”The closet door began to open wider. I stared at the closet. Then the door flew open. The creature stared at me and groaned. I would have been terrified of it if not for its size and smile. The creature was a small, weird man who came up to just above my waist. He looked like two different people who had been smashed together. He wore a top hat and had a cane in one hand.”

Twelve-year old Rob is an underachiever who does not enjoy reading. He has thrown all the books his well-meaning parents have ever given him into his closet, along with an assortment of other junk, including a chemistry set. One night he hears a knock at the closet door and discovers a little man in his closet, a cross between Willy Wonka and Frankenstein. Rob names him Wonkenstein and finds he’s a bit of a handful. As Rob tries to help Wonkenstein stay out of trouble, he discovers things around him aren’t what they seem and that reading might not be the torture he believed it to be. The hilarious adventures poor Wonk gets into and that Rob gets blamed for make this a funny read.   240 pages  Ages  9-13

ISBN:   978-0805092684

Reviewed by:  Alice Cyphers, Pennsylvania, USA