highly enjoy his books / think Stine is a good author and can write good books R L. Stine is the most extravigent author in the world! ! I! I! / think that Stine is a very original author who writes good books He is a very good author I think he has a good and intelligent author good author, thrilling books, scary kind of he is a terrific author I think Stine is a gifted author I love his books, I can't get enough. He's my favorite author / think he’s a really good author for younger kids. His books are really easy to read He is a great author. His books are the ones I like the most Stine is a good author and some of the best books I have ever read are Stine He is a very good author He is a good interesting author Stine is a great author and I love his books He is a very good author R. L. Stine is my favorite author He's a pretty good author I like R L Stine because he is a good author he is a great author for enjoyment he is a very good author of all his books. / appreciate his entertainment I think he is a great author

BLANK seven nothing no comment

OTHER I don't have any I don't really know about some of the questions, I just guessed on some Does he own his own fear street?

168 READER He is a wonder person & I would like to read more books I think they are great scarry books for readers like me I think it is the best book I have read in my life I like his books there Am to read They're Am to read I think they are good books to read and they are interesting I feel the Stine's books are wonderAil to read

SCARY BOOKS His books are kind of scary It not that scary I think it should get scarer His books are Am to read and scary has lots of details I have Stine books becaus they keep you on your toes I like him but it's not scary enough I think he is a person who want people to enjoy the scare in the book R L Stine has the best horror stories for kids I like his scary books there interesting He needs to add more suspense Most of my Aiends and me believe he is not scary He's not scarey enough. Too bloody Half of goosebumps are spooky and susprising he is creative but scary

Stine as not very good I don't read his stories anymore He is okay, but like I said I don't read his stories anymore I don't know because I have not read any of his books It's okay I personally do not like RLS, too short, plot not thick enough His books are stupid unless you are 8 years old. They are too simple for me I never read one I don't read much any more as I used to. His books are kind of weird and gross. I don't like him, he's sick in the head he alright I don't like stine books Its good but not great Stine's books are okay but I'm not interested in them his books really end stupid I hat his book I think they ar so childish and boring and too easy to read

169 His books were interesting when I was 10 and 11 , but I don't find them so He's good, but too many of his stories are alike, their all about murder and revenge

YOU”RE THE BEST/COOL/GREAT He's cool - two of these Good! I like them To me his is a very good person, KEEP IT UP He have a lot of good books and I enjoy reading them, THANK YOU I think that they are very interesting books He makes very cool books R L Stine is really cool, I love scary books and I live to read them collect them, share them I love his books especially haunted mask 2 I think rl stine books are great I think there good he really has come very great books, they are exciting I think that he makes very good books really good books he great I like Goosebumps they are the best its a very good book

WHY I LHCE STINE I like his books alot. I read them when I want something good to read. I like Stine because I like mystery I like his books because he puts excitement into his books I thinkthey are entertaining and interesting I really liked FS Saga Books. They really sounded real I like all of his books that I have read but lot of the n! okay! I like Stine books they're mysterious and you never know what's going to happen R L Stine is an interesting man. He keeps you occupied with every book he makes I like Stine books because they are interesting books 1 really like rl stine Books because they are scaryy and I like scarry stuff. 1 love his books I like all the books he wrote 1 like stine book becuase it like it filry R L Stine's books are exciting for all ages He is a good person His books keep your surprised and make you want to turn the page I think tha til of Stine's books are neat

170 He is very creative, he seems like someone who is superstitious and let's his imagination run wild He has a way of explaining weird things so we can understand wierd things I love his FS books All of his books are mostly good but some are out the extreme The books are like a mystery and they keep you hanging. You can never tell 1 like his books they are interesting 1 loves his books especially when they leave you in suspense I like his books how he make his rv show out and his Goosebumps movies

171 APPENDIX J

VISUAL, LITERARY, ADOLESCENT

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS TABLES

19 FEAR STREET AVTD

READER NOVELS CHOICES

172 Visual Characteristics o f 19 Avid Reader Fear Street Novels Choices

Book Title Copyright #Daees/chaDters horror series connection

What Holly Heard 1/96 145/29 dead friends Fear Street

Goodnight Kiss 2 7/96 213/38 vampires death kisses Super Chiller

Switched 5/95 150/27 switched idenities Fear Street The Baby-Sitter 7/89 167/20 crank calls/notes Thriller

