The Poof Point - Softcover

Grade 3-5-- Marie and Eddie Bicker are usually very tolerant of their parents' inventions, but this time Marigold and Norton have gone too far. They've invented a time machine and are determined to visit the past and the future. As usual, something goes haywire, and the Bickers don't travel through time, but instead mentally regress. First stop, age 16. Next stop--age 9. The siblings have their hands full trying to control their "science nerd parents" and figure out a way of getting them back to reality. The children taking on a parenting role is marvelously funny, especially with phrases like, "We were never this bad, were we?" The laughs stop when they realize that the adults are heading rapidly towards the Poof Point --age zero. Fans of The Tiny Parents (Knopf, 1989) will truly enjoy this wacky sequel about the Bicker family. This title, however, stands on its own and is an entertaining adventure for science-fiction enthusiasts, as well as anyone who enjoys a good chuckle.
- Elizabeth Hamilton, Miami-Dade Public Library, FL Grades 3-6
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Norton and Marigold Bicker, the crackpot inventors introduced in The Tiny Parents , are at it again, and this time they've gone over the top. While building a time machine they miscalculated, and now they are growing younger mentally while their bodies remain adult. It is up to the couple's long-suffering children, 12-year-old Marie and nine-year-old Eddie, to save them before they regress past the "poof point," the moment of birth. This slapstick tale, in the spirit of Daniel Pinkwater's best, never misses a beat as the authors spin out scene after hilarious scene of children having to act like grownups while the grownnups act like children. Even better, as Norton and Marigold pass the poof point, Weiss and Friedman add a totally unexpected, side-splitting twist to the already breathless fun. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.