If anyone ever writes a paper about the legacy of Lemony Snicket, this book should be in Chapter 1. It was thoroughly enjoyable: light-hearted adventure, just enough snarkiness, and a sock puppet. The ending is open enough that I suspect there will be sequels, and I even think there's enough story left to support them.

It will be a great one to handsell once it's in paperback. ( )

A psychic, hairless dog, top secret government agents, various members of a traveling circus...with characters like that I just had to read it. Figured it would be a whopper of a tale, and I was right.

The Cheeseman family seems to constantly be on the run. Trying to stay ahead of the government agents, international super spies and corporate villains who are all after the LVR that Mr. Cheeseman has invented. The LVR is a time travel machine that should work once Mr. Cheeseman remembers the secret code needed to turn it on.

Mr. Ethan Cheeseman (the father) and his two boys and one girl light in a town in hopes of having time to remember the code, but find that their trackers are hot on their tails and so the Cheesemans have to pack and run. One thing that helps keep them just ahead is their psychic, hairless dog Pinky. She has the ability to sniff evil and will growl when it is near. Sort of a natural alarm.

When they are forced to pack and run the find themselves meeting up with some unique characters. The traveling circus with a strong man, a man with the name of Three Eyes, the leader named Jibby who has a Swiss army knife in place of a hand, Jake the sword swallower, and a few more. Then the later meet up with the poetry writing cowboy. Helping each other with problems, they all develop a friendship and promise to meet up again.

There is also advice given by Dr. Cuthbert Soup as he is an expert on advice giving. This is a fast paced and funny book rated for 8 and up, but adults can get some giggle time out of it too.

I didn't list the children's names as they change them each time the family has to pack and run. I can tell you that they are attractive, polite and relatively odor-free children. Also pretty smart and resourceful! ( )

Narrated by Dick Hill. Hill's pacing is spot on for capturing the book’s dry humor. The perfect talent pairing for this cheeky caper about the Cheeseman family trying to find the lost Mrs. Cheeseman while dodging international and government spies and corporate thugs intent on stealing the technology to the LVR time machine. ( )

This book is hilarious, complex and interesting all in one. The pace is fast and I wanted to keep reading to answer the many questions that came up while I read.
Curricular Connections:
*A terrific choice for a book club study
*So many interesting characters to chart and graph including a hand sock puppet

I needed a lighthearted diversion amidst all the mind-engrossing non-fiction I'm reading. A friend recommended this and it fit the bill perfectly. The book does have a super-silly wackadoodle shell, but underneath it all, it has a big gooey heart and hurtles expertly towards a heart-pounding climax. Some of the jokes are a bit over-reaching, but the book is certainly entertaining. Now back to my grammar and word books. ( )