The Boy Next Door 6/96 147/24 death of teen Fear Street

New Year’s Party 12/95 193/35 deaths of teens Super Chiller

One Evil Summer 7/94 163/28 supernatural killer Fear Street

Goodnight Kiss 6/92 216/30 vampire death kiss Super Chiller

The Stepsister 11/90 165/21 dead dogs Fear Street

The Betrayal 8/93 161/25 witchcraft trials FS Saga

Ski Weekend 1/91 165/26 dead people Fear Street

Prom Queen 3/92 167/24 dead contestants Fear Street The Dare 2/94 149/31 dead teacher Fear Street

Lights Out 7/91 163/34 vandalism Fear Street

Sunburn 6/93 146/26 fatal accidents Fear Street Double Date 4/94 152/30 red ant bites Fear Street

The New Evil 12/94 199/31 dead friends Super Chiller

Halloween Night 9/93 185/23 murderous pranks Thriller

The Burning 10/93 179/30 historical terror FS Saga

173 Literary Characteristics of 19 Avid Reader Fear Street Novels Choices Literary Elements Main Characters Pt of View Storyline

fVhat Holly Heard Holly & 2 friends 3rd Gossip leads to murder

Goodnight Kiss 2 Billy & 2 friends 3rd Vampires bring death to resorts

Switched Nicole & Lucy 1 St - Nicole Switching bodies causes pain

The Baby-Sitter Jenny & Laura 3rd Babysitting can bring stalkers

The Boy Next Door Crystal, friend & boy 3rd/lst Liking boy next door hurts

New Year’s Party Reenie & 3 friends 3rd NYE parties bring ghosts back

One Evil Summer Amanda & Chrissy 1st Evil stalks people in summer

Goodnight Kiss Group of friends 3rd Bats/vampires lure teens The Stepsister Emily, friends, stepsis 3rd Sister or stepsister problems

The Betrayal Nora, ancestors 3rd Historical flashback

Ski Weekend Ariel & friends 1st Skiing is dangerous

Prom Queen Lizzy & 4 runnerups 1st Murder stalks prom candidates

The Dare Johanna & 2 friends 1st Dares can bring death

Lights Out Holly & 2 friends 3rd Camp counselors watch out.

Sunburn Claudia 6 killer 3rd Sun tans cause accidents

Double Date Bobby & 2 friends 3rd Twins cause dating problems The New Evil Corky & 2 friends 3rd Cheerleading brings hurts

Halloween Night Brenda & friend 3rd Perfect Halloween fright night

The Burning Simon, Nora, etc 3rd Historical ancestors tell tales

174 Adolescent Elements o f 19 Avid Reader Fear Street Novels Choices Adolescent Topics Emotional Social Physical Intellectual

What Holly Heard shyness gossip basketball scholarship

Goodnight Kiss 2 trust revenge outdoor jobs drama

Switched depression rejection body switching reports

The Baby-Sitter imagination being cool baby-sitting substitutes The Boy Next Door moods boy crushes violence junior year

New Year’s Party acceptance relationships practical jokes trigonometry

One Evil Summer mental illness insecurity swimming algebra

Goodnight Kiss parent wishes new boyfiiends fishing/surfing vampires

The Stepsister acceptance step-families camping reports

The Betrayal acceptance relationships farming witches

Ski Weekend acceptance thrill seeking skiing/hunting Shakespeare Prom Queen winning popularity tennis drama

The Dare feeling blue being liked track history

Lights Out acceptance relationships camping craft s/reading

Sunburn acceptance relationships swimming/surfing writing letters Double Date acceptance two-timing cheerleading music

The New Evil acceptance relationships cheerleading French

Halloween Night unfairness relationships driver's ed writing horror

The Burning confidence relationships pottery dark powers

175 REFERENCES

Adams, R. R., T. P. Gullotta, & C Markstrom-Adams. (1994). Adolescent Life Experiences. New York: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Ames, L. B, F. L. Ilg, & S. M. Baker. (1988). Your Ten to Fourteen Year Old. NY. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Company.

Anderson, Richard C , Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Judith A. Scott, & Ian A. G. Wilkinson. (1985). Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading- Washington, D. C : The National Academy of Education.

