SOLOMON SNOW AND THE STOLEN JEWEL

This pseudo-Dickensian sequel to The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow (2005, re-titled in 2007), takes Solly, Prudence and the Infant Prodigy on a quest to rescue Prudence’s poacher father from the County Jail. Though Solly wants to help, Prudence is the brains of the outfit; when she’s not plotting her father’s rescue, she’s reading detective novels and ignoring the illiterate Solly. But when the would-be rescuers are caught up in a jewel theft, they’ll need all their resources to save Prudence’s father and themselves. The Infant Prodigy has run away from the circus, and unbeknownst to her, is carrying the stolen (and cursed) jewel in her plush bunny. Quietly madcap adventures ensue, in which the trio is pursued by a homicidal dwarf, the evil Dr. Calamari and Mr. Skippy, the spurned rabbit. Though the Prodigy’s over-the-top baby talk is sometimes too nauseatingly cloying to bear, this farce is quirky and fun. (Fiction. 8-11)