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American Chillers #15
Nebraska Nightcrawlers
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.
190 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
About the author
Johnathan Rand
120 books301 followersChristopher Wright is the author of dozens of horror fiction books for children and young adults. He writes under the pseudonyms Johnathan Rand and Christopher Knight. Almost all of Wright's books (save American Chillers) take place in his home state of Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 3, 2020
Not all American Chillers are distinctly set in their featured state, but Nebraska Nightcrawlers takes place in and around a cornfield, battling creatures that any Midwesterner has seen wriggling across sidewalks (in smaller form, of course) on a rainy day. Ten-year-old Jim Newkirk from rural Denton, Nebraska runs a bait shop out of his garage, selling nightcrawlers to fishermen. Jim and his friend Brittany Olson hunt for the crawlers in a farmer's field on rainy nights, peeling them from the soil by the dozen, and they make decent money for their effort. But crawler commerce turns into a nightmare after Jim spots a huge dirt tunnel in the ground close to the field. No animal he is aware of could have made it, and the truth doesn't even cross his mind until he and Brittany see an elephant-sized nightcrawler moving swiftly through the field. Could this actually be happening?
Shaken as Jim and Brittany are, they assure themselves it's not so bad. Nightcrawlers are docile creatures, right? Not even a gigantic one could hurt anybody. Then Jim and Brittany run into Mr. Flanigan, the farmer, who is armed with several full water balloons. It turns out he invented a formula to grow bigger corn, but instead it transformed the nightcrawlers in his field, expanding them to thousands of times their natural size. The growth substance also makes them eat anything in sight, potentially even animals or humans. Mr. Flanigan, who is also a school science teacher, has concocted a formula to shrink the nightcrawlers back to regular size, and filled the water balloons with it. It's urgent that he track down every affected crawler and hit them with a balloon before they do serious property damage or hurt someone. Jim and Brittany end up helping Mr. Flanigan, but they're nervous. Are they putting their lives on the line? Will the shrinking formula work? They have lots of experience capturing crawlers, but it will be stretched to the limit as hundreds of the monsters slime their way around Mr. Flanigan's field and beyond. Can the disaster be contained before it spreads throughout Nebraska?
Nebraska Nightcrawlers isn't a bad book, though the writing and editing is even less refined than usual for the series. No single major implausibility scuttles the plot, but many little ones add up to a significant amount of weight for the story to bear. It's hard to believe Mr. Flanigan would face no consequences for his experiment gone awry, noble as his intentions were. It's notable that Jim and Brittany are ten years old; most protagonists of Johnathan Rand's Chillers are between eleven and thirteen. Dwayne Harris's cover art for the edition I read is one of the book's best attributes; it evokes a feeling of imminent danger as the giant faceless crawler stands poised at a distance to waylay a quiet farmhouse. I'll rate Nebraska Nightcrawlers one and a half stars, and could have rounded to two. The story is somewhat entertaining, though it feels like a repackaged version of Terrible Tractors of Texas. If most or all previous American Chillers were to your taste, you'll enjoy this one as well.
Shaken as Jim and Brittany are, they assure themselves it's not so bad. Nightcrawlers are docile creatures, right? Not even a gigantic one could hurt anybody. Then Jim and Brittany run into Mr. Flanigan, the farmer, who is armed with several full water balloons. It turns out he invented a formula to grow bigger corn, but instead it transformed the nightcrawlers in his field, expanding them to thousands of times their natural size. The growth substance also makes them eat anything in sight, potentially even animals or humans. Mr. Flanigan, who is also a school science teacher, has concocted a formula to shrink the nightcrawlers back to regular size, and filled the water balloons with it. It's urgent that he track down every affected crawler and hit them with a balloon before they do serious property damage or hurt someone. Jim and Brittany end up helping Mr. Flanigan, but they're nervous. Are they putting their lives on the line? Will the shrinking formula work? They have lots of experience capturing crawlers, but it will be stretched to the limit as hundreds of the monsters slime their way around Mr. Flanigan's field and beyond. Can the disaster be contained before it spreads throughout Nebraska?
