Fantasy YA/Kids Book I read in early 2000s where monsters can come out of the dreams/nightmares of kids.

[Michael]

Specific details I remember from the book would be: the main character goes to his first ever sleep over and he loves Mac and cheese. At the sleepover he wakes up to a monster attacking his friends who are all asleep. A couple adults show up to fight the dram monster and he is told that he summons really powerful nightmare/dream monsters. He goes with the 2/3 adults to learn how to control his power. One of the adults had strong dream summoning like him but now is just a regular guy. I think there are multiple rings/levels of dreams people can summon from and the main character pulls from really strong ones but he’s not supposed to. And the last thing I remember (might be mixing books up) is his class of students going to an area to determine their jobs so they yell out what they think their job is and if they lie they get eaten and spit back out by a giant fish. He says he is X and doesn’t get eaten then he says “well I guess I’m not Y” then gets eaten for lying.

I’ve been trying to find this book for years and if anyone could help point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

[Rainbowheart]

Was the boy a preteen?

Did it seem like it might be part of a horror series?

[KitCat]

Could it be theNIghtmare Academy Nightmare Academy series?

[Kris]

Amazon's "Look Inside" preview of Nightmare Academy (book 1) by Dean Lorey - KitCat's suggestion:

https://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Acad...

Goodreads reviewers say:
- "After meeting the Trout of Truth (a creature that determines whether you are a banisher or a nethermancer)..."
- A "sorting" trout.

Quote from the book:
- Finally, he told his parents that going to the sleepover party was the only present he wanted for Christmas and his birthday combined.
For the next two years.