NNtG: The Weird Zone #02: The Incredible Shrinking Kid

So it's time once again for another veer off into the world of Goosebumps-likes. And this time we're treading new territory. Let's talk about The Weird Zone. Having a very brief run between 1996 to 1997, The Weird Zone was the concept of author Tony Abbott. Abbott has authored over 100 books, most for other series and creations. The series centers itself around the town of Grover's Mill, where strange things always seem to happen, and the kids in town discover just how weird things get. So, kind of Eerie Indiana more than Goosebumps. The Weird Zone was a scant eight books total, one of our shorter runs for a GB-like. And speaking of "short", it's the subject of the second book in the series. Size change stories usually are the ones to keep my interest, so maybe we'll have some luck here. Either way, let's check out The Incredible Shrinking Kid. 

COVER STORY

You ever have a cover that sticks in your head? Really no reason whatsoever, it's just there? Even if you only saw it for a brief, fleeting moment? Well, that is definitely this cover. Given my well known interest in the size change genre, of course this one stuck with me. Just our tiny protagonist in her hand and her shocked reaction. Weirdly sells me on the topic. Twenty or so years later and looking at it now, it is a silly cover with some over the top reactions, but I guess it worked enough for me to consider giving it coverage for the blog.

STORY

We open with our protagonist, Sean Vickers, riding his bike to the center of Grover's Mill. Mostly to get away from his younger sister Holly, while also trying to show off all the weird places in town, like the boot camp, the dinosaur graveyard, the horror studio. So, at least you can't get too bored here I guess. Sean's getting back from a brief stay at Camp Smiley, which makes him smile whenever he thinks of it, so I guess some truth in advertising. The two siblings bike alongside Sean's friend Jeff Ryan. As they make it home, suddenly a purple light hits Sean, knocking him off his bike. He tries to tell the others, but Holly thinks the moon must have hit his eye. Though it sure didn't seem like a big pizza pie.

The next day, Sean has breakfast, only to end up with a strange brown blob and blue milk. These were props for his horror director father, Todd Vickers. And Sean and Holly's mom, Daisy Vickers, is a prop maker, hence why they have meals of crunchy eyeballs and other gross stuff. Which, hey, it at least spices up breakfast a bit. He's also in the middle of making a monster movie with a super long title, The Amazing Colossal Bloody Fiend From Beyond the Third Realm of Venusian Fire Attacks the Tiny American City of Grover's Mill. Well, it's at least more accurate a title than Naked Lunch. But more importantly, Mr. Vickers is getting a special miniature set made for the movie from a famous toymaker. 

They arrive at the toy store to meet the toymaker. Less of a Gepetto (or Pagetto as the book writes because I guess concerns over the Pinocchio names?), but a strange tall man with black and gray hair, thick glasses and nose hairs. Less Gepetto and more possibly petto as he's mostly transfixed on Sean and calling him "the little boy". This is Kruger and the store is Kruger's Toy World. As he shows the family his miniature model, Mrs. Vickers arrives with an anchovy pizza, which Mr. Vickers grabs and throws like a frisbee because this guy is a bit too chaotic for his own good clearly. When the pizza smashes into the model, Mr. Kruger panics and says that his masterpiece is too good for Vickers' horror films. But Mr. Vickers thinks he's complimenting him and leaves just as Kruger's cat Fluffy goes after the anchovies.

Sean is already starting to feel weird, but is still ready to go swimming with Jeff. Jeff arrives, but not on his bike. His bike is missing. As is his parents' car. As is the garage. But despite what should be legitimate concerns about a whole chunk of house vanishing in an instant, the two are ready to go diving regardless. Given what this book is about, you can guess what happens next. Sean dives into the water, but when he gets up, his shorts have come off. After that embarrassment, he tries on his other clothes, but they too don't seem to fit him. As they rush home, Sean bumps into Holly, who is now his exact height. 

As he checks himself in the mirror, he notices that he is shrinking super fast. Holly shows up and spots that he's now down to about two feet tall and going down quicker. She gets him some doll clothes to wear as he tries to deduce what happens. Doesn't take long for him to think that it must have been that purple light the previous night. Since only he got hit with hit, only he's been affected. Holly doesn't quite think so, but takes her down to the kitchen now as he's about four inches tall. As their father is eating breakfast, Sean accidentally slips on the table and into Mr. Vickers' cereal. Ha. References. 

But before he's near-vored, Holly manages to save him in time. She puts him in his pocketbook and leaves, but also forgets to zip it up enough and Sean falls to the street as it just so happens to be "everyone's walking all at once" o clock. Conveniently one of those walkers is Jeff, so Sean rides his laces as he, Holly and Mr. Vickers all head to the toy shop. Mr. Kruger manages to get the three out of the shop and grabs the tiny Sean, placing him in the town, because as we kind of guessed, Mr. Kruger is our Dr. Shrinker. 

Sean runs through the model, spotting Jeff's garage, while also avoiding the giant cat. He then finds another boy, Mike Mazur, who was shrunk along with his house. They then realize what's up with the toymaker. He's actually a mad scientist named Dr. Gruker who had disappeared some time ago. So now it's making some sense. Also he has a strange accent which I'm guessing is supposed to be German with all the "Zee"s in it. This book got odd quick, huh? I guess it really is a weird zone. Dr. Gruker then finds the two shrunken boys and activates a bunch of robots called "Moto-Men" to attack them. See, this is all part of Dr. Gruker's plan to shrink the entire world and conquer it with his robots. 

The boys manage to avoid the robots for long enough, but end up almost caught by Gruker again. As he blasts his shrink ray, Holly shows up and uses her pocket mirror to deflect the beam. After a large explosion, Sean wakes up to see Jeff and Holly about his size. As in he's back to normal size again in the real Grover's Mill. Mike also returns to normal size, while Dr. Gruker shrinks to near nothingness. Then a helicopter arrives as Jeff's mother, part of the military, arrives to take away Dr. Gruker, while also dealing with a now giant Fluffy. Sean ends the book being proud that he's not a short man.

CONCLUSION

When will I ever learn? Cover I like, book I'm mid on. I think The Incredible Shrinking Kid has a fun idea, but because the story is so short there's really no time to have fun with the idea. And aside from the one obvious reference to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the book really never gets a chance to do much with it. Not even when we get to the miniature town. Again, everything feels so breakneck pace that you never get to enjoy it. I liked Shrinkman because while it too was a quick book, it managed to use as much of its time to have fun with the idea of a shrinking adventure, and thus gave us some really fun set pieces. This one didn't. That being said, I am at least interested to see the other Weird Zone books and see if there are better moments than this one. I'll give it the lightest of recommends for being a super quick book, but if you need your miniature adventures, there are better avenues for it. The Incredible Shrinking Kid gets a C.