It's been an interesting year for this little Goosebumps blog project. I've covered books from everywhere in the series spectrum. I covered the first arc of HorrorLand, completed the Triple Header books, got myself down to one book remaining in the Tales series, as well as covered several of the Most Wanted books. I also changed the name of the Gooseblog to The Stinal Countdown, which will probably for reals someday cover other Stine works, but Goosebumps is still the bread and buttah.
For the last Goosebumps blog of 2019, I figured I'd give the pick to my followers, and presented a poll with four eligible books. One being The Haunted Car, another being How I Met My Monster, another being Attack of the Jack, and finally the winner at 38% of the vote, Son of Slappy. It figures, I dangle the dummy carrot and he would take home the gold. So, let's see if 2019 ends on a high note as we review Son of Slappy.
COVER STORY
I like this cover. I was warned in advance that this, like the other Most Wanted books I've covered really has no bearing on the story itself, but compared to most of the basic monster images, this one is at least interesting to look at. It's Slappy holding a tinier Slappy, because if there's one thing the world needed, it was more Slappy. And I haven't even touched a SlappyWorld book yet. I also like the touch of the chair being old and broken, giving the cover a bit of a creepy atmosphere, which is much needed.
STORY
Our protagonist, Jackson Stander, opens the book by telling us about just how gosh darn good he is. Unlike his younger sister Rachel, who is a brat who always gets in trouble. More so, she tries to constantly get Jackson in trouble. But unlike every other Goosebumps parents we've seen, they actually don't take the younger sister's side since Jackson is actually that good a kid. Rachel also likes to call Jackson "Robot" because he's so damn perfect. After an incident at the youth center where Rachel almost causes Jackson to lose a pair of canaries named Pete and Repete, Jackson gets a text from his mother for the two to come home as soon as possible as she has some big news.
The news is that the two kids are going to stay with their Grandpa Whitman for a week. Jackson's all in, but Rachel hates the idea. Because Grandpa Whitman has a creepy caretaker named Edgar, and collects freaky things like poisonous spiders and flesh eating plants. That's just his thing, he likes to collect stuff, but in a more unhealthy hoarder-type way by the look of it. But despite her objections, the two kids head off via bus. Jackson also talks about his favorite game Angry Bir-I mean Chirping Chickens. Well, at least it's not Battle Chess for once.
The two kids make it to Grandpa Whitman's house and it looks as creepy as they remembered. Jackson then notices what he thinks is a boy sitting on the steps, but upon further inspection it's a ventriloquist dummy. The dummy begins to talk and move on its own, which creeps the kids out until they discover that Grandpa Whitman is behind the door with a remote control. Yes, just like with Ethan in Revenge, we have a remote controlled dummy, but that one is Morty, not Slappy. The kids then meet Edgar, who is a quiet man who wears all black and speaks in quiet whispers. Probably could make a killing in the ASMR business.
Grandpa Whitman shows off some more of his many collections, from a noose collection to a jellyfish collection, before then bringing them to the attic and showing off his dummy collection.The kids notice one particular dummy in the collection, and that one is of course Slappy. But before Grandpa Whitman can tell the kids about Slappy, Edgar shows up and warns the kids to stay away from the dummy. He then talks about Slappy's origin, which is still consistent to what we know. Wizard creator, coffin wood, magic words, slavery fetish, the whole magilla. Except he mentions that this Slappy isn't the one we know and tolerate. That Slappy was destroyed years ago, and this is a replica that Grandpa Whitman calls Son of Slappy.
The week goes by quick and the kids head home. As Jackson leaves the car, Edgar tells him that he tried to warn him about Son of Slappy, but now he's in for it. Sure enough, Jackson opens his suitcase and sees Son of Slappy inside. Rachel, seeing this a perfect time to destroy Jackson's perfect reputation, tries to claim that he stole it. But the parents don't believe her because reasonable parents. Jackson believes that perhaps Grandpa Whitman gave him Son of Slappy because of how much Jackson was interested in the dummy. After the commotion, Jackson sees a white piece of paper fall from the pocket of Son of Slappy. It's the magic words, but Jackson realizes that these might be the words that brought the original Slappy to life. He then starts to read them like a moron, but stops himself because he might be a moron, but a moron with some common sense.
