The children of a former ventriloquist, Trina and Dan O'Dell think that the collection of dummies in the attic is neat until they begin to hear strange voices and find the dummies appearing in unexpected places. Ages 9-12
Requesting a new dummy when her old one loses its head, young ventriloquist Amy receives Slappy, a strange, used dummy that moves of its own accord and disrupts things with the intent of making Amy's life miserable.
Lindy Powell finds a ventriloquist dummy in the dumpster behind a house and decides to call it Slappy. Lindy is soon being offered $20 to perform at birthday parties and Kris, her twin sister, begins to ask her parents for a dummy of her own. Mr. Powell brings home another ventriloquist dummy for Kris that she calls Mr. Wood and the two dummies come to life and start doing evil things.