April Book Giveaway

I'm generally not a fan of wacky. This brand-new book (January 2010) is said to be a little like Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I've never cared for, a little like the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch, which I've not read, and to me it's also a tad like The Mysterious Benedict Society books, which I've both read and liked. But when I picked this book off the shelf, I was hooked right away: It's just plain funny. Dr. Cuthbert Soup, as the author calls himself, talks directly to the audience, which I happen to think works well in a humorous book. Besides being a storyteller, he's also an advice giver, inserting funny first-person asides between the chapters of the story, written in third person. In short, the story is about a scientist who builds a time machine that governments, spies and crooks the world over want to get their hands on, so he and his three "smart, pleasant, witty, attractive, polite, and relatively odor free" kids (ages 8, 12, and 14) hit the road in search of somewhere they can have a normal life--which you know is something these people will never find. Staying just ahead of the bad guys all the way, they must twist, turn and brainstorm their way out of trouble. Here's an example of the humor that hooked me: "Dictionaries, in my experience, are full of words that most people will never, ever use....At the same time, the snobbish dictionary conglomerates refuse to include words that people commonly use on a daily basis. Words such as nother, as in "That's a whole nother story." Or boughten, as in "I haven't boughten a dictionary in years." And the beginning of chapter 1: "If you're anything like me, and most of you are by virtue of cell structure..."

To be entered in the drawing:

• Comment on this post anytime on April 1, 2, or 3.
  
• For an additional entry, become a follower of this blog and mention that in the comment. Ditto if you already are a follower.
• For an additional entry, post a link to this contest and give the URL in either the same or a separate comment. In this category, you can enter as many times as you have cyber-places to post the contest.

I'll tally the number of entries per person, put 'em all in the hat, draw one, and announce the winner bright and early on Monday, April 5.

So, come one, come all--and meanwhile have a great day in the world of books.