REM World is a fantasy/science fiction novel by Rodman Philbrick

Rodman Philbrick

Rodman Philbrick is an author of novels for adults and children. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951, and currently lives in Maine and Florida. Since 1980 he has been married to Lynn Harnett, who sometimes co-writes with him. They have no children. He has also written using the pen names...

 about a boy who orders a device that will help him lose weight, and when using it he enters a world where he will not only lose weight, but go on the biggest adventure he'll ever go on. This is probably the first book where the protagonist has no disability. Other books made by Rodman Philbrick are Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1995, it was l Max the Mighty in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, very slow, but kind-hearted boy, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed “Freak,” who is physically crippled but very intelligent...

, Max the Mighty

Max the Mighty

Max the Mighty is a children's novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1998, it is the sequel to Freak the Mighty.-Plot:On this sequel to 1993's Freak the Mighty, Maxwell Kane helps Rachel Sandesa, nicknamed "Worm" because of her love of reading, run from her overly religious and abusive stepfather...

, and The Last Book in the Universe

The Last Book in the Universe

The Last Book in the Universe is a science fiction novel by Rodman Philbrick. Set in a cyberpunk dystopia, its protagonist and narrator is a teenage boy named Spaz who suffers from epilepsy.-Plot summary:...

. The title comes from the 4th stage of sleep (a.k.a Rapid Eye Movement

Rapid eye movement

Rapid eye movement sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by the random movement of the eyes. REM sleep is classified into two categories: tonic and phasic. It was identified and defined by Nathaniel Kleitman, Eugene Aserinsky, and Jon Birtwell in the early 1950s...

).

Plot summary

Arthur Woodbury is very tired of being overweight and being called "Biscuit Butt". The reason he is overweight is that his father died and he is very sad, even though he lives with his mom and grandma. So he orders the REM sleep device which will help him lose weight. After reading the first side of the instructions, he falls asleep and enters REM World. Feeling ripped off, he throws the device off, but after meeting his guide Morf, a small furry creature that can change form, he realizes that he need to find the device, or else the whole world will be swallowed by an evil darkness. On his quest, he meets frog people, giants, cloud people, killer birds, and an evil demon. After finding the device and learning his life should not end because of a lost loved one and that imagination is important, he comes home and has lost a lot of weight. From now on, he is now called "Courage" rather than "Biscuit Butt".