The Rocket

Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Focus

As part of Children's Day for the Kaleidoscope Festival at SRU on April 21, author R.L. Stine made a stop on campus for a crowd of about 450 people.

The event started with a presentation of the "Rotten School" song, written and performed by Stine's son, Matt.

A reading of the morning announcements from the "Rotten School" series gave those parents and college students in the crowd unfamiliar with the author's new books an insight into his humor, with names such as Mrs. Hiney, I.B. Rotten and Manly Buns, a football coach in the series.

After explaining how he gets his unique ideas for stories and titles, Stine wrote a short scary story with the crowd called "Haunted Car."

After a brief introduction to the story, children in the crowd offered names and descriptions of the characters, even having the opportunity of deciding what happened next in a story about Johnny and his dad's new, but haunted, car.

Accompanied by his wife, Jane, Stine spent about 40 minutes signing two books for every person interested in the audience.

Casey Hall, 10, the fourth grader who initiated the idea of Stine coming to town with a petition in her elementary school, was first in line. Hall received an additional third book and reserved seat in the front row because of her contribution to the event.

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