The Mesmer Menace

October 14, 2013
Noodles, a dry-humored dachshund, narrates this auspicious first book in the Gadgets and Gears series, set in 1902. Wally Kennewickett, the dog's young master and a "scientist in training," lives with his parents, world-famous inventors whose contraptions include a staff of automatons, windup dust bunnies to clean their hilltop inn, and a popcorn popper powered by lightning. When President Theodore Roosevelt recruits the elder Kennewicketts to help thwart the Mesmers, an organization of mind-controlling magicians intent on taking over the world, Wally is left to demonstrate the popcorn popper to a contingent of visiting vendors. As the villains infiltrate the gathering, Hamilton (the Goblin Wars trilogy) makes the comedic most of her premise, including a pigeon capable of hypnosis and a winged vest created by Wally that enables Noodles to fly. Wearing that invention, the acrophobic dog heroically foils the villains' ployâfor now. Noodles's antics and droll, mannered narration (on Roosevelt: "Everyone knew he had the courage of a corsair") make him the indisputable star of this show. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 9â12. Author's agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

September 15, 2013
Steampunk with training wheels for the chapter-book set. Set in 1902, this series opener features a dachshund narrator, Noodles, with a human companion, young Wally Kennewickett. Their home is the Automated Inn in Gasket Gully run by Wally's parents, eccentric geniuses, and staffed by their inventions. In the first chapter, President Theodore Roosevelt turns up in hobo disguise seeking help to foil a plot by evil magicians to achieve world domination via hypnotism. After this spirited opening, blending familiar steampunk tropes (Nikola Tesla, the Ottoman Empire) with quirky original elements (demented pigeon fanciers, a genial conspiracy theorist), the plot stalls. Its villain is sidelined and unmet, while characters interact and Noodles fills in back story. The picture brightens whenever the inn's mechanical staff is on hand. Gizmo supervises the housekeeping Dust Bunnies and shares cooking duties with Knives, whose many attachments "allow him to slice, dice, chop and puree at incredible speeds." These appealing automated characters need more to do. Noodles, whose role as omniscient narrator stunts his character development, is similarly underutilized. (Let's face it--dachshunds are wasted as straight men.) A surfeit of alliteration and arch dialogue amplifies missteps, but flashes of originality and sly humor, bolstered by nifty, gear-laden illustrations, keep the enterprise afloat. Awkward plotting and cliched language hobble but don't quite defeat the imaginative, engaging premise. (Steampunk. 9-12)

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January 1, 2014
It's the early twentieth century, and Wally Kennewickett's genius parents are called away to stop the evil hypnotist Mesmers from controlling the minds of those in power. While they're away, the Mesmers infiltrate the Kennewickett inn/lab, and it's up to Wally, his dachshund Noodles, and the house automatons to stop them. Narrated by Noodles, the illustrated story is a lively steampunk escapade.

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