Fantasy Pick: What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World

What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World
by Henry Clark
Illustrations by Jeremy Holms
Little, Brown and Company
2013
355 pages
ISBN: 9780316206662

Clever, quirky, and classic, What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World is a gem of a book!This is wild and wacky adventure at its finest. From a talking domino to a nutty neighbor and a sofa from outer space, Henry Clark's madcap novel will captivate and entertain readers.

When friends Fiona, Freak and River find a rare zucchini colored crayon in an abandoned sofa by their school  bus stop, their adventure begins. Fiona does some research and finds out the rare crayon was manufactured in 1944 and is worth thousands to the right bidder. She puts the crayon in an online auction, and the bidding gets to $7000.00 right away. The kids can't believe their good luck, but then they realize that the sofa may belong to the old guy who lives in the Underhill place. They decide to tell the rightful owner about the crayon.

They discover from a voice at the gate that Old Man Underhill has died and that the new neighbor's name is Alf and he's interested in that crayon and in meeting them. He tells the kids an outlandish tale of a billionaire inventor who has destroyed  the middle of their town turning it into  a cesspool of smoky ashes. Now Edward Disin is after their crayon. He has a strange disorder that makes it impossible for him to have an incomplete collection of anything. Compulsive Completist Disorder, or CCD, is the inability to tolerate incomplete collections. Disin cannot do anything until he gets the one crayon he is missing from his 1944 Victory Garden crayon box--the zucchini colored crayon.

Alf plans to invite collectors to an auction at the Underhill house and capture the elusive billionaire, turning him over to the authorities, and he wants the kids to help. The kids get themselves into a number of sticky situations and somehow find their way out of them with spunk and wry wit.

Laugh out loud comedic dialog jumps off the pages! This is comedy done just right. Think Lemony Snicket with high comedy and clever charm.

Highly, highly recommended grades 5-up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for the library. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)