Opening lines: In the busy airport, baggage turned slowly on a carousel. A crowd of people stood around it, arms crossed and waiting, some to them staring at the silent television bolted to the ceiling. The closed captioning at the bottom of the screen was seven seconds late and often misspelled, so though the newscasters were back and reporting on the death of billionaire Sir Peter Humphreys, the words still read: BURLAP CRISP -- ANOTHR GOOD CEREAL FROM THE GOOD FILKS AT GOODCO // THERES A LITTLE BIT OF MAGIC IN EVRY BOX.
Scott has these headaches -- and when he has them he sees weird stuff: mermaids, leprechauns, unicorns, and a talking rabbit. Scott has always figured that is just part of what makes him different. Then one day the talking rabbit that he is imagining steals his backpack and before long, Scott and his sister are drawn into a complicated plot involving a corrupt cereal company that is exploiting the magic in the world to not only sell more cereal, but also change the kids who are eating the cereal. Along the way they will encounter revelations hoodlums, near escapes, plot twists, and an actual bigfoot.
Adam Rex is the genius who wrote The True Meaning of Smekday and if you haven't read that, you should. And if you read it and didn't think it was all that funny, then you must live a life devoid of joy or something because, boy howdy. was that a great book. (And if you saw the animated verson of it, called Home, I hope it as as good as the book but i really doubt it.
I would like to quote some of the funnier bits, but I can't because, well, it just doesn't work. You need to be in the midst of the story for the humor to work. And actually, besides the humor, it is a remarkably gripping book. Plus, there is both parody and satire in this book. Good stuff.
This is best for strong middle school readers and up. I cannot imaging anyone would object to this unless they think it is somehow arguing that unicorns and dragons really do exist. But even if it did, I cannot imagine what would be offensive about that.
Oh, and there are some nice inside jokes for theater kids too.
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