Another day, another Goosebumps reread. And one that I do feel like I've slept on in the past. I don't think I hated this one before, but I definitely wasn't super wowed, feeling it was lacking something to make it feel special and it having neat dream ideas yet still underwhelmed? So, going into this a second time, can things change? Put down that Ambien and Don't Go To Sleep!
DON'T GO TO SLEEP!
RELEASE MONTH: April, 1997
FRONT TAGLINE: Rise and shine. Forever (What? Sweet Screams could have worked better)
STORY
Youngest sibling Matt Amsterdam isn't too happy with his life. Oh there's things he loves like Star Trek, as we see with him fighting a cardboard cutout of a Klingon, but his issues come more in that he seems like everyone picks on him. His older siblings Jim and Pam, even the family Dachshund Biggie seems to dislike him. If you need a good example of a kid who the planet seems to dump on, Matt's a prime candidate. He also hates his tiny closet-like bedroom. He'd rather sleep in the guest bedroom instead, but his mom forbids it because they think that maybe one day they'll actually have guests. And I guess since Matt's father passed away when he was young, add that to the list of things that just make Matt's life pretty rotten.
Matt is frustrated and decides "screw it, I'll sneak into the bedroom instead and sleep there tonight." Which is what he does. When he wakes up, he's much taller. In fact, he's a teenager now, about the same age that Greg and Pam would be. I say "would be" because he sees that they're now the younger siblings. Before Greg can process that, he's sent to high school and has to deal with a thing more frightening than any monster in Goosebumps... Advanced Calculus! He doesn't do too well, nor does his explanation to his teacher about how he just suddenly got hit with super puberty in a span of eight hours. As he leaves his class, he bumps into a girl named Lacie.
Matt goes back to sleep in the guest bedroom, but wakes up as a twelve year old again. However, he soon learns that he's now an only child being cared for by a completely different set of parents. He leaves for school and bumps into Lacie again. But now there are two teens in black shirts who start chasing him. Matt runs for it and returns home to try and get answers, but his new parents don't really help in that matter. So, thinking that every time he goes to sleep the world around him changes, Matt goes back to the guest bedroom and sleeps again.
This time when he wakes up, he's now eight years old and his family are circus performers. And what do they have the eight year old boy do? Ride a lion, of course! Also, the two teens return to get Matt, but he manages to get the lion to chase him off. So now Matt's convinced that whatever's going on has to do with the guest bedroom. He goes to sleep and wakes up as an old man. So he goes right back to sleep and sure enough, the theory is true. He wakes up as an alien monster and gets chased off. He finds Lacie, who is with the two teens in black. The three capture Matt and lock him in a cabin and Matt decides to sleep again.
He wakes up human again and a bit older than he was. He finally gets some answers from Lacie. Lacie, along with the two boys, named Bruce and Wayne (heh), are the Reality Police. Somehow, the guest bedroom has a hole in the fabric of reality and as such has the ability to warp and reshape reality. Each time Matt goes to sleep, he changes the structure of reality in far worse ways. That's why they have him locked up, to ensure he can't make things worse. Now, the only way to fix reality is to put Matt in a permanent coma. I mean, or you could kill him, but Stine got heat for writing in a kid being eaten in a book before, he's not going to risk it.
The Reality Police set up the formula, long enough for Matt to sleep once more. This time he wakes up as a squirrel and manages to escape his prison. So, Matt figures that if he sleeps in the bed one more time, maybe he can reverse things. After a harrowing journey to his house, Pam finds him and decides to keep him in a hamster cage. Matt manages to escape and make it to a nearby tree, where he once again dozes off. God, get this kid an energy drink! He wakes up as an overweight kid, which Stine describes as "A real blimp" and I really wish he didn't. He tries to get inside, but his family thinks he's some weird stranger and close the door on him. Matt dodges the Reality Police again before eventually finding a way into the house and into the guest bedroom where he sleeps one more time.
TWIST ENDING
Matt wakes up and sure enough, everything is back to normal. He celebrates until he learns that his mom changed her mind and she's moved him into the guest bedroom.
CONCLUSION
I think I was harsher on Don't Go To Sleep! originally, as I feel this book isn't really that bad. Not a top tier classic, but better than I made it out to be. What makes it work is the warping of reality. How things keep changing and getting weirder. How Matt's life shifts from one way to another, either in age, or in species. None of them ever given much time, but I feel that's okay. That's very much like dreams themselves, they don't last that long before your mind shifts elsewhere into a different dream and a different "reality". So Stine actually nails that concept really well. And even the scenes like the circus and the squirrel work really well and feel effective in the scares. Not super deep, but well enough.
Matt's an okay protagonist, A nerdy kid who the world just seems to dislike for no reason. Reminds me of Gary from Why I'm Afraid of Bees in that regard. Lacie and the Reality Police make for okay villains. Not the most multidimensional, but work as the big bads wanting to make Matt suffer instead of finding a way to fix the mess that benefits Matt. So we just get a lot of Matt being chased, and aside from the scene where he gets caught, there's not much else, which feels deflating. And the twist is pretty mediocre, but probably the only way to finish the book is to do a "here we go again" ending, so yeah.
Don't Go To Sleep! isn't one of the rare hidden gems of Goosebumps, but is still a serviceable book in its own right. Although Stine takes the concept of warping reality to a whole new dimension later in the series, which makes this feel second rate by comparison. But, aside from maybe the fat shaming stuff late book, this one is a decent recommend. It's a book that I think a few too many sleep on.
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