Review: Nightmares!

Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
Published September 9th 2014
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Library (via Overdrive)

Sleeping has never been so scary. And now waking up is even worse!

Charlie Laird has several problems.

1. His dad married a woman he is sure moonlights as a witch.
2. He had to move into her purple mansion, which is NOT a place you want to find yourself after dark.
3.He can’t remember the last time sleeping wasn’t a nightmarish prospect. Like even a nap.

What Charlie doesn’t know is that his problems are about to get a whole lot more real. Nightmares can ruin a good night’s sleep, but when they start slipping out of your dreams and into the waking world—that’s a line that should never be crossed.

And when your worst nightmares start to come true . . . well, that’s something only Charlie can face. And he’s going to need all the help he can get, or it might just be lights-out for Charlie Laird. For good.

My Thoughts

As I posted a week ago when I was about ½ way into it, I'm absolutely gobsmacked over Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. It's simply amazing. Although it's Segel's first novel, he's not a novice writer; he has written several screenplays. And, he partnered with Kirsten Miller, author of a number of bestselling books for young people. The combination worked and they've produced a masterful story—and the best part is that it's the first of a planned trilogy.

Charlie Laird starts having nightmares after his father remarries and they move into his stepmother's spooky purple mansion. His solution to nightmares is simply to avoid sleeping—which doesn't work. To make things worse, Charlie is sure his stepmother is a witch. When Charlie sees his younger brother carried through a portal into the world of nightmares, Charlie follows. There, through a series of encounters, he learns that nightmares are caused by a person's fears. When the fear is conquered, the nightmare stops. Charlie discovers that he's braver than he thought as he attempts to find his younger brother and set him free. Definitely a five star book

I became interested in this book when I saw an interview with Jason Segel on one of the morning news shows. I just happened to be checking the library's web site and looked at the new eBooks available from Overdrive and luckily was the first person to check it out.

★★★★★