We're now into the twenties of the Goosebumps book series. Amazing how far we've gotten already, huh? Evil cameras, secret alien camps, dummies, mummies, and more. Goosebumps at this point has started to find its footing in pop culture and popularity. The books were selling strongly, and marketing people were beginning to notice. And while there's still plenty of fuel in Jovial Bob's tank and plenty of classics still to come, this is where the books do definitely start to go on bizarre turns. Not so much in this one though. Regardless, it\s time to get down on the farm with book number twenty. It's
The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight AKA Baby's First Necronomicon.
COVER STORY
Another beautifully detailed cover from Tim Jacobus adorns this cover. The beautiful moonlight sky, the whtes and oranges bouncing off the hundreds of plants. And in the middle is a rather intimidating scarecrow. I wouldn't say he's the most frightening character we've seen on these covers, but he's creepy enough to again start getting thoughts in your head. What do these things do when they walk at midnight? Let's see for ourselves, shall we?
STORY
Our protagonists this time around are Jodie and her younger brother Mark. They're visiting their grandparents farm for the summer. They're pretty excited as their grandparents are cool. Grandpa Kurt tells them all sorts of ghost stories, while Grandma Miriam makes chocolate chip pancakes. And there's enough to do on the farm that the kids won't just spend the entire book being bored. The kids get greeted by Stanley, the farmhand. Jodie mentions that Stanley is simple minded and slow. He can't drive too well, and is rather blunt with his statements. One such statement is the title drop of the book, mentioning how the scarecrows walk out of the cornfields at midnight.
The kids meet their grandparents, who from the get go seem to be a bit shaken up. Despite that, the family has dinner, to which grandpa tells the kids about Stanley's scarecrows. Stanley then mentions about how "the book taught him how." Stanley is referring to a book of superstitions, which mentions how things like sour cow milk and worm-ridden corn are omens of bad luck. And since he's this Forrest Gump level of simple, it gets him in a panic. Later we learn that Stanley actually has a son named Sticks. Well, that's still a better name than Bird, I'll give Jovial Bob that. He comes in at the perfect time for our stock fake out scare, as he jumps out of the fields dressed as a scarecrow. Stanley still talks about the scarecrows walking at midnight, and how he made them do so. Thanks for spoiling the big reveal already, dude.
Jodie thinks she sees the scarecrows moving at night, but everyone just sort of assumes that's just the wind. The grandparents still seem to be acting strange. Grandpa Kurt won't tell any ghost stories, mainly because Stanley doesn't like them. Same with Grandma Miriam's chocolate chip pancakes. Stanley would rather they eat cornflakes instead. Also, despite saying out loud about how the scarecrows walk at midnight, Stanley is suddenly acting like "oh it's just the wind." So, even though the pieces are in place to what's going on, this is still too early in the books for the kids to realize what's going on. We get one of Stine's dumber cliffhangers as Jodie sees her grandmother's hand only it's made of straw! No, wait, she it's just the bottom of a broom. Come on, dude.
Jodie's going scarecrow crazy as she continues to think she sees them moving around. But any time she tries to get proof of this, they disappear. She then believes that she has it figured out. That the scarecrows were just Sticks moving around, scaring her. This doesn't stop her from have an admittedly freaky dream about her grandfather as a scarecrow, attacking her and trying to strangle her. Speaking of the grandparents, they still are making only what Stanley likes and are still not telling ghost stories. The kids continue to not put two and two together yet, since we're still barely halfway done with this book.
After a scarecrow attack causes Jodie and Mark to fall of their horses and hurt themselves, Jodie confronts Sticks about the constant scares. Sticks just tells them that they should have just stayed away as it's not safe around the farm. Jodie decides to get him back and has Mark dress up like a scarecrow to jump him. But on her way to get sticks, a scarecrow sneaks up behind her. She thinks it's Mark at first, but it isn't. It also isn't Sticks. This time it's an actual scarecrow that's moving all on its own. Sticks also tells Jodie what the audience already knows. Stanley had come into possession of a superstition book, but it's also a spell book of sorts. He's been using a spell to wake the scarecrows at night, using them to scare the grandparents into doing only what he wants. That's why there's been no ghost stories or chocolate chip pancakes.
Stanley's been paranoid since some of the scarecrows are still moving and not under his control. The kids try to stop him from using the book, so of course when Mark shows up in his scarecrow costume, it sends Stanley into a panic attack, off to get to book to wake them all up and control them. This causes dozens of scarecrows to start walking. The entire family gets cornered by them, but after Jodie sneezes, Mark jumps. The scarecrows, thinking Mark is one of them, react accordingly. Now, they could use this to lead them in front of a thresher or something, but instead they think "well, let's just take the scarecrow face off of Mark. They'll follow in kind." Of course, this just pisses the scarecrows off as they advance on them further. So, the family instead take a bunch of torches, and manage to burn the scarecrows, finally ending the nightmare. Stanley vows to never use the book again.
TWIST ENDING
Jodie relaxes in her room that night, when suddenly, she hears what sounds like Stanley in the other room reading something. Suddenly a giant stuffed bear comes to life and attacks her. Well that vow lasted all of an hour.
CONCLUSION
The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight is an interesting one. It does work well enough in the scares department, and even offers a solid nightmare scenario. Stanley being the main villain also works really well, a sign of both the dangers of having too much power and the dangers of giving power to someone who is too simple minded to grasp what damage he can do. The fact that there's no comeuppance for Stanley, and that we're left with him still trying to use the book to have everyone do his bidding does feel unsatisfying as a conclusion, but Stine needs a wacky twist. The book is paced well enough but Stanley blows the big twist of him being in control of the scarecrows from the onset. so you're just stuck waiting around until we just get to the big scarecrow attack at the end. Overall, I found this book to be just okay. Nothing that makes it bad, but nothing that I'd say makes it one that left any impression. A solid middle ground book to take us into the twenties. The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight gets a B-.
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