Nebraska Nightcrawlers isn't a bad book, though the writing and editing is even less refined than usual for the series. No single major implausibility scuttles the plot, but many little ones add up to a significant amount of weight for the story to bear. It's hard to believe Mr. Flanigan would face no consequences for his experiment gone awry, noble as his intentions were. It's notable that Jim and Brittany are ten years old; most protagonists of Johnathan Rand's Chillers are between eleven and thirteen. Dwayne Harris's cover art for the edition I read is one of the book's best attributes; it evokes a feeling of imminent danger as the giant faceless crawler stands poised at a distance to waylay a quiet farmhouse. I'll rate Nebraska Nightcrawlers one and a half stars, and could have rounded to two. The story is somewhat entertaining, though it feels like a repackaged version of Terrible Tractors of Texas. If most or all previous American Chillers were to your taste, you'll enjoy this one as well.
April 25, 2024
Like a bad B movie. The writing is still poor and he seems to forget his own plot devices. For example they can’t call for help because the phone lines at the farm were destroyed and a few chapters later a call comes in. The call isn’t even needed to progress the plot so it’s just weird.
I’m nearing the end of the chronological books and I really don’t want to spend money on the few I’m missing so I’ll just go with the order but with what I own. The stingers at the end are pretty lame anyway.
I’m nearing the end of the chronological books and I really don’t want to spend money on the few I’m missing so I’ll just go with the order but with what I own. The stingers at the end are pretty lame anyway.
October 28, 2024
Too repetitive. I was hoping these would be similar to goosebumps, but so far, my experience with the American Chillers books has been lacking. Both books I've read felt like the plot was just kids running around a lot, and the monster pops up, and they beat them... no fun twist, nothing unpredictable. Just a lot of running around.
At least this was better than Minnesota Mall Mannequins.
At least this was better than Minnesota Mall Mannequins.
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September 20, 202110 years ago, johnathan rand was at my school and he gave me this book. I opened up this book and went to the last page and saw that there's 208 pages.
"This will take me ten years to read!" I complained.
He then made fun of me.
So i began reading, spending hours each weekend, trying to get through the many chapters that are in this book. I climbed mountains and scaled the tallest buildings but now, 10 years later, I finally finished it. And I just want to say to johnathan rand.
I TOLD YOU SO.
"This will take me ten years to read!" I complained.
He then made fun of me.
So i began reading, spending hours each weekend, trying to get through the many chapters that are in this book. I climbed mountains and scaled the tallest buildings but now, 10 years later, I finally finished it. And I just want to say to johnathan rand.
I TOLD YOU SO.
July 31, 2020
This story is oddly familiar...
December 17, 2020
ONE OF MY FAVS BOOKS BY HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 31, 2012
Thank you, Jonathan Rand, for making: Jonathan Rand's American Chillers Nebraska Nightcrawlers. Though I haven't yet read Jonathan Rand's American Chillers Alien Androids Assault Arizona, (in the same book as Nebraska Nightcrawlers) I still LOVE it. I already read Wisconsin Werewolves, and others. I would love talking to you more.
April 10, 2017
This book was one of my favorites that Jonathan Rand wrote I really like the part where they thought their trouble was over but it wasn't. I liked that way he ended his chapters they make you want to read more. If you like books that have unexpected twists and turns then you'll love this one.
Want to Read
October 25, 2007eewww
May 14, 2012
Hah i would enjoy fishing with thoes worms!! The book was good but why would u feed worms fertilizer for making crops grow larger.
Want to Read
March 18, 2015I think Nebraska night crawlers is a great book.
September 14, 2015
This was a good book. It is about two kids that at first were selling night crawlers to fisherman for money to fighting off giant night crawlers that are attacking their town.
September 14, 2015
I think its cool that the people have to fight off giant night crawlers. I think it is a pretty good book.
January 15, 2016
Awesome and wildly captivating. Adventurous and intriguing.
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September 9, 2016I love this book. It's about 2 kids and very big nightcrawlers. And they try to stop the nightcrawlers.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews