The plot here is fairly thin, but the characters and humorous details will appeal to kids (and parents and sophisticated readers, too). For example: Lily's two friends are both famous: Katie lives in a haunted neighborhood and faces off against zombies and werewolves, while Jasper is a "Boy Technonaut." Both have inspired their own series of books and have fan clubs. Fictional ads for their series' appear among the book's wonderful illustrations.

Readers may want to know more about Larry, the human/whale hybrid, from his motivation for taking over the world, to more details about his plan. Most likely, though, they'll be too busy laughing out loud at the outlandish plot, Lily's clueless father (who doesn't guess his hooded boss's nature, even after watching him pour brine over his head), and the author's clever asides, to notice much. At one point the author talks about not wanting to describe a final fight scene between Jasper and Larry's goons: "Take my word for it; they were out of the picture, okay? I could work it out numerically and mathematically, but goons -- and hand-to-hand combat with goons; anything to do with goons -- it all really bores me to the point of weeping."

It's the silliness that will sell this book. But the book really does have a heart, too: Lily, who "people didn't know was interesting" learns that she really is something special, and the friends work together, standing up for each other to the end.

From the Book:

On Career Day Lily visited her dad's work with him and discovered he worked for a mad scientist who wanted to rule the world through destruction and desolation.