Matthew "Matt" Amsterdam is the protagonist in the fifty-fourth Goosebumps book, Don't Go to Sleep!, as well as its television adaptation.
Contents
History
Matt's family has had a very troublesome past. His father passed away some time after his birth and his mother had to get two jobs to help support the family. And Matt is constantly picked on his two older siblings, Pam and Greg. And their dachshund, Biggie hates Matt. Matt also has the smallest bedroom in the house.
Matt wanted to sleep in the guest bedroom, but his mother never let him do so, just in case they ever got guests. Matt was very angry that Pam and Greg always get whatever they want and he gets to be punished. So later that night, Matt decided to sneak into the guest room and sleep in there from now on, not caring about what his mother said and not thinking that it was a big deal that he disobeyed her by sleeping in there.
But when he woke up in the guest room the next morning, Matt found that he had become a sixteen-year-old overnight and Pam and Greg had become eleven and twelve years old. Every time he fell asleep in the guest bedroom, he wakes up in a new form in a different reality. In some, he saw a girl named Lacie who turned out to be part of something called the Reality Police.
When Matt fell asleep in the guest room, he fell into a hole in reality and that he had been falling asleep in one reality and then waking up in another and Matt has been stuck in that hole ever since. And whenever Matt goes to sleep, he changes what is real and what isn't, therefore breaking the laws of reality. In order to stop the confusion for good, they tried to make Matt drink a potion that will put him to sleep forever.
Matt ran away and after a few more realities, he discovered that simply sleeping in his bedroom brings reality back to normal. He was very happy to see his family and Pam and Greg were surprised at his new attitude. Matt had a good day in school as he was glad to be back in seventh grade again and that he didn't have to worry about Lacie or the other Reality Police again.
When Matt got home, his mother had a surprise for him: she had been thinking about what he had said earlier and since it was his birthday this week, she had given the guest room to him, causing Matt to scream in horror.
General information
Personality
Matt is the total geek in his family, being into science fiction and he would rather be a geek than a nerd like Greg. Matt had shown some signs of slackness, such as watching television when he got home, bad grades and living in a smelly room and he never seemed to have had a care in the world and was a bit of a toddler at times. Matt was pretty rude and unappreciative when he was first introduced and he never got along with his older siblings or his dog Biggie and he was very argumentative, mainly to his mother. But he had always been used to them and after his wild adventures in reality, he learned to appreciate them and things the way they are.
Physical appearance
Matt is twelve years old, Caucasian, skinny and small for his age with a round pig-like baby face and his hair is so blond that from a distance, he almost looks bald, as his brother Greg would say.
Appearances
Books
Television and film
- Television series:
Gallery
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Trivia
- At the end of the original copy of Chicken Chicken, Matt was mistakenly referred to as "Cole" (which was the name of the secondary protagonist in that previous story) in the preview description of his aforementioned story.
- The TV episode reveals that his middle name is Joseph.