Amett, J. (1995). Adolescents' Uses of Media for Self-Socialization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. October.

Arthur, Joe. (1997). It Came from Ohio My Life as a Writer by R. L. Stine. NY: Scholastic, Inc.

Atwell, Nancie. (1998). In the Middle, New Understandings About Writing, Reading and Learning. (Second Edition). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Beach, Richard. (1993). A Teacher's Introduction to Reader-Response Theories. IL: National Council Teachers of English.

Beach, R , & S. Hynds. (1991). Research on Response to Literature. In Pearson, et al. (Eds). Handbook o f Reading Research. (Volume II). (453- 489). NY: Longman.

Beers, Kylene. (1998). Choosing Not to Read: Understanding Why Some Middle Schoolers Just Say No. In Beers, K. & B. Samuels (Eds), Into Focus: Understanding and Creating Middle School Readers. (37-64). MA. Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Better Homes and Gardens. (1997). Raising a Reader. (64-65). August.

176 Bridgers, Sue Ellen. (1992). Creating a Bond Between Writer and Reader. In Monseau, V. R., Salvner, G.M. (Eds.), Reading Their World: The Young Adult Novel In the Classroom. (65-70). NH; Heinemann.

Browne, Ray B. (1994). Culture "of the People, By the People, For the People." National Forum The Phi Kappa Phi Journal. 74(4), 9-12.

Carlsen, G. Robert. (1980). Books and the Teenage Reader. (Second Edition). NY; Bantam.

Carlsen, G. R., & A. Sherrill. (1988). Voices of Readers; How We Come to Love Books. IL; National Council of Teachers of Engliahs.

Carruth, B , & D. Golberg, & J, Skinner. (1991). Do Parents and Peers Mediate the Influence of Television Advertising on Food-Related Purchases? Journal of Adolescent Research. April.

Cawelti, John. (1975). Why Pop? A conversation with Don F Rogerson. The National Humanities Faculty Why Series Whv Pop? CA; Popular Press.

Chevallier, Eric & Sylvie Mansour. (1992). Children and Television. Children in the Tropics, October.

Choat, Ernest, & Harry Griffin. (1986). The Effects of Children Watching a Continuous off-Air Broadcast. Part II. Comparison Effects of Reading and Story-telling by the Teacher and Television Viewing. Journal of Educational Television, 12(2), 79-104.

Cobb, Nancy J. (1995). Adolescence. Continuity. Change, and Diversity. (Second Edition). Mountain View, CA; Mayfield Publishing Co.

Cormier, Robert. (1974). The Chocolate War. NY; Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers.

Crew, Linda. (1989). Children of the River. NY; Delacorte.

Davies, John. (1993). The Impact of the Mass Media Upon the Health of Early Adolescents. Journal of Health Education. 1993 Supplement. November, Decem S28 - S35.

177 Deminco, S. (1995). Young Adult Reastions to Death in Literature and Life. Adolescence. (Spring) (179-185).

Donovan, Dianne. (1997). Making Friends with Nancy. In M. Dorris & E. Buchwald (Eds ), The Most Wonderful Books. (37-38) MN: Milkweed Publications. Elkind, David. (1993). Adolescents, Parenting, and the Media in the Twenty-first Century. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews. 4(3), 599-606.

Ericson, B. O. (1995). At Home with Mutlicultural Adolescent Literature. The ALAN Review. Fall, 44-46.

Fenwick E., & Smith, T. Dr. (1994). Adolescence: survival guide for parents and teenagers. NY: Dorling Kindersley.

Ferrai, Christina, Managing Editor. (1998, February). Editor's Scoop. In Teen People, First Issue, 14.

Fields-Meyer, Thomas. (1995). Having Their Say. People. September 25.

Gallo, Donald R. (1995). What Kids Want. Catholic Library World, 65(4), 30-33.

Gallo, Donald R. (1992). Listening to Readers: Attitudes Toward the Young Adult Novel. In Monseau, V. R., Salvner, G. M. (Eds ), Reading Their World: The Young Adult Novel in The Classroom. ( 17-27). NH: Heinemann.

Gambrell, Linda B. (1996). Creating classroom cultures that foster reading motivation. The Reading Teacher, 50(1), 14-25.

Gardner, Howard. (1983). Frames of the Mind. NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Greenlee, A. A., D. L Monson, & B. M. Taylor. (1996). "The Lure of Series Books: Does It Affect Appreciation for Recommended Literature?" The Reading Teacher. 50(3), 216-224.

Hamburg, D A (1993). The Opportunities of Early Adolescence. In R. Takanishi, Adolescence in the 1990's. (8-13). NY: Teachers College Press.

Hauck, Philomena. (1984). Literature for Adolescents: Gold or Dross? The Journal of Educational Thought, 18(2), 88-102.

178 Head, Ann. (1968). Mr. & Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. NY: NAL/Dutton.

Hinton, S. E. (1967). The Outsiders. NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers.

Hippie, Ted. (1992). The Universality of the Young Adult Novel. In Monseau, V., Salvner, G. (Eds ), Reading Their World: The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. (3-16). NH: Heinemann.

Irvin, Judith L. (1992). Transforming Middle Level Education. NY: Allyn Bacon.

"Key Concepts fo Teaching Television." (1996, April 09). University of Oregan. (2 pages). (On-Line). Available: http://interact.uoregan.edu/MediaLit/FA/MLArticle Folder/key.

Kiesewetter, J. (1995, October 25). "Father of kids's horror books, Stine steps toward TV, older audience." Garnett News Service. (2 pages). (On-Line). Available: http://www.elibrary.com/cgi-bin/hhwev/hhfetch736147997xOy815:Q002:D001.

King, Stephen. (1997). I Want to Be Typhoid Steve. In Power, B. M., Wilhelm, J.D., Chandler, K. (Eds ), Reading Stephen King: Issues of Censorship. Student Choice, and Popular Literature.! 13-22). IL: National Council Teachers of En^ish.

Krashen, Stephen. (1993). The Power of Reading. CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Kropp, Paul. (1996). Raising a Reader. New York: Doubleday Publishers.

Leonhardt, Mary. (1996). Keeping Kids Reading: How to Raise Avid Readers in the Video Age. NY: Crown Publishers.

Leonhardt, Mary. (1995). Parents Who Love Reading. Kids Who Don't. NY : Crown Trade Paperbacks.

Lowrey-Moore, Hollis. (1998). Voices of Middle School Readers. In Beers, K., & B. Samuels (Eds ), Into Focus: Understanding and Creating Middle School Readers. (23-36) MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

MacDonald, John. (1996, April 24). The Real Horror. (3 pages). (On-Line). Available: http://www.greyware.com/authors/Doyle&Macdonald/r_rantO 1 html.

179 Mackey, M. (1990). Filling the gaps: The Baby Sitters Club, the series book, and the learning reader. Language Arts, 67, 484-489.

Marshall, C. & G. Rossman. (1995). Designing Qualitative Research. (2nd Edition). CA: SAGE Publications. Martin, Terry. (1993). "Turning Points" Revisted: How Effective Middle-Grades Schools Address Developmental Needs of Young Adolescent Students. Journal of Health Education - 1993 Supplement, November December. S24-S27.

McCormick, S. (1994). A Nonreader Becomes a Reader: A Case Study of Literacy Acquisition by a Severly Disabled Reader. Reading Research Quarterly, 29, 156-177.

McElmeel & Buswell. (1998). Favorite Picks of Young Adult Readers. School Library Journal. March

Merz, Maia Pank. (1983). Mass Media in the English Class: Formulas and Cultural Values. English Journal. 72(4), 80-88.

Merz, Maia Pank. (1974). Masses and Classes: Popular Culture and English. English Education, November, 6( 1 ), 24- 29.

Mertz, M., & D. A. England. The Legitimacy of American Adolescent Fiction. School Library Journal. October, 119-123.

Monseau, Virgina R. (1996). Responding to Young Adult Literature. NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Morgan, Michael. (1993). "Television and School Performance." Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews. October.

Myers, Walter Dean. (1988). Scoprions. NY: HarperCollins.

Mysteries, thrillers are top choices for pleasure reading among teens. (1997, February/March). In Reading Today. DL: International Reading Assoication Publications.

NEA Voices Today. (1997, October). Debate: Should Kids Read Goosebumpsl NEA TODAY, 16(3), 43.