The next day, Jackson's friends Mickey and Miles show up. Mickey is the unfortunate victim of the R.L. Stine nickname department, so he's called Stick because he's skinny. They mock Jackson for playing with a doll because gender norms amirite? He tells them about Son of Slappy as well as Grandpa Whitman's tale, but they doubt it's true. He almost reads the words before he's told to stop just in case. Doesn't stop Rachel, who steals the paper and reads the magic words aloud. And thus begins the ol' Slappy formula. Jackson begins to think he sees Son of Slappy moving, but nobody else does.
Jackson arrives at the youth center, only to learn from the director Mrs. Pearson that the youth center is in danger of being closed down and needs something big to really help it. Sadly, this is no Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo situation, it's just a bake sale and a stage show, which Jackson accepts since he's got Son of Slappy. After a chapter about the kids wanting to make a giant cupcake, Jackson returns to his room, only to get attacked by Son of Slappy, who reveals that, prepare your shocked face, he's the real Slappy. But now there is a Son of Slappy, and that son is Jackson. Jackson hears a strange chirping sound and starts laughing evilly.
Jackson wakes up the next day, thinking that this was all a bad dream. However, when he's at art class, he hears the chirp again when everyone leaves the room for a ten minute break. Jackson, now beyond his control, starts pouring and smearing paint everywhere, laughing maniacally. Everyone comes back, seeing the mess, but when Jackson blames it on three dogs, they all buy it because of Jackson's past. Jackson now realizes it wasn't a dream, and things get worse as the story progresses. He steals the answers on the history test, and again gets away with it. Jackson confronts Slappy about it, but Slappy says that the stuff in School was just a test. He also keeps calling Jack "Son". Thankfully Jack doesn't call Slappy "Daddy" or else this book's going out the window.
Jack's aunt Ada, uncle Josh and cousin Noah arrive for dinner, as well as give Rachel her birthday gift. Jack, controlled by Slappy, starts to bad mouth his mother, to the point that he gets sent to his room. He fights with Slappy who once again laughs. He hears another chip, then sees Rachel in the hallway. He attacks her, thinking she's the one at fault for bringing Slappy to life, but she claims to not have seen anything. Jack tries to show her and the dummy plays dead. Slappy chirps again and Jackson gets violently angry and insulting to Rachel, who thinks that he's crazy. Worse yet, Slappy's now pissed too.
The next day, Jackson tries to apologize to his mother, as well as try to mention Slappy, but another chirp occurs and he continues his insults at everyone before dumping a cereal bowl on Rachel. He then goes upstairs to see honey poured all over the sweater his aunt gave him earlier in the book. He gets grounded and goes to see a doctor. Slappy seems to quiet down for a while and Jackson is somewhat back to normal. So normal that they let him go to the youth center for the charity stage show. And Jack, being an idiot, decides to take Slappy to perform, hoping maybe he can strike a deal with the dummy. One chapter later, Slappy has him hurl a kids bike into the street, then takes a bowl of cupcake batter and spreads it around Stick's kitchen, causing him to get grounded and miss the youth center show. So, you know, great plan.
We skip over to the day of the talent show, where Jackson finally realizes what's been the chirp that's triggered his actions. It's coming from the Chirping Chickens game. He throws the game into a drawer and takes Slappy with him to sneak into the show. It all seems to go fine when he hears another chirp. Once again Jackson is out of control, with Slappy biting the arm of a kid, as well as Mrs. Lawson, one of the workers at the youth center. Jackson tries to put Slappy back to sleep, but when he grabs the paper, it's blank.
TWIST ENDING
CONCLUSION
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