The Girl’s Thoughts on Slappy New Year! by R.L. Stine

The Girl (age 10) read Slappy New Year!, book 18 in R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps HorrorLand series, at the end of 2010, but things have been so hectic, we’re just getting around to this post.  She wanted me to ask her some questions about the book to help refresh her memory.

Slappy New Year! isn’t the first book you’ve read about the wooden dummy, Slappy.  What do you find so fascinating about him, given that he’s extremely creepy?

The comments he makes are really funny.  Here’ s one from this book:

“I’ll tell you what’s funny, Jumbo,” Slappy rasped.  “You’re trying to lift yourself out of a chair.  It’s like the Goodyear BLIMP going up!”

The dummy tossed back its head and let out a long, ugly laugh.

“Ray — stop it!” Mom cried.  “Why are you saying those awful things?”

“Apologize to Daniel!” Dad said.

“I’m sorry you’re such a fat, disgusting cow!” Slappy exclaimed.  (page 90)

I know those aren’t nice things to say to people, but I think it’s funny that a stupid, wooden dummy is saying these things.

Can you tell us what Slappy New Year! is about in just a few sentences?

The main character, Ray, gets Slappy at a store in HorrorLand. He gets in a lot of trouble because Slappy comes to life after Ray reads the special words, and Slappy breaks things, makes a mess, and says mean things that Ray is blamed for.  Ray wants to throw a New Year’s Eve party, but his parents say he has to be nice to his brother.  Slappy makes the whole situation hard for him.

Did you think the book was scary or creepy?

No.  It was funny and sometimes hilarious.

Who was your favorite character?

Slappy because he’s funny.  I didn’t like Ray very much.  I thought he was annoying.

Did you like this book?  Was it your favorite of the books about Slappy?

Yes, I liked the book because it made me laugh, and it gave me something to do when I was bored in the morning at day care over winter break.  It wasn’t my favorite Slappy book.  My favorite so far is Night of the Living Dummy.

You have a huge collection of Goosebumps books.  In fact, they take up an entire shelf in my bookcase.  What do you like about this series?

I find them entertaining.  Some are creepy and some are funny, and those are the kind of books I like.

Do you enjoy them more after meeting R.L. Stine last year at Book Expo America?

Totally!  It was a neat experience.  He hugged me and complimented my hat, and now I always wear it.

Any last words?

I want to say, “Hello, peeps!” to your readers.  Thank you for reading my reviews.  🙂  I’m going to go read now.

Well, there you have it.  Hopefully The Girl will share her thoughts here more often.  Lately, she starts a new book almost every day…she loves the thrill of a new book.  We’ll see when she actually finishes one.

Disclosure: We received a copy of Slappy New Year! from Scholastic for review purposes. I am an Amazon associate.

© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Book Into Movie: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

On Saturday, as promised, I took The Girl to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  She absolutely loves Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (click here to read our review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days), and she was so excited when she found out one of her favorite books would be on the big screen.  The Girl and I were both curious how “a novel in cartoons” would be transformed into a non-animated movie, and I’m happy to say it was done quite well.

Like the book of the same name, Diary of a Wimpy Kid focuses on Greg Heffley as he enters middle school.  He wants to be popular, but despite trying his hardest, he gets beat by a girl in wrestling and is forced to sit on the floor and eat his lunch because no one will let him sit at their table.  His endearing best friend, Rowley, doesn’t help matters by dressing like Greg and asking him loudly if he wants to come over after school “to play.”  Packed with hilarious moments — from playing a tree in the school play to a sleepover with the disgusting Fregley — Greg’s antics had us laughing from the very beginning.  But there are some serious moments in the film, when Greg’s quest to be in the class favorites section of the yearbook jeopardizes his friendship with Rowley.

I thought the move from book to movie was seamless, as the cartoons in the book are brought to life in animated sequences and Greg is shown writing in the diary.  I haven’t read the book and I’m much older than the target audience, but that didn’t stop me from really enjoying the movie.  We don’t usually go to the movies because it can get pricey, and I was relieved when I walked out of the theater and didn’t regret spending money to see it.

I know you’re all waiting to hear The Girl’s (age 9) thoughts on the movie, especially since she’s read the book, so here you go:

Did you like the movie?

Yes.  It was very funny.

Do you think they did a good job turning the book into a movie?  Was the movie much different than the book?

Yes they did a good job.  The movie was just like the book, and they brought the drawings in the book into the movie by showing Greg writing the diary.

A lot of the movie was the same as the book, like the “cheese touch,“ but some of it was different, like when Greg tries out for the Wizard of Oz and is offered the part of Dorothy.

Do you think they did a good job choosing real people to play the parts of characters you knew only as drawings in a book?

Yes.  And I like how they showed each actor with the drawing of the character they play from the book.

Any last thoughts on the movie?

I want you to buy the DVD when it comes out.  I think they should make the rest of the books into movies, too.  I think anyone who loves the book like I do should go see the movie.  They did a good job showing the importance of friendship.  And my favorite part of the movie was when Rowley showed up at Greg’s house on Halloween wearing a blinking light so he can be seen in the dark and Rodrick [Greg’s older brother] tells them a scary story about kids being eaten.

Did any of you see the movie yet?  If so, tell us what you thought of it in the comments!

Disclosure: We forked over my hard-earned cash to see the movie.  The Girl received the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid as a gift.  I am an Amazon associate.

© 2010 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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