And we’re back! So, maybe I was a little overzealous in my original plan to read/review three books at a time and post monthly. Maybe I was a lot overzealous. I am aware of the lengthy delay between posts, and that’s no way to run a blog series. To remedy this, I’m changing the rules. Starting right now, each post will be about one book at a time. In hindsight, this is how I should've done it from the start, but I digress. I was being optimistic. This will make for a more streamlined blog series anyway; easier for me to get them out, quicker for you to read and follow along. Everybody wins! Nothing else will change regarding format.
Now, on with the show!
This time we’re diving into Goosebumps #7 - Night of the Living Dummy. This one's a classic and has become synonymous with Goosebumps as a whole. It stars Slappy the ventriloquist dummy who has become the unofficial (or perhaps even official) mascot of the series. The iconic cover art is instantly recognizable, and it spawned two direct sequels in the main series as well as multiple spin-offs. You’d be hard pressed to find a more popular book in the series. Let’s take a look!
Night of the Living Dummy is the story of two sisters. One of them finds a ventriloquist dummy, brings it home, and names it Slappy. She discovers she has quite the knack at performing with Slappy and launches her own business performing for parties. Her sister is ultra-jealous, and complains enough that her dad buys her her very own dummy. She gives her dummy the clever name of Mr. Wood, and works on her own act. But, when she discovers a slip of paper in Mr. Wood’s pocket and reads the strange words printed on it (apparently she’s never seen Evil Dead), Mr. Wood comes to life, and he’s kind of a dick.
What do I remember?
I definitely read this many times growing up, as suggested by my battered original copy now missing the back cover. That said, I never really considered it one of my favorites. Even then, it felt like the popularity of the book skewed opinions. I didn’t dislike it, but I considered it a mid tier entry in the series.
How does it hold up?
About the same. It had been so long since I’d read it, I had forgotten a lot of the plot points. The finale is fun and creative with a nice zinger twist at the end. I still think it’s not in the top tier of the early books, but it’s absolutely a solid entry. I give it 3 goopy green stars!
Does it crack the rolling top 10?
Of course it does, as will the next three books until we have a list of 10. Once we get to #11, then things get interesting as books will start to fall out of the top 10. I’m going to slot this one at number 5.
That’ll do it for this entry in Goosebumps Revisited! Come back next time as we go to the library and visit The Girl Who Cried Monster!
Comments