Gooseblog: Goosebumps #21: Go Eat Worms!

I guess there's no worming our way out of covering this book. For today's menu, it's time to take a look at Goosebumps #21. It's Go Eat Worms! AKA Bizarre Obsessions and Stine needs to stop watching documentaries on bugs.

COVER STORY

This cover is just okay, but I don't know if it particularly sells the title of the book all that well.  It makes me wonder if Go Eat Worms was always the name of the book, or if it was something added last minute. Maybe that would explain why Jacobus opted instead of drawing the worms in food, and instead had a bunch of worms crawling around a school notebook, tearing through the paper and whatnot. I mean, if it's trying to sell that the book has tons of worms, then mission accomplished. But trying to sell a scary Goosebumps cover? Nah.

STORY

Todd Barstow, our protagonist for this story, has some... interesting obsessions. particularly, Todd has a fascination with worms. He talks constantly about them, has a farm where he keeps a bunch of them, and hopes to win the science fair with his advanced knowledge on worms. And Todd isn't just interested in little worms. He wants them big, fat, and juicy. While he searches the school grounds with his friend Danny, he feels the ground beneath him shake. But he's in Ohio, and there's usually no earthquakes there. So Todd eventually shrugs it off and resumes his worm hunt. He also gets a bit annoyed at his sister Regina's project, a giant papier-mâché robin she made with her friend Beth named "Christopher Robin." Boy, I bet Jovial Bob slapped his knee when he came up with that one!

Todd's worm obsession continues to go down some dark routes. He puts worms in his sister's soup, down her back. Essentially any worm-related way to torment people, he'll do it. But it also appears that Todd isn't the only kid messing with worms, another kid named Patrick MacKay is also planning to do a worm project for the science fair. This of course rankles the everloving hell out of Todd who will do anything to find out what he's up to. He gets Patrick's address from Regina, but both Todd and Danny end up having to deal with a giant dog. And when they look inside, all they see is a dark empty house with a corpse propped up by the window. Yeah, this was Regina getting revenge for the worm thing. She sent Todd to the abandoned mansion, and the corpse is a dummy from an old Halloween party. So far I'd rather party with Regina than crazy Todd.

The big science fair happens and Todd not only has a plan to get revenge on Regina and Beth, but to also finally find out what Patrick's big worm project is. Todd's big project (to win a computer I might add) is a worm house. That's all. Just a house made for worms. I mean, what's the scientific value of it? "Here's the living room, the kitchen, mommy and daddy worm's room, and the worm for baby worm where he can hear mommy and daddy worm fighting every night. Mommy worm screams at daddy worm for his constant failures while daddy worm works up the strength to not take 40 worm years of anger and disappointment out on mommy worm. And in the end, they have angry worm sex and forget about it in the morning."

What? It's more plausible than "can hamsters fly planes?"

Patrick's may not be any more scientifically valuable, but he trumps the hell out of Todd by making a worm skyscraper. Todd's straight ready to choke the life out of Patrick for killing his chances at winning first prize, but are interrupted by Beth and Regina's project. They open the beak of Christopher Robin only for  worms to spill out. Yeah, this was all Todd's plan as well. But it turns out that neither Todd nor Patrick win because worm buildings are a pretty stupid idea and another kid ends up winning for his solar system display. Regina demands an apology for the robin fiasco, but Todd continues to laugh at her. So she full on shoves him into a table, knocking down some experiments and even causing an explosion. My question here is what people are letting children use actual chemicals? There's even a part early on where a teacher fears some acid may have hit the floor. These kids REALLY want that 1994 PC.

Despite his loss for his worm house, Todd is still worm crazed. He dissects a worm in front of Beth. This egregious act is enough to catch the worms attention. You could say from here on in the worm has turned on Todd. The next day he puts on his Oakland Raiders hat (Stine points out that it's a Raiders cap like five times in this book), but recoils in horror when there's worms inside it. He thinks Regina did it and then moves on. He goes to have cereal, but a worm gets in the bowl and swims in the milk. Todd has a peanut butter sandwich later, but you guessed it, that's got worms in it too. Oddly, the back blurb mentions worms in spaghetti, but that doesn't happen. The episode rectifies that.

He overhears Patrick and Beth talking, and thinks that it was Patrick who's been sabotaging him. But Patrick's out of the worm business and mocks Todd in a comic strip. Yeah, his insane obsession has made him the subject of parody all over the school. He then blames Regina again, but she says she had nothing to do with this. Todd goes to sleep, only to wake up with worms crawling all over him. These little wrigglers are out for his head. Todd's now certain it might be the worms. We do get a good creepy dream sequence with Todd in the bathtub. He turns on the faucet, only for thousands of worms to rush out, covering him up entirely.

Todd's insanity with the worms is getting so bad that his parents are sick of it, telling him to get rid of them. The next day at school however, he learns that Beth and Regina really have been dropping worms on him. Todd plans the ultimate worm-filled revenge and he and Danny head to the school baseball diamond. But before they can do anything, the ground shakes again, and up from the earth comes a giant earthworm. The worm wraps around Todd, dragging him into the ground, when suddenly it panics at the sight of Christopher Robin. It escapes back into its hole. Beth and Regina somehow didn't see the whole worm thing, but Todd is still grateful.

TWIST ENDING

Todd immediately gives up is worm obsession, throwing out his collection when he gets home. But, he's gotta be obsessed with something, so his new fix is collecting butterflies. Pinning them up in display cases. That night however, a gigantic butterfly enters Todd's room with a massive pin, ready to give him a taste of his own medicine. Moral of the story is apparently there are giant bugs in Ohio and I don't want to mess with them. In the television episode, they change the ending to Todd being obsessed with catching fish. While on a boat with Danny, he bites into a sandwich, only to get a fish hook caught in his mouth and dragged down into the water. Now that's a far more hilarious twist.

CONCLUSION

This book is interesting to say the least. Todd is definitely one of the most unlikable protagonists ever. Not in a "whiny brat" type thing, but more of a "future villain on Criminal Minds" type thing. His worm obsession goes from slightly endearing to downright bizarre. In the end, you kind of wish that the giant worm would have finished him off for all of his nonsense. But I guess I can take solace in the fact that a butterfly probably stabbed him to death. As for the story, it's fine. It's paced well enough, has a few fun moments with Todd being dumped on in a karmic sort of way, and actually gives a good creepy scene with the worm tub. Again however, I wish we could have gone on this adventure with a more likable protagonist, but I think that's the point that Stine intended. Go Eat Worms! wriggles it's way into a C rating.