MediaScope. (1998, March 15). Popular Culture & The American Child. (6 pages). (On-Line). Available: http://mediascope.org/mediascope/fpopcult.html/

180 Nell, Victor. (1988). Lost in a book: The Psychology of Reading for Pleasure. New Haven and London; Yale University Press.

Nilsen, Aileen P. & Kenneth L. Donelson. (1993). Literature for Today's Young Adults. ( Fourth Edition). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Nilsen, Aileen P. (1993). Big Business, Young-Adult Literature, and the Boston Pops. The English Journal. February. 70-75.

Nodelman, Perry. (1996). The Pleasures of Children's Literature. (Second Edition). New York: Longman Publishers.

Pascal, Francine. (1984-98). Sweet Valley High Series. NY: Bantam Books.

Patton, Michael Quinn. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. (Second Edition). CA: SAGE Publications.

Pearlman, M. (1995). The Role of Socioeconomic Status in Adolescent Literature. Adolescence, Spring 221 -231.

Peck, Richard. (1992). Problem Novels for Readers Without Any. In Monseau, V.R., Salvner, G. M. (Eds.) Reading Their World: The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. (71-76) NH: Heinemann.

Pipher, Mary. (1994). Riviving Ophlia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (29-73). NY: Ballantine Books.

Power, Brenda M., J. D. Wilhelm, & K. Chandler (Eds). (1997). Reading Stephen King: Issues of Censorship, Student Choices, and Popular Literature. IL; NCTE.

Probst, Robert. (1998). Reader-Response Theory in The Middle School. In Beers, K. & B. Samuels (Eds ), Into Focus: Understanding and Creading Middle School Readers. (125-138). MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Purves, Alan C. (1984). Teaching Literature as an Intellectual Activity. APE Bulletin. 78 (Summer), 17-19.

Reading Today. (1997). Mysteries, thrillers are top choices for pleasure reading among teens. February/March, 30.

181 Reid, L , & Cline, R. K. J. (1997). Our Repressed Reading and Addictions; Teachers and Young Adult Series Books. The English Journal. 86 (3), 68-72.

Reed, Arthea J. S. (1994). Comics to Classics: A Guide to Books for Teens and Preteens. NY: Penquin Books.

Rief, Linda. (1998). Foreword. In Beers, K. & B. G. Samuels (Eds ), Into Focus: Understanding and Creating Middle School Readers, (xvii-xx), MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Rief, Linda. (1992). Seeking Diversity. NH: Heinemann

Roberts, D. F. (1993). Adolescents and the Mass Media: From "Leave It to Beaver" to "Beverly Hills 90210." In R. Takanishi, Adolescence in the 1990's. (171-88). NY: Teachers College Press.

Robinson, Linda. (1998). Understanding Middle School Students. In Beers, K. & B. Samuels., (Eds), Into Focus: Understanding and Creating Middle School Readers. (3- 22). MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Rogers, R. W. & J. S. Eccles. (1998). Adolescents' Perceptions of Middle School: Relation to Longitudinal Changes in Academic and Psychological Adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 8(1), 123-158.

Rosenblatt, L. M. (1938/1983). Literature as Exploration. (4th Ed ). NY: Modem Language Association.

Rosenblatt, L. M. (1978). The Reader, The Text, The Poem. Carbondale, EL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Salinger, J. D. (1951). Catcher in The Rye. NY: Little Brown.

Samuels, Barbara. G. (1992). The Young Adult Novel as Transitional Literature. In Monseau, V. R., Salvner, G. M. (Eds ), Reading Their World: The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. (28-47). NH: Heinemann.

Shadiow, Linda. K. (1992). The Development of the Young Adult Novel: A Progression of Lessons and Lives. In Monseau, V. R., Salvner, G. M. (Eds.) Reading Their World. The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. (48-64). NH: Heinemann.

182 Shanahan, James. (1995). Television Viewing and adolescent authoritarianism. Journal of Adolescence. 18.

SiegeL, J. & M. F. Shaughnessy. (1995). "There's a First Time For Everything: Understanding Adolescence." Adolescence. 30(117), 217-219.

Signorielli, Nancy. (1994). Sex Roles and Stereotyping on Television. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews. 4(3 October), 551-558.

Silvey, Anita, Ed. (1995). Children's Books and Their Creators. 1475-79. 633. 642-43). NY: Houghton Miflflin Company.

