THE RAT WITH THE HUMAN FACE

The Qwikpick Adventure Society files another official report on its members’ derring-do.

In their previous adventure, Lyle, Marilla and Dave visited the poop fountain just before the Crickenburg sewage plant was updated; that was one smelly escapade. Now, when they hear an electrician speak of a rat with a human face at the Bent Mountain Biological Station, they think they’ve found their next expedition. However, transportation is an issue, and their parents would never approve. They sign up for a rec-center trip to a hotel near Bent Mountain and make their way on foot to the station, which is closed for the season. When things go awry and all is revealed, Marilla’s strictly religious parents forbid her from participation in the Qwikpick Adventure Society. Could this really be the end of the society (and Lyle’s budding romance with Marilla)? Set in the year 2000 and presented as a typewritten report by Lyle, Angleberger’s second tale in a trilogy is less engaging and much less amusing than his Origami Yoda series. (The trilogy’s first volume also predates the folded-paper sage, having been originally published pseudonymously in 2007.) However, narrator Lyle and his friends are just as realistic as their origami-folding counterparts, and their adventure is much more true to life. Final art not seen.

Slice-of-life exploits mostly for fans of the first.