The Stinal Countdown: The Nightmare Room #11: Scare School

We're down to the wire with The Nightmare Room with this being the penultimate main book. And school is once again in session. School books with Stine can run the gamut of "decent" to "Well it wasn't a complete disaster". So hopefully we're in for a good lesson today. Or will R.L. Stine flunk another of Life's little tests? Find out with Scare School.

This one is definitely the most Goosebumps-ish cover of the entire series. From the angles to the focus on the monster on the cover, it definitely screams of something that Tim Jacobus would have made were he the illustrator of The Nightmare Room. It's also a case where the more saturated colors of a Nightmare Room cover actually work in its favor, juxtaposing the bland looking schoolroom with the gremlin who looks like a freaky little mischief maker. Not so much scary as it is interesting which is still a plus, I guess. Good stuff.

Sam Waterbury has an anger problem. A legitimately concerning anger problem as it was what got him kicked out of his old school. Sure he didn't start the fight that caused it, but he was the one fighting, which he does a lot. Also he plays saxophone. Should have been piano, but hear lessons can be murder. So now he has to start fresh at Wilton Middle School. It's not as lively looking as his old school. He keeps mentioning his old school a lot here. What is he, Phoebe from the Magic School Bus? He enters the school which looks quiet and deserted. But Sam does spot a creature in the hallway, a small greenish birdlike thing with a human face that tells Sam "You're it." God, don't tell me we're playing "Beast From the East" again.

Sam panics and soon finds his homeroom, Room 201, and his teacher, a short man named Mr. Kimpall. Other kids in the classroom mention that spotting the creature means that he's in trouble, but Mr. Kimpall tells Sam that it's all just a joke. A really strange joke. Just as Sam's defenses lower and he thinks maybe it's a mascot for t he Golden Bears, the school team, a girl named Tonya Black shows up with her backpack chewed in half, saying that "he got my lunch." But Mr. Kimpall wants Tonya to not mention this given it's Sam's first day. At lunch, Sam talks with Tonya and a boy named Simpson about the creature, but they don't give him any answer because this is the first of the book and it's just gaslighting for like the first half I guess. I know Stine too well.

As he's about to eat his mashed potatoes, Sam suddenly gags out a beetle and sees bugs in his food. But when he tells the others, the bugs are gone. After that incident, he finds a note in his locker asking "Who Will Drop Next?" He then heads to music class where he talks with a girl named Teri who warns him to keep a lock on his saxophone case. But, again, gives no specifics as to what's going on. Eventually Tonya spills it. The creature that Sam saw was an imp. It lives in the school and everyone is afraid of it. Whenever a new kid arrives, that kid is declared "it" by the imp. And despite, you know, seeing the thing and everyone being secretive, Sam doesn't believe there could be a real imp. Just a puppet or something. Oh good, the "protagonist becomes a skeptical dumbass" trope has arrived on schedule.

So, the Imp challenges a new kid. Mainly screws with their head with magic because they know no kid will stand up to him. The teachers and students just try to keep on his good side. Also they don't tell their parents or anyone lest they anger the magic imp. Sam heads back into the school, thinking it's all a jape, but finds the imp in his locker stealing his jacket. He scuffles with the imp for a bit, actually ripping his tail off in the process, but he doesn't manage to get the jacket back as the imp runs off. So now Sam knows it's real at least. He runs off looking for the imp, but runs into a boy named Tim Poster. Tim Poster? IMPoster? Oh this is screaming the most obvious red herring in the world, but we're still a ways to go.

Returning home, Sam tells his mom about the imp because despite already pissing the thing off enough already, he's going to piss his parents off too. She doesn't believe him because why the hell would she? And then his dad show up from his job at the zoo. With an ebony rabbit. A very rare rabbit. That he thinks Sam should take to school. It goes well at  first at least, the class loves the rabbit. Suddenly Sam is sent to the principal Ms. Simpkin's office, but when he's done there he finds that the rabbit is gone from its cage. He searches for a while and only finds a pile of bones and the warning again. Oh no, THE IMP ATE THE RABB-Oh wait, it's on the flagpole. He manages to save the rabbit and that crisis is averted. Wow, Stine restrained himself. What a shock. 

