Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Captain Jibby’s hand was once eaten by a tiger (and was replaced by a Swiss Army Knife with multiple, useful tools.)  The “Coats”–referring to the men in suits chasing after the Cheeseman family–use guns to threaten Captain Jibby.  The Coats kidnap Ethan, the father, and his son Gerard at gunpoint.  A monkey accidentally shoots his spy partner in the leg with a banana-shaped gun.  Captain Jibby rams his bus into a chain link fence that one of the Coats is climbing.  Captain Jibby stabs a Coat in the shoulder with his knife-hand.

Adult Themes:  Mrs. Cheeseman was poisoned and killed by the evil men who want her husband’s time machine.

Synopsis

Ethan Cheeseman is a scientist/inventor who has developed a super-secret time machine.  The problem is, the secret got out and now a whole slew of dirty government spies and evil thugs all want a piece of it–or actually, the entire thing.  This means Mr. Cheeseman and his three children, who are all “smart, pleasant, witty, attractive, polite, and relatively odor-free” are constantly on the run, moving from city to city and barely staying in one place long enough to make any friends.  The evil “Coats” will stop at nothing to get their hands on the time machine, even poisoning Mrs. Cheeseman, who dies before the story begins.  But this clever family is resourceful and quick, eluding the Coats at nearly every turn, changing their names with each move (half a chapter is devoted to recounting their long string of hilarious pseudonyms) and relying on their trusty, hairless, clairvoyant dog Pinky, who warns the family when evil is near.  Along the way, they meet and make friends with the odd members of a traveling circus sideshow and a quirky cowboy poet.  The story is narrated by Dr. Cuthbert Soup, “founder of the National Center for Unsolicited Advice”, and–you guessed it–he doles out short tidbits of advice on everything ranging from tattoos (“avoid getting one at all costs”) to dealing with ghosts (“listen to them carefully”) to squash recipes (“eat doughnuts”).

We read this one as a family, and there were several places where I found myself laughing so hard that my kids had to wait for me to catch my breath before continuing!  An entertaining, offbeat, and clean adventure, one that everyone will heartily enjoy.  I hope this debut novel from “Dr. Soup” is not his last.