Small, Robert C. (1992). The Literary Value of the Young Adult Novel. Journal of Youth Services in Libraries. Spring, 277-286.

Smith, Frank. (1989). Overselling Literacy. Phi Delta Kappan, January, 353-359.

Smith, Frank. (1983). Essays Into Literacy. NH: Heinemann Books.

Spencer, Mimia. (1996, April 09). What do Parents Need to Know about Children's Viewing? (4 pages). (On-Line). Available: http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA7MLArticleFolder/whatparents/

Spinnelli, Jerry. (1990). Manaic Magee. NY: Scholastic.

Squire, James R (1994). Research in Reader Response, Naturally Interdisciplinary. In R. Ruddell, M R. Ruddell, H. Singer, (Eds.) Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. (Fourth Edition). (637-652). Delaware: International Reading Association.

Stine, R. L. (1989). The New Girl. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1989). The Overnight. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1990). Missing. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1990). The Stepsiser. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1991). Ski Weekend. NY: Pocket Books.

183 Stine, R. L. (1991). Lights Out. NY; Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1991). The Snowman. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1992). The Prom Queen. NY. Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1992) Good Night Kiss. NY. Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1992). Cheerleaders: The First Evil. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1992). First Date. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1993). Sunburn. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1993). The Betrayal. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1993). The Burning. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R.L. (1993). Halloween Night. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1994). The New Boy. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1994). The Dare. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1994). Double Date. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1994). One Evil Summer. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R L. (1994). I Saw You That Night. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1994). The Baby-Sitter. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1994). What Happened to Ernie. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1995). Switched. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1995). The Dark Secret. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1995). The Deadly Fire. NY: Pocket Books.

184 Stine, R. L. (1995). New Year’s Eve Party. NY: Pocket Bocks.

Stine, R. L. (1996). What Holly Heard. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1996). The Boy Next Door. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1996). Goodnight Kiss 2. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1996). Forbidden Secret. NY: Pocket Books.

Stine, R. L. (1996). The Hidden Fear. NY: Pocket Books.

Stover, Lois Thomas. (1996). Young Adult Literature: The Heart of the Middle School Curriculum. NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Strasburger, Victor C. (1993). Children, Adolescents, and the Media. Five Crucial Issues. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Review, 4(3 October), 5.

Takanishi, R. (1993). Changing Views of Adolescence in Contemporary Society. In R. Takanishi, (Ed.) Adolescence in the 1990's. (1-7). NY. Teachers College Press.

Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents. (1989). Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century. Washington, D. C.: Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development.

"Top 40 Artists and Entertainers." (1997). Forbes Magazine. September 22.

Traw, Rick. (1993). Nothing in the Middle: What Middle Schoolers are Reading. Research Paper, 19 pages.

Tulloch, Marian. L. (1995). Evaluating Agression: School Students' Responses to Television Protrayals of Institutionalized Violence. Journal o f Youth and Adolescence. Volume 24.

van Allen, Lanny. (1992). An Interview with Judy Blume. The ALAN Review. FaU, 9-13.

Vogel, M , & A. Creadick. (1993). Family Values and the New Adolescent Novel. English Journal, September, 37-49.

185 Webster’s New World Dictionary. (College Edition). (1966). (102). Ohio and New York: The World Publishing Company

West, Diane. (1995). The Horror of R. L. Stine. American Educator, 19(3 Fall), 39-41.

Witkin, Mitzi. (1994). The Use of Pop Media in the Middle School Classroom. English Journal January.

Worthy, Jo. (1998). "On Every Page Someone Gets Killed!" Book Conversations You Don't Hear in School. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41(7), 508-517.

Worthy, Jo. (1996). A Matter of Interest: Literature that hooks reluctant readers and keeps them reading. The Reading Teacher, 50(3), 204-212.

Zindel, Paul. (1968). The Pigman. NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers.

186 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (Q A -3) y

/ ,'S.O

/.X

/L

1.0 In ta 2.2 If La 12.0 l.l 1.8

1.25 1.4 1.6

150mm

/A PP L IE D A IIVMGE . Inc 1653 East Main Street X Roctiester, NY 14609 USA / j Ptione: 716/482-0300 ------Fax: 716/288-5989

/; O 1993. Applied Image. Inc.. Ail Bights Reserved y

o7