The Unbelievable Oliver and the Four Jokers
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the bestselling Secret Series comes this funny chapter-book mystery about a third-grade magician and the wisecracking rabbit who is the secret brains behind his act.
Eight-year-old Oliver dreams of being a professional magician, even though he has terrible stage fright. And now, his friends Teenie and Bea have gotten him invited to a classmate's birthday party as the paid entertainment! Desperate for help, he visits The Great Zoocheeni's Magic Emporium, but comes away with nothing more than a moth-eaten top hat.
Oliver is in for a lucky surprise, though. Inside that top hat hides a wisecracking rabbit named Benny, who agrees to help Oliver with his act. But at the party, Oliver is accused of robbery! He'll need to solve the mystery of the missing robo-cat to clear his name before he and Benny can amaze the crowd with their grand finale.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Unabashedly clueless Oliver is ill suited for two roles that Bosch (the Secret Series) slyly gives him in this raucous series opener. The first is magician, which he botches from the get-go, attempting a card trick using an incomplete deck borrowed from his cousin, who assures him, "You don't need a full deck for most tricks. You'll see, magic is easy." (Or not.) After his friends, twins Bea and Teenie, discover that Oliver is the only third grader not invited to the birthday party of the richest kid at Nowonder Elementary, they manage to book him as entertainment. Flustered, he hies to a magic shop, where he picks up a mangy top hat that's home to a wisecracking rabbit, Benny. The bunny helps Oliver in his second mismatched role, that of investigator ("Hey, Benny? How do you investigate?" he asks) of the theft of the birthday boy's prized present. Portrayed in Pangburn's peppy cartoons, unremitting slapstick scenarios augment the comedy, as do puns, miscommunications, and Bosch's cheeky, meddling narration. Oliver finally redeems himself with a sleight of hand (masterminded by the rabbit underneath his hat and detailed at story's end for aspiring magicians) that wows the partygoers. Ages 7 9.