Tonya and Simpson say that Sam's in real trouble now. Anyone who challenges the imp suffers for it. Including a kid named Jared Clooney who stepped up to the imp and had his nails grow so large it trapped him like a weird finger/toe nail cage. Why does that freak me out more than the bugs in the food? That night, Sam checks online for information about imps. He learns they're trickster types who can disguise themselves. So now Sam realizes that someone in the school is the imp in disguise. But who? At music class the next day, Sam's hands end up glued to his saxophone. So badly are they stuck that he has to go to the hospital and get them unstuck with acids. Sam tells his parents about the imp, because he's a moron, and they don't believe him. And by extension he just pissed off the imp more.

At a school assembly the next day, Sam decides to make this worse by taunting the imp to come and get him since he's still got the imp's tail and all. The day after that the sprinklers go off in the classroom and the lights explode causing Sam to get electrocuted, but he survives, but everyone pretty much realizes that the imp is pissed and he's ready to finish Sam off. Coincidentally at the concert the next night. Sam wants the others to help him, that if they all fight back against him, maybe it can stop the imp once and for all. Of course, none of the others at school offer to help. He finds the imp again and chases after him, only to run into Tim Poster who reveals his dark secret... is that he stays after school to do his homework because his house is noisy.

Sam then finds the imp again who plays his saxophone which is just a silly image because he's just a little guy as big as the sax. Sam manages to catch it and lock it in his saxophone case. It's there where he remembers the note: Read My Letter. Who Will Drop First? He then realizes it. If you take the word Simpson and drop the letter S, it starts IMP. Simpson is the Imp. And sure enough, the imp transforms into Simpson. Simpson says that Sam has defeated him and will give him back his jacket in exchange for the tail. 

Sam goes to get the tail and runs into Tim Poster and realizes what's up like we all did. Tim Poster. Drop the letter T and you have IMPOSTER. Yes, there are two imps in the school and Simpson and Tim are brothers. Also Mr. Kimpall is their dad. And Ms. Simpkin's the mom.  So everyone with IMP in their name is an imp I guess. Sam ends up in the auditorium as everyone is performing as the imps attack him. Instead he starts to dance with them which makes everyone laugh. This is also the weapon that kills the imps, maybe. They disappear at least so mission accomplished? 

Some time passes and the band teacher, Mr. Kelly, is the principal now. He thanks Sam for finally getting rid of the imps. And now he can help them get rid of their troll problem. 

Oh this one fell in a ditch face first by the end, didn't it? I like the concept of the big imp reveal. That it's actually a family of them and not just one. And props to Stine on the concept of the riddle and how all four of the imps have "imp" in their names. Very Rumpelstiltskin-ish of a reveal. The book is also full of some decent action, horror, and a solid enough climax. That twist can piss off, but otherwise this comes so close to being a good book that it sucks that it fumbles the bag by the end with a clunky execution. Eh, at least he didn't kill the rabbit. You know he wanted to. He REALLY wanted to. The man showing restraint is still shocking to me after all of these books. 

Sam is an okay protagonist. Dumb in a lot of ways with how he scoffs the troll thing and how he doesn't follow the rules. They play up his anger problem but it doesn't really play that much into the story other than a reason for his parents to think he's blaming his woes on an imp. Everyone else that isn't an imp is superfluous Clay. More so than usual. Neither Tonya or Teri have any meaningful roles in this. They just exist for exposition like so many others. Though given the twist maybe they're trolls. T is the first letter of their name, maybe that's the mystery to solve. God that twist stinks. A real "Stine peaceing the hell out of this book" vibe to it. 

I love the idea of the imps though. These trickster demons who have the school under their power. That they're such threats that nobody will fight back against them. They actually feel like threats. And the fact they can be easily defeated by just laughing at them works too. Their intimidation tactics working until they don't. And, like I said, the concept of the riddle being IMP is very clever for Bob and works well here too.  They also look neat, like little furry greenish bird people. Props to Stine for a more creative villain for once.

In the end, this is an okay book that does feel a bit sloppy overall. One with some great ideas but lacks in the ability to really make them work as a strong book. Definitely the most Goosebumps-like book of Nightmare Room, that's for sure. It's still worth a recommend at the very least. One more Nightmare Room book left. This has been an interesting journey to get here and now the lingering question remains: Can R.L. Stine stick the landing? Will Visitors be a strong sendoff for the series? It's R.L. Stine, so that's an Imp-possibility. Scare School gets a B-.