Imagine an adventure that has deputies and outlaws, scientists and amazing inventions, and a cross-country flying scavenger hunt. That will put you somewhere in the neighborhood of The Magnificent Flying Baron Estate. Waldo Baron, W.B. to his family, narrates the story of his family and their incredible flying (not floating), house. Waldo has two scientists for parents, and they decide to enter a contest to invent a unique flying vehicle so that they can use the prize money to hire an assistant. W.B. is not impressed with this idea for various reasons, but he doesn't have much choice as the house lifts off and flies to Chicago for the start of the contest.
Filled with eccentric characters, wild pigs, baked beans, and dreams about talking squirrels, this book is never dull. Waldo is an entertaining narrator who shares his puzzlement over his parents and their theories, his admiration for the exploits of Sheriff Hoyt Graham, and even the extremes of his own clumsiness (getting poked in the eye by a cuckoo in a clock, for example). As I read, I pictured his father looking much like Doc Brown from "Back to the Future" and the house floating along like the one in "Up," but without the balloons.
If you enjoy humorous stories with lots of action, falling into mud pits, contests to see who has the smelliest socks, and a villain with "two very large revolvers strapped to his sides, as well as six knives buckled to his boots, a bow and arrow over his shoulder, a crossbow on his back, a sword sheathed at his thigh, a lasso around his waist, a slingshot in his back pocket, a tomahawk in his long underwear..." then pick up this book. You'll fly through it even more quickly than the Baron Estate flies through the air.
I read an ebook provided by the publishers through NetGalley.
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